The Netherlands, who have been beaten in the finals of the World Cup three times, Senegal, who are the defending African Cup of Nations champions, and hosts Qatar are in the same group as South American qualifiers Ecuador.
When determining who will go on to the round of 16, we look at the predictor numbers to see who will advance through the group stage.
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The Predictions Made by Opta
The Netherlands enter their first encounter at the World Cup 2022 against Senegal having gone undefeated in their previous 15 matches (W11 D4). Their most recent loss came at the hands of the Czech Republic at Euro 2022 in June 2021, when the two teams met in the round of 16 for the competition.
The Dutch have never been eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup in any of their previous 10 efforts; however, they will be competing in the World Cup for the first time in eight years as a result of their failure to qualify for the event that will be held in Russia in 2018.
The Netherlands has participated in most World Cup finals but has never won the tournament. Despite this, they have an impressive record in the group stage, going unbeaten in each of their last four World Cup appearances. Although they have never won the World Cup, they have participated in most World Cup finals (1998, 2006, 2010, 2014). Since their loss to Belgium in the group stage of the World Cup in 1994 in Orlando, they haven’t dropped a match since then. However, despite this setback, they still won their group that year.
As the eighth-best team in the world according to FIFA and having won their qualification group with 23 points out of a possible 30 – only losing once, while playing away in Turkey – our predictor is strongly favoring Dutch progression to the round of 16 at Qatar 2022, giving them an 83.02% chance of getting through and a 59.27% chance of finishing in the first place to make it through to the last 16.
Forecast for the World Cup’s Group A Following their triumph at AFCON 2021 earlier this year, Senegal returns to Qatar as the defending champions of the Africa Cup of Nations. Senegal won the title by defeating Egypt in the final on penalties after the match ended 0-0.
In that competition, they got off to a sluggish start, winning one of their group matches, drawing two of their group matches, and scoring only one, on a penalty kick taken by Sadio Mané in the 97th minute of their first encounter against Zimbabwe.
Although they woke up in the knockout rounds, scoring eight goals between the last 16 and the quarterfinal and semi-final combined, their lackluster performance in the group stage may cause some people to worry that it will happen again in this competition.
On their path to victory in the tournament held in Cameroon in January, they only allowed two goals to be scored against them while playing a total of 660 minutes of football. However, the competition in the World Cup will be much more difficult for them to overcome.
They have a 48.97% probability of qualifying for the round of 16, which is the second greatest chance after the Dutch but is just a hair better than Ecuador (42.13%) and hosts Qatar (25.89%). The Dutch have a 100% chance of making it to the round of 16.
Be sure to subscribe to our channel on YouTube to see all of our most recent videos. The host country of Qatar will seek to avoid becoming just the second host nation in the history of the World Cup to be eliminated in the first round of the competition, after South Africa in 2010.
The Qataris are the current holders of the AFC Asian Cup as a result of their victory over Japan in 2019 final (3-1), scoring 19 goals and conceding only one during the whole tournament – however, that victory occurred nearly four years before their opening match against Ecuador in this tournament, so it is unlikely to be an accurate gauge on how well placed they are to compete in this World Cup.
On paper, at least, their first game, which is against Ecuador, seems to be the one that poses the least amount of difficulty for them.
The South American country enters the competition in respectable form, having lost just once in their previous 14 matches (they will play Iraq in a pre-tournament friendly on November 11), with eight of those matches ending in a draw. Due to the fact that just two goals have been scored in their past five matches, both of which were scored by Ecuador, it is likely that they will not be among the most entertaining teams in the 2022 World Cup. In spite of this, they managed to score 27 goals in the CONMEBOL qualifications, which was their greatest total in a single competition; nonetheless, the altitude disadvantage will work against them in this competition.
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My Prediction for the Opta Million
I believe Qatar will be eliminated in the first round because they won’t be able to compete with the likes of Senegal and the Netherlands. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that they’ll finish in last place in Group A.
My prediction is that Qatar will be joining them in this two-team shortlist in order to compete for the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Previous World Cup hosts have advanced to the second round of the competition in 20 of the previous 21 editions of the tournament, with the exception of South Africa in 2010.
The first game, which Ecuador plays against Qatar, will end in victory for them, but they will not be victorious in their next two games, which are against the Netherlands and Senegal. The Dutch will advance to the next round with nine points from their nine games, while the Senegalese will finish second in the group with six points after winning their final two games against Qatar and Ecuador. The Dutch will advance with nine points from their nine games, while the Senegalese will finish second in the group.
