My Predictions and Review of the Upcoming World Cup 2018

teofilex11 (63)in #sports • 6 years ago (edited)

We are less than a week away from the start of the event, which all fans of football around the globe are eagerly waiting - World Cup 2018.
In the next two posts I will try to analyze each of the 8 groups and select some of the favorites for winning the title.

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Group A: Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

The biggest favorite for the first place in Group A is the world champion from 1930 and 1950, national team of Uruguay. When you have attackers such as Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani in your team, and an attacking minded football coach on the bench, we can expect plenty of goals in the nets. Oscar Tabarez is leading Uruguay since 2006, and he certainly knows how to get the best out of his them.

In my opinion, the key match in this group will be played in the second round when the host of the World Cup, the national team of Russia, welcomes Egypt in St. Petersburg. Although both teams have big problems before the start of the championship, I believe they will not have major problems to overcome the weak Saudi Arabia. The major concern for the Egyptians is the injury of their best player and one of the pretenders for winning the Ballon d'or 2018, Mohamed Salah. Even if he recovers on time, we will see if he will be ready to play at the highest level.
On the other hand, Russia is in a very bad form. They played 4 games in 2018 and have three losses and one tie, with only 2 goals scored. Of course, with the great support of domestic fans, they have something to hope for in a duel with "pharaohs".

My prediction for group A

Uruguay
Russia
Egypt
Saudi Arabia

Group B: Iran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain

In my opinion, the first two positions in this group are guaranteed for the previous two European Championship winners, Spain (2012) and Portugal (2016). I do not see how Morocco or Iran could get involved in the fight for the top 16 stage of the championship.

After winning titles at the European Championships 2008 and 2012, as well as World Cup 2010, there was a drop of motivation in the Spanish national team and a visible crisis in their game. They needed a fresh blood to replace the old generation of players, some new and younger forces came forward to prove themselves making Spain one of the favorites for the title once again.
On the other hand, the team of Portugal is led by a great coach Fernando Santos, who had great success with the average team of Greece, and certainly the peak of his career is the title of Euro 2016 with Portugal. They can be classified as silent favorites.

The game between those two teams will be played in the first round at the Olympic stadium in Sochi, and I give a small advantage to Spain.

My prediction for group B

Spain
Portugal
Morocco
Iran

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Group C: Australia, Denmark, France, Peru

The French national team is the most expensive in this championship. Market value of all players is estimated at more than € 1 billion according to transfermarkt. In my opinion, they are the biggest favorite to win the championship title. I think they have worked hard to improve team spirit, some old players have been removed who had impact on negative team atmosphere, and I think that was exactly what they needed in the previous years.

The second place will be a huge battle between the remaining 3 teams. Although the teams from Peru (11) and Denmark (12) are far better placed on the world list compared to the Australian team (36), I would prefer Aussies, however. I do not know what is the reason, but I always liked to watch their national team. Probably because some of my favorite players have played there, Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill. The second one, although at the end of his career, still plays at the top level.

My prediction for group C

France
Australia
Denmark
Peru

Group D: Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, Nigeria

This is probably the strongest group on the championship. Argentina emerges as the top favorite for the first place. It will be very interesting to see decision of the Argentina coach, Jorge Sampaoli, who is going to be in the attacking line as he has four super stars, Liones Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala.

Iceland, the most pleasant surprise from the previous European championship, will not be able to repeat the success from 2 years ago, in my opinion, so I expect Croatia and Nigeria to fight for the second place in the group. Although Nigeria has an excellent attacking line, I believe that prevail in this game will be a better midfield of the Croatian national team, since they have one of the most important players in Real Madrid and Barcelona, so I would say they have a better chance.

My prediction for group D