Is the World Cup finally heading back to South America again? | Yes. Congrats Argentina

Be interesting to see of a mid season World Cup favours the traditional big times as sometimes they arrive dead on their feet from a packed club season.

Also always wary of teams that have walked through their qualifying with ease, seems to bring bad luck sometimes, although playing it at this time of year may also help that.

I think Brazil and Argentina will do very well, I'm also intrigued how the Dutch and Denmark will do, although the latter have stuttered recently.
 
Rojofiam said:
I hope we get to see an underdog victory. Eventually it will happen.
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Surprised no one has said much about Uruguay. Had strong knock out runs before and Valverde has been fantastic last few years so they can just deploy him out wide to nullify opposition's dangerous wide player or full back. Bentancur can disrupt play no problem and they always have solid backlines although need to get Gimenez fit as Godin is too old now to hold the defence together.

Guess however it's just a tournament too far for Suarez and Cavani and they'll struggle to score much given Nunez having a very tough start at Liverpool so won't be hugely confident. Is Maxi Gomez still a thing, he was their big striker hope 2-3 years ago but seems to have stalled at Valencia.
 
Nah. No defense. Croatia and France proved that against Argentina i 2018 and Belgium gave Brazil a good hiding as well. Brazil have a better chance of the two though
 
I always struggle with all these predictions and certitudes. To me it's nearly impossible to accurately gauge who is a favorite before the competition starts and even then we will have a better idea after the group stages. Too much relies on form and injuries.
 
I feel like Brazil have been the favourites for the last 4 world cups and then failed at every one of them.

EDIT: 2014 and 2018 they were, 2010 second favourites behind Spain, so... yeah... here we go again?
 
FootballHQ said:
Surprised no one has said much about Uruguay. Had strong knock out runs before and Valverde has been fantastic last few years so they can just deploy him out wide to nullify opposition's dangerous wide player or full back. Bentancur can disrupt play no problem and they always have solid backlines although need to get Gimenez fit as Godin is too old now to hold the defence together.

Guess however it's just a tournament too far for Suarez and Cavani and they'll struggle to score much given Nunez having a very tough start at Liverpool so won't be hugely confident. Is Maxi Gomez still a thing, he was their big striker hope 2-3 years ago but seems to have stalled at Valencia.
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They are definitely a huge underdog going into this WC. I don't see them doing much, to be honest.
 
I agree Brazil looks stacked but since I hardly watch them outside of WC and later stages of Copa it’s hard for me to get excited about a team that’s always favorites and usually underperforms in last decades. My money would be on France winning it again, with order of favorites being France, Brazil, Spain/Argentina
 
amolbhatia50k said:
They'll probably fall short again.

Brazils squad is good but in midfield and fullback positions they don't have top class quality. Very top heavy team.

Argentina are on a roll but they seem to be punching above their weight. I don't think talent wise they match up the European heavyweights.
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Casemiro, Fabinho, Bruno Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta, even Joelinton now he's a CM, they're all pretty bloody good players in my book.

I would agree with your assertion about full backs. Alex Sandro seems to be the only one who's ever been any good but I think he's probably a bit past it now isn't he?
 
JPRouve said:
I always struggle with all these predictions and certitudes. To me it's nearly impossible to accurately gauge who is a favorite before the competition starts and even then we will have a better idea after the group stages. Too much relies on form and injuries.
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Portugal at Euro 2016 highlights this. Group stage they were awful drawing three games against Iceland, Hungary and Austria before scraping past Croatia and Poland. Even 5 games into the tournament they looked nowhere near winning it.

Suppose this is what makes these tournaments so great, teams on form knocked out from nowhere and teams scraping their way through each round.
 
Red Star One said:
I agree Brazil looks stacked but since I hardly watch them outside of WC and later stages of Copa it’s hard for me to get excited about a team that’s always favorites and usually underperforms in last decades. My money would be on France winning it again, with order of favorites being France, Brazil, Spain/Argentina
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Recent history says they'll have a bad tournament.
 
Brazil always have needed to be head and shoulders above their World Cup rivals to even reach the Final. And though they are strong now, they do not form a dream team. It is no wonder that even with players like Zico, Falcao, and Socrates, they could not win in the 80s. And this current team is less talented than that. Brazil needs to have phenomenal players in their team to win, which they don't have.

Of course they can win it. Stranger things have happened in football. But gone are the days where Brazil had a ridiculous advantage in the coaching and talent development department that they had from the 50s up till 2002.

Like others have said, they do not have the best coaching team in the world. But if Brazil can't win it, I don't know who will. France and Germany can stop them, but they are unlikely favourites for me. This World Cup will produce perhaps a first time winner.
 
It's a knockout tournament. There are many teams that can catch a good run and win it. The winner doesn't necessarily have to play the best football. It's fun because it's unpredictable. People read too much into it.
 
horsechoker said:
Recent history says they'll have a bad tournament.
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There is no recent history to base anything on, unfortunately. France have been good with the ideal starting elevens but too many injuries have meant that France has largely played without ideal elevens or fit players. The silver lining being that it has created a larger group of competent players than anticipated, the issue is that there could be a lack of chemistry due to the constant turnover of players.
 
JPRouve said:
There is no recent history to base anything on, unfortunately. France have been good with the ideal starting elevens but too many injuries have meant that France has largely played without ideal elevens or fit players. The silver lining being that it has created a larger group of competent players than anticipated, the issue is that there could be a lack of chemistry due to the constant turnover of players.
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The winners of the previous World cups have faltered early in the next tournament. Brazil were the last team to reach 2 finals in a row in 94 and 98.

What's more is the way France went out of Euro 20/21 is quite concerning.
 
horsechoker said:
The winners of the previous World cups have faltered early in the next tournament. Brazil were the last team to reach 2 finals in a row in 94 and 98.

What's more is the way France went out of Euro 20/21 is quite concerning.
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I don't think that the 20/21 Euro is relevant and the 2018 WC is even less relevant. It's largely a different group of players and different organizations.
 
If Spain can finish chances they will win.

No midfield, not even France can get the ball off them.

Problem is, if they can't finish, they can lose to any half decent team.

Uruguay looks like a sleeper. Argentina is interesting with a cohesive and gritty side with a motivated Messi considering it's his last world cup.

Brazil have good balance. If Neymar brings the magic he could cement himself as the best in the world.

Shit location but it will be an amazing world cup.
 
If both Neymar and Vinicius during the WC are able to perform at their top level I don’t see a better NT in the tournament tbh.
 
Luffy said:
Brazil always have needed to be head and shoulders above their World Cup rivals to even reach the Final. And though they are strong now, they do not form a dream team. It is no wonder that even with players like Zico, Falcao, and Socrates, they could not win in the 80s. And this current team is less talented than that. Brazil needs to have phenomenal players in their team to win, which they don't have.

Of course they can win it. Stranger things have happened in football. But gone are the days where Brazil had a ridiculous advantage in the coaching and talent development department that they had from the 50s up till 2002.

Like others have said, they do not have the best coaching team in the world. But if Brazil can't win it, I don't know who will. France and Germany can stop them, but they are unlikely favourites for me. This World Cup will produce perhaps a first time winner.
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They weren't special in 1994 and 2002 and won it
They were amazing in 1982, 1986, 1998 and didn't

So hard to predict how a WC will pan out - they do look good though, and I'm looking forward to see how they do
 
Suedesi said:
They weren't special in 1994 and 2002 and won it
They were amazing in 1982, 1986, 1998 and didn't

So hard to predict how a WC will pan out - they do look good though, and I'm looking forward to see how they do
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This World Cup will be something very different. The conditions will be so extreme that the winners will likely be whoever is best at conserving energy and picking and choosing their moments to attack. A team like Spain who’s mantra is to outrun everyone will probably burn out in the second round, for instance.
 
I don’t really care where it’s headed as long as it isn’t fecking Belgium, fecking despise those cnuts.
 
If it wasn't for Neymar, I would be fully on the Brazil train, once if Denmark get kicked out. I will still be rooting them, but it's not to see that little scrotum lift the World Cup, that's for sure.
 
phelans shorts said:
This World Cup will be something very different. The conditions will be so extreme that the winners will likely be whoever is best at conserving energy and picking and choosing their moments to attack. A team like Spain who’s mantra is to outrun everyone will probably burn out in the second round, for instance.
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I thought Qatar in winter was similar to a northern European summer climate 18 to 24 degrees? Surely humidity would be lower as well?

I would expect Spain to be the opposite, they love to dominate possession making the other team run a lot.
 
RaddyRed said:
I thought Qatar in winter was similar to a northern European summer climate 18 to 24 degrees? Surely humidity would be lower as well?

I would expect Spain to be the opposite, they love to dominate possession making the other team run a lot.
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Maybe a decade ago, not under Enrique. He’s all about outrunning your opponent.

Weather wise it’ll be around 30 Celsius in the most part, which is the weather that European leagues mandate water breaks. It’s hot for playing football, particularly at tournament intensity.
 
phelans shorts said:
Maybe a decade ago, not under Enrique. He’s all about outrunning your opponent.

Weather wise it’ll be around 30 Celsius in the most part, which is the weather that European leagues mandate water breaks. It’s hot for playing football, particularly at tournament intensity.
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Hadn't realised it was still going to be 30c during games. Could lead to a very boring tournament.

Had assumed Spain still liked the possession game watching them against Switzerland. They had 70%.
 
Argentina playing powderpuff friendlies for Messi to stat pad heading into the World Cup is really odd. I get they comprehensively beat Italy and all, but that aside.... Estonia, Honduras, Jamaica and UAE are their final 4 warm up games? 2 of which Messi has feasted.... I mean maybe they are simply warming up for the worst team in the tournament (Saudi) as opposed to Poland and Mexico.
 
Can’t be bothered about intentional football nowadays let alone this hideous absolute joke of a World Cup.
Holland always been my team since Euro 1996 so I might watch their games, but regardless, if not Holland then I hope Argentina wins it, Messi deserves it.
 
phelans shorts said:
Maybe a decade ago, not under Enrique. He’s all about outrunning your opponent.

Weather wise it’ll be around 30 Celsius in the most part, which is the weather that European leagues mandate water breaks. It’s hot for playing football, particularly at tournament intensity.
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Nah. Mean high of the day during the games is around 26-28 and daily mean is around 22-23. And almost all matches are after sunset. So for most matches it will be 25ish and after sunset, so heat won't be much of a problem.
 
massi83 said:
Nah. Mean high of the day during the games is around 26-28 and daily mean is around 22-23. And almost all matches are after sunset. So for most matches it will be 25ish and after sunset, so heat won't be much of a problem.
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Aren't the stadiums supposed to be air conditioned? It was one of the big points of Qatar 2022.
 
Brazil perhaps, Argentina no chance... I feel they always bottle it up despite having good teams and talent on paper and this time the Argentina team isn't that great.
 
JPRouve said:
It depends on the ink that you are using. France depends too much on who will be available and their fitness.
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I saw Mbappe, Griezmann, Giroud was their front three for their last match. Is that really still their first choice XI or were there injuries? Surely Benzema and Dembele would be in it now, no?
 
Massive Spanner said:
I saw Mbappe, Griezmann, Giroud was their front three for their last match. Is that really still their first choice XI or were there injuries? Surely Benzema and Dembele would be in it now, no?
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From the sounds of things Giroud won’t be in the squad for the World Cup.

I don’t see France having much of an impact in the tournament to be honest. Too many flaws and players who aren’t fit/ageing not very gracefully (Benzema excluded)
 
Massive Spanner said:
I saw Mbappe, Griezmann, Giroud was their front three for their last match. Is that really still their first choice XI or were there injuries? Surely Benzema and Dembele would be in it now, no?
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Currently there is around 13 or 14 injured players. Otherwise I don't really know who is playing beside Mbappé, Giroud has been better than Benzema from a team standpoint and Griezmann shouldn't really start but he may have to.
 
phelans shorts said:
From the sounds of things Giroud won’t be in the squad for the World Cup.

I don’t see France having much of an impact in the tournament to be honest. Too many flaws and players who aren’t fit/ageing not very gracefully (Benzema excluded)
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I would actually think that Giroud will be in the squad instead of someone like Ben Yedder.
 
JPRouve said:
Currently there is around 13 or 14 injured players. Otherwise I don't really know who is playing beside Mbappé, Giroud has been better than Benzema from a team standpoint and Griezmann shouldn't really start but he may have to.
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Well, nobody had you pegged as winning it in 2018 so you never know.

Doesn't really seem to be any real stand out squad this time, though. Spain 2010, Germany 2014 and France 2018 squads were all miles ahead of the competition. Maybe Brazil actually will go and win it as favourites.
 
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