An important figure in the World Cup.
The previous five World Cup winners have all done well in the six matches they’ve played before all of their tournaments.
In 2010, Spain won all six of their six matches prior to the 2010 South Africa World Cup, part of a 12-game winning streak that had such momentum that it could not even be stopped with a shock loss to Switzerland in their opening World Cup match.
Brazil won five out of six matches before Korea and Japan 2002, France lost only one of their six matches before Russia 2018, Germany and Italy won three times and drew in three matches in the last six matches as part of long unbeaten rounds before Russia 2018. Their victories in the Cup the scientist.
This is bad news for England President Gareth Southgate.
England are playing the 2022 World Cup in the worst shape of the 32 teams heading to Qatar. With three draws and three defeats, England could have earned just three points from their last six international matches, losing twice to Hungary and once to Italy. Their current career is the first time England have gone six matches without a win since 1993.
England’s closest neighbors haven’t been doing well lately either, with Wales having the second worst form of the 32 World Cup teams in the past six games, taking just four theoretical points. Wales faced one of the toughest sets of matches for any team in those six matches, based on August’s FIFA rankings.
The current champion France has the worst level, having collected only five theoretical points in his last six matches.
Brazil is the perfect team to enter Qatar 2022. The Seleรงรฃo has won six of the last six, won five of them with three or more goals, scored 22 goals and conceded only two in those six matches. Their recent results include 5-1 wins over Tunisia and South Korea and 4-0 over Chile and Bolivia. Japan came close to stopping Brazil, losing 1-0 to a late Neymar penalty in Tokyo in June.
Brazil has not lost a game since the 2021 Copa America final, but their South American rival Argentina can boast an even more impressive undefeated race, having gone since July 2019 undefeated. Argentina has the second best combined form over the last six matches, conceding one goal and taking points only for Ecuador. Of the last six contenders, only Ecuador will actually participate in the World Cup.
The Netherlands has the same record as Argentina’s in their last six matches, and they played a stronger competition at the time, beating their neighbors and the second-highest FIFA-ranked team over Belgium twice. They are also unbeaten since losing at Euro 2020 to the Czech Republic last summer and are heading to the World Cup as a European team.
Many teams have managed to win four of their last six matches, but none of these teams have had a solid roster like Croatia, who have won the last four, beating teams like France and Denmark who have reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020.
With previous World Cup winners showing such good form ahead of the tournament, England and France may be among the heaviest weights in football, but they are already one step behind their opponents.
