FIFA World Cup 2018 Prediction
The 2018 FIFA World Cup is just one week away and my World Cup fever is at a solid 9 out of 10. I spent a few minutes this morning completing a task that I'm sure is a vital, Pre-World Cup ritual for millions of people - Filling in the numbers, columns and tables on a World Cup wall chart in an effort to predict which team will emerge victorious in the Luzhinki Stadium on July 15th.
My predictions will be wrong. I know they will be wrong. There will be 1 or 2 surprise packages and there will be 1 or 2 of the bigger teams who fail to impress. Unfortunately, dear reader, I'm a wimp and am not confident enough to make those calls. Thus, my predictions are rather bland and uninspiring, but here they are nonetheless:
Group stages
In group A, the big story will be the hosts, Russia, crashing out early finishing 3rd in their group behind group winners Uruguay and 2nd placed Egypt.
Group B will be topped by Spain with Portugal claiming the second qualification spot. The thought of Spain vs Portugal on just the second day of the whole tournament has just raised my World Cup fever a notch.
France will top group C, but second place was much harder to call. I went with Denmark to claim second place, but there is a strong case to made for Peru.
In group D, 1st place was an easy call in Argentina, but I took a while to settle on second place. This, for me, will be one of the tightest groups with all 3 of the remaining teams strongly fancying their chances of progression. In the end, I went for Croatia to edge it.
A similar story in group E. 1st place will be taken by Brazil with the other 3 teams all with a very decent chance of claiming 2nd place. I opted for Switzerland, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Serbia or Costa Rica progress.
Groups F and G were more clear cut. I’ve gone for Germany and Mexico in group F and Belgium and England in group G.
Colombia will have enough to win group H and second place will be keenly contested between Poland and Senegal. I went with Poland to progress.
Round of 16
There are some interesting match-ups in the last 16.
France will see of Croatia in the first game. The second game will be huge – Uruguay vs Portugal. Both strong teams and will be many fans’ dark horse picks, but are not amongst the traditional favorites to lift the cup. I think Portugal will just have enough to edge past the South Americans.
Spain will defeat Egypt and Argentina will get past Denmark. Brazil will face a tough test in Mexico, but will have enough to prevail. Belgium vs Poland will be a close game with Belgium taking the win. Germany will get past Switzerland and then in the final game of this round, in another close game, I predict Colombia to end England’s World Cup.
Quarter-finals
On to the quarter finals and we have 4 huge matches. Let’s take a look at the line up:
Portugal V France
Brazil V Belgium
Spain V Argentina
Germany V Colombia
This will be the end of the road for the reigning European champions, Portugal as they are sent home in a rematch from the Euro 2016 final. Some French demons will be laid to rest in this match.
Brazil will be too strong for Belgium. Despite Belgium’s incredible attacking line-up, Brazil’s defense will be able to withstand the pressure and at the other of the pitch will be too strong for Belgium’s back line.
Spain are a more rounded team than Argentina, but will find it difficult to cope with Argentina’s embarrassing riches up front. Argentina to take this one.
Germany are a powerhouse and a fantastic tournament team. The reigning World Champions will see off a spirited Colombia.
Semi-finals
This is it! The last 4! The best of the best. And what a great pair of semi-finals we have:
France V Brazil
Argentina V Germany
It’s a repeat of the 1998 final which France won 3-0 after Ronaldo famously had a seizure in the build up to the game was only declared in the starting line-up moments before the match. There will be narrative here, too. Most neutrals will want Brazil to progress to the final as they would be facing their old rivals Argentina or they would have the chance to avenge their defeat to Germany 4 years ago. However, it will be semi-final heartache for the Brazilians for the second World Cup in a row as France will once again get the better of them. Although, one would hope for their sake that this will be a much tighter score-line that the 7-1 defeat to Germany at this stage in 2014.
Argentina and Germany have a storied rivalry, most famously trading wins in the 1986 and 1990 finals and recently meeting in the final of the last edition of the World Cup in 2014. Germany prevailed on that occasion and football fans around the world had to watch the sight of a heartbroken Lionel Messi walk past the World Cup trophy and humbly accept the golden ball as the tournament’s best player.
Sadly for Argentina and Messi, they won’t be laying those demons to rest as Germany will once again end their World Cup dreams.
The final
France V Germany
4-time winners and reigning champions Germany versus the 1998 champions France.
Retaining the World Cup is a remarkable feat, especially in this day and age. Teams tend to go through cycles of peaks and troughs. It could be said that the current German team is on their way down from the peak, whilst the French side are on their way up. Both sides are extremely well-rounded with a wealth of riches in each position, but France will have enough to dominate the midfield and control the game. France will claim their second World Cup and Germany will add to their unwanted record of having the most runners-up medals, having lost in 5 finals – I’m sure their 4 titles goes a little way to making up for this, though.
So there you have it. My predictions for the FIFA World Cup of 2018. Please comment and let me know where you agree and (more likely) disagree with me. Also, please feel free to come back after the tournament to laugh at how horribly wrong my predictions were.
I’m off to watch Italia ’90 highlights on YouTube because after writing this, my World Cup fever has hit a scorching 10 out of 10 and I need a quick fix.