Soccer World Cup 2022 draw: Who said what? ALL the reaction!

“We have negative memories, but something like that doesn’t happen to us twice.”

— Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer on being drawn with fellow former champions Spain. The Spanish thrashed Germany 6-0 in a Nations League match in November 2020.

“You can see clearly that Germany have improved. They are going through a period of renewal but we are Spain, seventh in the world, and we want to beat everyone in the world.”

— Spain coach Luis Enrique

“It is the same handicap for everyone. It means we think the players will arrive fresher than at a normal World Cup, in better shape physically and in footballing terms. The lack of time is a handicap, but no team will have much time.”

— Luis Enrique on having just eight days between domestic leagues breaking up and the World Cup starting

“For us, we’re in on day one so it’s quite clear now what our programme looks like for the end of the Premier League season and getting out here as quickly as possible.”

—  England manager Gareth Southgate, whose side face Iran on the opening day of the tournament on November 21, just eight days after the final round of Premier League games before the international break.

“I advise you (France) to also prepare because we have a very good team and we will be ready to fight.”

— Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand on facing the defending champions.

“A very demanding group, different styles, different ingredients but probably what we need if we want to be ready for this World Cup. And then the draw probably splits – the first four groups, they have fewer top-10 teams facing each other, then the next four groups is probably final after final after final, so probably the final could be the least like a final. But that’s how draws work.”

— Belgium coach Roberto Martinez plots his team’s path through the knockout rounds. If they top their group they could face Spain or Germany in the last 16 and could be on the same side of the draw as Portugal, England and France.

“I haven’t been to Qatar or Senegal that often so I don’t know these countries that well.”

— Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal on Group A rivals which also include Ecuador.

“It’s in the past. It was 24 years ago. What matters to us is what will happen now.”

— USA coach Gregg Berhalter after being paired with geopolitical rivals Iran. The two countries met at the 1998 World Cup when relations between the two nations were particularly fraught. Iran won that game 2-1.

“I always bet with us against anybody.”

– Canada midfielder Jonathan Osorio on being drawn with world number two Belgium, Morocco and 2018 runners-up Croatia.

“We can look at the glass as being half full or half empty.”

– Portugal coach Fernando Santos whose team face Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea.

“What an emotion it is to be here in front of you. Now it’s getting serious. Now we know it is for real.”

– FIFA president Gianni Infantino

“When people talk about football, the first word is Brazil. I respect a lot Brazil, it is always the favourite, but I love to play against hard teams.”

– Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic on facing the five-time world champions.

SOCCER WORLD CUP 2022 GROUPS

GROUP A

Qatar (hosts)
Ecuador
Senegal
Netherlands

GROUP B

England
Iran
United States
Wales/Scotland/Ukraine

GROUP C

Argentina
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
Poland

GROUP D

France
United Arab Emirates/Australia/Peru
Denmark
Tunisia

GROUP E

Spain
Costa Rica/New Zealand
Germany
Japan

GROUP F

Belgium
Canada
Morocco
Croatia

GROUP G

Brazil
Serbia
Switzerland
Cameroon

GROUP H

Portugal
Ghana
Uruguay
South Korea

By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse