World Cup 2022 — a beginner’s guide: Every question you’ve been too afraid to ask

It is time for the most widely viewed and followed sporting event on the planet: the World Cup got underway on Sunday when host nation Qatar lost to Ecuador in Doha — and the USMNT begin their campaign today with a game against Wales. These are the eight groups: Group A – Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands Group B – England, Iran, USA, Wales Group C – Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland Group D – France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia Group E – Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan Group F – Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia Group G – Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon Group H – Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea For the seventh consecutive World Cup, since it became a 32-team tournament, the two highest finishing teams from each group will progress to the knockout stage. Croatia were the masters of the penalty shootout on their way to the final in 2018 Talk to me about penalties… The rules for penalty shootouts at the World Cup are as follows: Both teams take five penalties each A different player must take each penalty The winner will be determined once the 10 penalties have been taken and there is a team with more goals or when either team establishes an insurmountable lead If the teams have the same amount of goals, the shootout continues in a sudden death format If enough penalties are taken whereby each player from each team has taken one, the takers go again in either the same or a new order until a winner is determined There is a coin toss to decide which team takes the first penalty. This is how the last 16 will look once the groups have been decided: Group A winners vs Group B runners-up Group B winners vs Group A runners-up Group C winners vs Group D runners-up Group D winners vs Group C runners-up Group E winners vs Group F runners-up Group F winners vs Group E runners-up Group G winners vs Group H runners-up Group H winners vs Group G runners-up Then, those fixtures will lead to the following quarter-final line-up: Tie 1 winner vs Tie 3 winner Tie 2 winner vs Tie 4 winner Tie 5 winner vs Tie 7 winner Tie 6 winner vs Tie 8 winner The semi-final stage will look QF 1 winner vs QF 3 winner QF 2 winner vs QF 4 winner And, of course, the final: SF 1 winner vs SF 2 winner Will VAR be in operation at the World Cup? Abdulrahman Al Jassim Ivan Barton Chris Beath Raphael Claus Matthew Conger Ismail Elfath Mario Escobar Alireza Faghani Stephanie Frappart Bakary Gassama Mustapha Ghorbal Victor Gomes Istvan Kovacs Ning Ma Danny Makkelie Szymon Marciniak Said Martinez Antonio Mateu Lahoz Andres Matias Matonte Cabrera Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed Salima Mukansanga Maguette Ndiaye Michael Oliver Daniele Orsato Kevin Ortega Cesar Ramos Fernando Rapallini Wilton Sampaio Daniel Siebert Janny Sikawaze Anthony Taylor Facundo Tello Clement Turpin Jesus Valenzuela Slavko Vincic Yoshimi Yamashita What changes will be made for the 2026 World Cup?