The 2022 FIFA World Cup began on Sunday, and football fans around world have already been blessed with plenty of dramatic talking points. Just five games into the tournament there have been 17 goals and more than an hour’s worth of time added on altogether due to injuries and referees’ attempts to clamp down on time-wasting.
England opened their campaign with a convincing 6-2 win against Iran on Monday, while Wales came from behind late-on to earn a point from their clash with USA. Tuesday’s games opened with the first big upset of the tournament, as underdogs Saudi Arabia stunned Argentina with a well-fought 2-1 win thanks to Salem Al Dawsari’s rocket eight minutes into the second half.
This tournament is the 22nd FIFA World Cup, which has taken place every four years since 1930 – other than 1942 and 1946 when it was cancelled due to the Second World War. Following this year’s competition in Qatar, the next World Cup is due to take place in 2026, when the number of teams competing will be increased to 48 teams from the usual 32.
It will be joint hosted by three North American countries, the United States, Cananda, and Mexico, who beat Morocco in the bid to host the tournament in a 2018 ballot, where the joint bid received 134 votes to Morocco’s 65. The tournament’s matches will take place in 16 cities across the three nations, including Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Dallas in the US and Vancouver and Toronto in Canada.
The games in Mexico will take place in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Sixty matches – including every game from the quarter final onwards – is set to be played in the US, with Canada and Mexico each hosting 10 matches each.
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It will mark the first World Cup to be held by more than one nation since Japan and South Korea hosted the 2002 tournament. It will also be the first time the tournament will be hosted by more than two nations.
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