Who will win the World Cup?

Who do you think will win the World Cup?

  • Total voters
    594
  • Poll closed .
RedDevilMachine said:
I am not sure what else he could do? Statistic shows that he was one of the best managers for England with a 66.7% win record. Got knocked out by Germany in 2010 which always had England's number and a tournament team, knocked out by Italy in Euro 2012 on penalties who went to the final.
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2010 Group Stage results:
USA: 1-1
Algeria: 0:0
Slovenia: 1:0

We were fecking awful in 2010 and finished 2nd in the group behind USA. Germany was a tough draw but we were in a winnable group and were garbage.

He quit before Euro 2012 too as he was upset when the FA stripped Terry of the captaincy. Hodgson was the manager at Euro 2012.
 
NoPace said:
I think the France bet I like is eliminated on penalties. Their defence is solid but I could see them having trouble creating against teams who sit back as Rabiot-Tchouameni-Lucas-Pavard is really lacking in creativity for whatever you call the midfield/fullback line which we should really have a name for.
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I think that's actually their strength. Dembele and Griezmann are players who start their attacks a bit deeper. Giroud is then allowed to be more of a target man and with Mbappe's speed, problems can be caused.
 
tjb said:
I think that's actually their strength. Dembele and Griezmann are players who start their attacks a bit deeper. Giroud is then allowed to be more of a target man and with Mbappe's speed, problems can be caused.
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Interesting. I don't disagree, especially that Dembele out wide and Giroud up top offers a fairly conventional route to goal against teams sitting deep, but I'm not sure there's a #8 among the big teams that I'd be less scared of letting pass the ball 100 times with 9 men behind the ball than Rabiot. Fred if he starts, though apparently Paqueta will be the #8 against Serbia according to reports and for me Bruno Guimares is a top 25 footballer in the entire world they just won't play him for some reason. De Jong, Bellingham, Tielemans, De Paul, Neves all far more capable than Rabiot of playing a ball over the top to the fullbacks or wingers or a clever through ball down the middle.
 
NoPace said:
Interesting. I don't disagree, especially that Dembele out wide and Giroud up top offers a fairly conventional route to goal against teams sitting deep, but I'm not sure there's a #8 among the big teams that I'd be less scared of letting pass the ball 100 times with 9 men behind the ball than Rabiot. Fred if he starts, though apparently Paqueta will be the #8 against Serbia according to reports and for me Bruno Guimares is a top 25 footballer in the entire world they just won't play him for some reason. De Jong, Bellingham, Tielemans, De Paul, Neves all far more capable than Rabiot of playing a ball over the top to the fullbacks or wingers or a clever through ball down the middle.
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That's the thing that's making me doubt Brazil and also if they start Richarlison instead of Jesus.
 
Idxomer said:
That's the thing that's making me doubt Brazil and also if they start Richarlison instead of Jesus.
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My guess is that logic will prevail and Guimares will start by the knockouts, I'm not sure I've see a consistently better Prem player not on City this year and that's even with many people on Arsenal being great so far and Trippier and Maddison in the form of their lives. And he's good enough defensively to play as an 8 (unlike Paqueta) and good enough going forward (unlike Fred).
 
tjb said:
I think that's actually their strength. Dembele and Griezmann are players who start their attacks a bit deeper. Giroud is then allowed to be more of a target man and with Mbappe's speed, problems can be caused.
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You were right. Their speed and crossing with Giroud's presence was too much for Australia.
 
I think I am supporting England in this one. Pickford and Maguire are mediocre players, but they play very well for England. Shaw looks world class for them, and Stones/Trippier are ok.

Bellingham-Dier is a very balanced midfield. Probably the best midfield has a registra player, but no team is without weaknesses. I do not like Mount but he is alright. Kane, Sterling and Saka are awesome players. As are Rashford and Foden (Foden IMO is far better than Mount).

With Argentina and Brazil having shit coaches, France having many injuries, Germany/Portugal not being anything special, Holland being shit, Belgium’s top players except De Bruyne and Courtouis being past it, Italy not in the World Cup, I think England might have the best overall team. Maybe Spain would be their biggest problem, considering that Spain’s midfield can keep the ball forever. Let’s see, but I would have England as overall favorites. Hopefully Southgate continues being adventurous instead of his usual conservative.

NB: this is not a troll post.
 
I think that Brazil, England and France are the 3 best teams.
I hope France win, as I am French of course. I didn´t expect anything actually but the performance tonight gave me hope and we have a solid team, full of young energetic players playing at the highest level in Europe. I think we look impressive as every single player, except Giroud and Griezmann maybe, are an impressive combo of athletic strength and technical abilities. And added to that we have the best young player in the competition in Mbappé. The guy is a freek, at 23 he has one World Cup with 60 caps and 30 goals for France. Let’s win that and he will be on par with Pelé. Would be awesome, but I agree, I am going ahead of myself here.
 
Brasil for the win.

It amazes me how much people overrate Argentina here. They are nothing special.

England has a chance, good group but the coach is lackluster.

France is strong, but have many key absentees.
 
Champions: Brazil
Runners-up: England
Third place: France

Golden Ball (MVP): Neymar
Golden Boot (Most Goals): Kane
Most Assists: Vinicius
Best Young Player: Vinicius
Breakout Star: Bellingham

Most Entertaining Team: Brazil
Biggest Underachievers: Argentina
Biggest Overachievers: Portugal
 
England will be hard to stop. Maybe the hardest of any side I’ve seen so far. France have that genius of Mbappe but also a few unspectacular players well out of their peaks.

If England can get the subs right we are pretty frightening what we can bring on the pitch talent wise. ‘If’ the team locks down that defence a Grealish or Foden can beat any team on the planet as a plan B late on.
 
Brazil, England and Spain look the best teams so far.
 
Brazil look fantastic. Hope they do it. More to come from Holland I think
 
Brazil do look stacked and have played well, the attacking moves can just keep coming for them like classic Brazil teams. The manager is talking a good game and with such depth at good ages there's a real chance a South American team can win the WC.

I had Argentina with Brazil Spain France and Germany. Still think Arg and Messi can do well but it's looking like one of Brazil Spain France, Argentina do look a bit too old and sluggish. England while doing well and having quite a good squad probably need to go an extra level that isn't likely. Germany not looking good for them, they did create a lot though, and perhaps can get by a bit like Chelsea winning the CL
 
England look the strongest so far but early days. Brazil v England final. 2-1 to England after extra time.
 
PoTMS said:
Brazil, England and Spain look the best teams so far.
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I would also say those three . England maybe a bit above the rest although I am wary of Southgate at some key moments.
Brazil, was the favourite I picked, probably a quick choice, but in a hypothetical match losing 1-0 against Spain, for example, I don't think they would have the ability to recover that I see in England or France.
France may not have been the flashiest, but they are very very difficult to beat.
Spain played well, a healthy style, and with goals, but we need to see them against Germany to see if it was the result of Costa Rica's weakness.
 
Netherlands and England pretty much have byes to the quarters, piss easy groups and piss easy ro16 opponents.
 
Spain are going to be hard to beat but will be vulnerable to the break against better teams, but keeping the ball like they do always makes them dangerous. Brazil look very good. France have a crazy squad. England look good too, but I fear Southgate holding them back and Reece James is a massive loss (England's best player for me). They are my favourites to win it all.

Otherwise with the right selection (Enzo, Licha and Alvarez) Argentina could turn it around and become dangerous. Portugal will be dangerous in any one off game, but their coach holds them back.

If I had to list as favourites, for me, I'd say:

1. Brazil
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Portugal
6. Argentina

Don't see any other team with a realistic chance after that and, of course, Argentina might be gone early and make it a 5 team tournament for me.

All 6 teams are very close in my mind too and not much separating them all at their best. I'd say if any of them play to their top level the rest of the way through then Spain wins it for me as they can just dominate a game so well.
 
Who are the 17 lunatics that predicted the Netherlands would win the WC? Certainly not Dutch people.
 
bosnian_red said:
Netherlands and England pretty much have byes to the quarters, piss easy groups and piss easy ro16 opponents.
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I don't get why people give it for granted Ecuador won't win the group.

Maybe self-preservation? Southgate vs LvG would be a borefest
 
antohan said:
I don't get why people give it for granted Ecuador won't win the group.

Maybe self-preservation? Southgate vs LvG would be a borefest
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Would be overly painful. But tbh that was also posted before the game. Netherlands looked woeful. But then again, they play Qatar and Ecuador play Senegal, so it'll be considerably tougher for them.
 
Too early to make judgements IMO. Need to see the whole group stage first, but then again, could have some like Germany drop out early (when I think they have a high ceiling if it clicks).

My pre tournament guess for top 3 were Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Brazil and Argentina as 4/5th.
So far I'd drop Netherlands a lot, raise Brazil, raise France, drop Germany to 4th in my rankings with the caveat that they might get knocked out altogether despite being a top 5 team (tournament football).

So current power rankings I guess, I'd say:
  1. Spain
  2. Brazil
  3. France
  4. Germany
  5. Argentina
  6. Portugal
  7. England
  8. Netherlands
  9. Ecuador
  10. Denmark
  11. Japan
  12. South Korea
  13. Uruguay
  14. USA
  15. Croatia
  16. Switzerland
  17. Canada
  18. Belgium
  19. Senegal
  20. Morocco
  21. Iran
  22. Tunisia
  23. Serbia
  24. Ghana
  25. Cameroon
  26. Saudi Arabia
  27. Mexico
  28. Poland
  29. Wales
  30. Australia
  31. Costa Rica
  32. Qatar
 
colombianmancunian said:
Champions: Brazil
Runners-up: England
Third place: France

Golden Ball (MVP): Neymar
Golden Boot (Most Goals): Kane
Most Assists: Vinicius
Best Young Player: Vinicius
Breakout Star: Bellingham

Most Entertaining Team: Brazil
Biggest Underachievers: Argentina
Biggest Overachievers: Portugal
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portugal look horrific
 
My prediction:

Quarter:
Netherland/Escuador vs Saudi Arabia/Argentina/Mexico
Spain vs Brazil
England vs France
Belgium/Germany/Japan/Croatia vs Portugal

Semi:
Netherland vs Brazil
France vs Portugal

Final
Brazil vs France



Strength and weakness of each team in terms of overall strength:

1. Brazil
Attack - Neymar, Vinicius Jnr, Raphinha, Richarlison, Jesus, Antony, Rodrygo, Martinelli - (10/10, by far the best in the tournament)
Mid - Casemiro, Fabinho, Paqueta, Fred (9/10, very solid actually, having some best DM in the game would give their attacker license to roam)
Def/GK - Maquinhos, Silva, Danilo, Sandro, Alisson, Ederson (9/10, quite solid, extra points with 2 strong keeper)

2. France
Attack - Mbappe, Griezman, Dembele, Giroud, Coman - (9/10, strong, but lacking strength in depth with Benzema, Nkunku out, 10/10 in full strength)
Mid - Tchouameni, Rabiot, Camavinga - (9/10 strong, but lacking strength in depth after injuries of Pogba, Kante, 9.5/10 in full strength)
Def/GK - Upamecano, Konate, Pavard, Kounde, Hermandez, Lloris - (8.5/10 solid, lacking depth with Varane, Kimpembe out)

3. England
Attack - Kane, Saka, Sterling, Foden, Rashford, Grealish - (9/10, lots of attack options actually, Foden should start btw)
Mid - Rice, Bellingham, Mount, Henderson, Maddison - (8.5/10, very solid overall, but tend to get outplayed in midfield with no playmaker)
Def- Maguire, Stones, Shaw, Trippier, Walker, TAA, Dier - (8.5/10, strong on paper actually, players always do well for England despite club form)

4. Spain
Attack - F.Torres, Asensio, Morata - (7.5/10, abit average, but looks impressive in their first game)
Mid - Busquets, Pedri, Gavi, Rodri - (9.5/10, best in the tournament with 2 most talented young CM in the game, and 2 very good DM)
Def/GK - Laporte, Rodri, Alba, Azpilicueta, P.Torres - (8.5/10, quite solid actually)

5. Portugal
Attack - Ronaldo, Felix, Leao, A.Silva - (8.5/10, looks good on paper, but key players lacking club form, and lacking bench option with Jota out)
Mid - Bruno, B.Silva, Neves, Nunes, Otavio, Vitinha - (9/10 looking strong on paper actually)
Def/GK - Dias, Cancelo, Pereira, A.Silva, Guerrero, Dalot, Mendes, Costa - (9/10 looking strong on paper, but some worrying sight on their first game)

6. Netherland
Attack - Depay, Gakpo, Bergwign - (7.5/10, decent, especially with Gakpo, but lacking bench option)
Mid - FDJ, Klaassen, Berghuis - (8.5/10 quite decent, especially with FDJ as playmaker)
Def/GK - VVD, De Ligt, Ake, Timber, Blind, Dumfries, Malacia - (9.5/10 very strong on paper, probably strongest in the tournament)

7. Argentina
Attack - Messi, Martinez, Di Maria, Alvarez, Dybala - (8.5/10, actually looks good on paper, but looks slow in their first game)
Mid - Paul, Parades, Gomez, E.Fernandes - (8/10, looks alright I guess)
Def/GK - Romero, Otamendi, Martinez, Tagliafico, Molina, Acuna - (8.5/10, surely their 36 games unbeaten run has to do with their solid defence?)

8. Germany
Attack - Gnabry, Muller, Sane, Harvetz, Moukoko - (8/10, isn't half bad at all, perhaps lacking a goalscorer)
Mid - Kimmich, Gundogen, Goretzka, Gotze - (9/10, actually looking very solid on paper)
Def/GK - Rudiger, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Ginter, Neur - (8/10, probably decent overall)
 
Be interesting to see brasil next two games without neymar (injured ankle). Wonder if they will play better without him in the team.
 
Frank Grimes said:
Champions: Spain
Runners-up: Germany
Third place: Netherlands

Golden Ball (MVP): De Jong
Golden Boot (Most Goals): Kane
Most Assists: Raphinha
Best Young Player: Pedri

Biggest Underachievers: Portugal
Biggest Overachievers: South Korea

Dark horses: Serbia
Dark horse for golden boot: Morata
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Morata in from 40/1 to 13/1, bookies are on the run.
 
croadyman said:
Ecuador won't be piss easy if Colombia in last World Cup is anything to go by at all
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I loved that game, even considering we lose due to Maguire’s late goal. I still think Pekerman should have been more aggressive.

So sad to miss WC, but that’s the result of our federation choosing a mediocre coach such as Rueda.
 
It’s likely to be Brazil/Spain vs France/England/Portugal in final game.
 
colombianmancunian said:
The y look better than the overrated Argentina side. Are they going to win the cup? Absolutely not. But they will over achieve, maybe even reach a semi final.
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Nah, Argentina look better than Portugal. Come off it. Argentina have been going up against parked buses, Portugal needed some very jammy goals to go through same as it was in Euro 2016. Portugal keep falling upward but the second they play a half decent team they'll be knocked out.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Nah, Argentina look better than Portugal. Come off it. Argentina have been going up against parked buses, Portugal needed some very jammy goals to go through same as it was in Euro 2016. Portugal keep falling upward but the second they play a half decent team they'll be knocked out.
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Argentina only produced two successful attacks against Mexico, they play vey blandly. Don’t see them advancing more than QF.

If Portugal meets France, Spain, England or Brazil they will lose, that’s a fact.
 
Man Utd will win it, our players are having a great tournament
 
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