The World Cup knockout stage kicked off on Sunday with Canada’s 1-0 win against South Africa. I watched the first half on my phone on a Flixbus from Perth to Ottawa after a night away at a cottage with a friend. My mother kindly picked me up at the station, and then I grabbed Ralph and Maude and walked over to my parents house to watch the second half with my Dad.

This game felt like the best chance Canada would ever have to make the Round of 16, and it was a thrilling moment when Stephen Eustáquio won the match in stoppage time. Ralph had been distracted by his new water gun and hadn’t spent much time watching the game, but he celebrated wildly when Canada scored. I was especially happy to avoid another meltdown after his performance when Canada lost to Switzerland.

The previous World Cup was the first one Canada played in during my lifetime (and only the second overall). This means that for most of my life, I have supported different teams depending on where I was living and who I was watching with.

Generally, it is fun to cheer for smaller countries or soccer underdogs, both because upsets are inherently more interesting and because there is something enjoyable about seeing traditional powerhouses rethink their national character after one loss.

This year’s expanded field of 48 teams offered more opportunities to support teams outside of the usual suspects, but unfortunately most of them have been eliminated after the group stage.

At the beginning of the tournament I started a personal ranking of all 48 teams, balancing my interest in underdogs along with the fondness I have developed for certain teams over the years.

I planned to finish this before the tournament, but then I got sidetracked so now I have limited my rankings to the teams that qualified for the knockout round (even if four of them have been eliminated over the past two days). This also serves as an excuse to share a few soccer-related anecdotes.

32. USA

I generally cheer against the US in all sports, but the one exception in the past has been the men’s soccer team. Since Canada was never in the World Cup during my childhood, I found myself hoping the US could overcome top European and South American opposition. But this year I have to put the US at the bottom of my list.

Boring traditional powerhouses (and England)

Spain has been one of the most successful teams of my lifetime, and combined with the success of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Champions League, means that I have had my fill of watching Spanish soccer.

I have also had enough of watching Christiano Ronaldo and Portugal.

Argentina won last time, so now I am hoping they can bow out early (although I am sure Ralph would disagree since Messi is the only player he recognizes).

English fans getting hopeful at every major tournament and then having their hearts broken is a wonderful tradition.

France are another one of the most dominant teams of the past couple of decades, but I place them slightly higher than the other teams in this section because of my love of the book Soccer Empire by Laurent Dubois, which is about the 1998 World Cup winning French team and France’s colonial history.

Small European Countries

I don’t have strong feelings about these teams.

I rank Bosnia the highest because it is fun to see Edin Dzeko still playing at 40. The only time I have regularly attended soccer games was between 2017-2019 when we lived in Rome and Dzeko was the leading goal scorer for AS Roma.

Croatia is another team with a 40-year-old captain. I think Luka Modric might be the only player Jessica would actually recognize besides Ronaldo since I dragged her to watch a few Champions League finals during Real Madrid’s dominant era.

Rugby Nations

So I initially had New Zealand in this section of relative soccer minnows that are rugby giants. Japan is still not (yet) a rugby powerhouse, but for the purposes of this list I will count them as one!

South American Teams that Aren’t Argentina or Brazil

These three are all underdogs in their region, and I would love to see them go on a deep run in the tournament, especially since it would mean so much in each country. I place Ecuador and Colombia slightly higher only because I have some friends from each one.

Traditional Powers that I Have Mixed Feelings About

Despite having never won the World Cup, the Netherlands has been the runner-up three times, it has won the Euros, and it hasn’t lost a World Cup match in regulation or extra time since 2010, so it is by no means an underdog. But Jessica’s sister and brother-in-law live in The Hague, and we have had many lovely moments in the Netherlands over the years, and so I feel more warmth toward this team then some of the other European heavyweights.

Brazil has won the World Cup a record five times, so it objectively should be slotted into the ‘boring traditional powerhouse’ section. But Jessica’s stepmom is Brazilian, the Brazilian flag was one of the first ones that Ralph recognized, and now Ralph is keen for Brazil to do well.

12. Morocco

In the last World Cup, Morocco were the first African team to reach the semi-finals (more later on how it should have been Ghana in 2010). They are sitting just outside of the main groups of favourites for this tournament, and I would be happy for them to show that their success from the last World Cup was no fluke.

11. Côte d’Ivoire

This is Côte d’Ivoire’s fourth time playing in the World Cup, and the first time without legendary striker Didier Drogba. One of my favourite fan experiences was watching the 2012 Champions League final in Petra, Jordan. I was travelling with three friends from university, including Juan, a huge Chelsea fan who made sure we watched. The game went to penalties, and Didier Drogba scored the decisive penalty for Chelsea to send Juan into euphoria. I personally had no skin in the game, but it was amazing to vicariously enjoy the victory through Juan.

The 2019 Afcon Finalists

We were due to move to Cairo at the beginning of July in 2019, while Egypt was hosting the Africa Cup of Nations. Our arrival was delayed by almost two weeks because of visa issues, and by the time we actually arrived Egypt had already been dumped out of the tournament in the round of 16 by South Africa.

I was disappointed to not be able to watch any Egypt matches, but I was able to get tickets to the final between Algeria and Senegal, and Jessica begrudgingly agreed to come with me. At this point we had only been in Cairo for a week, and were not prepared for what going to such a game would entail.

Long story short: we arrived at the stadium an hour before the game, only to be told that it was already locked and that we would not be admitted, and then we wandered around with mostly Senegalese fans trying different entrances, until finally around half-time they let us in. It was the first (of many!) extremely frustrating experiences in Egypt, but once we were finally inside it was fun to see Algeria lift the trophy. I also still have a soft spot for Riyad Mahrez for his heroics with Leicester City.

The biggest surprises in the knockout round

8. Congo DRC
7. Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde is the only undefeated team in the history of the World Cup! Sure, it has only played three games, and yes it has also not won any games, but they are the biggest Cinderella story of this World Cup so far. If they could somehow beat Argentina it would be a seismic shock.

Congo DRC are playing in only their second World Cup, and they are the biggest remaining underdog besides Cabo Verde. While living in Rwanda, I learned about how the current conflict in eastern Congo has its roots in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, and it is an incredibly sad and complex story.

There were joyful scenes across Congo when it beat Uzbekistan to book their spot in the knockout round, and I can’t imagine the party if they are able to beat England.

The Emotional Ones

6. Germany

In 2002, when I was 13, I went on a one-month trip to Europe with my mom, which included two weeks in Germany to visit family. The beginning of our visit coincided with the World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany. We went to a bar to watch the game, but accidentally ended up in a bar of Brazilian fans, so at least they were happy when Brazil won.

Later during the trip I bought a German flag which I had in my room for many years, and from this point on I cheered for Germany at every major tournament, including a painful period between 2006 and 2012 where they made at least the semi-finals at four straight World Cups/Euros but never won.

In 2014 things finally changed when they thrillingly won the World Cup in extra-time against Messi. Since that win I have been less invested in the team, but they remain my favourite out of the heavyweight teams.

5. Switzerland

In 2016 we were living in Geneva during the Euros, and I spent many evenings watching games at the fanzone in Plainpalais (side note: it is shameful that there is no fan zone in Ottawa this year). The first Switzerland game against Albania was an intriguing family affair, as Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka played against his brother Taulant. The Swiss team had several other players of Kosovan or Albanian heritage, and having travelled to both Kosovo and Albania earlier that spring, I felt intrigued by this group of players.

Switzerland would go on to lose in the round of 16 against Poland in penalties, which saddened most people in the fanzone but at least my Polish friend Zofia was delighted.

We were living in Rome during the 2018 World Cup, and since Italy failed to qualify (the beginning of a tradition!), I continued supporting Switzerland, who once again made the Round of 16. The most memorable moment was when Granit Xhaka and Sherdan Shaqiri both got in trouble with FIFA for their Albanian nationalist celebrations after scoring against Serbia.

In 2022 Shaqiri once again scored against Serbia at the World Cup, this time putting his finger to his mouth in front of the Serbian supporters.

Shaqiri is now retired from international play, but Xhaka, as well as some of the other stalwarts like Rodriguez and Embolo remain, so I will once again be cheering them on.

4. Mexico

I have always felt warmly towards the Mexican team since they usually represent the best hope for a team from CONCACAF to do well at the World Cup. This year I am wishing them even more success as a fellow co-host and as one of the countries most affected by the erratic American regime. We spent three weeks in Yucatan this winter and had a wonderful time, and Ralph has also been cheering for them for that reason.

3. Egypt

In 2022, we were living in Cairo while the African Cup of Nations was held in Cameroon. Egypt had hosted the previous tournament in 2019, and it was hoping to make up for its disappointing early exit. Things didn’t look promising when Egypt opened the tournament with a loss to Nigeria. But then Egypt won its next two games to qualify for the knockout round, and from there the team scrapped its way to the final by beating Côte d’Ivoire in penalties, Morocco in extra-time, and Cameroon in penalties.

The final was against Senegal, who were runner-ups against Algeria in the final in Cairo three years prior. The game notably pitted Mo Salah against then Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane.

I watched part of the game on a big screen at the tennis stadium at the Gezira Club. At halftime I wandered around Zamalek to soak in the atmosphere of people overflowing out of cafes. I settled in to watch the second half on a TV in a small street around the corner from our apartment. The game inevitably went to penalties, but this time Egypt’s luck ran out, and it was eerie to experience the total quiet once the game was over.

It was a heartbreaking defeat, but it was a fun tournament to experience. Another time I will have to post about the countless depictions of Mo Salah from around Cairo.

2. Ghana

In January 2010, I visited Jessica while she was studying in Accra for a year. We took a long bus ride to a small coastal eco-resort, and when we arrived we found the front desk deserted. We quickly realized this was because everyone was glued to the TV watching Ghana lose 1-0 to Egypt in the African Cup of Nations final.

Later that summer, we gleefully watched Ghana eliminate the US in the Round of 16 at the World Cup in South Africa. In the quarterfinal Ghana faced Uruguay as they tried to become the first African team to make the semi-finals. The game went into extra-time with the score tied 1-1, and in the closing seconds a Ghanaian player headed the ball past the goalkeeper, only for villainous Luis Suarez to use his hand to block the ball at the goal line. Suarez was shown a red card, and Asomoah Gyan, the all-time Ghanaian leading scorer, stepped up for the penalty kick that would have won the game for Ghana. He shot high and hit the crossbar, causing Suarez to celebrate as he left the field. Uruguay went on to win the match in a shootout, and this remains my most heartbreaking experience as a soccer fan.

During the 2014 World Cup, we once again made it a priority to watch the Ghanaian games while we were living in Toronto. BlogTO had published a list of bars where you could support every team, and so we made our way to Panafest Bar and Grill at Jane and Sheppard to cheer on Ghana against Germany. People were surprised to see us there and were worried we would be cheering for Germany, but we had lots of fun eating some Ghanaian food and watching the teams battle to a 2-2 draw.

After the match we went to a Turkish grocery store and then had a nice picnic by the lake. I unfortunately don’t seem to have any photos from the Ghanian bar, but I do have a photo of Turkish simit (I would have maybe included this in a section about Turkey, but they unfortunately got eliminated in the group stage. At least they beat the US!).

1. Canada

In 2022 I got to watch Canada play at a World Cup for the first time. Two of the games I watched at the Gezira Club in Cairo, and one we watched at an Airbnb in Athens during a long weekend trip. Unfortunately all three games ended in a loss, but at least Canada managed two goals, which was an improvement over the zero scored in 1986!

This year I am enjoying getting to watch the games with fellow Canadians, especially the opening game against Bosnia that I watched on a terrace in Montreal while Jessica chased the kids around a pedestrian street.

Canada has already made the Round of 16 which is a great result, and I can’t wait to see if they can beat Morocco on Saturday.