By David Owen
December 3 – Qatar 2022, a World Cup of upsets? Well, actually yes, as the group stage draws to a close, the opening phase of this massively controversial tournament has indeed, by one objective yardstick, been the most surprising in recent history.
December 2 – Once again, four-time world champions Germany departed the World Cup in the first round despite a 4-2 victory against Costa Rica in their final group E game with coach Hansi Flick saying that a reboot was needed.
December 2 – Portugal’s players have on average had more playing time in 2022 than any other nation at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, according to a ranking of nations by average number of player minutes in competitive action.
December 2 – Stephanie Frappart made history on Thursday as the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match, taking charge of the Germany vs Costa Rica final group E game at the Al Bayt Stadium.
December 1 – Danish head coach Kasper Hjulmand has blamed the off-the-field controversies at the Qatar World Cup for his team’s failure at the tournament.
By Samindra Kunti in Doha
December 1 – Do Australia have a new golden generation? Yes, at least in the view of Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who hailed his players after a dour 1-0 victory against Denmark was enough to ensure passage to the last 16 of the World Cup, for only the second time in Australia’s history.
December 1 – Almost every game at this World Cup has exceeded 100 minutes in length, but FIFA’s head of referees has defended his referees for the vast amounts of injury time being added.
By Samindra Kunti in Doha
November 30 – With the backdrop of the most politically-charged encounter of the World Cup so far, the United States defeated Iran 1-0 to progress to the last 16. However, the encounter was marred by security incidents as Qatari authorities tried to prevent political protests.
November 30 – On the day of Iran’s exit from the World Cup in Qatar following a 1-0 defeat to the US, the Iranian regime released two former national team footballers who had been arrested for joining nationwide protests prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.
November 30 – BeIN Sports, the broadcast rights holder for the MENA region for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, is claiming more than 111 million viewers tuned in for the Opening Ceremony, while a cumulative total of more than 900 million watched the first 16 group stage games.
November 29 – World Cup boss Hassan Al-Thawadi has said 400-500 migrant workers have died as a result of work done on construction projects, and is sticking by the figure of just three work-related deaths on World Cup projects.
November 29 – A pitch invader with a rainbow flag interrupted the World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay.
November 29 – Five-time world champions Brazil marched on to the knockout phase of the World Cup with a laboured, but ultimately deserved victory against a limited Swiss side with Casemiro delivering the winning strike in the 83rd minute.
By Samindra Kunti in Al Khor
November 28 – Qatari fans staged a protest of their own, targeting Germany by holding pictures of the former Germany player Mesut Özil while covering their mouths during the match against Spain.
November 28 – Following Morocco’s surprise 2-0 victory against Belgium, rioting broke out in Brussels as well as in various Dutch cities as celebrations spilt out of control.