Football, or any sports in general, hard-sells itself as a sealed meritocratic arena where every difference in terms of identity vanishes, and performance remains the only criteria of judgement. But the ubiquity of words like 'stunned' or 'upset' in sporting parlance tells you the contrasting reality. An explicit demarcation exists between traditional powerhouses and unfancied outsiders. If both teams were equal in every measure, what's there to be stunned about, say, Austria beating West Germany in the 1982 World Cup, Senegal beating France in the 2002 World Cup, or Croatia reaching the World Cup final four years ago?
The history of the World Cup is dotted with such odds-defying stories. While the names of potential World Cup winners are always on everyone's lips, here are five dark horses who can spring up a surprise in Qatar.
Denmark
Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
Current manager: Kasper Hjulmand
Star player: Christian Eriksen
It shouldn't be counted as an upset if Denmark trounces the defending champion France on November 26 at Stadium 974, since they have already done the same thing twice this year. The unfortunate collapse of Christian Eriksen last year still haunts the collective memory, but the team showed great resilience and unity to reach all the way to the semi-final of the tournament.
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Denne historien er fra November 2022-utgaven av Man's World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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