World Cup 2022: Other races besides the championship

1. The race for the third place

Before the 2022 World Cup final takes place in Lusail (December 18), fans will witness the match between Croatia and Morocco at Khalifa International Stadium in the third-place match.

Croatia and Morocco will compete in third place match

Croatia, the 2018 World Cup runner-up, will have a successful tournament after reaching the semifinals twice.However, they were unable to replicate their success in the World Cup 2018.They lost to Argentina 0-3 and missed the ticket to go to the final match.

On Morocco's side, they had an impressive tournament. They are the first African representative to gain the right to go to the semifinal match of the World Cup. It's a cabaret. They can cause earthquakes against a consistently strong team like Spain or Portugal, but not against the defending champions, France. They received the defeat (0-2) and were forced to accept joining the race to gain third place despite the championship.

2. Top-scorer race (World Cup Golden Boot)

The 2022 World Cup final will be more interesting when the top four scorers of the tournament are all present at Lusail Stadium.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Julian Alvarez, Andrej Kramaric, Youssef En-Nesyri still have chance to win Golden Boot

Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Kylian Mbappe (France) both have five goals at the tournament. Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud (France) and Julian Alvarez (Argentina) have both scored four goals.

Besides, Andrej Kramaric (Croatia) and Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco), who both had two goals, still have a chance to compete in this race when they play the third-place match.

3. The race to assist

Messi and Griezmann are the brightest candidates in the race about assist

There are currently four players with the same three assists at the 2022 World Cup: Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Antoine Griezmann (France), Harry Kane (England), and Lionel Messi (Argentina). However, Bruno Fernandes and Harry Kane no longer have the opportunity to improve their achievements because their team has been eliminated. Thus, only Messi and Griezmann are competing in this race. The two will face each other on December 18.

4. Best Goalkeeper Award (Golden Glove)

The FIFA technical team decides on the Golden Glove award based on the goalkeeper's performance. Specifically, FIFA will consider criteria including the number of clean sheets, the number of saves, and game time (as little as possible) to evaluate the performance of goalkeepers.

Candidates for Golden Glove Award

In terms of keeping a clean sheet, Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (Morocco) is at the top of the list. However, if you take into account the number of saves, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic (Croatia) proves to be superior. However, Emiliano Martinez of Argentina and Hugo Lloris of France are also assessed as still having chances.

The race for this award will be tense because four goalkeepers will participate in the final or third-place match.

5. Race for World Cup Player of the Year (World Cup Golden Ball)

FIFA's technical research team will draw up a shortlist for this award, and a representative of the press will choose the winner. According to the Telegraph (UK), Lionel Messi is a bright candidate for the 2022 World Cup Golden Ball award when currently he has 5 goals and 3 assists for Argentina in 570 minutes played.

Candidates for World Cup Golden Ball Award 

In addition to Messi, other players said to be capable of winning include Kylian Mbappe (France), who had 5 goals but only 1 assist less than Messi; Antoine Griezmann (France); Luka Modric (Croatia); and Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco). 

6. Race for the World Cup's Best Young Player

This award is given to the player aged 21 and under with the best performance.

Enzo Fernandez (Argentina), Josko Gvardiol (Croatia), Jude Bellingham (England)

is considered as the best yound players of World Cup 2022

According to the Telegraph (UK), three strong candidates for the World Cup 2022 Best Young Player award are Enzo Fernandez (Argentina), Josko Gvardiol (Croatia), and Jude Bellingham (England).

Of these, only Bellingham was a player who was disqualified from the tournament, while Fernandez and Gvardiol still had a chance to show their performance in the third place match and final match.

Argentina midfielder Enzo currently receives much better reviews (52%). Meanwhile, Gvardiol and Bellingham have only 40% and 22%, respectively, of the possibility of winning this individual title. Bellingham's chance to turn the situation around was very difficult because he was eliminated.