World cup 2022 - End of group phase

End of group phase meant end of the competition for some national teams. As a football fan, world cup is something that I don't miss. Specially this year when my country was among 32 that got a chance to play group phase. Even though I haven't watched the national team in a long time, due to many reasons, I was happy to see them play and to cheer for them. Another thing is the fact that this world cup is very controversial and very different from any previous, and I have to say it is questionable would I watched it if my national team didn't play. When I watched the second game, and when they scored one and then another time, I have to say, emotions were back in big amount. But it was very much different, and with all the hype that was since last year (when we qualified) it just didn't feel the same as it was before, when it was in summer, when we had songs that we know and listen even today.

I was confident that my national team is strong and good enough to pass the group, even with strong opponents. We were part of the group G, among Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon. First opponent was Brazil who is one of the favorites in the entire cup, and possible new champion. It was close to nuts to think that we can beat them, but I always say, if you don't believe your team can win, no matter who is opponent and how hard it is, why you even call yourself a fan, and cheer for them? So yes, it was crazy, it was close to impossible, but many of us did have hope for a miracle. As that didn't happen, and we lost 2:0, it was time to move on and focus on the next game. The opponent was Cameroon, and it was the easiest one in the group. They surprised us with a goal, but we move on and recovered fast before half-time. Shortly after the second half started, we scored again and had it all in our hands, the win was already celebrated. But then, Cameroon surprised our defense not only once, but two times in the same way. And that was it. Our team desperately tried to have advantage again, but the game ended with draw score, which was 3:3.

It was time to move on once again. Even if we celebrated against Cameroon, and won, we needed to win against Switzerland to be sure we are in the next phase. Switzerland is a strong opponent, and they also needed to win to be sure, so I expected the game to be hard. But our team failed. And I have to say, no matter how much it hurts, yes, they didn't deserve to go to the next round. It is a bit sad, how we are so successful in so many sports, but football, that makes the most of the chaos, hype and cheering, we always fail at. However, to show you part of the atmosphere, here is Teddy ready for the match in colors of the Serbian flag.

By the end of the match, on the other one, Cameroon-Brazil, Cameroon was about to make another miracle, and I was actually cheering for the draw score at last, so that Cameroon had chance, if not us. Switzerland has some Albanian players, and it involves politics then, and we already had history with matches against them, so near the end of the game, things got heated up on the field. However, score remained same, 2:3 and we were at the last spot in our group, with pathetic one point.

I was hoping this post would be celebrating post, but unfortunately, our team was eliminated. As far as other teams are concerned, we already saw many surprises, and not sure what we can expect from now on. Before, I used to cheer from France as other national team, and I think they have good chances to be in the top 3, but I would also like to see other teams that already made a surprise by going to the next phase, not to drop the ball and to continue surprising.

This is my second post in #postmas2022 !

Thank you for reading my post ^^