World Cup 2022
Some thoughts about the "World Cup" - with a free app for you, containing schedules, times and scores - always available and updated on your smartphone.
Hello,
You haven’t heard from me in a while. Sondra and I recently returned from spending a week each in London, Paris and Israel. The trip went well; I may talk about it in the future, but right now I want to share some impressions about the World Cup in Qatar, currently being streamed here in New York City by Verizon channels 505 (Fox NYW) or 585 (FS1 HD).
Assuming you have any interest in the World Cup, you might be intrigued by the following: Since I am retired and at leisure, I can indulge my whims and follow the World Cup, which I am doing. Having the freedom to follow my fancy wherever it takes me, allows me to try and understand how the World Cup works. It’s rather complicated but somehow the International Football Association (FIFA) has devised a schedule of 64 games that will produce a winner — the country that has fielded the world’s best soccer/football team.
To assist me in my understanding, I have created something using Substack that I can carry with me and always have the World Cup information available and updated automatically. I now share it with you as part of this Substack email. Opening my email opens my free World Cup app. It consists of the image below and 8 interactive buttons. I now proceed to display it, describe it, and give you tips on how to use it for the 2022 World Cup.
My World Cup App
It might appear that this image — an annotated display of the entire World Cup schedule — is much too small on your smartphone to be of any value whatsoever. However, the Substack platform maintains excellent detail while enlarging an image (using two fingers to touch and ‘spread out’ the smartphone’s screen). You should have no difficulty reading the schedule with all the associated details. (At least, I can do so easily with my iPhone. If you have difficulty with your smartphone, please contact me, I would love to know more.)
As detailed by the image, the ‘schedule’ for the 2022 World Cup runs from Sunday, November 20 to the final championship game on Sunday, December 18. It is divided into two segments, initially a “Group Stage” of 48 games, and finally a “Knockout Round” of an additional 16 games. Through a process that I have no motivation whatsoever to understand, every 4 years, countries around the world set up national teams to “qualify” for the World Cup. Thirty-two countries have qualified for 2022 and gone off to Qatar. There, by some complicated formula, these 32 countries have been divided into 8 groups, of 4 countries each. In each group of 4 teams, each team plays each other in the group, what’s known as a ‘round robin’. This takes 6 games per group, (or 48 games overall). Since no more than 4 games can be played each day, it takes 13 days to complete the initial “Group Stage”.
For example, the World Cup began last Sunday, with the host Qatar (QAT) playing Ecuador (ECU). They started at 11 AM New York time and I recorded the scores in red. The next day (the 21st), 3 more games were played, with the New York starting times in yellow and the scores in red. Starting on the 22nd, 4 games per day were being played. That daily 4 game schedule will continue until the end of the “Group Stage” on December 2nd. (That is 7 days from today, November 26, when I post this email through Substack.)
At the end of the Group Stage, an algorithm is employed which eliminates half of these 32 countries by only retaining the winner and runner-up of each of the 8 ‘groups’. Countries finishing in the ‘3rd’ or ‘4th’ position in their group do not advance. (Again, while I have no desire to completely understand the algorithm, a cursory looks shows it to be completely fair and unbiased.)
The surviving 16 countries now enter the “Knockout Round”, where an ultimate winner occurs in standard tournament fashion. Only a maximum of two games per day are scheduled.
For example, two games are scheduled on Saturday, December 3rd. At 10 AM, the winner of Group A plays the runner up of Group B; then at 2 PM, the winner of Group C plays the runner up of Group D, etc. (Note: ‘???’ and ‘-’ are merely ‘place holders’ for future information and data. It holds the place for the results of future games, whose outcome is still unknown. It is my intention — though it cannot be considered a promise — to update the names of the winners and the scores daily on the image. That is, if someone asks me to do so. If no one asks, I won’t bother.) This update will appear automatically on your phone; you need not do anything, merely reopening this Substack email will be enough.
At the bottom of the image, you will see the actual names and 3 letter symbols of the countries dealt out into the 8 groups, ‘A’ through ‘H’. You should notice the the groups and the games displayed on the schedule are color-coded.
Finally, the app includes a portal to FIFA’s update on WikiPedia. For instance, yesterday, the USA, in group B, tied England ‘0 to 0’ in their game. If I tap ‘B’, I will get the latest standing of that group — remember, only the top two will advance.
Some Thoughts About Watching the 2022 World Cup
So far, I have seen, either in its entirety or in part, each game scheduled to date. That comes to 24 games, indicating that I am almost 40 percent of the way through the World Cup. (I send this post out after the Saturday afternoon game of Argentina vs Mexico.) If you do ‘get into’ the World Cup, then prepare yourself for a true ‘binge’. To follow it closely will require a significant investment of time, like watching over 150 episodes of a streaming addictive drama or soap opera.
Although I have a passing familiarity with International soccer and like to watch premier League games on TV, this ‘immersion’ in the World Cup makes me realize the importance of team play in soccer. The international super stars — Mbappe, Ronaldo, Messi, De Bruyne, Lewandowski — with notable exceptions, in general, are not standing out. The teams seem to do better as teams rather than as collections of super stars.
I like to connect moments in my life that seem curiously coincidental, one event recalling another, occurring in quick succession. I guess it gives life a mystery or sense of awe that I relish. In London, Sondra and I took a day trip to Cambridge, and took a walk through the town. Our walk, that I researched and mapped out, took us to the edge of “Parker's Piece”. This is a field, in town, now a park, where college students in the mid-19th century, first formally played the game of ‘foot ball’ under rules agreed upon and codified. I like stumbling on those connections (World Cup interest and touching Parker’s Piece) that happen so soon. I like the illusion that there is meaning behind every event. It’s comforting.
I’ve never ‘been into’ sports. Sondra follows her teams closely and with much more passion. Nonetheless, I cannot avoid comparing the soccer I am seeing in the World Cup with football, baseball and basketball. In contrast to these other sports, soccer does not use either hands or arms, other than throwing in from the sideline. In fact, even an accidental brush of the ball with a hand or arm can result in the dreaded ‘hand ball’, a severe penalty for what otherwise seems to be a minor unavoidable infraction of the rules. Nonetheless, it can easily produce the loss of a game. As a result, it seemed to me, (watching the World Cup from the 80 year old seat of wisdom that I can now rightly claim), that soccer players run around with their hands limp at their sides. It’s like they are ashamed of them or don’t know what to do with them. Rather then swinging purposely in stride, a player’s arms seemed like long limp noodles attached at the shoulders. Perhaps that conscious looseness mitigates against the reflex to protect yourself from a soccer ball coming straight to your head. I suspect that showing such a reflexive response makes it easier for the referee to call a “hand ball” penalty. How easy it was to think of soccer as less than fully masculine, and soccer players as awkward and even sissified, despite the violence of the challenges and tackles. But perhaps I’m not being fair. Could soccer be the ultimate civilized expression of masculinity, where you are rewarded for controlling or inhibiting your natural impulses; even if they seem at the time, self-protective?
The World Cup makes me feel optimistic about planet earth and mankind’s future progress. I admire the efforts to plan the World Cup and bring any plans into fruition. I appreciate the certain elegant beauty in the design of the World Cup. I like the intensity and the intimacy shown on TV between the players and the spectators. I’m aware of its history, starting humbly in 1930 in little Uruguay to become the multi billion enterprise of today. I’m happy to see humankind satisfying it’s impulses peacefully, working creatively and cooperatively together. I know it’s not perfect, and there are prices to be paid for cruelty and callousness, but it’s getting better.
Finally, I found that having this World Cup app on my smartphone was helpful and increased my watching pleasure. It was nice to watch the game unfold while always keeping the big picture in view. That was my experience. I hope you will find it to be yours also. Let me know what you think and please pass on this email to anyone you think might have an interest. You can do this by clicking the ‘share’ or ‘forward’ icon below.
Arnold