World Cup Spotlight: Group H
Rounding out the World Cup Groups is Group H, which, in my opinion, is the Group of Death for this World Cup. Four strong teams in Uruguay, Portugal, Ghana, and South Korea will compete for the two knockout round spots. The top spot in this group is up for grabs, and I believe it will make for some big surprises that I will get into below.
Uruguay
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The current Uruguay team is the perfect mix of youth and experience, with World Cup veterans such as Suarez and Godin and skilled youth in Nuñez, Araujo, Valverde, etc. The mix makes them my favorites to win Group H, but it will not be easy. Despite their talent, Uruguay still lacks skilled wingers, both offensively and defensively. Having strong fullbacks is incredibly important in the modern game, so Uruguay not having that will be an issue. However, thanks to their firepower up front and strong central players, Uruguay should still come out on top of Group H.
Portugal
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Remember when I said there would be some surprises in this group? Portugal holds the biggest shock of this group and probably this tournament. Portugal will not make it out of Group H. If you look at Portugal’s team, it is packed with World Class players such as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, and Ruben Dias (I’ll get to Ronaldo later), but watch this team play, and they never look very good.
Even in games they win, it is never convincing, and the wins come from individuals rather than a collective team. This is a massive problem as to beat teams in the World Cup, you cannot rely on individuals, which brings us to the biggest individual in world football and Portugal’s star man, Cristiano Ronaldo. Until now, Portugal has relied heavily on Ronaldo’s performances to win the games. This was not too big of a deal during Ronaldo’s prime, as he willed them to many victories. However, now this cannot be the way Portugal wins games.
Part of me feels as though Ronaldo is partly to blame for this. It would not surprise me if he is unwilling to compromise his role in Portugal’s team for a better outcome, and Portugal will pay the price for this.
Ghana
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I’m sure we all remember the last time Ghana and Uruguay met in a World Cup. Uruguayans will remember it as a heroic Luis Suarez sacrificing himself for the country. In contrast, Ghanaians, and most football fans, will remember it as the ultimate heartbreak and feel cheated out of a World Cup semi-final.
With all this in mind, their meeting in the 2022 Group Stage will be fascinating. Ghana has many things to be optimistic about heading into the tournament, the most important being that they have a strong squad led by dynamic midfielder Thomas Partey. Another important positive is the number of players switching nationalities to play for Ghana in the 2022 World Cup. The players that bring the most value to the Black Stars are Inaki Williams (switching allegiances from Spain to Ghana), Tariq Laptey, Eddie Nketia, and Callum Hudson-Odoi (all switching from England to Ghana). These players are all very good and capable of starting for Ghana immediately. If these players can come in and make the impact everyone expects, Ghana could be a dark horse in this World Cup.
South Korea
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South Korea played spoiler in 2018, knocking out Germany, and they have the chance to do it again with Portugal. Led by star Son Heung Min, South Korea has one of the best players in the world at its disposal. While they might be lacking firepower in other places, South Korea has a disciplined team, as we saw in 2018. They will know what to do to teams and players and stifle their opposition with their tactics. There will be no easy wins against the South Koreans. While they might not make it out of the group over Uruguay and Ghana, South Korea will still leave a mark on the Qatar World Cup.
