Still 5 months away of course but if I were to choose the pre tournament favourites at this point it will have to be Argentina.
Certainly amongst the usual big boys , they're looking by far the most outstanding at the moment.
Messi seems to have rediscovered his passion again on the pitch with his national team ( which he didn't have much of with PSG this season tbf ) and with this world cup being probably his last , I think we could be witnessing something a bit special with this Argentina team in Qatar.
England are looking rather unconvincing , uninspiring and boring at the moment and Gareth Southgate's negative tactics so far in the Nations League aren't helping either.
The world champions France are going through a bit of a struggle too at the moment. But that's often been the case for them in WC years ... They won in 1998 despite looking pretty average prior to the tournament and in 2018 they won again despite being "too negative" as they're being labeled again in the french media right now.
Brazil and Germany will always be there and about so we can't discount them at all , but again for me it could be Argentina's year. They're looking locked in.
Favourites for the World Cup
posted on 12/6/22
They more like South Africa than Japan and Korea. But even they had qualified for the World Cup a couple of times.
posted on 12/6/22
Yeah, but SK had never won a WC game before, and were suddenly semi-finalists with some shocking calls. It wouldn't be the biggest shock for me if Qatar got out of the group with a couple of dodgy decisions. Also wouldn't surprise me if they finished bottom with 0 points.
Qatar won the last Asian cup, beating South Korea and Japan on the way, semi-finalists at the Gold Cup 2021 - losing a tight semi vs USA, put in decent performances in the Copa 19 despite not winning a game.
On paper they should be finishing 4th in that group, but they have done a lot of work to give them the best chance.
posted on 12/6/22
As an aside, I hope Mexico can finally break their round of 16 curse. 7 defeats in a row at that stage for them, since being banned in 1990.
posted on 12/6/22
I remember Mexico bein cheeted by the Cheetin Dutch in 2010 ore 2014
posted on 12/6/22
Think wus 2014
Then the Cheetin Ditch cheeted Costa Rica in QF
posted on 12/6/22
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 6 minutes ago
As an aside, I hope Mexico can finally break their round of 16 curse. 7 defeats in a row at that stage for them, since being banned in 1990.
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Could be tough. They’ll likely play France or Denmark.
posted on 12/6/22
comment by Barefoot (U19770)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
A couple of dodgy refereeing decisions could see Qatar get to the last 16.
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Are you implying Clattenburg will be the recipient of a Manila envelope?
posted on 12/6/22
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 15 seconds ago
comment by Barefoot (U19770)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
A couple of dodgy refereeing decisions could see Qatar get to the last 16.
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Are you implying Clattenburg will be the recipient of a Manila envelope?
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Clattenburg will get the decisions wrong by accident!
posted on 12/6/22
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 58 minutes ago
Yeah, but SK had never won a WC game before, and were suddenly semi-finalists with some shocking calls. It wouldn't be the biggest shock for me if Qatar got out of the group with a couple of dodgy decisions. Also wouldn't surprise me if they finished bottom with 0 points.
Qatar won the last Asian cup, beating South Korea and Japan on the way, semi-finalists at the Gold Cup 2021 - losing a tight semi vs USA, put in decent performances in the Copa 19 despite not winning a game.
On paper they should be finishing 4th in that group, but they have done a lot of work to give them the best chance.
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Good article in the Times today about how they naturalised some decent foreigners and made serious efforts with their Aspire academy system with 2022 in mind.
posted on 12/6/22
comment by Ole dirty Baztard - penited and penandes (U19119)
posted 6 hours, 52 minutes ago
Let’s analyse England based on club players.
% spurs players= X 33% per player bottling factor. This isn’t good.
% Liverpool players = x 47% cheat / peds factor per player. This is good, cheating like sterling proved at the euros can offset some on the spurs factor.
% city players= x 23% dive factor. Again good
% grealish x1 = 70004% diving factor. Again crucial positive here, but tempered with a negative, in that the game will be broken up badly as grealish rolls around every 2.7 seconds.
As you can see it’s mostly positive. England should be favourites, but a lot will depend on how many spurs players are taken and if grealish is fit.
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Ffs Baz