Your World Cup Questions, Answered

The World Cup draw is Friday in Qatar, although the whole area isn’t but full. Whereas we don’t know all of the groups, we do know fairly a bit about how issues will play out. Right here’s a primer on the world’s best sporting spectacle.

When is the World Cup?

The opening match is Nov. 21 (three days earlier than Thanksgiving in the USA). Over the month that follows, all of the video games will happen in a decent circle of eight stadiums in and round Qatar’s capital, Doha, making it essentially the most compact World Cup in historical past.

The ultimate is Dec. 18 — every week earlier than Christmas, which implies the Doha airport on the morning of Dec. 19 goes to appear like the doorway to a Walmart on Black Friday.

Wait, don’t they play the World Cup in July?

They all the time had, till Qatar received it.

Qatar, like the opposite bidders, initially proposed holding the match in its regular summer time window, and brushed apart any suggestion it couldn’t accomplish that with the assistance of cooling know-how that didn’t, on the time, exist. As The Occasions wrote on the day of the vote in 2010:

“Qatar’s bid overcame considerations about warmth that may attain 120 levels there in the summertime. Officers say they may construct air-conditioned stadiums, spending $4 billion to improve three arenas and construct 9 new ones in a compact space linked by a subway system.”

It took greater than 4 years, however in 2015 FIFA, soccer’s world governing physique, finally concluded {that a} summer time World Cup in 120-degree temperatures may carry unneeded issues (like, say, followers and gamers dying) and agreed to maneuver the match to the comparatively cooler months of November and December.

What concerning the league video games that usually happen then?

Oh, the leagues grumbled. Rather a lot. However they misplaced.

The change to winter will disrupt not solely league competitions in Europe and elsewhere, but additionally the profitable UEFA Champions League, and it’ll require beginning seasons earlier or ending them later, or each.

A winter World Cup additionally would depart these professionals who don’t go to Qatar — lower than 800 of the world’s gamers participate — with a midseason break that might lengthen to 2 months, as soon as pretournament camps and friendlies and post-Cup relaxation is factored in.

Fox Sports activities, which paid lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for the USA broadcast rights, must wedge in a month of soccer video games round one other fall sport that tends to demand consideration that point of yr. Perhaps you’ve heard of the N.F.L.?

What number of groups get in?

A complete of 32. They’ll be break up into eight teams of 4. The highest two finishers in every group advance to the spherical of 16. After that, the World Cup is a straight knockout match.

Which international locations have certified?

Qatar certified routinely because the host, and 28 different groups up to now have joined it. These embrace a lot of the largest groups from Europe and South America: England and Germany, Brazil and Argentina, France and Spain.

Canada is in. The US and Mexico joined the sphere on Wednesday evening.

Ukraine may nonetheless go. Russia won’t.

Three locations stay unclaimed. One will come from Europe, the place Ukraine’s playoff towards Scotland was postponed by struggle. These groups will meet in June, with the winner to face Wales for Europe’s ultimate place.

The opposite two entries will come from two intercontinental playoffs that month: Costa Rica will face New Zealand, the Oceania survivor, in a single sport, and Peru, the fifth-place group from South America, will face an Asian group, both Australia or the United Arab Emirates.

Are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo going?

Sure and sure.

Argentina, and Messi, certified in November. However Portugal, and Ronaldo, wanted to sweat out a European playoff after botching its assured path to the finals within the group stage.

Who received’t be there?

Erling Haaland, for one. (Norway didn’t qualify.) Mohamed Salah. (Egypt misplaced to Senegal on penalty kicks for the second time in a month.)

Oh, and Italy. However then that’s not new for them. The Italians missed the 2018 match, too. Whoops.

When will the video games happen?

Qatar is in the identical time zone as Moscow. So no matter technique you used to get up early (or keep up late) for the video games in 2018 will work this time, too. However it is going to imply kickoffs as early as 4 a.m. Jap, and no later than 2 p.m. Jap.

How can I discover out who my group is enjoying?

The World Cup draw is Friday in Qatar. In it, all 29 groups which have certified and the three nonetheless to be decided will probably be positioned in teams. So by the top of the day, you’ll know which three groups your group will face within the group stage, and have a good suggestion of who may await within the knockout rounds.

Who’re the favorites?

The standard suspects certified early, so a lot of them, actually, that our soccer columnist, Rory Smith, wrote in November that “the chances are high that the winner is already there.”

Fairly what the match, riddled with scandal and concern from the day Qatar was introduced because the host, will probably be like can’t but be identified. The identities of the groups who will contest it, although, are — for essentially the most half — extraordinarily acquainted.

Most, if not fairly all, of the standard contenders are already there: a 10-country-strong European contingent led by France, the defending champion, and Belgium, formally the world’s finest group, in addition to the likes of Spain and England and Germany. They’ve been joined by the 2 nice powerhouses of South America, Brazil and Argentina.

Greater than a dozen extra groups have joined the celebration since these sentences had been written final yr. Which is to say that, in March, it’s nonetheless huge open.