Football Month: Top 10 Predictions for the 2022 World Cup

Greetings, reader!

Welcome to the final post of Football Month. Today I'll be sharing my top 10 predictions for the 2022 World Cup, which for some f**king reason (read: because of money and corruption) is being played in Qatar this November. It'll be interesting to revisit these predictions once the tournament is over, to see just how well (or poorly) I did.

10. Lower viewership, and LOTS of protests (as there should be)

As I mentioned, the lovely summer tradition of having the FIFA World Cup every four years in some cool part of the world has taken a dark turn - Qatar's blood money has incentivized FIFA to have their tournament there, and the fact that the tournament has to be played in November due to the area's heat is the absolute least of the problems. The games take place on stadiums built buy modern-day slaves, and good luck if you're an LGBTQ+ football fan who wants to see the World Cup, as homosexuality is very much illegal in this lovely choice of host country.

So, naturally, I'm sure there is going to massive backlash as there should be. I'm guessing that quite a few viewers will tune out, as the timing and problems relating to the host country significantly dampen the magic usually associated with the World Cup. All of this might even affect the quality of football played - I'm sure the players will do a good job, but it must be hard to reach the same levels of passion and team morale in such a setting than it has been in more reasonable World Cups.

9. Incoming defensive masterclass by the Netherlands

This one is a long time coming - the Netherlands didn't qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and while the 2020 EUROs were supposed to be the grand stage for a new generation of Dutch heroes, the injury of captain and star defender Virgil Van Dijk got in the way of that. Now, it's in the cards for the post-Robben, post-Van-Persie era of the Oranje to show what they're made of. And their defense will be key.

While the Netherlands team has its share of impressive midfielders and forwards, their strongest suit is without a doubt their brilliant set of defenders. Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk, Bayern's Matthijs De Ligt and Inter's duo of Stefan de Vrij and Denzel Dumfries have been integral parts of these world class teams, and haven't yet gotten to dominate together on the world stage. Bar injuries, any given team will have a tough time getting a goal past these folks.

8. Uruguay won't get out of the group stage - and Belgium will struggle in their group as well

Every major tournament is bound to have its flops and upsets, and my hot take is that Uruguay will be one of this World Cup's chief instances in that category. While the national team has done well in the last few decades, and there is some hype for new-generation players like Liverpool's new signing Darwin Nunez, I still don't have a lot of faith on their team reaching full potential this particular year. Hard to say why, but something just feels a bit off when looking at their squad's decent-but-not-amazing performances in the last Copa America and the World Cup qualifiers. Portugal will surely make it through from Group H, and while Uruguay might seem like the natural #2, I'm betting that they'll be ousted either by Ghana (wanting revenge for Luiz Suarez'z handball in the 2010 World Cup) or South Korea (I sense a Son Heung-Min masterclass in the horizon).

Another predicted flop that I'm betting on, but definitely not hoping for, is Belgium - I like their national team a great deal, but unfortunately I just don't see this being their year (but they are encouraged to prove me wrong!!). Their 'golden generation' seemed to reach a peak in their Bronze-winning 2018 World Cup campaign, and right now the team seems to be in an in-between phase: many of the 'golden generation' stars are retired or past their prime, while a new generation of superstars is still in the making and not quite ready to fully take on the world stage. In the end, I do reckon they'll make it our of group F - but only barely, and not too far into the knockout stage.

7. I don't care what you say - France won't win, in fact they'll drop out by the quarter-finals

Reigning champions France seem like huge favorites, with their insane squad - on paper, no other national team has as many currently elite-level footballers as the country of Benzema, Mbappe, Kante, Pogba, Hernandez et cetera. But no, I don't think they'll win this one.

First of all, there's the World Cup winners' curse, where the reigning champions have often dropped out much earlier than expected. Secondly, there's reason to believe that these superstars might not work all that well as a team - Kylian Mbappe's selfish betrayal of Real Madrid (yes, I said it) has likely ruffled the feathers of Benzema and company, and in general, the amount of big egos in the team's attacking section is arguably even more massive than their footballing ability. So my bold prediction is that Les Bleus will drop out in the round of 16, or at the very latest in the quarter-finals.

6. Senegal go far

An African country has never made it to the semi-finals of a World Cup, although they came extremely close in 2010 (I'm guessing poor Asamoah Gyan still has nightmares of hitting that crossbar). I'm not necessarily saying that reigning AFCON champions Senegal will make it that far, but I'm not ruling it out either - I'm counting on a very solid campaign from them. Sadio Mané found a whole new prime last spring, and I'm guessing he'll bring the same fierce energy to the World Cup, as will Chelsea's world-class goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, world's-most-underrated-centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly and company.

Making it out of Group A together with the Netherlands, leaving Ecuador and host nation Qatar behind? Definitely. Progressing from the Round-of-16 to the top eight? Extremely possible. Defying precedent and making it all the way to the semi-finals? Wouldn't call it likely, but still within the realm of possibility. In any case, I'm counting on Senegal having the best campaign out of all the five African teams in the tournament.

5. A masterclass by the club flops (Lukaku for Belgium, Pogba for France, Maguire for England etc.)

When predicting which players will have a great World Cup, success in one's professional team naturally carries a lot of merit - Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva's brilliant 2021/22 season with Manchester City makes me think they'll pull a masterclass for Portugal this November, just like Alvaro Morata's string of underwhelming seasons with Juventus make me doubt if he'll make it as Spain's main striker. But this factor is never the whole truth, as there are many players who have a history of performing better for country than for club.

The archduke of this player type has always been France's Paul Pogba, who I'm guessing will pull off a great individual performance once again, despite my prediction of France's overall campaign flopping a bit. Similarly, I reckon that Romelu Lukaku will be rock-solid for Belgium despite having a very underwhelming Chelsea season behind him, just like Harry Maguire will once again prove his importance in Gareth Southgate's England system no matter how miserable he has been for Manchester United.

4. Ronaldo and Messi's last dance

By all accounts, this will be the final World Cup for all-timer legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi (also for Neymar, but I prefer not to lump him in with these two even greater legends). While it is completely possible that Portugal and/or Argentina would flop under pressure, I'm guessing that this won't happen. While neither team will win the tournament in my view (more on that later), they will make it far - very possibly to the silver and bronze places.

Ronaldo and Messi have been known to be just as passionate as they are skillful, and with this being their last chance in a tournament they have never won, I can only imagine how both individuals will give 110 per cent in each match, doing their everything to help their team go far. God, imagine the scenes if Argentina is drawn against Portugal.

3. Three North American teams in the knockout stage (and one in the quarter finals)

This one is a bit bold, but bear with me - North American countries have some serious football (or soccer, heh) momentum going on. My secondary home country, The United States, have the best squad they've had in ages, with the likes of Chelsea star Christian Pulisic and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie calling the shots. Similarly, the historically unsuccessful Canadian football team is looking weirdly strong, as names such as Bayern Munich's star defender Alphonso Davies and Ligue 1 goalscoring machine Jonathan David have elevated them to whole new levels. Mexico is always solid (I'm convinced that their goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa only exists in World Cup fixtures), and Costa Rica has some potential as well.

Therefore, I'm declaring that not one, or even two, but three North American teams will make it out of the group stage and into the round of sixteen. One of them (hopefully the U.S.!) will even make it further, all the way to the quarter-finals. If true, this would be an exceptionally successful World Cup for North America, as I reckon it will be.

2. Golden Boot for Ronaldo, Golden Glove for Emiliano Martinez

I went back and forth several times with my Golden Boot predictions, but in the end, it had to be CR7 - I'm guessing Portugal will go far, and he usually scores like 97 per cent of their goals (I may be exaggerating, but not by a lot). His Golden Boot prospects will be challenged by many, but none will quite reach his levels - Benzema will be cut short when France are eliminated earlier than expected, there's only so far that Lewandowski can carry a team like Poland, and Messi won't be scoring as many goals as Ronaldo because he also knows how to pass the ball.

The Golden Glove, however, will go to Argentina's keeper Emiliano Martinez. While he has been solid for Aston Villa, his international efforts have been on a whole other level: he was a key part of Argentina's victorious Copa America campaign in 2020, and he constantly outperformed expectations in the World Cup qualifiers. I'm guessing that Argentina will make it far, and Martinez's goalkeeping will be a key part of this - I see at least two penalty saves, three clean sheets and one man-of-the-match award in his path.

1. F**k it - ENGLAND'S GONNA WIN!

Yes, yes, yes, I know, I know: curse this, bad luck that, referees this, overrated that, et cetera.

However, may I raise a counterpoint?

IT'S F**KING COMING HOME!

I mean, something has to balance out the horrible nature of the World Cup being played in Qatar in the winter, and what better to lift the spirits of world football than the country that invented the sport finally getting a long-overdue win? After many subpar performances, the Three Lions have started to claw their way closer to major trophies, as they made it to the semi-finals in the 2018 World Cup, and the final of the 2020 EUROs. And now, their squad is looking better than ever.

I know that a lot of things could go wrong. But barring injuries, referee mistakes, divine interventions and random SNAFUs, hear me out: if we see the Jordan Pickford who showed up for the last EUROs, a back-line including world's best full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and world-class centre-back John Stones, a midfield dominated by the severely underrated wizard Declan Rice, and an attack with options ranging from Kane to Mount to Foden to Sterling to Grealish to Saka to Rashford and more - who the hell is standing in this team's way?

BTW, Declan Rice is winning Player of the Tournament after England has won the final. You heard it here first.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week, as I return to my usual movie/tv themes with a list of the top 10 greatest summer camp movies.

Football Month: Top 10 Football Moments of All Time

Greetings, reader!

Football Month continues, as today I rank my favorite individual football/soccer moments of all time.

Here are my honorable mentions:

- Lionel Messi finally wins the Copa America

- Frank Lampard scores in his mother's memory

- Luka Modric carries Croatia to a World Cup final, proceeds to win Ballon D'Or

- The world of football unites to stop the Super League from ruining football

- Robert Lewandowski scores five goals in nine minutes

- Joe Hart's iconic running save

- Landon Donovan sends the USA to the World Cup knockout stage in the dying minutes

10. Alexander Lacazette versus racism

I've never been emotionally invested in iconic English club Arsenal F.C., but when they faced Slavia Prague in last year's Europa League quarter-finals, I was 110 per cent rooting for Arsenal to beat them. You see, in a short period of time, Slavia Prague had proved themselves to be an incredibly racist club on multiple levels - firstly, they were one of the few top-level European teams whose players refused to kneel in solidarity against racism before a match begins (and they defended this with pride), and secondly, there was the incident during the previous knockout round where one of their players shouted a racial slur at Finnish Celtic star Glen Kamara (and this asshole's teammates defended said asshole after the incident). So naturally, the thought of this team going ahead in the Europa League had my blood boiling.

Before the match starts, the whistle is blown so that the players can show their solidarity against racism by kneeling. As expected, the Prague pricks proudly stand together to signify how on-the-wrong-side-of-history they are, while Arsenal's players kneel in solidarity - and their striker Alexander Lacazette, who is Black himself, takes a few steps forward to the halfway line and kneels right in front of the Prague players, coldly staring at them. After this badass move, as the game begins, Arsenal proceeds to kick the living shit out of Racism F.C. with a 4-0 victory, with Lacazette himself scoring two of the goals.

9. England breaks their penalty curse

Like the rest of my family, I'm a big fan of the English football team. It's easy to root for them, as their long history of bad luck and dramatic failures make them into a team that would just really, really deserve to win every now and then. My Mom said it best: "England are always the underdog, even when they're the overdog".

In the English team's long history of disappointments (I mean, really, when the country that the sport is from and takes it perhaps the most seriously has only won 1 World Cup and 0 EURO championships, there's some dark magic going on), penalty shoot-outs have played a massive role: for decades, the national team had lost every single penalty shoot-out they were in. The Three Lions were knocked out of the 1990 World Cup, the 1996 Euros, the 1998 World Cup, the 2004 Euros, the 2006 World Cup and the 2014 Euros in six equally heartbreaking penalty shoot-outs. So naturally, when the quarter-final of the 2018 World Cup between England and Colombia went to penalties, the world knew what to expect.

Things looked especially dire when third kicker Jordan Henderson missed, after Colombia had put all of their first three in the net: after three full rounds, Los Cafeteros were 3-2 ahead. But then, lo and behold, a miraculous turn of events: Colombia's Uribe hits the crossbar, England's Trippier puts one in the bag, Jordan Pickford defies decades of precedent by heroically saving Bacca's shot, and finally, unlikely hero Eric Dier scores to put an end to the penalty curse for once and for all. Exhilarating.

8. "Here's Hogg...DEENEY!"

This is a peculiar one, as Leicester City (one of my favorite teams) is the "bad guy" in this particular narrative, while Watford (a club I don't particularly care for) are the heroes. But as an individual moment, when looking back on this particular match, one can't help but root for the Hornets.

The context: the semi-final of the 2012/13 Championship play-off, with Watford facing Leicester as both clubs are fighting for promotion to the Premier League. In the dying minutes, as the score is tied, Leicester are awarded an admittedly bullshit penalty kick - remember, this was before VAR, so occasionally a player could dive himself into a penalty without a foul being committed. Watford fans and players are furious at the unjust call that might end their season, as Leicester's Anthony Knockaert (the guy who shamelessly dove to get the penalty) steps up to the spot.

But then, Watford's goalie saves the penalty shot as well as the rebound, and the club proceeds to perform the greatest counter-attack in football history.

I've watched this clip many, many times, and I can never get over the excitement and shock in the commentators' voices, as Watford's blistering counter-attack comes to a close with Troy Deeney's brilliant match-winning strike. The ecstatic striker runs straight into the crowd to celebrate, as the fans are delirious from the emotional rollercoaster they just experienced. Can't make this stuff up, man.

7. Alisson's heroic header sends Liverpool to the Champions League

I actually didn't see this epic moment live when it happened - the stream I had been watching went down when there were about 10 minutes left of the match, and I had to follow the ending via push notifications on the Premier League app - but somehow this made the experience even more cathartic. It was near the end of the 2020/21 season, and my favorite team Liverpool F.C. faced a tough situation - in order to finish in the top four and thus qualify for the next year's UEFA Champions League, they had to win all of their remaining games. So, when they were seemingly stuck in a 1-1 deadlock against West Bromwich Albion in the final minutes, their chances of qualifying for the UCL seemed dead and buried.

When my phone rang with a notification at 90+5 minutes, I just assumed that it was a notification for the game being over. But then I looked at the screen, and it took me several seconds to comprehend what I had read: "GOAL for Liverpool, scored by Alisson Becker, at 90+5 minutes, score 2-1 for Liverpool". For those who don't know, Alisson Becker is their goalkeeper.

Later I learned just what had gone down - as we've seen many times when a team is desperate to score in the final moments, the goalie had come up to join the attack in a corner kick situation. All the times I had seen this hail-Mary tactic used, it had never lead to a goal (except maybe for the other team, if they manage a counter-attack towards the empty goal). But this time, when Liverpool needed it the most, Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner found Alisson's head and the keeper scored the winning goal that sent us into the Champions League.

6. "AGUEROOOOO!"

I'm very much not a Manchester City fan, but on this particular day in 2012, my brother and I couldn't help but be all for them. You see, the title race in the Premier League had been left open until the very final round, which would determine whether the title would go to Manchester United (a club we liked even less, and who have won the Premier League more than any other team) or Manchester City (a club who, at that time, had never won the Premier League). So, naturally, we were hoping for City to win. Both Manchester clubs were playing their decisive matches at the same time, and we kept switching channels to see what was going on in both games.

City played against QPR, who were fighting against relegation and therefore really giving their everything - so much so, that when 90 minutes were on the clock, City were 1-2 down (and they needed a win in order to win the league). Being not even tied but losing by a goal at 90 minutes, when you need a win, seemed like an impossible scenario to beat - but when Edin Dzeko scored in the first minutes of injury time, everything changed. There were three minutes left, and Man City were one goal away from winning their first-ever Premier League. The context was so dramatic, as the Premier League title race almost never goes all the way to the final round, and now for the first time ever, it was to be decided not just in the final round but in the very final minutes.

And then, at 90+3 minutes, Sergio Aguero (or, as commentator Martin Tyler famously put it in that situation, "AGUEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!") scored another. Manchester City had come back from a 1-2 loss to a 3-2 victory during the five minutes of extra time, and thus grabbed the league title from their #1 rivals in the very last moments. As much as one might hate Manchester City, an empathetic person can't help but feel elated when watching footage of the players' and fans' reactions in the aftermath of that stunning Aguero goal.

5. Finland qualifies for EURO2020

There's something deeply masochistic about the fact that I, as a half-American half-Finn, choose to follow football instead of ice hockey. I mean, when a sport exists where both of my homelands are among the world's top tier, why would my favorite sport be the one where both of my homelands struggle to qualify for the major tournaments?

Anyways, before the fateful match against Liechtenstein in 2019, Finland had never made it to a World Cup or European Championship tournament, despite coming painfully close multiple times (so many that the word 'curse' had been thrown around a lot). So, when it finally happened, and the 3-0 victory sealed the qualification of the Huuhkajat for their first-ever European Championship tournament, it was a huge deal for every Finnish football fan. It felt special enough for me, having casually followed football for years and having watched that match from my laptop at home, so I can hardly imagine how it must've felt for my brother Ville, who actively played football for a large portion of his life and who saw the game live at the Olympiastadion!

4. Denmark's medical staff saves Christian Eriksen's life

It's weird to include this moment on the list, as watching the events take place was gripping and nerve-wracking. But, when you look at the end results, there's no way around it: what happened to Eriksen on the pitch was tragic, but the way in which he was saved due to quick thinking, top-notch professionalism and heroic actions, is just bigger than anything else in football. Teammate Simon Kjaer immediately giving him the proper preliminary CPR, while the medical staff rush onto the pitch to treat Eriksen, as his teammates form a circle around him to shelter the grim scenes from the cameras - it's all so powerful, especially knowing that Eriksen ended up pulling through.

After over half a year of recovery, the Danish star was even able to return to the sport, which many consider to be quite miraculous. I'm not sure which sight made me happier: watching Denmark subvert everyone's expectations by making it all the way to the EURO2020 semi-finals despite not having their biggest star on the pitch (though I'm sure he was on everyone's mind and a massive part of the team spirit), or watching Eriksen come on the pitch for Brentford FC last spring, for the first time since his cardiac arrest.

3. Chelsea's Barcelona Vengeance (and subsequent Champions League victory)

Chelsea FC has never been my favorite club, but I've always had a big soft spot for them - while my mother's Liverpool fandom was the first football loyalty to pass on to me, my brother's love for Chelsea has also made me very sympathetic for the London-based team. By 2012, I had grown to enjoy their stars Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and especially former Liverpool man Fernando Torres, and in that same time period, I had grown furious with FC Barcelona - the team may have had an important role in my journey to becoming interested in football, but in the early 2010's, their dominance in world football and often unsportsmanlike gameplay (not to mention the fact that the referees seemed to always be on their side) had made a young Veikko quite resentful.

And so was everyone in Chelsea, as the two teams had grown a large-scale international rivalry over the years - this had especially come to a head in the 2008/09 semi-final, where Barcelona won 1-0 after Chelsea had gotten robbed of not one, or two, or even three, but four clear penalties (God damn UEFAlona still makes my blood boil). So, when the teams met again in the 2011/12 Champions League semi-final, vengeance was on the mind of every Chelsea-sympathetic individual.

After an intense first leg, the second leg kicked off just as one might expect as Chelsea's captain and most important defender John Terry was awarded a very questionable red card. How on earth could the team face Barcelona with just 10 men? Some hope was given later in the game, as Ramires scored against Barca with a brilliant chip, but things were still uncertain due to the away goal rule (if the game had ended on that score, Chelsea would go to the final, but if Barcelona scored just one goal, they would go the final instead of it being a tie). Towards the match's end, Barca were given a penalty, with world's-best-player Lionel Messi stepping up to take it, as things seemed more hopeless than ever.

Well, the penalty hit the crossbar. Moments later, super-sub Fernando Torres (who had been called a flop all season) elegantly dribbled the ball past Victor Valdes and into the net, sealing Chelsea's win. A few weeks later, the team won their first-ever Champions League trophy after beating Bayern Munich in the final. Payback is sweet.

2. Leicester's Cinderella Story

There are many things that I like about British football - the heritage of the traditional clubs and rivalries, the banter, the tournament dynamics, the commentators et cetera. There are also many things I don't like about British football - the racism, sexism and homophobia that the idiot fans bring into the mix is definitely my biggest problem, while Pep Guardiola's Manchester City constantly outsmarting my favorite club Liverpool by bare margins is another less serious but still frustrating element I don't care for. Also one of my least favorite parts: the dominance of a certain few teams. Growing up, it was crystal-clear that in a Premier League season, 20 teams play 38 matches of football each, after which the title goes to Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea. And the next few spots go to Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. No matter what, those 'big six' clubs always finished above the others.

Enter a scrappy bunch of misfits including an optimistic Italian manager, a humble French midfielder, a young Algerian winger ready to show the world what he's made of, the son of legendary Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and of course, a 30-year-old Red-Bull-chugging cigarette-smoking wild-card oddball who no one has ever heard of.

For background, Leicester City had only been promoted to the Premier League from the Championship following the 2013/14 season. In 2014/15, a poor run of form saw them at 19th place with very little to go, but a brilliant run of wins towards the end of the season saw them barely escape relegation. And at the start of the 2015/16 season, the official betting odds for Leicester winning the Premier League were five thousand to one.

But the bastards did it.

In a feat nobody saw coming, Leicester City had a better season than Manchester United, Chelsea or any other British team, finishing first and getting their first-ever Premier League trophy in a miraculous cinderella story. By 2015/16, my following of football had become quite infrequent, but following Leicester scrap their way to a Premier League victory re-ignited my interest. The team was so fun to follow, and the heroes of that underdog bunch are still among my favorites - both the ones who have gone on to dominate world football in 'bigger' clubs, like Chelsea's Ngolo Kanté and Man City's Riyad Mahrez, and the ones who have loyally remained with the Foxes, like Kasper Schmeichel and especially Jamie Vardy.

1. The Miracle of Anfield

Let me set the scene. The players enter Liverpool FC's iconic home stadium Anfield, for the second leg of the Champions League semifinal. The traditional glory of UCL nights, with the Champions League anthem bursting as the players enter the field, feels a bit somber due to the game's context - FC Barcelona has one the 1st leg in a whopping 3-0 upset. Comebacks have been pulled off in 2nd legs before, but being three goals down feels overwhelmingly drastic. Especially when Liverpool's main star of the season, Mohamed Salah, is out with an injury. Still, glimpses of magic are in the air - the ever-loyal fans are cheering on in the stands, and Salah joins the audience while wearing a hoodie that says "NEVER GIVE UP" in large print. Go figure.

Just moments into the game, striker Divock Origi nets a goal to make it 3-1, and suddenly the whole dynamic has changed - being two goals behind seems not-totally-hopeless, albeit still being a huge stretch when playing against the likes of Messi and Suarez. Later footage has revealed that the Barca players were in full panic mode already during half-time, even though their team was two goals up - that's a massive testament to the atmosphere of Anfield, and the pressure that Liverpool had put on them.

In the second half, things are in deadlock until super-sub Gini Wijnaldum comes onto the pitch and scores a goal - quickly followed by another. Wijnaldum's celebration for the 3-3 goal is pure, untouchable passion, as is the reaction of his teammates and manager Jürgen Klopp. But a tie isn't enough - one more goal has to be scored.

Enter a 20-year-old defender, born and raised in Liverpool, who steps up to take a corner kick. In the most genius piece of out-of-the-box thinking I've seen in all of football, he doesn't go through the usual pre-corner rituals, as he sees that his striker Origi is all ready to go while the Barcelona defenders are still talking and looking for positions - and so the brilliant madman simply gives the corner quickly without taking any speed. And Origi puts the ball into the net, past a shell-shocked Barcelona defense just realizing what has hit them. And so Liverpool complete their comeback from a 3-0 loss to a 3-4 victory, making their way to the final that they would go on to win, and the key moment in this comeback is the delicious quick corner by young right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

I like to imagine the scenes ten years from now, when veteran Liverpool captain Alexander-Arnold lifts the fifth Champions League trophy of his career after winning multiple Premier League titles and a World Cup with England (some have called me an optimist), and gets asked what the greatest moment of his career has been. And he's lying if his answer is anything but that goddamn corner kick against Barcelona on a cold Champions League night at Anfield.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for the final post of Football Month, as I rank my top 10 predictions for the 2022 World Cup.

Football Month: The Top 10 Players from My Lifetime

Greetings, reader!

Welcome to yet another theme month, where I divert from my usual movie/TV themes to discuss other topics that I'm passionate about. I've already done a theme month on literature and another on music, and for July 2022, this blog of mine will be all about the world of football (or 'soccer' for my American relatives). I've never been the world's greatest sportsman, to put it mildly, but this particular sport has had a huge place in my heart ever since I saw Barcelona play Valladolid at Camp Nou on our family trip to Spain in 2008.

For today's list, I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible, as I rank the 10 greatest players from my lifetime (or, to be fair, from the time that I've actively followed football, a.k.a. from 2008 to present day). Next week's list will be an extremely subjective look at my all-time favorite players, so today's list is about the ones I consider to be the best, whether I like them or not. The ranking is based on a mixture of many different factors: how good the player is in their position, technical skills and understanding of the game, role in the team, longevity of one's career but also how good they've been at their prime, et cetera. These are the ten greatest players from the time that I have followed football.

Here are my honorable mentions: Eden Hazard, Frank Lampard, Iker Casillas, Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Philipp Lahm.

10. Manuel Neuer

The longtime goalkeeper of Bayern Munich and the German national team is in my opinion the greatest keeper of the last ten years or so. Casillas comes close, and Buffon would probably be on this list if it weren't for the fact that he was starting to be a bit past his prime (though still spectacularly good) when I started to follow the sport. With Neuer, it's hard to identify a 'prime' in his career, as he has been pure gold for as long as I can remember.

His reaction speed in stopping shots is insane, as is his stretching ability and the firmness of his hands when catching the ball. He's also a magnificent leading figure, having been a successful captain for club and country for a long time. Perhaps the most impressive facet of his playing is the way in which he has perfected the 'sweeper keeper' role: Neuer is so incredibly talented in knowing when to prevent an opponent's attack by coming out of the box for an early clearance, that you'd think him to be an outfield player as he's so solid on his feet (and with his head, if need be).

9. Neymar

This Brazilian icon was difficult to rank, as many would put him significantly higher and with good reason: when talking purely about dribbling and overall technical skill, Neymar is probably the greatest I've witnessed right after Ronaldo and Messi. But football is more than dribbling and technical skill, and there are a few factors that put Neymar a tad below some of the more underrated talents of his generation.

Number one, inconsistency. There are some players who seem to always deliver when their team needs them, but Neymar has quite often ghosted in major games especially in his professional career - his greatest seasons and games with FC Barcelona and PSG have been the stuff of legends, but he definitely has his share of underwhelming performances. Number two, selfishness. Being a good team player is an important part of being a footballing great, and this has always been Neymar's weakness - very often he takes the shot himself in situations where making a key pass would be the smarter move. His inconsistency and selfish style of play are why he's only ninth, but he still makes it into the top 10 due to his stunning ability with the ball and the incredible work he has done on his best days.

8. Luka Modric

This Croatian midfield maestro is the only player besides Ronaldo and Messi who has won the Ballon D'Or ever since the first of the GOATs won the award in 2008 - that's right, ever since 2008, the award has always gone to either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, with the sole exception of Modric's well-deserved win in 2018. Winning the Ballon D'Or in their era is like winning the U.S. Presidential election as a third-party candidate running against the Democratic and Republican nominees - it's a miraculous feat.

When you look at his club career, Modric has dominated Real Madrid's midfield together with Casemiro and Toni Kroos for years, including the remarkable 'three-peat' as Madrid won the Champions League for three seasons in a row from 2016 to 2018. His international career is less decorated in terms of trophies, but even more impressive when considering the quality of the team: in Madrid, he's surrounded by world class talents, but with Croatia, there's no way in hell that the country would've made it all the way to the 2018 World Cup Final if it wasn't for Modric being the man of the match in every single match (it says something that he won the Player of the Tournament award, even though he didn't play for the winning team).

And then there's his longevity - Modric broke through at a young age, and now at an age of 36 years, he's still going strong. The dude is older than long-retired players like Wayne Rooney, but as we witnessed in last season's Champions League knockout stage, he can still dominate a midfield with a brilliant and unstoppable energy.

7. Virgil Van Dijk

Yes, I am a proud Liverpool fan, and therefore will face accusations of being biased if any supporters of other clubs read this post. But I disagree - a big part of me wanted to put Big Virg even higher, and 7th place is the best I can do when I try to be as objective as possible. He's the only centre-back who made it to my all-time top ten, as I've simply never seen a footballer play defense as magically as him. Sergio Ramos, Giorgio Chiellini and Thiago Silva are amazing centre-backs from my lifetime and they were all close to making my list, but none of them have been as rock-solid in their prime as this Netherlands captain.

Now it might seem over-the-top to put him ahead of such legendary names, as his rise to the top is fairly recent and football fans tend to over-emphasize older players due to historical and nostalgic value, but mark my words: ten or twenty years from now, most football fans will se Virgil Van Dijk as the best defender of his generation.

With his perfectly timed slide tackles, extremely physical yet rarely foul-committing style of defending, shocking aerial ability and crazy amount of successful interceptions, blocks and clearances made in each game, Van Dijk has turned defending into a form of art more than any other player from my lifetime. Watching him stop attacks and put the ball back into play with strategic long passes is a thing of beauty, and I'm not just saying that as a Liverpool fan - if he played for any other club, I'd be terrified and pessimistic each time my favorite club and their poor attackers would have to face him.

6. Mohamed Salah

Yes, I know, 'Liverpool bias' et cetera. In my defense, is it so preposterous to include two players from a team that has under the Jürgen Klopp era been one of the most successful teams in the past decade??

Anyways, there's no denying that Salah has been among the world's very best and most consistent attacking players ever since the 2017-18 season. What really sets him apart is how much of a 'full package' forward he is: most of the very best forwards are either the ones whose greatest strength is dribbling and building situations while their finishing isn't quite in the top tier (Eden Hazard and Neymar, to name a few), or the ones who aren't elite-level dribblers and creators but who specifically are on the top due to their clinical finishing (Karim Benzema and Erling Haaland, for instance).

But Salah does both with the highest quality - his dribbling is on par with prime Hazard, while his finishing parallels that of Benzema. Everything that one might look for in a forward can be found in Salah, which is why he has been consistently topping statistics and breaking records for the past five years.

5. Andres Iniesta

Naturally, a few players from the Spain team that won back-to-back European Championships and a World Cup in between them were going to make the cut - from 2008 to 2012, this Spain side was unstoppable. And while their defense and attack did play an admittedly big part, there's no getting around the fact that the midfield was the biggest individual factor to this team's success. The trio of Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta dominated football for a good chunk of time both in their shared club FC Barcelona and this national team, and have thus engrained themselves as one of the best midfields in football history.

Iniesta was the most attacking of the trio, as his creation of situations seemed to be behind pretty much all goals scored (except for the ones scored by himself, which made for a good amount considering that he's a midfield player). Nicknamed 'The Mailman' due to his ability to always deliver with an incredible work rate, Iniesta had an understanding of the game that has rarely been seen since, always knowing exactly where to put the ball. And never was he better than in the biggest games where his skills were most needed, as witnessed by his Man-Of-The-Match awards from both the EURO2012 final and the 2015 Champions League final, as well as his winning 1-0 goal in the 2010 World Cup final.

4. Robert Lewandowski

When a dude comes onto the pitch in a Bundesliga match that is level at half-time, and proceeds to score five goals in nine minutes, you know you've got a footballing legend in your hands.

No, really. Five goals in nine minutes.

I could go on and on about Lewandowski's razor-sharp finishing, and his incredible stamina, not to mention how the fact that he didn't win the Ballon D'Or in 2020 or 2021 is perhaps the biggest injustice in modern football. But really, do I have to say any more than those five words? FIVE. GOALS. IN. NINE. MINUTES.

With almost anything else, you could argue that an individual moment of greatness isn't enough to justify seeing a player as the fourth-best in your lifetime. And trust me, there's a lot more I could say to justify the Polish maestro being this high on my list - I just choose to focus on this one achievement that says it all. Just think of the skill required to pull that off, especially in a league as prestigious as the Bundesliga against a quality team like Wolfsburg.

Five goals in nine minutes, man.

3. Xavi

Midfield play doesn't come any better than this. The phrase "If you look at the game, you don't see [INSERT PLAYER HERE], but if you look at [THE SAME PLAYER], you see the whole game" gets thrown a lot when discussing important-but-not-flashy midfield players, but it fits this Barcelona&Spain legend better than anyone else. Back in the days of that golden Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta midfield, everything went through Xavi, who was the essential building block of the team with his genius passing play.

He controlled the tempo, put every ball right where it needed to be, and I don't think I ever saw him make a downright mistake or bad pass across all the international and club competitions that I followed him in. Passing is an integral part of football, and no one in my lifetime has mastered that skill quite as fully and completely as Xavi.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

I'm certainly on one side of the polarizing effect that CR7's somewhat arrogant and diva-like presence has caused in football fans, which is why you won't find him on next week's list of my all-time favorite players. But when looking at talent, you can't disagree with Ronaldo's status as one of the all-time greats.

When I started following football on some level in 2008, Portugal and Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the biggest names in world football. In the fourteen years since, new stars have emerged and faded and the world stage has thoroughly changed - yet in 2022, Portugal and Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo remains one of the Premier League's brightest stars at the brisk age of 37 years. Of course, in between, he made himself into a Real Madrid legend, a Juventus record-breaker, and an UEFA European Championship winner (not to mention the hefty amount of five Ballon D'Or awards). With his top notch work rate, astonishing footwork and magnificent consistency, CR7 is quite simply different gravy.

1. Lionel Messi

If you're wondering why I have Messi ahead of Ronaldo, as those two were always going to be the top 2 but their order can be debated, it all boils down to one key difference. In terms of footballing ability, Cristiano Ronaldo is in many ways the 'perfect human being', built to succeed with perfection in the sport - when you watch him play, he seems like the perfect human specimen in terms of football playing, as if he had been created in a laboratory for that very purpose.

But when you watch Messi play, he doesn't seem human at all. He seems like an alien who came from a higher plain of existence, to do things in the world of football that no mortal human could accomplish.

To put it another way, Ronaldo's brand of greatness is similar to many of the other top-tier football talents, but just more consistent: when you look at his greatest goals and best games, they are achievements that Lewandowski or Neymar could've also accomplished, but they just don't do it as regularly as Ronaldo. But when you look at Messi's greatest goals and best games, they are feats that you couldn't imagine any other human being accomplishing. His footwork, understanding of the game, leadership on the pitch, creating of situations and finishing make for a spectacular and magical combination that simply cannot be beaten.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as Football Month continues with a list of my all-time favorite players.