Doha, November 10 (QNA) – Arab people pin hopes on the Arab teams that reached the finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022, looking forward to a new Arab achievement especially as the tournament is being held on an Arab soil for the first time in the history of the most prestigious football event.
Four Arab teams have qualified for Qatar World Cup finals Qatar, the host country, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Tunisia.
In previous Arab participations, the Arab presence was limited to honorable representation. Egypt was the first Arab country to appear in World Cup finals. That was in the second edition of the World Cup in Italy 1934. Meanwhile, Tunisia has the honor to be first the Arab country to win a World Cup match in Argentina 1978, while Morocco was the first country to qualify for the knockout stage in Mexico 1986.
Saudi Arabia also has a special Arab record in the World Cup, having qualified for the finals four times in a row from the 1994 World Cup in the USA to the 2006 in Germany. With its qualification for Qatar World Cup finals, Saudi Arabia will appear in World Cup finals for the sixth time, similar to Morocco and Tunisia.
The record of the Arabs in World Cup is poor as Arab participations have no real achievement other than qualifying for the knockout stage, which was achieved three times out of the 13 World Cup that saw Arab participations. The first Arab country to reach the knockout stage was Morocco in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The second was Saudi Arabia in the 1994 World Cup in the USA, while the third was Algeria in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil 2014.
Qualification for World Cup finals was achieved only by eight Arab countries out of 23. The inaugural World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 did not see an Arab participation. The first Arab participation in the World Cup was in the second World Cup in Italy 1934 through the Egyptian team, which was one of 16 teams that qualified for the finals. But the team was knocked out early in the first stage after losing to Hungary (2-4). Egypts two goals were scored by Abdel Rahman Fawzy.
Despite Egypt’s early exit due to the tournaments system then which stipulated knockout from a single match, the team made remarkable achievements in that period, most notably their victory over Hungary (3-0) in the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
It took Arabs 36 years to appear again in World Cup following Italy 1934. In the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Arabs returned with Morocco’s qualification for the finals. The team played in Group D alongside Germany, Peru and Bulgaria, but left the tournament after ending the group stage in the fourth place.
The Arab teams were again absent from the World Cup in in 1974 in Germany, but their absence this time was short-lived after Tunisia qualified for the finals of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. The Tunisian team won its first game in the group stage against Mexico (3-1), but failed to qualify to the second stage after losing to Poland (0-1) and drawing with Germany (0-0) to finish in third.
Remarkably, Arab teams were present in all World Cup editions after the 1978 World Cup. Spain 1982 saw the participation of two Arab teams Algeria and Kuwait.
Algeria left an important imprint in its first World Cup participation and surprised the world with its strong performance. The Algerian team achieved the best results for an Arab team in the history of the tournament at that time by beating Germany (2-1) and Chile (3-2) in Group B competitions. However, the team failed to qualify after losing to Austria (0-2). Germany and Austria qualified after being equal to Algeria with four points, amid a major controversy over a German-Austrian conspiracy to knock out Algeria.
However, the participation of the Kuwaiti team, the first representative of the Asian Arabs in the World Cup, was disappointing after they finished last in the group stage. The team drew with Czechoslovakia (1-1), and lost to both France (1-4) and England (0-1). Faisal Al Dakhil was the first Kuwaiti to score the in the World Cup with the equalizer he scored in the game with Czechoslovakia, while Kuwait’s second goal in the tournament was scored by Abdullah Al Balushi in the teams game against France.
The 1986 World Cup in Mexico saw the participation of three Arab countries for the first time: Morocco, Algeria and Iraq. In this tournament, the Moroccan team succeeded to qualify for the second stage, marking the first Arab achievement in the World Cup. The team topped Group F which included England, Poland and Portugal, but was unable to continue its march to the quarter-finals after losing to Germany (0-1) in the knockout stage.
Iraq and Algeria were knocked out in the group stage with both teams finishing last.
In the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the Egyptian national team marked its second participation in the World Cup. The Mundial also saw the participation of the Emirati team for the first time.
Egypt and the UAE were knocked out in the group stage, with both teams finishing last. Egypt drew with the Netherlands (1-1) and Northern Ireland (0-0), and lost to England (0-1). The UAE suffered harsh defeats to Colombia (0-2), Germany (1-5), and Yugoslavia (1-4).
The 1994 World Cup in the USA saw the participation of the Saudi team for the first time as well as the Moroccan team. The draw put the two teams together in Group F.
In their first participation, the Saudi team was able to repeat Morocco’s achievement in the 1986 World Cup, and qualified for the knockout stage after topping Group F with 6 points. Unfortunately, the team left the tournament after losing to Sweden (1-3).
The Saudi team included a distinguished group of players, most notably Fuad Anwar, Sami Al Jaber, and Saeed Al Owairan.
Morocco’s third participation in the World Cup was disappointing after finishing last in Group F with three consecutive defeats to Belgium (0-1), Saudi Arabia (1-2), and the Netherlands (1-2).
The 1998 World Cup in France saw the participation of three Arab teams for the second time after the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, with Morocco and Saudi Arabia participating for the second time in a row, and Tunisia after a twenty-year absence.
The three teams were knocked out in the group stage. Morocco finished third in Group A, Saudi Arabia finished last in Group C, and Tunisia finished last in Group G.
In the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted in Asia for the first time by South Korea and Japan, Saudi Arabia appeared the Mundial for the third year in a row representing the Arabs of Asia, and Tunisia participated for the second time in a row and the third in its history representing the Arabs of Africa.
The two teams were knocked out in the group stage, with Tunisia finishing last in Group H with one point, and Saudi Arabia suffering its worst results in tournament, finishing last in Group E with no points.
The 2006 World Cup in Germany saw the participation of Saudi Arabia for the fourth time, and Tunisia for the third time in a row. The draw signed the two teams together in Group H alongside Spain and Ukraine, marking the second time that two Arab teams met in World Cup after USA 1994 when Saudi Arabia beat Morocco (2-1).
Similar to previous editions, the two teams bid farewell to the tournament early, finishing third and last with one point each after drawing in the match that brought them together (2-2).
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa, saw Arab participation drop to only one team, Algeria, which competed in Group C alongside England, America and Slovenia.
The Algerian team left from the first stage after finishing last with one point.
Algeria was also the sole representative of the Arabs in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The team managed to qualify for the knockout stage after finishing second in Group H, but their march stopped after losing to Germany (1-2) despite their great performance.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia witnessed the participation of four Arab teams – Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia – for the first time. The tournament brought together Egypt and Saudi Arabia in Group A, marking the third Arab confrontation in World Cup. The Saudi team defeated their Egyptian counterparts (2-1), but the two teams left the tournament early after losing to Uruguay and Russia in the group stage.
Morocco and Tunisia were also knocked out after they finished last and third in the group stage.
The 2022 World Cup, which will kick off after few days in Doha, will also see the participation of four Arab teams – Qatar the host country, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia – who will has the responsibility to carry the Arab flag in the Mundial, with Arab fans awaiting a new Arab achievement by qualifying for the second stage, especially since the tournament is held on an Arab soil for the first time in the World Cup history. (QNA)