2018 FIFA World Cup Favourites
With the World Cup only a few days to go, the guessing game starts for many on who will be the winner. If you are not a football winner, then you might not be worried too much about the world cup frenzy. Late injuries to key players will upset calculations but for our case. There are only a few teams with the realistic chance to lift the trophy.
Germany
Top of the list will be the defending champions Germany. Their team is made up of top players; their coach is Joachim Low. We hope that the German players will not be consumed by overconfidence but this seems not to be a problem to them with the slogan Best never rest emblazoned on the side of their bus. Last year saw them as winners of last year’s confederation cup in Russia. A problem that Germany will be facing will be the person to get them the goals. They do not have predators like Miroslav Klose or Jurgen Klinsmann and this is the reason Mario Gomez is contending with Timo Werner and Sandro Wagner. From friendlies they have played with other World Cup favourites; they drew 1-1 with Spain and lost 0-1 to Brazil. Germany is in the same group with Sweden, Korea and Mexico.
Brazil
Brazil has won the World Cup title five times. They took away with the tough South American qualification group when Tite took over from Dunga. When we talk about Brazil, we associate them with flair and organization in their game. In 2014, they were defeated by Germany in a 7-1 loss but with Tite, in control, they have earned the approach of coping with the ridiculous levels of expectation they might have in such events. The question many might have is whether Neymar will be in a position to play with his broken metatarsal injury. But if he recovers, we expect to see him with his silk and steel teammates on the pitch.
Powerful team members who might propel Brazil to a win include Jesus, Coutinho, Philipe, William, Fernandinho, Casemiro, Miranda and Marquinhos. Other members of the team include two keepers; Alisson and Ederson. There are also fly full-backs, Marcelo and Dani Alves. Let’s wait and see whether Germany will make history like they did in 1958. Whether they won the World Cup on European soil.
Spain
Spain took home the cup in 2010 and it seems they are back as you can judge from their impressive qualifying campaign that saw them concede three goals in ten games. La Roja might lack the stars quality seen on other teams but it will be hard to score against them when you are unable to get the ball from the likes of David Silva and Andres Iniesta. Other team members expected to bring out the best in the team include David de Gea, Alvar Morata and Diego Costa. With Sergio Ramos being in the lead, you can be sure that they have huge experience and technical excellence. They are known to move the ball with one touch at a devilish speed.
France
They might have fallen short of Euro 2016 glory on home soil but they have a couple of players who will benefit from the experience and other young prospects waiting to break out on the International leg. They are still under the mantle of Didier Deschamps who was their captain in 1998 when they won. This is the last host that won the World Cup title. Antoine Griezmann was the lead scorer at Euro 2016 and he might be a good bet to repeat this in Russia. Other teammates that make the team strong include N’Golo Kante’s, Kylian Mbappe, Samuel Umtiti and Raphael Varane.
Despite Paul Pogba’s problems in Manchester United, he will still play as he is a key player for France and playing for his country might galvanize him again. The problem with France is that they did not do well when it mattered in the Euro 2016 final.
