The 2022 Qatar World Cup is destined to become a key case that cannot be bypassed when future generations mention the development of modern football.

As the first major football event to be held at the end of the year for the first time in history, this is a huge breakthrough in itself, because even when the Olympics or World Cup were held in the southern hemisphere (such as Australia, Brazil and South Africa), it was previously scheduled in June and July, as is customary in the northern hemisphere. As soon as this precedent was set, many imitators appeared, which completely changed this originally unwritten but conventional rule, which is naturally of great significance.

Secondly, this is also the first time that a Middle Eastern country has hosted such a large-scale event, and it is a good opportunity to show the world how rich the local tycoons are. As one of the countries with the highest per capita GDP in the world, this "small country" with a land area of just over 10,000 square kilometers has really managed to host such a grand event as the World Cup alone, which makes people have to sigh at their courage and financial resources.

Another reason that is destined to go down in history is that FIFA has confirmed that the number of teams participating in the 2026 World Cup will increase from the current 32 to 48, which means that Qatar will be the last World Cup finals tournament with 32 teams.

The impact of this incident will be even greater in the future, because the consequence of the expansion will inevitably be a decline in the overall level of the competition, and suddenly the number of participating teams has increased by one-half, so that countries that were almost impossible to participate before have been able to appear on this stage that should be the top, and the quality of the competition will not drop significantly.

The frequent occurrence of big scores, the fact that strong teams simply cannot suffer a little pressure in the group stage, and the consumption of players by another point due to an extra round of knockout matches have led to more and more instability in competitive form...... These negative situations have seriously affected the status of the World Cup brand in the minds of the public, and it can be said that in addition to allowing some weak football countries that have not been on this stage before to get a chance to realize their dreams, the disadvantages are far greater than the advantages.

For this reason, there is even a joke in the outside world, that only after entering the top 16 or even the top 8 can it be regarded as the real World Cup finals, and the preceding is the second stage of the qualifiers, which makes the reputation of this sports event that can be compared with the Olympic Games plummet.

Of course, FIFA made a lot of money for the extra number of games, and they were the only winners, but unfortunately it was the fans around the world and the football itself who paid for it.

Bringing the topic back to the Qatar World Cup, in addition to the above important labels, the extreme lack of exciting scenes in this tournament has also become the focus of attention. Due to the fact that the dates of the matches are very different from the habits of everyone, even in terms of fitness and competitive status, whether it is at the end of November or the end of June, the situation of the players is basically the same, but out of prudence, the teams still adopt a relatively conservative strategy, which makes the vast majority of the games seem very silent and lack attractive elements.

Even traditional powerhouses such as France, Brazil and the Netherlands, which excel in attacking ability, have played a balanced offensive and defensive strategy, and the scene can still be good?

As fans complained and watched drowsily, it was fast forward to the final day on December 18, which was also a hateful defensive battle.

With a chain defense and resolute counter-attacking strategy that regained the world's top spot, Carlo Ancelotti led the Italian team to eliminate Nigeria, Uruguay and Belgium all the way, and finally reached the final stage. His opponents were defending champions France, and Didier Deschamps' side struggled to secure a ticket to the Lusail Iconic Stadium, beating the likes of Switzerland and Brazil on their way to qualify, especially against the Samba Army.

In that semi-final, although the Brazilian team did not fall behind in the midfield and backfield, after Neymar's play was targetedly limited, there was no second offensive strong point to stand up to help the team open the situation, and as a result, the Gallic Rooster seized a chance in extra time, and finally lost the key battle to enter the final 0-1, and could only play a meaningless third or fourth place game.

After the game, almost everyone thought that Brazil's fortunes could change if they could bring Rodrygo with them, as Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino had been terrible throughout the tournament, scoring just two goals in eight games, seriously dragging down the team. If it were replaced by the Arsenal No. 14, perhaps the dream of the Samba Army to stand on top of the world again after 20 years would be realized, but these assumptions also have no practical significance.

As for the final final, the process was quite tedious. Although Italy are behind their opponents overall, they have done a very good job defensively, with the defence of Donnarumma, Rugani, Caldara, Romagnoli, and the wing-backs of Antonio Conte and Barreca causing headaches for countless top attackers in this tournament, keeping four clean sheets in the first six games and conceding only three goals in total, a performance that is close to the old-timers of three or four decades ago.

However, in the final, in the face of the continuous attacks of French stars such as Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Moussa Dembele, who unexpectedly won the starting position with his outstanding performance, he also failed to achieve perfection and conceded a goal first. Thankfully, the Azzurri's forward line was also very strong at crucial moments, and just before the end of the game, substitute Malego Melegoni assisted Manuel Pellegri to score a brilliant rebounding volley that pulled the team back from the precipice and pushed the two sides into extra-time and penalty shoot-outs.

In the end, in a duel of death in which at least a third of the factors were luck, the Italians had the last laugh, and with Mbappe, the last player to play in the regular round, kicking the ball down the right post and Belotti's penalty, the Azzurri, who had lost the qualifiers four years ago, went dark to the end without being favored by the outside world, regained the throne after 16 years, and became the second country after Brazil to embroider five gold stars above the ball.

But even more popular than them is the Gunners manager, who has barely appeared in public during the World Cup, because half of the players who have performed well during the tournament are inextricably linked to him. In terms of the runner-up French team, Mbappe was single-handedly excavated by Li Muddy when he was in charge of Castile, and Moussa Dembele was introduced after he joined Arsenal; England and Spain reached the quarter-finals with Diego Llorente, Bellerin, Harry Maguire and the impressive Jadon Sancho under his side.

As for the champion Italy, it has to be mentioned, the 23-man squad includes six Turin or former Torino players, including Goldaniga, Barreca, Dimarco, Baseli, Belotti and Pellegri, and they have basically grown up in the hands of Li Mudi.

With so many names put together and labeled as a head coach, do you say that movement can be small? Coupled with Rodrigo, who didn't participate but didn't think it was the biggest missing gem, the Gunners coach couldn't help it.

And for Li Mudi, who is more and more eager for calm, this is obviously not good news, although he has been ridiculed by the British media many times as the most homely head coach in the football circle, but if the paparazzi really make up their minds to dig out the news in a person, it is still difficult to prevent in most cases.

Even though the Gunners boss had hired additional personal security personnel to provide close protection for himself and his wife, the nanny, who often needed to go out to buy daily necessities, repeatedly told the male and female hosts that her trip had been interfered with by reporters, and someone had taken out 5,000 pounds to try to find out about Li Mudi's private life from his mouth, and the garbage bags taken out of the home and placed in the designated location had also been searched many times in a row.

At the same time, the one-and-a-half-year-old has also begun to become the focus of attention, and a series of photos of her shooting with an age-appropriate soccer ball while participating in community infant activities have appeared on the important pages of gossip newspapers such as the Sunday Sun, much to the annoyance of the Gunners manager, who does not want his daughter to be exposed too much to the public.

Later, Li's mother called again, and the farm in Mallorca began to be harassed by paparazzi suspected to be from the United Kingdom, although those people did not dare to enter private territory, but the two elderly people also encountered some inconvenience when they went out.

When he first heard the news, Li Mudi was very angry, and he even contacted Gines in a fit of rage, hoping that the predator, who has connections in Spain and even the entire European football world, will immediately find someone to arrest and arrest all the paparazzi outside his London apartment and Mallorca farm, and then take them to the police station, and then make them pay a heavy price through litigation.

It's a pity that after venting on the phone, he calmed down and understood that the effect he could get from doing this was probably extremely limited, and it was very likely that he would further push himself to the forefront, which was very much more than worth the loss.

In the end, he followed Gines's advice and let his wife and daughter go to Asia after the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays to avoid the limelight, and he only completed the three-point one-line round trip between the apartment, the training base and the stadium every day on the premise of increasing the number of security personnel around him, basically giving up all the personal communication behaviors that were already too little.

Although this behavior did not discourage the outside world from the outside world, it also reduced most of the interruptions, allowing him to devote all his energy to the team. The only regret is that he will not be able to reunite with his family in a short period of time, which makes Li Moody's mood become a little irritable, and he is getting closer and closer to the feeling of a traditional British manager.

Fortunately, Arsenal's daily life was not disturbed by the unfortunate encounter of the team's boss, and after regrouping on January 3, even the players who participated in the World Cup quickly regained the club rhythm that had been interrupted for two whole months, which naturally had the additional help of the FM system.

So at the beginning of the second phase of the season, the Gunners' state left the competitors far behind, in the case of Manchester City, Liverpool and other strong teams are inevitably encountering the World Cup syndrome, only Li Mudi's team is like not experiencing a two-month blank, and it is full of firepower as soon as it comes up.

On January 8, in the first game of the 2023 season, Arsenal, who visited Elland Road Stadium, defeated Leeds United, who had exceeded expectations, with a score of 4-1, and continued the suspended winning streak.

Three days later, in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, Arsenal at home beat Leicester City by four goals after a large rotation of the starting line-up, making their opponents desperate.

On the 15th, the Reds, who were second in the league and had a record of 15 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the first 17 rounds of the club's history, went to London City to challenge the top team Arsenal.

However, in such a global spotlight, the home side controlled the normal rhythm of the game throughout, first using the ability of high striker Georg Hirst to fight for the ball and contain the players behind him after the opening period, and then scored a long-range goal in the 16th minute of the first half by Dutch midfielder Riccidley Bazol.

After that, Li Mudi commanded the team to switch back and forth between the two tactics of passing and counterattacking, which made Liverpool's powerful attacking line feel powerful.

Rodrygo's solo effort and Balco's direct free-kick put the score at 3-0, a big win compared to pre-match predictions and the quality of the two teams, and the 18-game winning streak in the opening game equalled the longest winning streak in the Premier League set by Manchester City in 2017-18.

However, this is clearly not the end of the story, as after comfortably progressing to the third round of the FA Cup in midweek, Arsenal travel to Birmingham City in the middle of England at the weekend to take on bottom-table Aston Villa.

The result was naturally no suspense, and although the Gunners' performance seemed to be a deliberate adjustment, the difference in strength between the two sides still made the game a one-sided situation. Even though the visitors' shots were inefficient, they managed to score three goals thanks to a total of 23 attempts on goal, giving some comfort to the defenders who failed to keep a clean sheet due to an unexpected own goal.

What's more, the new record is finally back in Arsenal's name, which is what the club's extreme supporters are most excited about.

A week later, the Gunners came back 2-1 at home to Chelsea, ending a campaign in January with a perfect 20-game winning streak in the league, while also surpassing Bayern Munich two years earlier and stealing the record for the longest league record in the top five leagues.

Li Mudi and his team have become a record-winning harvester, so powerful that the whole European football world is crying for a while: who can stop this team from going to the top of the world?

Eyes can't help but turn to the February calendar, where the names of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan are in front of everyone's eyes, but no one dares to say that they will be able to accomplish this extremely difficult task.