We are now under a month away from the big kick off at World Cup 2022. Qatar will be the first country from the Middle East to host the most prestigious international football tournament on the planet.
It may feel strange looking forward to watching so much top-class football at this time of year but the eyes of the world will definitely be trained on Qatar for the duration. Brazil, France and England look like most people’s favourites. But if you are just figuring out how to bet on the World Cup online, you should also take into consideration some of these dark horses at the competition.
Senegal
An immediate positive for Senegal is that they have been drawn in Group A with Qatar. That means that the host is the nominally top seeded team, giving the other nations a better chance of progressing. After dispatching Egypt in the qualifying playoff, Senegal will fear no one coming into the World Cup.
Sadio Mane is the star of the team and led by example in that game, as well as the successful African Cup of Nations campaign earlier in the year. With the Netherlands up first, a positive result there could set up Senegal nicely for a relatively calm group stage before progressing to the knockout rounds.
Denmark
Can a European Championship semi-finalist be considered a dark horse? Denmark seem to be consistently overlooked when it comes to potential World Cup winners. But that is exactly what happened back in 1992 at the Euros – and we all know what happened then.
The Danes blew everyone else away in qualifying and beat France home and away in the Nations League. With an incredibly strong team spirit, Denmark will face the World champions again in Qatar but will be confident of another victory – and a potentially easier round of 16 tie.
Canada
It is one of the worst kept secrets in world football that Canada has been a nation on the rise in recent years. After failing to qualify for all but one World Cup finals in the past, the Canucks blasted away the US and Mexico to finish top of the CONCACAF region qualifying group and are now looking forward to this tournament.
The likes of Alphonso Davies and Jonathan Ikone will spearhead the Canadian attack and could cause problems for Morocco, Croatia and even Belgium. Finishing in the top two of that group is eminently possible and we could be seeing the start of something very special for this team on the world stage.
Serbia
Whether it is as Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, or just plain Serbia, this is one country that has promised much in qualifying over the years and never really done anything of note at a finals. This year could be different, after finishing top of their group and forcing Portugal into the playoffs.
A first game against Brazil was Serbia’s reward for that – but a positive performance or result there could do the team well. Switzerland and Cameroon make up the rest of Group G and if they do go through, they could get another chance to embarrass Cristiano Ronaldo and friends on the global stage in the round of 16.
Netherlands
This team falls into the same bracket as Denmark. Can a respected nation that has won major international honours in the past really be considered a dark horse? Well, in the case of the Netherlands, we would definitely say yes. The Oranje failed to qualify for three of the last four World Cup or Euros and have a history of being disorganised and chaotic.
But Louis van Gaal is back in charge again, the players are performing well for club and country, and there doesn’t seem to be any of the traditional cliques in the squad. It could all blow up in their faces, of course, but the Netherlands are in the same group as Senegal and have the same advantages as them to go through. From there, the momentum of some good results could take this team all the way.
