Mariagabriela Gracia y Darwin Silva
The Qatar 2022 World Cup has begun and with it a great expectation to know what this great sporting event will offer us. For almost a month, all of us soccer fans will be waiting to see what Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will do, who will score the best goal of the World Cup, whether France will be able to end the curse of the champion in Qatar 2022, among many other things that the World Cup will reveal to us day after day.
Here are the 5 champions who have fallen victim to the champion’s curse.
Will France End the World Champion’s Curse at Qatar 2022? Here is our forecast
It all started with the France team at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan.
France arrived at the 2002 World Cup with the best credentials, everything was a success for what at the time was considered the best soccer team on the planet. Having won the 1998 World Cup in France and then gone on to win Euro 2000, there was no doubt that this was a team that would put on a great performance at Korea/Japan 2022.
In addition, having Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Claude Makélélé, David Trezeguet, among other players who enjoyed great seasons with their respective teams, made France a sure candidate to reach the Round of 16.
But the unthinkable happened, the defending champions failed to win a single game in the group stage of the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup and worse, failed to score a single goal.
In the first match against Senegal, France was defeated 1-0. The game against Uruguay was tied and finally, the duel against Denmark ended in a resounding failure when they lost 2-0.
In this way, the French national team went from being a clear candidate to compete for the top places at the 2002 FIFA Cup to becoming one of the first teams to go home empty-handed, thus beginning the Curse of the Champions.
2. The Italian team also fell victim to the champion’s curse
South Africa was in charge of organizing a World Cup for the first time on African soil. The excitement of organizers, fans and players was overflowing in every corner of the planet Earth, everyone was moving to the rhythm of Shakira’s famous Waka Waka.
Everything was prepared for the excitement of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa on July 11, 2010.
Italy, the defending champions, although they had not performed well at UEFA EURO 2008, arrived in South Africa as one of the favorites to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Their favoritism was backed by their magnificent track record in the history of the World Cup, which includes a quadruple championship and several runner-up finishes.
Unfortunately, in South Africa 2010 Italy was one of the worst teams and did not win a single match. La forza azzurra drew 1-1 with Paraguay and New Zealand, while against Slovakia they lost 3-2.
Not even being placed in an accessible group was enough for Italy to show a good performance. This team was harshly criticized in their country and went down in history as one of the teams that was affected by the curse of the champion.
3. The tiki taka was not enough for Spain to win the World Cup Brazil 2014.
After surprising the world at South Africa 2010, the Spanish national team arrived in Brazil as the big favorites. Everyone assumed that Spain’s national soccer team, coming off the back of winning the 2010 FIFA Cup and being crowned European champions during 2008 and 2012, would put on a great show, leading them to a top 4 finish at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
Unfortunately, these predictions did not come true, and the Spanish national team lost in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, putting an end to a golden era in which everything seemed to go well for La Roja.
Brazil 2014 was a World Cup that the Spanish national team will not want to remember. They lost to the Netherlands by a 5-1 drubbing. They also lost to Chile, allowing 2 goals and failing to score any. Already eliminated and saving their honor, the Spanish team defeated Australia with a score of 3-0.
4. Germany could not overcome the curse of the champion at Russia 2018
An event happened at the Russia 2018 World Cup that had not happened before. For the first time in history, Germany was knocked out of the group stage of a World Cup. In 1938, the Teutonic team also went home in the first round, but that tournament was not played with teams divided in groups.
The ever-powerful German national team was unrecognizable at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Germany opened with a 1-0 defeat against Mexico. They then took a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Sweden, and in the end they left a big surprise, losing 2-0 to South Korea.
The German media and press described the national team’s performance as a disgrace, a historic disgrace, and no one could have imagined that the curse of the champion would strike the four-time world champions.
But as it was, Germany exited the Russia 2018 World Cup by the back door. The big ones also have their bad World Cups.
5. Will France be able to break the curse of the champion in Qatar 2022?
The French national team emerged champions at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and arrives in Qatar with many eyes on them. The public wants to know if the French national team will be able to break the curse of the champion at Qatar 2022.
The cards have been dealt and France looks able to break this curse at Qatar 2022 with goals.
The French team made its debut in Qatar 2022 against Australia and showed all its power, 4 goals scored and 1 conceded are enough reasons to think that the curse of the champion in Qatar 2022 will not be able to stop the team that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The French national team showed they had enough soccer to get through the group stage with ease. Indeed, if Griezmann grows as the World Cup progresses and the team relies much more on the immense talent of Ousmane Dembélé and trust on him to command France offense, then they will have a quartet up front that will be very difficult for opposing defenses to stop.
France will end the curse of the champion at Qatar 2022 and will undoubtedly be among the top 4 teams at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
What do you think? Will France end the curse of the champion at Qatar 2022? Let us know what you think.
If you found our article about the curse of the champion in Qatar 2022 interesting, then you can’t miss the 5 best movies about the World Cup. You have to watch them all!
