After match day 1 it's time to make a confederation check for the first time
UEFA (7 wins/4 draws/2 losses)
once again Europe proved its dominance; good results overall!
The top teams all get their jobs done, some of them in great fashion (England & Spain). The only big flop is Germany but I don't consider us a top team anymore, we are I think 11th in the world ranking and this is still flattering us. We should be around 20th place at best. Belgium was awful but they still won... with referee support
Wales drew which is better for them than it is for the USA, cause Wales faces England in the last match day so I suppose England might be qualified already when they meet each other
Croatia and Denmark had a hard time again strong African teams, but I am still confident they will both advance
Poland are always potential chokers but a draw against Mexico is alright, everything is possible
Both Switzerland and Serbia were alright, but sadly they will cancel each other out.
CONMEBOL (2 wins/1 draw/1 loss)
now this is very mixed... one of the big favorites lived up to the expectations, the other one collapsed.
Ecuador I think was doing very well. it's simple to say Qatar is crap but anyway finishing them within 20 minutes in such a clinical way impressed me. Uruguay however probably hoped for a win. Fight for second place in that group is pretty open.
AFC (2 wins/1 draw/3 losses)
beside the UEFA I think AFC is the winner of match day 1... I think most of us did not have high expectations regarding Asian teams and looking at the draw it seems possible that all of them get eliminated after group stage. I personally expected Iran to have the most realistic chances.
Now Saudi Arabia and Japan achieved historical results and all of sudden both are realistic contenders for the Round of 16. South Korea did well too and proved their are competitive in their group. Australia did as good as their could against a team like France. Maybe they could have surprised if they didn't make a lot of individual mistakes. Qatar disappointed but tbf even if their did their best, they couldn't make it out of the group. Iran flopped hard... the quality of the opponent is not an excuse. But still... this was the match they are "allowed" to lose .. the next two matches are the crucial ones for them
CAF (0 wins/2 draws/3 losses)
African teams were not bad, but kind of unlucky. Ghana has a young team and their showed a great mentality and reaction after the goals they conceded. They never gave up. Senegal was on a par with Netherlands until Mendy lost it for them. Cameroon from what I've heard did okay.. they were just a little too harmless.
Big respect to Morocco and Tunisia though. They faced two of the so-called dark horses from Europe and were absolutely competitive. Actually Tunisia was the slightly better side in the match against Denmark.
Despite unlucky results all teams apart from Cameroon stand realistic chances to qualify... Imagine four African teams in Round of 16. Well, I guess two will make it. Senegal and Morocco
CONCACAF (0 wins/2 draws/2 losses)
I said African teams were unlucky but the unluckiest team is for sure Canada who applied to become one of my favorite teams of the WC. USA should have done better, especially after the good first half. Mexico was saved by their World Cup legend Ochoa. Costa Rica was helpless. CONCACAF is the confederation I fear that might flop in the end. I can see all four teams going out after group stage.
OFC
Antarctica Football Association
has reached a low point. Yesterday only 9,23 million watched the match against
