2022 FIFA World Cup Group F
Group F of the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place from 23 November to 1 December 2022.[1] The group consisted of Belgium, Canada, Morocco and Croatia.[2] The top two teams, Morocco and Croatia, advanced to the round of 16, and later reached the semi-finals.[3] Morocco advanced to the knockout stage for the first time since 1986. By winning the group, they became the first African team to do so since Nigeria in 1998. Belgium failed to advance out of the group round for the first time, also since 1998.[4]
The two teams that progressed out of the group, Croatia and Morocco, eventually faced each other again in the third-place play-off game, with Croatia winning 2–1.[5]
Teams
| Draw position | Team | Pot | Confederation | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
FIFA Rankings[6] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2022[nb 1] | October 2022 | |||||||||
| F1 |  Belgium |
1 | UEFA | UEFA Group E winners | 13 November 2021 | 14th | 2018 | Third place (2018) | 2 | 2 |
| F2 |  Canada |
4 | CONCACAF | CONCACAF Third Round winners | 27 March 2022 | 2nd | 1986 | Group stage (1986) | 38 | 41 |
| F3 |  Morocco |
3 | CAF | CAF Third Round winners | 29 March 2022 | 6th | 2018 | Round of 16 (1986) | 24 | 22 |
| F4 |  Croatia |
2 | UEFA | UEFA Group H winners | 14 November 2021 | 6th | 2018 | Runners-up (2018) | 16 | 12 |
Notes
- ^ The rankings of March 2022 were used for seeding for the final draw.
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco
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3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | Advanced to knockout stage |
| 2 | Croatia
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3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 5 | |
| 3 | Belgium
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3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Canada
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 |
In the round of 16:
- The winners of Group F, Morocco, advanced to play the runners-up of Group E, Spain.
- The runners-up of Group F, Croatia, advanced to play the winners of Group E, Japan.
Matches
All times listed are local, AST (UTC+3).[1]
Morocco vs Croatia
The two teams had faced each other once in a 1996 friendly match, which ended 2–2. They would then go on to play in the 3rd place match, the second straight tournament where the 3rd place match consisted of two teams drawn in the same group.
          Morocco
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    Croatia
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Belgium vs Canada
The two teams had faced each other once in 1989 in a friendly game, with Belgium winning 2–0. Canada's manager, Englishman John Herdman, became the first manager to coach a team in both the men's and women's World Cup.[8]
Near the end of the first half, Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the match following a long-range pass upfield from defender Toby Alderweireld. Despite dominating the game and having 19 attempts on goal, including a penalty kick saved by Thibaut Courtois, Canada could not score.[9]
     Belgium
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   Canada
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Belgium vs Morocco
The teams had met in three matches including once in the World Cup, in Belgium's 1–0 group stage victory in 1994.
In the 73rd minute Romain Saïss put Morocco into the lead when he glanced the ball in at close range after a free-kick wide out on the left from Abdelhamid Sabiri deceived Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at the near post.[11] Zakaria Aboukhlal made it 2–0 in added time when he finished high to the right corner of the net after a cut-back from Hakim Ziyech on the right.[12] This was the third victory for Morocco in World Cup history.
The Belgian defeat sparked riots back in Belgium, with residents fires and fireworks being set off.[13][14]
Belgium
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     Morocco
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Croatia vs Canada
The two teams had never met before. Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first-ever World Cup goal in the second minute with a header after a cross from the right to give Canada the lead.[16] Goals by Marko Livaja, Lovro Majer and two by Andrej Kramarić for Croatia completed a 4–1 victory.[17] Davies' strike was the fastest goal in the tournament at 68 seconds.[18]
Croatia
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  Canada
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Croatia vs Belgium
The two teams had faced each other eight times, most recently in 2021, a 1–0 win for Belgium in a friendly game.
Belgium was unable to capitalize in their match against Croatia in a 0–0 draw, which led to their group-stage exit.
Croatia
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Belgium
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Canada vs Morocco
The two teams had faced each other three times, most recently in 2016, in a friendly game, Morocco won 4–0.
Canada and hosts Qatar were the only teams to fail to earn at least a point at this World Cup. Canada remains winless at World Cups with six losses. Nayef Aguerd became the first player to score an own goal in the 2022 World Cup.
   Canada
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Morocco
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Discipline
Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if teams' overall and head-to-head records were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:[2]
- first yellow card: −1 point;
- indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- direct red card: −4 points;
- yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
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| Croatia
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2 | −2 | |||||||||||
| Morocco
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1 | 1 | −2 | ||||||||||
| Belgium
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3 | 1 | 1 | −5 | |||||||||
| Canada
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2 | 2 | 4 | −8 | |||||||||
References
- ^ a b "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Match Schedule" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Regulations – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "The route to the World Cup final at Qatar 2022". FIFA. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "No. 2 Belgium fail to reach knockout stage at 2022 World Cup". Sportsnet.ca. Associated Press. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "World Cup: Croatia beat Morocco to seal third-place finish". BBC Sport. 16 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ "Men's Ranking". FIFA. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- ^ "Deadlock at Al Bayt as Morocco hold Croatia". FIFA. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
- ^ @DAZN_CA (27 March 2022). "John Herdman becomes the first manager to lead both women's and men's national teams of a nation to World Cup qualification" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 April 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Belgium run ragged by Canada but Michy Batshuayi strikes to grab victory". The Guardian. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Belgium edge courageous Canadians". FIFA. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
- ^ "World Cup 2022 - Belgium 0-2 Morocco: Romain Saiss and Zakaria Aboukhlal power Morocco to shock victory". Sky Sports. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ "Belgium 0 Morocco 2:As it happened". Guardian. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ "Twelve detained after Belgium-Morocco World Cup riots in Brussels". www.euractiv.com. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Riots erupt in Brussels after Morocco stun Belgium at World Cup". The 42. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ "Budweiser Player of the Match". FIFA. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ "Croatia 4 Canada 1:As it happened". Guardian. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ Athletic, The. "Croatia vs Canada live updates". The Athletic. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Alphonso Davies and the fastest World Cup goals". FIFA. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
- ^ "Davies breaks Canada duck but Croatia claim victory". FIFA. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ "Belgium out after Croatia stalemate". FIFA. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ "Morocco edge Canada to win Group F". FIFA. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
External links
