In this year's World Cup, there is only one team participating for the first time, the host country Qatar . The other 31 teams all have World Cup experience. However, in comparison, there are still two teams that are more special. They are , Wales, and Canada. Other teams such as Germany, Brazil, and Argentina are all veterans of the World Cup. Even second- and third-rate teams like Morocco, Tunisia, and have participated in the World Cup four or five times. But Wales and Canada are only participating in the World Cup for the second time. In other words, they have little more experience than Qatar.
It’s hard to speculate on how a team like this with little World Cup experience can fare, because the relevant examples are too extreme, like a roller coaster. For example, North Korea became a dark horse in the first World Cup, but failed in the second time; and Turkey was defeated in the first time in the World Cup, but actually made it to the semi-finals in the second time. Therefore, it is difficult to say what the prospects of Wales and Canada, as teams participating in the World Cup for the second time, will be.
Since horizontal comparison is difficult, let’s compare vertically. Based on the team's historical results, speculate on their prospects. Taking Wales as an example, we can look at their performance in major competitions.
Wales is not a traditional strong team, so up to now, they have participated in three major competitions, namely the 1958 World Cup, the 2016 European Cup and the 2021 European Cup. If we look at Wales' results in these three competitions, we will find the fact that Wales advanced from the group in all three competitions.
Let’s look at the last two European Cups first. In the 2016 European Cup, Wales entered the semi-finals for the first time and became the biggest dark horse of that European Cup. Especially in the group stage, they also won first place, and the one behind them happened to be England.
In the 2021 European Cup, although Wales lost to Denmark in the quarter-finals 0:4, no matter what, they at least advanced from the group. You know, this is only their second time participating in the European Cup.
Okay, let’s watch the World Cup again. In the 1958 World Cup, Wales, as a new team, won three consecutive draws in the group stage. At that time, if the points were equal, it would not be compared to the goal difference or head-to-head record, but a direct extra game. In the extra round, Wales defeated Hungary 2:1 and got a ticket to the quarterfinals.
In the quarter-finals, it was an honor for Wales to lose, because they lost to the eventual champion Brazil, and the score was only 1:0.
Looking at Wales’ experience in the three competitions, it can be said that their competition temperament is very high. In the three participations, the group promotion rate has actually remained at 100%. This is better than many strong teams. From this fact, we can infer that in this year's World Cup, Wales will continue its tradition of major competitions and continue to advance from the group.
Judging from the situation of this group, Wales has a high probability of advancement. In addition to the strong strength of England, the three opponents, the United States and Iran , are all inferior to Wales. As long as Wales performs normally, they will have a high probability of qualifying. Through comparison, we can see that this group is easier than Wales' previous three competition groups.
hopes that Wales can maintain its tradition by then, and also hopes that the Great Sage can perform well.
