World Cup Qatar 2022 possible Underdog Teams

The World Cup is closing in and we couldn’t be more excited. Widely regarded as perhaps the most important sporting event in modern history, we get together every four years to watch some of the best players in the world and some of the best teams battle it out for the prestigious cup. And while you have some of the usual candidates such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany, or France, it’s the surprise teams that make things interesting, such as 2002’s Turkey, 2014’s Costa Rica, and arguably, 2018’s Croatia, just to name a few.

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So, who are the possible surprise teams in the upcoming World Cup? Let’s find out.

Ecuador:

The South American World Cup qualifications are viewed as some of the hardest in football these days and it is hard to disagree: every four years we see a lot of competitive teams playing to basically get two secure qualification spots and one for playoffs since Brazil and Argentina are almost always a secure fit. All of that makes Ecuador’s qualification and potential all the more impressive.
The Ecuadorians were in the top four of the table for the vast majority of the competition and they managed to qualify without much issue or even without much fanfare from the specialized press, which is confusing when you consider that they accomplished this with a very interesting crop of young talent that was already making notorious achievements at youth level.
With players such as Brighton’s pair, Moisés Caicedo and Pervis Estupiñán and Real Valladolid’s Gonzalo Plata, as well as veterans such as 34 year old Angel Mena and 32 years old Enner Valencia, plus a country that has become a bit of a mainstay in the competition since their debut back in the 2002 edition, Ecuador has a lot of interesting tools in their arsenal.

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Wales.

Some people have dismissed Wales’ achievements in recent years by calling them “the Gareth Bale team” or emphasizing how much they depend on the former Real Madrid man. And while it is true that Bale plays a monumental role in the team’s performance, their return to the World Cup after so many decades deserves a lot more credit.
Wales already had great exploits in the 2016 Euros and while it is true that they didn’t live up to the hype in the 2021 edition, the reality is that they still managed to have a couple of solid performances. Because, beyond Bale’s input, this is a squad built on graft, hard work, and a noticeable teamwork spirit.
Daniel James has been a reliable outlet for Wales by playing across the attacking front, Aaron Ramsey might not be as good as he used to be but he is still a talented player, Kieffer Moore has delivered time and time again for Wales, Ben Davies is one of their most proven defenders, and young players such as Dylan Levitt or Ethan Ampadu can make a positive impact.
Don’t sleep on Wales, even if they got a difficult group.

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Senegal.

They are in the same group as Ecuador, so there is a very good chance of one of them missing out considering the Netherlands is in this group as well. But when you consider what Senegal has at their disposal, they have the potential to surprise a lot of people.
They are the recent AFCON winners and did so by surprising a lot of fans and experts that didn’t have them as favorites, beating Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in the process (they also beat Egypt in the qualifications), and while a lot of people might be tempted to just highlight Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mané, you also have captain Kalidou Koulibaly, who recently signed for Chelsea after years of excellence with Napoli, Premier League veteran Cheikhou Kouyaté and a talented young winger in Ismaïla Sarr.
Senegal has all the tools to have a very positive impact in the tournament if head coach Aliou Cissé plays his cards well.

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Serbia.

The Serbians have always had great players and you can see many of them in some of the best teams in the world every weekend, but most of the time you feel that they have been underachieving and this World Cup might be their year.
They not only qualified for the competition by finishing first in a group that featured a star-studded Portugal side, but they also did by not losing any games (6 victories and 2 draws in 8 games) and overall delivering some great performances in the process. This highlights the team’s capacity to adapt to several rivals and how well they gel together.
Ajax’s Dusan Tadic, Lazio’s Sergej Milinković-Savić, Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrović, and the Juventus pair of Filip Kostić and Dušan Vlahović are just some of the talented players that this great Serbia side has, and they have enough experience to surprise a lot of people this year.

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Switzerland.

Might be the odd one out of this bunch, but hear me out.
Switzerland not only finished first in a group that featured Italy but, much like Serbia, they didn’t lose a single game (5 victories and 3 draws in 8 games) and were quite solid on a lot of fronts. Add to this the fact that they managed to give a very good showing in the 2021 Euros, eliminating the 2018 World Cup winners and favorites of the competition, France, through a massive comeback and probably giving us the best match of the entire tournament.
Goalkeeper Yan Sommer is already a veteran of the game and a massively underrated keeper at that, Manuel Akanji is a gifted defender that recently got a move to Manchester City, players such as Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka and Chicago Fire’s Xherdan Shaqiri might be hit or miss for their clubs but they have always delivered for the national team and Breel Embolo is a bit of an underrated player, especially considering his evolution in recent years.
Switzerland may not be everybody’s favorite candidate to provide a surprise in this year’s World Cup, but Switzerland definitely has a thing or two that could make things interesting in the competition. Just ask France.

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