Thinking this myself, some great performances
Who will win the World Cup?
- Thread starter PoTMS
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Pretty convincing so far and genuine contenders: Spain, England, France, Portugal, Brazil
Outside chance but need to get their sh*t together and quickly: Netherlands,...Germany and Argentina (that's if they even get out of the group)
Nah: Belgium
Outside chance but need to get their sh*t together and quickly: Netherlands,...Germany and Argentina (that's if they even get out of the group)
Nah: Belgium
France, Spain, Brazil are the only contenders, they are miles ahead of the rest
Argentina maybe If they win the group because their route to the semis is pretty good.
Argentina maybe If they win the group because their route to the semis is pretty good.
Brazil might need Neymar back healthy though.
Still think it will be one of Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina. Think it will be a Germany vs Argentina final, rematch of 2014. Germany and Spain lack of no 9 could hurt their chances, still not convinced by Brazil until they actually beat a top European team so we will see in the quarter-final if they can get past Spain then it will come down to luck and individual talent on that day between Brazil vs Argentina.
My prediction has Argentina vs Spain final with Spain winning it.
Argentina were going up against a parked bus. Portugal needed a fluky cross/accidental goal and a dubious PK just to beat Uruguay. I think Argentina can beat Portugal, but Spain/France/Brazil are the best teams.
England struggled with the USA, even Senegal may knock them out and I don't think it would be as big of a shock as people would think.
Lisandro has been amazing for argentina true
I think for that to happen one of the teams will have to finish second in their group (otherwise they are on the same side of the bracket).
The most likely team to finish second of them both is Argentina and if that happens they play France in the first knockout stage , England next (most likely) and then probably either Portugal or Germany in the semi.
I think if Argentina come second they are pretty much out and their only hope is to win their group (where they will get there runner up of the French group), then the winner of Netherlands vs USA before the first first possible opportunity to face a really top team in Brazil/ Spain in the semi.
Germany, Hansi Flick is just too good. If he comes back to club football after the world cup, whatever team he joined will dominate Europe and their league for a long time.
How are you defining this? I think the media and most people would expect England to be able to do Senegal.
Senegal play very physical. I think England are obviously favoured, but if pressed hard enough they could be in for a long night. Foden needs to start.
Spain vs Brazil in the qf will feel like the final.
Brazil or France.
Brazil, Spain, or France
Who can keep best players fit? Who can survive 3 tough attritional games on those pitches? Could be some surprises…. I’d rule out Brazil and Spain. For some reason I’d suspect a team that conserves energy will do well. European winner, Germany or Netherlands. Would not discount England as an outsider
In this order, I've kept Argentina in there mainly because I think their path to the SF if they top the group looks good. As someone else mentioned, I think if Argentina finish 2nd I would not back them to beat France (R16) , England (QF), Portugal/Germany (SF) and then Brazil/Spain in the final in consecutive matches.
Brazil
France
Spain
England / Portugal / Germany
Argentina
Brazil
France
Spain
England / Portugal / Germany
Argentina
Only seen this now, so can no longer vote. Brazil would have been my guess a couple of weeks ago (as well as now).
What I find interesting is that so few voted for France. Weird.
What I find interesting is that so few voted for France. Weird.
Would love to see one of the smaller nations win it. But its going to be Brazil Argentina France or Spain, England with an outside chance.
Probably because of the injuries before the World Cup and the fact only two nations have ever won it back-to-back.
I can’t believe how many people are still tipping Argentina. This is the worst Argentinian national side I’ve seen in my lifetime. I tipped England initially based on their progress in the last two tournaments, but it’s hard to look past Brazil or France with how the tournament is playing out.
Strange to be surprised by people tipping Argentina, whilst going on to tip England. Not saying that Argentina are anything special, but...England?
Semis and finalists in their last two major tournaments. It really shouldn’t be that surprising.
It was surprising that they got that far in the first place. Although less so when you see their draws.
Their draw was fairly typical of what most winners face though. Most times you don’t end up playing the top 5 teams in the world, you’ll face one maybe and then one in the final, the rest will be mid level teams and teams that have fluked a win against a fancied favourite.
Exactly my thought, Argentina 29% while France is at 5% and Spain is at 3%.
Maybe many of the forum members are Argentina fans, otherwise these numbers just do not add up.
Argentina's squad at this World Cup is not even in the top 5 imo.
Yeah and people shouldn't underestimate U21, U19 results. Most world cup winners had impressive youth teams the years before. And England had some very good youth teams lately - that will pay off one day! But of course so much is up to daily form and luck too. If you play a few 50/50 games against the likes of France, Argentina or Spain your chance of winning a tournament goes down. 50%+50%+50% is a small chance for anyone!
I still favor France, but shouts for Brazil and Spain are sensible.
It’s bang average sprinkled with a couple of very decent players, some of which are well past their prime like ratface and Messi. The bulk of them are just decent not great, the managers a noob and there isn’t some great team ethos that makes them better than the sum of their parts. Baffling people would look at them compared to Brazil, France or Spain and tip them so heavily.
Yeah, I was referring to how you said it wouldn't be a shock. It would certainly be a surprise. Senegal are 6/1.
I accidentally voted for Denmark instead of 'other' for Australia
See you Sunday
It was all a moot question anyway, it's coming home !!
I don’t. Without Benzema I can’t see them winning it. As much as I love Giroud, he isn’t going to do much and Griezmann hasn’t done it for years. So they’re basically a 1 man team at this point. Not sure Bop it has it in him to carry them all the way.
I’ll level with you… a ban is totally justifiable.
Yeah, fair enough. Cheers.
It's for obviously insane reasons which is even more annoying.
1) It's outside of Europe in hot weather, a South American team will win it
2) Messi - it's in the stars
3) Their unbeaten run consisting of mainly friendlies, South American teams and a decimated Italy side
4) Copa America win - where Brazil trounced them, but they managed to fluke a goal.
Those are the excuses. The true reason is quite simple. We watch European teams and hardly watch Conmebol. Therefore, fans are far harsher critics of the European teams. Portugal, who people are still criticizing, just beat the toughest team outside of Brazil and Argentina in South America quite easily. That should tell you everything you need to know about that run. It's easy criticizing European teams for going out on penalties in the Euros to teams that are relatively strong.
People can criticize Holland's team with relatively strong midfielders and a Frenkie De Jong, but feel a team with Christian Romero and an aging Otamendi, Sevilla full backs, a Fred and Mctominay like midfield, McCallister ( who plays for brighton) playing on the left flank, an aging partially injured Di Maria and hardly any depth should be favored. Messi is the GOAT, but he's not in his prime either and shouldn't be expected to lift this squad when he couldn't do it with the likes of Mascherano, a younger Di Maria, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc
In saying all this, Argentina do have the potential to become a bit more formidable in some of their younger players, if they decide to use them. Lisandro Martinez, Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez too. The big issue is that midfield. Fix that and they actually have a chance.
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Are you actually watching them. France are not a one man team in the slightest.
Griezmann and Dembele have arguably been better than Mbappe in terms of general play.
Rabiot and Tchouemeni have been good too.
Theo Hernandez has been providing a massive threat off the left and has secretly been one of the best left backs in the world for some time.
You then have a group of CB's : Varane, Konate, Upemacano, Saliba
That is not a one man team at all
With the group stage nearly finished, I have the quarter-finals as:
Netherlands v Argentina
Spain v Brazil
England v France
Germany v Portugal
Tasty looking QF ties but there's always at least one upset in the Round of 16.
Netherlands v Argentina
Spain v Brazil
England v France
Germany v Portugal
Tasty looking QF ties but there's always at least one upset in the Round of 16.