Journeys Of Three Teams Who Dazzled The FIFA World Cup
- therookiereporters
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
A short article talking about teams that defied expectations of the public with their performance in the World Cup.
As we reach the end of the biggest world cup in history after the Spaniards lifted the coveted trophy on Sunday, let’s take a look back onto the journeys of three teams that went further than expected into the tournament and how they achieved these performances.
Cape Verde
The small island nation situated off the west of Africa was arguably one of the loved countries of this world cup with their highly impressive debut.
The story started when they topped their group in the African qualifiers and eliminated Cameroon to become the first African island country to qualify for the prestigious event. Fast-forward to June 15 when the team was set to debut against one of the tournament favourites, Spain. This debut was a very big success as the match was a dramatic draw at 0-0 where the now globally recognised goalkeeper Vozinha crucially saved 7 goal attempts and earned the standout player of the match. The story continued with another two draws against the 2 time world champions Uruguay at 2-2 and 0-0 against Saudi Arabia. These matches made them the first team since 1962 Chile to get to the next stages based on three consecutive draws and first team since 2010 Slovakia to make it past group stages on debut. By this point, the team had made a reputation of being the underdogs of this WC as they headed to the round of 32 to battle against another established footballing nation, Argentina. This dramatic match ended with the unfortunate exit of Cape Verde from the tournament after the game went into extra time at 2-2 and ended with a touch by a cape verdean defender on a corner causing an own goal.
Despite losing this match, The Cape Verdean had gained a huge amount of respect from the world and had broken a number of records such as being the first debutants to face 2 or more current/ former world champions in their opening tournament. From selecting the team off LinkedIn to putting the reigning world champions under tremendous pressure in a knockout stage, Cape Verde were undeniably one of the most shocking stories from this WC.
Switzerland
Switzerland undeniably proved to be the tournament’s dark horses with their shocking run up to the quarter finals where they unfortunately lost against the current world champions Argentina. The Swiss squad used their strong tactical qualities and discipline to quietly go up the knockout stages without having any major global superstars part of the team. The team blended the experience of their captain Granit Xhaka, who has won the Swiss super league two times, and the electricity from their younger players such as Johan Manzambi and Dan Ndoye to provide a very sophisticated structural performance throughout.
The team started off in group B paired with co-hosts Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hosts of the last World Cup Qatar. Switzerland went on to be undefeated and top their group as they headed to the round of 32 against Algeria where they won 2-0 in very calm manner. They then went on to beat Columbia in a nail-biting penalty shoot out where their goalkeeper Gregor Kobel carried on the historic keeper Yan Sommer’s legacy by saving some crucial goals. The dark horses went on to put up a great fight against Messi’s Argentina but unfortunately lost due to a red card received by their important forward Breel Embolo.
Norway
The “people’s team” was also highly regarded as the dark horses of the tournament with their historic run up to the quarter finals. After having a dominant qualifying for the tournament, the Vikings were put up in a group with Iraq, Senegal and France.
They started their journey off with a win against Iraq and a thrilling 3-2 win against Senegal after which they lost to France with a heavily rotated team. Next on their journey they beat Ivory Coast 2-1 and went on to get their historic 2-1 victory over the 5 time World Champions Brazil hence earning them the title of the dark horses. The team next faced England in their first ever quarter final which ended in a heartbreaking loss of 2-1. Despite the defeat, the Norway team had managed to surpass everyone’s expectations and had proved to the world that they could very well be a threat.
The main reasons why some people may argue that the Swiss team deserve the title of the dark horses more mainly stems from the fact that the Norway team had more globally recognised players such as Erling Haaland, Martin Ødegaard and Alexander Sørloth. Despite the debate, the performance of the team matters more than the titles they receive and hence the vikings make a fairy tale story nevertheless.
Article Written by Pranya Kaushal
