At the World Cup, every underdog has its day
Denmark could spring a surprise in Doha, while talented Senegal are quite likely to reach the knockout stage of the tournament
THE countdown to the Fifa World Cup continues, and it’s just 15 days to go until host nation Qatar take to the field against Ecuador for what will be the first of 64 matches spread out over four action-packed weeks.
While much of the spotlight will naturally fall on the favourites, fans will be on the lookout for the underdog fairytale run. At the last edition in 2018, we saw Croatia’s golden generation go all the way to the final, while hosts Russia made it to the quarter-finals.
In this second instalment of a four-part series in the build-up to the World Cup, BT Weekend takes a closer look at four dark horses that have the talent and potential to cause an upset or two in Doha.
Denmark
The Danes are used to defying the odds. Back in 1992, the national team were already on their summer vacation when they got the last-minute call to replace a disqualified Yugoslavia at the European Championships, and they somehow went on to win the trophy in what is still one of football’s greatest underdog stories.
And at last year’s Euro 2020 tournament, Denmark overcame the shock of Christian Eriksen’s collapse on the pitch in the first match of the group stage to reach the semi-finals.
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The current Denmark squad under coach Kasper Hjulmand, boasting the likes of Kasper Schmeichel, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Mikkel Damsgaard, are in good form ahead of the World Cup. They breezed through the qualifying stage by finishing top of their group. What’s more, the Danes tied Germany for the best record in European qualifying by winning nine of their 10 games.
Denmark are in Group D with the defending champions France, Tunisia and Australia.
Senegal
The current African Cup of Nations champions are a force to be reckoned with, for sure. There is much to like about this lively Senegal team that’s coached by Aliou Cisse, and he’s spent the last seven years at the helm grooming a side that is packed with household names like Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane and Chelsea duo Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Senegal reached the World Cup by cruising through their qualifying rounds before overcoming Mohamad Salah’s Egypt in the play-offs.
The Lions of Teranga, as Senegal are known, will bank on the 30-year-old Mane - the country’s all-time leading scorer - to deliver when it matters most, although there is a risk of relying too heavily on him for the goals.
At the very least, they will fancy their chances of reaching the Round of 16, having been placed in Group A together with hosts Qatar, Ecuador and the Netherlands.
Iran
As Asia’s top-ranked team, Iran were one of the first teams to qualify for Qatar 2022, and they will be trying their best to reach the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
At the helm once again is Carlos Queiroz, the former Manchester United assistant manager who led Iran at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, and was reappointed as head coach only in September after the firing of Dragan Skocic.
Queiroz inherits a rather formidable-looking squad that contains the likes of Porto’s Mehdi Taremi, Bayer Leverkusen’s Sardar Azmoun and Feyenoord’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
The Iranians were ruthless in their group during Asia’s final round of preliminaries, easily topping their section ahead of the mighty South Korea. In fact, Iran only lost once, to the South Koreans, when they had already qualified for the finals.
One thing in Iran’s favour is their familiarity with the harsh weather conditions in Qatar, and they will try to take full advantage of that when they face fellow Group B teams England, the United States and Wales.
Uruguay
The South Americans have always performed well at the World Cup, although never quite doing enough to repeat their heroics of 1930 and 1950 when they won the trophy.
Uruguay came in third in their qualifying section, just behind the undefeated Brazil and Agentina and two points above fourth-placed Ecuador.
The Qatar outing will be the final one for veteran strikers Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, who will hope to sign off with the goals that will take La Celeste (Uruguay’s nickname) far in the tournament. They will also be looking to the likes of youngsters Darwin Nunez and Federico Valverde to put on a good show.
Uruguay’s former player Diego Alonso was named as head coach when Oscar Tabarez departed after 15 years in charge.
Uruguay are in Group H and they will battle Portugal, Ghana and South Korea.
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