World Cup Takeaways: Day 11 - Australia, Argentina, Poland, and France Qualify

Mulan

This is my new series covering the World Cup. I will pick talking points from each gameday to write about. I will most likely write one or two daily posts until the final. Today, I will be talking about the following:

  • Australis vs Denmark

  • Argentina vs Poland

  • Tunisia vs France

  • Saudi Arabia vs Mexico

Australis vs Denmark

I am shocked by Australia's qualification into the next round. Football-wise, tactics-wise, and quality-wise, Australia didn't have anything that could accomplishment outside of Denmark showing up as an exhausted team and Tunisia respecting way too much in the first half of their match.

Denmark was supposed to be the dark horse. But, maybe it was ego that kept them from giving 100% in their matches against Tunisia and Australia. Australia's only positive that I could see is how solid their defense is, even against France as they were receiving one goal after another, the defense looked solid.

Not much else to say about this match really.

Argentina vs Poland

Argentina deserved their win against Poland and honestly, I really wished Argentina would score more goals as Poland was the worst team in this group and among the worst in the World Cup. Poland didn't perform well against the Saudis, or more precisely, Poland were outperformed by the Saudis but their offense was efficient enough to get the goals. Against Mexico, they were even worse, and against Argentina, they were just there physically. Poland didn't give me anything to believe they should have been the team to qualify, but they did.

Argentina on the other hand has a worrying team. Messi wasting the penalty isn't the issue, but the fact that Argentina has almost no attacking shape. I will talk more about this in a post later today. But, even though I want Argentina to win the World Cup out of love for Messi, they're still not in the top 5 teams likely to win.

Tunisia vs France

A historical win for Tunisia as they defeat France but without qualifying.

Tunisia lost their qualification in their match against Australia as they left the Aussies to do what they want for most of the first half despite having better players in all three areas of the pitch. Their win against France shows that they had that quality even though this French isn't even their second, but the third-best team as France had top stars injured before the World Cup.

Tunisia's offense is problematic as their decisions up front don't seem to be coordinated. The second-to-last touch and third-to-last touches are huge problems that I could wager that Tunisia would have won against Australia and Denmark if they had a few strategies in the final third. Still, Tunisia did something that could be built upon for the future as Tunisia's squad is relatively young. Accumulated experience is required to build mentality and that's what Tunisia needs.

Saudi Arabia vs Mexico

Saudia Arabia could have been the team playing their second team against Mexico as they did outplay Poland in their match against them. Yes, I remember Poland's two times hitting the post, but those came after 3-4 chances for Saudi Arabia that should have been goals.

Arab teams have problematic stamina as players looked exhausted by the time they faced Mexico. Saudi also gave the ball the Mexico which they shouldn't have as Mexico is the kind of team that slowly crumbles when they don't have the ball, that was a big mistake. Also, they went into the match playing the same way they played Argentina, but those are two different teams and finally, Mexico's wingers weren't challenged much by Saudi Arabia, tactically.

Arab teams also seem to have a problem with expectations. As we saw with Qatar, once you expect too much from Arabic teams, they don't deliver as they don't seem built to handle pressure. Also, many Arab teams don't prepare themselves well ahead of big tournaments. Arabs also don't know how to manage themselves upon victory.

As we also saw with Saudi and Tunisia, Arabs' game-to-game tactics were also mismanaged. Also, most of what makes teams perform well ahead of big tournaments are actually not done on the pitch. There's actually physical preparation, mental preparation, daily routines, and many more things.

Saudi Arabia's departure is a loss to the World Cup as their crowds were really a breath of fresh air to have. Arabs hosted the best organized World Cup to date and were the first to get disqualified from it.

The difference between Qatar and Saudi Arabia shows that the national team is only the final product and that you shouldn't focus your millions on that team's friendlies rather than building infrastructure such as a competitive league that improves the players naturally.

A truly sad day for me as an Arab.



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I think even in the West the win against Argentina will always go down in memory as one of the greatest upsets but the way they played was even better. Saudi Arabia were quality against Argentina. And with Ronaldo heading down your way I think there will now be more focus on football in Arab countries. Good to see.

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Denmark was supposed to be the dark horse. But, maybe it was ego that kept them from giving 100% in their matches against Tunisia and Australia.

I’m very disappointed in Denmark. They were labelled the dark horses and it’s surprising they’re out this early. Maybe the hype got to them.

Argentina deserved their win against Poland and honestly, I really wished Argentina would score more goals as Poland was the worst team in this group and among the worst in the World Cup. Poland didn't perform well against the Saudis, or more precisely, Poland were outperformed by the Saudis but their offense was efficient enough to get the goals.

😂 I thought I was the only one that realized Poland are not a good team. They were losing the ball for fun in the game against Argentina and you could tell it was only a matter of time. How Saudi didn’t win that game amazes me but then if you don’t take your chances and give similar to players like Lewandowski you’re certainly getting punished.

A historical win for Tunisia as they defeat France but without qualifying.

To say I’m surprised France lost this is an understatement. If you had given me 10 guesses, I wouldn’t guess even once Tunisia would win. Maybe it has something to do with France making changes but then we should give credit where it’s due.

Arab teams also seem to have a problem with expectations. As we saw with Qatar, once you expect too much from Arabic teams, they don't deliver as they don't seem built to handle pressure. Also, many Arab teams don't prepare themselves well ahead of big tournaments. Arabs also don't know how to manage themselves upon victory.

You’re probably right about this. I was hoping Saudi Arabia will qualify. They gave their all in their first 2 games and maybe playing at such a high tempo caught up to them.

I enjoyed reading your posts and will be looking out for more episodes of your new series.😁

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