It's been 10 days since my last participation post in Hivebuzz World Cup. My health has been bad, but physically it's getting better the last few days so I have decided to try to post again.

The Hivebuzz World Cup Leaderboard/Ranking has changed a lot. I find myself out from top 50 😂 and @Bombus has lost his pole position and he isn't on top 10 too. There are new faces on the top 5, and the competition has became very intense. I see my Splinterlands friends @anif1908 @ramadhanight and @mcrahman91 are on middle and @poplar-22 just joined the race. Good luck to you guys.

So what will we talk about now? The Group A and The Group B Result.

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THE GROUP A RESULT

Rank	Team	Win	Draw	Lost	Points	Goals	Conceded	Goals Diff.
1	Netherlands	2	1	-	7	5	1	4
2	Senegal	2	-	1	6	5	4	1
3	Ecuador	1	1	1	4	4	3	1
4	Qatar	-	-	3	-	1	7	(6)

Netherland manages to come up as the Group Leader, finishing all 3 matches without any defeat. Their statistic is awesome however I do not think they are ready for the next stage. Their second match against Ecuador was very lucky, They got a draw where the match was onesided dominated by Ecuador. They should have lost that match.

My opinion about Netherlands : They won't make it to final. Something off with their attacks. I often see them losing a flare then they become dull without any creativity. They always maintain high possession but can not come up with any decisive move.

On the other hand, I am rooting for Senegal. I was very upset when Senegal lost their first match against Netherlands. It's very shameful, they lost 0-2 not because Netherlands outplayed them but they lost concentration in the last 10 minutes. However after that lost, they became better and better. They always play attacking football, play openly and score many goals.

My opinion about Senegal : If only Mane can play in this World Cup, they are one of my favorite candidate for the Champion. They won't make it to final too however any match against them will be worthy to be watch, because we will see many goals there. They won't play negative / defensive football, always play fast direct attacking and they dare themselves to play openly to press out their opponents.

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THE GROUP B RESULT

Rank	Team	Win	Draw	Lost	Points	Goals	Conceded	Goals Diff.
1	England	2	1	-	7	9	2	7
2	USA	1	2	-	5	2	1	1
3	Iran	1	-	2	1	4	7	(3)
4	Wales	-	1	2	-	1	6	(5)

To be honest, I do not like this group. England and USA manage to get through to the knockout phase, the top 16. however the bottom 2 look very bad, the point gap between the top 2 and bottom 2 is big. So this group is kind of having 2 good team who are guaranteed to pass through and 2 other team who are just some fillers. But don't get this wrong, both England and USA are very strong team.

My opinion about Netherlands : England is one of the champion contender of this tournament. They are a complete team, having top notch talents for all positions except the manager 🤣 I hope in this World Cup 2022 they can get onto Final.

My opinion about USA : USA is a solid team, they play a very textbook-orthodox style and this maybe their weakness because they are relying so much on certain top talented individuals. When certain individuals unfit or somehow can not perform well, the team can not work well too. That's why we often see USA has a consistency issue.

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THE MATCH #1 NETHERLAND VS USA

The first match in knockout stage is Netherlands vs USA and I have a high confidence saying that NETHERLANDS WILL WIN!!!! There are two main factor why I believe Netherlands will win:

1. Christian Pulisic is unlikely to fit. He might get into the team and playing for USA, but he is not in his 100% condition. He got minor injury "pelvic contusion" from the last match against Iran. USA without their core playmaker won't be able to develop their attacking threats and this will make a big hole in their midfield which will be exploited by Netherlands team.
2. Both team are maintaining their unbeaten record however Netherlands have more wins and more goals scored. So we can say USA always getting the point from a cliffhanger situation, draw or lucky wins, however Netherlands are unbeatable recently because they are performing well. Unless Netherlands loses focus or plays awfully, It's hard to see how USA will be able to keep up with Netherlands tactical plays.

MAN TO WATCH - CODY GAKPO

Honestly I do not know anything about this dude, Cody Gakpo until somehow He starts to shine so brightly in Qatar Worldcup 2023. Now He is one of the contender for top goal scorer with 3, competing against Kylian Mbappe, Alvaro Morata and Marcus Rashford. Right now some media even have started rumor and gossip about him, linking his name into big club such as Manchester United.

Cody Gakpo is a 23years forward playing for PSV Eindhoven. His preference is to play as a winger, not a central striker. Somehow this guy can connect with Van Gaal tactics and becomes the team missing piece when they get deadlock unable to develop their plays.

Honestly I don't think this is one hell of extraordinary forward however I believe this guy really can get one or two more goals, and he will score in this match. It's just the team strategy suits him well.

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THE MATCH #2 ENGLAND VS SENEGAL

The second match is England vs Senegal, and this is the match I want to see badly because I think we will find this match played openly with many goals from both side. However in the end I believe England will manage to secure the win and move to top 8 stage.

But don't get it wrong, I don't mean England will win easily. This will be a hard battle, because the last 2 matches Senegal has showed the world without Sadio Mane they are still African Champion. They play direct, fast, and powerful football.

1. FULL TEAM VS NOT A FULL TEAM. Without Sadio Mane and now Idrissa Gueye getting accumulated yellow cards, the current Senegal is far from their strongest lineup. They are still strong, however being a strong and a good team won't be enough to stop one of the champion contender, England.
2. Senegal defense is weak from set pieces and flank attacks. This is how they got conceded in group stage, from all of their opponents. Talking about set pieces, England is one of the best one. I think this will be the major decisive point, set pieces play.

MAN TO WATCH - PHIL FODEN

Everyone knows him, the ace from Manchester City. He has the speed, the skill and the vision. The hell with Gary Neville asking more time for Marcus Rashford, It's Phil Foden who makes England Attackings move fluidly.

England has many talented players in their team, however this kid, Foden seems to be the most gifted among them all. The team needs him more than Mason Mount and Marcus Rashford.

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CLOSING AND CREDIT

This post is made as my participation in HIVBUZZ WORLDCUP CONTEST x OCD, which the more detailed one can be found here: https://peakd.com/@hivebuzz/wc2022

I have cited all material sources and I hope there's none that breached any License or Copyright. Materials that I have not cited mostly are the property of @hivebuzz. If in any case I unintentionally breach any copyright or license, do let me know and I will apologize and remove them a.s.a.p. Football, specially during World Cup are full of license from big businesses, so sometime we need to be extra careful not to offend any of them.

I would like to thank you to this HIVEBUZZ WORLD CUP event's sponsors:

you guys ROCKS!!