Ronald de Boer
Doha: Although the tournament is filled with surprises Brazil remain the favourites in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, says former Netherlands football star Ronald de Boer.
De Boer also feels the “road is still open” for the Dutch team to go a long way in the tournament.
Results of certain games in the World Cup have brought surprises to the fans but de Boer is still hopeful about Brazil playing the final match of the tournament.
“The results have been surprising… We had some teams and players who played particularly well,” said de Boer, who is a Qatar Legacy Ambassador for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
“The beauty of football is that you can dream, you can believe that even if you’re a smaller team or a nation you can still beat in an unbelievable way,” he said referring to the match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia.
“And that is the beauty of the World Cup.” The 52-year-old, who appeared for the Netherlands in two World Cups, speaking about his favourite team said, “For me Brazil is the number one favourite… France and Spain too have amazing teams. Also England played very well.” De Boer previously predicted that Brazil will beat Portugal in the final at Lusail Stadium on December 18.
Asked if he still sticks to the prediction, de Boer said, “At the moment I still think Portugal can go very far…I think because Portugal has an unbelievable team. If you put the names on the sheet, every player plays in top teams in the world and they play in Champions League.. so amazing.” De Boer added that he wishes to see Cristiano Ronaldo play the World Cup finals before retiring from international football.
“Hopefully he (Ronaldo) reaches the final and it would be great for him.” The former Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers midfielder is also hoping his country will go a long way in the tournament. The Netherlands are in Group A with Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal. The match between the Netherlands and Ecuador was a draw on Friday, while the Netherlands will play against Qatar on Tuesday.
“We’re still in the pole position. Basically, if we win against Qatar we’ll be first in the group, then I see the road is open because then probably we will face Iran or USA [in Round of 16]. So for me it looks good to go a long way, but we have to step up our performance - that’s for sure,” said de Boer.
