Red Star One
Full Member
Best of South America at one side of the bracket, best of Europe at the other - it's all lining up for an excellent final.
At this point and with the current bracket order of favourites for me would be Brazil by a fine margin, France and one of Argentina/England/Portugal with Argentina possibly slightly edging it. Brazil has arguably the easiest path of all favourites, France has the second (or even first) strongest squad in Qatar and they're left with plenty of energy after last two not very demanding games (same for England though) + Mbappe absolutely on fire and at the moment the best player in the game. Think these two are a bit ahead of the rest in terms of quality and we might see them clash in the final.
Now the third favourite is a tricky one, Argentina seems slightly underrated here and they looked decent enough last two games for me to think they can also win it. If they get to beat Brazil in the SF they'd be incredibly pumped before the final. Portugal has the easiest QF opponent on paper, but does the paper thing even matter when Morocco just doesn't concede and look like a unit on a pitch? They looked fantastic against Switzerland and perhaps best I've seen them in years, with Ronaldo on the bench they can really win against anyone, or at least score a few goals. If England manages to beat France (30-35%-65-70% for me) they'll have a giant boost of confidence, but I'm not convinced if Southgate can win all three games against stronger/equal opponent: France - Portugal - Brazil/Argentina.
At this point and with the current bracket order of favourites for me would be Brazil by a fine margin, France and one of Argentina/England/Portugal with Argentina possibly slightly edging it. Brazil has arguably the easiest path of all favourites, France has the second (or even first) strongest squad in Qatar and they're left with plenty of energy after last two not very demanding games (same for England though) + Mbappe absolutely on fire and at the moment the best player in the game. Think these two are a bit ahead of the rest in terms of quality and we might see them clash in the final.
Now the third favourite is a tricky one, Argentina seems slightly underrated here and they looked decent enough last two games for me to think they can also win it. If they get to beat Brazil in the SF they'd be incredibly pumped before the final. Portugal has the easiest QF opponent on paper, but does the paper thing even matter when Morocco just doesn't concede and look like a unit on a pitch? They looked fantastic against Switzerland and perhaps best I've seen them in years, with Ronaldo on the bench they can really win against anyone, or at least score a few goals. If England manages to beat France (30-35%-65-70% for me) they'll have a giant boost of confidence, but I'm not convinced if Southgate can win all three games against stronger/equal opponent: France - Portugal - Brazil/Argentina.