Every four years, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) hosts the World Cup, a football tournament where 32 teams go head to head for the prestigious World Cup trophy.

The 2022 World Cup is being held in Qatar with eight fully air-conditioned stadiums. Usually, the World Cup is in the summer, but because Qatar reaches temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s dangerous for athletess to play in those conditions. FIFA received major backlash when they announced the tournament was being held in the winter. “Summer time is known as the World Cup time so it is definitely weird watching the games in the winter and at school,” junior Omar Jobe said.

There has also been controversy regarding the building of the stadiums. migrant workers have died during construction, and their bodies have reportedly been buried inside the stadiums.

Despite these issues, students like me have been watching the World Cup during class, but surprisingly, teachers have been lenient with it, and some put the games on.

The opening game saw host Qatar facing Ecuador. Qatar lost in a poor performance, and they became the first team to lose their opening game ever. Ecuador’s Ener Valencia put on an excellent performance, scoring in the first three minutes, and later scoring in the 16th minute. As of now, the group stages have been completed with surprising wins from underdogs. In Group C, Argentina was stunned by a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in their opening game. Argentina had three goals disallowed in the first half but was outplayed in the second half. After that game, King Salman of Saudi Arabia declared the next day a national holiday in celebration of beating Argentina. Another upset was in Group E, with Japan defeating Germany and Spain. “This was a setback for Argentina, but they came back and topped the group which was amazing,” junior Kasra Dokhaee said.

The U.S. men’s national team came into the tournament with a young squad with an average age of 25. Their opening game against Wales was a wild one. They went up in the 36th minute with a goal from Timothy Weah, but a silly mistake from center-back Walker Zimmerman led to a penalty for Wales. Gareth Bale stepped up to the spot and tucked the ball into the top right corner. The next game was the real test against England. It was slow throughout the game, with both teams playing well. The game ended 0-0 with praise from others for USMNT because they didn’t let a strong England side score.

Because they tied both games, the third game against Iran was a must-win in order to advance to the round of 16. The game started off at a fast pace. In the 38th minute, a beautiful header from Dest was directed toward Pulisic, and he tapped it in for the goal. American fans were going crazy, but when Pulisic scored, he had a collision with the goalie and was in pain. The game ended 1-0 with a great performance from the USA. Fans later learned that Pulisic had suffered a pelvic contusion injury but would be back for the round of 16 game against the Netherlands, which the USA would go on to lose 3-1. Although the USA was eliminated, there was lots of praise for a team that was always looked down on.

As of today, three out of the four final games have been drawn with two games on Dec. 9. The first game is Brazil vs Croatia and the other is Netherlands vs Argentina. The third game is France vs England, which will be a very interesting game. Let’s hope teachers remain lenient.