What to Watch For In Russia

In less than a year the worlds best soccer teams will head to Russia for the World Cup. If you kept up with qualifiers around the world, Europe in particular, you know this is going to be an exciting World Cup.

In case you missed it, here are some major headlines from the past month. The biggest headline for sure is that Italy has failed to qualify, after falling to Sweden, for the first time since the 1950s. Russia (host), Belgium, Germany, England, Spain, Poland, Iceland, Serbia, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Croatia, and most recently Denmark also qualify from Europe. The United States fell to Trinidad and were eliminated from contention, and embarrassing mark for US soccer. Egypt and Iran looked strong in their sectors, while South Africa, Ghana, and Cameroon all fail to qualify. In CONMEBOL things got very intersting as Argetina barely snuck in at the end and Chile shockingly got pushed out.

Most surprising eliminations: Italy, Netherlands, Chile, US, Ghana

Most Impressive: Iceland, Denmark, Japan, Egypt, Peru

What to expect in Russia:
-Belgium has a solid team but typically fails in pressure situations
-Germany squad likely to be young but just so much talent they are certainly a favorite
-France will surely be a finalist
-England once again has a good, young squad but fails in pressure
-Iceland has played outstanding in their own way since the Euro in France, expect it to continue
-Brazil is surely one of the quarter finalist at worst

I think the competition at this world cup is better than usual, while some teams missed out, new countries are getting a chance. I think we are in for some fine football in the later rounds for sure. I personally think Coach Low of Germany has a good shot of repeating. My money would be on Germany or France.