# World Cup 2022 - discussion, predictions, and thoughts **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-soccer-fifa\ **Created:** [November 6, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476 "2022-11-06T20:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/461 "2022-11-25T20:53:12Z")
If you search Southgate on Twitter anytime soon, you’re going to see some real heat. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/462 "2022-11-25T20:57:03Z")
If I understand the scoring system correctly, the US is guaranteed to advance with a victory over Iran, and are out with a draw or loss against Iran, regardless of the outcome of England - Wales. Is that correct? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/463 "2022-11-25T20:57:48Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I’ve only started watching a few minutes ago, but is my imagination or England seems to be happy with a draw? They charged hard out of the gate and lost steam as time went on. They’re happy not to lose to the US. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/464 "2022-11-25T20:59:23Z")
The winner of the US-Iran goes through. A draw, means Iran goes through if Wales do not win. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/465 "2022-11-25T21:00:25Z")
After the 371st time the English got hit on the counter attack, it was hard to feel sorry for them. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/466 "2022-11-25T21:12:00Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > If I understand the scoring system correctly, the US is guaranteed to advance with a victory over Iran, and are out with a draw or loss against Iran, regardless of the outcome of England - Wales. Is that correct? I believe you are correct. England advances with a win or draw, or a loss by 2 goals or less. Iran advances with a win or draw. USA advances with a win. Wales has to win by 3 or more goals to have a chance to advance. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/467 "2022-11-25T21:20:48Z")
urgh, tedious game. England not on song at all but The USA were tight, organised and hard to break down. Full marks to them. My own cross-Atlantic work team has been playfully sniping at each other all week, I don’t think the effort expended on that was justified by the game itself. As was just said, All teams still have the chance to go through or go out. Though I think with England they only go out if Wales beat them by 3+ goals _and_ the Iran/USA game isn’t a draw. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/468 "2022-11-25T21:24:42Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Though I think with England they only go out if Wales beat them by 3+ goals I think Wales need to win by 4+ goals to eliminate England, Wales are -2, England are +4 with a higher goals scored. If Wales win by 3, England still have a higher score. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/469 "2022-11-25T21:28:47Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > I think Wales need to win by 4+ goals to eliminate England, Wales are -2, England are +4 bith a higher goals scored. If Wales win by 3, England still have a higher score. You are right, it is goal difference then goals scored then head-to-head so whatever England score, Wales have to score 4 more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/470 "2022-11-25T21:32:46Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > so whatever England score, Wales have to score 4 more than that. That’s what I thought as well, but [this ESPN article](https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=633804) says that England has to avoid a 3-goal defeat. That’s what I based my earlier post on. But I think you guys are right…needs to be at least a 4-goal win by Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/471 "2022-11-25T21:56:51Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > That’s what I thought as well, but [this ESPN article](https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=633804) says that England has to avoid a 3-goal defeat. That’s what I based my earlier post on. > > But I think you guys are right…needs to be at least a 4-goal win by Wales. Yes I think so, a three goal defeat by Wales puts us level on goal difference so goals scored would be the decider. It would have to be at least a 4 goal win for Wales to progress. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/472 "2022-11-25T22:32:19Z")
The US just outplayed England, not by a ton, but the US was clearly the better team today. I find that pretty impressive. Tyler Adams has a limited game, but what he does he does extremely well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Yunus Musah move to a bigger team pretty shortly either. Berhalter not going for the win in the dying minutes is idiotic. A loss and a draw don’t make much difference, while a win would be huge for the US. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/473 "2022-11-25T22:37:02Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > As always, the US has some fast players and has some strong players but that’s about it. As usual, the Americans are—almost without exception—unable to trap any ball unless it’s the slowest, most basic pass creeping along the ground. Their passing is similarly bad and uninspired (as always). Also, this game showed how completely wrong this opinion is. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/474 "2022-11-25T22:55:58Z")
England and The Netherlands are both strong teams. But they did not look better than the US and Ecuador today, both of whom were better than many might have thought. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/475 "2022-11-25T22:58:18Z")
Clearly an “above most expectations” effort by the US. But I can commend neither team for these Shots on Target stats: - England - 3 - USA - 1 Was either team seriously trying to win? ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/476 "2022-11-25T23:00:54Z")
Yes, Wales would have to win by 4+ goals to overtake England. So the realistic hope for Wales is to win their match and have Iran-US be a draw. England, Iran, and Wales would all be on 4 points, and Wales would have better goal difference than Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/477 "2022-11-25T23:26:46Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > So the realistic hope for Wales is to win their match and have Iran-US be a draw. England, Iran, and Wales would all be on 4 points, and Wales would have better goal difference than Iran. I think you are correct. If Iran beats the US, they will advance with six points. Wales would have to beat England by a ridiculous score of something like 4-0, which would give each of them four points. In that scenario, England would have 6 goals for and 6 goals allowed; Wales would have 5 goals for and 3 goals allowed. Wales would advance in that case, but any less of a margin of victory would give the tiebreaker to England. As you say, the realistic hope for Wales is a draw between Iran and the US. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/478 "2022-11-26T05:42:07Z")
Yes, the US clearly was. Shots on goal is often a misleading stat. Sure, while there were only 4 in the whole game, it greatly understates the number of good chances that the US had. It also doesn’t include the Pulisic non-shot that hit the crossbar. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/479 "2022-11-26T12:10:50Z")
England \>\> Iran Wales = US Iran \> Wales England = US Does not compute. This can not be wholly blamed on the psychotic episode of the Welsh goalie alone. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476/480 "2022-11-26T13:49:56Z")
Wow, what a save by Szczęsny after the penalty! Best save of the tournament so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-cup-2022-discussion-predictions-and-thoughts/974476.md?page=25)