After reading the predictions by @wolfgangsport I was inspired to go trough this year’s World Cup teams once again and see whether some of my predictions would change. Back in April, when the groups were determined I tried to make an early predictions but the times have changed and teams that I was heavily believing in are really not performing as well as I would have though. This is why I wanted to renew my view on things and simulate the World Cup once again.
Group A
We start off with Group A and the hosts of this tournament: Qatar. I am really no expert with the Arabic teams but I don’t think that they will play a major role in this tournament. Although I really hope that they can represent tehri country and their continent in a very proud way, I just don’t think that their skill will help them to proceed in the group stage. With the Netherlands, there is a clear favorite in this group and I don’t believe they will have any trouble to proceed as the head of the group.
With that being said, I think that this year’s African Cup winner, Senegal, will play a great role in this group and will be able to get a draw against the Netherlands. This draw will ultimately help them to get into the knock-out stages on the second place. While I think Ecuador can play a great role in this year World Cup, I really wish Senegal all the best which is why I let them trough.
Group B
Group B is very difficult to judge in my opinion. During my last simulation I was very sure that England will dominate this group as they showed some good performances during the Euros and have a very talented team. Unfortunately, they have just been relegated out of their Nation’s League group which are not the best conditions to get into the World Cup. It seems like they are lacking everything and nobody is believing in them. Nevertheless, I think that compared to Wales and Iran, they are having just too much class to not survive this group.
I do think though that the US will surprise a lot of people in this group and will be able to claim the first place in this group. This will be one of the first sensations of this tournament and I do think that the US has some very talented players that have already some good experience in the top leagues. They will not come to this tournament to see and participate, they will come there to get in to the play-offs! Last but not least, Wales and Iran will get eliminated from this group. I do think that the other two teams are just too strong. While Wales is always a tough opponent, I think Iran will collapse in every game by the end of the second half.
Group C
Maybe I am putting too much hope into Argentina but I do believe that Lionel Messi will try everything in his power to get this title. After the lost final in 2014 and the elimination against France in 2018, I think he will seek revenge and he will show it in the group stage early on. Argentina will struggle a bit against Poland but other than that, they are having a moderate to handle. While I think that Lewandowski is a world class player, I do think that the Mexican team is in general more able to play better football. This is why I would think that Mexico will proceed into the knock-out stages. Saudi Arabia is without a doubt the big underdog in this group and will not be able to show anything because they will just get outclassed in my opinion.
Group D
Group D is a very cool one. With France and Denmark as the top dogs, I think both of thee teams will go trough without any issue. While I believe that Denmark will claim first place and France will have a little bit more work to do, both teams will go trough fairly easy. Australia and Tunisia will need very good days to have a shot against both of these teams and I just don’t think that the luck will be on their side this time around.
Group E
Coming to the group with the highest risk potential. With Japan, Spain and Germany there are three top tier teams in there. With Costa Rica standing no chance in this group the first two places will be decided by those three teams. Because Germany is a great tournament team, I think they will have no struggles to win their opening game against Japan. After that they will have a horrible performance against Spain and will win under pressure against Costa Rica!
Spain on the other hand will have no troubles to go trough this group. Their class of players is just insane to not perform well at this World Cup. This is also why I think that Japan will be a very difficult opponent for the two European teams but in the end the pure class and experience of these top players will decide the matches. Japan will play very attractive football but will unfortunately be eliminated out of this group as well.
Group F
With group F there was again a very difficult decision to be made. While I always believed that Canada can go trough this group I changed my mind over the course of the last weeks. My assumptions always was that Croatia is a team that is too old and that will not perform at this World Cup. Well, looking at their latest results I think that have proven to be still very intact.
With Belgium and Croatia in this group, Canada will have it very difficult to get one of the two play-off places. They will be able to show what they are capable off against Morocco but it could be a little too late for the talented team. Nevertheless, it will be a great experience for this young team and hopefully they can leverage this into the next great tournament.
Group G
Looking at group G, there are yet again two favorites for me. With Brazil who are just performing very well at the moment and Switzerland that always have a very solid team at those great tournaments. I was hoping that Cameroon could show their class at this World Cup but the latest performances of the other teams just show me that there is little to no hope of the African underdog in this group.
Same principle goes with Serbia. I think Switzerland that mainly contains of Bundesliga players and Brazil that has a great team around Neymar will just outperform the Serbian team. It will probably be though matches but in the end those two favorite teams will make it to the paly offs.
Group H
Last group will be a gain a tough one. With South Korea, there is a very big underdog in this group. After that we have Ghana how are usually capable of some great football but will be outclassed by Portugal and Uruguay. Especially Portugal has a lot of talent and experience in their team this time around. The winners from 2016 Euros will definitely be able to achieve something great in this tournament and I believe they also have a good shot at winning this whole thing but we need to see what the Knock Out Stages have in store for us!
Knock-Out Stages
Like always, Knock-Out stages are very hard to judge as it is always a matter of the days performance. Nevertheless, it is pretty fun to think about what could have been and what could happen so let’s discuss the Play-Offs. Frist up we have Netherlands against England. For me at the moment, Netherlands are the clear favorite in this match up. I think that the Netherlands will pick apart the three Lions as they are currently every thing else than competitive. The second match up, will be yet again in the category of Messi’s revenge. He will defiantly get his revenge on France in this match up. Yes, it will be a though game but I think that with a lot of luck, Argentina will be able to squeeze their way to the Quarter Finals.
Spain versus Croatia is a fairly easy prediction in my opinion. While Spain might struggle a little, I don’t think that they will let it slip against this Croatian team. Same goes with Brazil against Uruguay. In this match up Brazil will proceed in 8 out of 10 cases and this we will unfortunately not witness an exception in this tournament. This brings me to the first outsiders match up. USA against Senegal will be a very hard game to watch. I think both teams will be nervous and it is a fifty-fifty on who is making the least mistakes in this game. For good measures I will let USA go trough here. Denmark against Mexico is very hard to judge as well. Here, I think the Danish dynamite will have the longer end of the stick.
Germany against Belgium is another very high class match up. While I do hope that Belgium will make it here, I kind somehow believe that Germany will luck their way trough. For me this is again a fifty-fifty coin toss and I am going with Germany this time. This brings us to the last match up: Portugal against Switzerland. Here Portugal is my favorite and they will proceed to win this game with little to no struggles. Cristiano will lead his team into the Quarter finals where he will face Germany.
Coming into the Quarter Finals, we really eliminated all of the weak teams. In my opinion the left side of the tree is definitely the stronger one but the right side has great potential as well. Argentina against Netherlands will be one of the best games to watch. It will be very passionate but also very intense. I think that Netherlands will have a lot of great chances but Argentina will be this little bit colder in front of the goal which is why they will proceed into the semis. There will be also a very high class game between Brazil and Spain. Both teams will want to paly football and this is probably what will cost Spain the chance to proceed. While Brazil will play very disciplined, Spain will be dying in beauty.
On the other half of the tree, we will have the game USA against Denmark. This is probably the weakest game out of the 4 quarter finals and I think that it will also be again the most attractive one. Denmark will probably pull trough as the US will struggle yet again with their nerves. Unlike in the previous round they will have an opponent who is actually willing to punish them for their mistakes. This bring me to the last quarter final which is Germany against Portugal. I always would say that Portugal is somewhat of a favorite opponent for Germany. They have always been performing very well against the Portuguese stars. Unfortunately for Germany they will get defeated this time around. Cristiano will get his revenge and will proceed into the semis against Denmark.
This brings us to the final three games of the tournament. On the left side we have the South American duel between Brazil and Argentina. On the other side we have the duel od two surprise teams from Europe: Denmark versus Portugal. While at this stage every team has a shot of winning, I do believe that Denmark has the least potential. This is why, I would let Portugal go to the finals here. Don’t get me wrong, I think it will be a very though game but at the end of the day, the team that plays the better football will proceed and this will be Portugal in this case. On the other side, the match up is a true classic. While Brazil was more successful over the past years, Argentina was always a very worthy opponent. Furthermore, I really would like to see the final and probably the biggest game of the century if Messi and Cristiano will face it off in the final of this World Cup. This is why, I am letting Argentina go through. Now with the final, I will let the result open, and it is for you to decide which team could potentially win. I think one thing would be for sure: It would be the biggest football game of this decade and potentially of the century.
Published by ga38jem on
Sports Talk Social
On 25th September 2022
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I am glad you got some inspiration form someone else on Hive to write a different type of post.
Thank you! :)
It will be the biggest game of the century and might be the game that will put to bed the GOAT debate. Whichever team wins , their star man will surely receive the accolade, but can the two team get to the final , especially with the tricky fixtures?... i guess we will know that when the world cup starts.
Yeah I agree that there is a lot of wishful thinking involved but just imagine the scenes! :D
That’s a strong prediction there for Senegal. I for one would wish that it could happen but with the kind of form the Dutch is showing currently at the Nations league it scares me to even think about Senegal giving them an upset. For me I think they always find a way to score a winner and it showed yesterday when they played against Belgium( to my suprise they won)
I don’t think that England won’t qualify here too. I feel like Wales have it in them and even though they have been relegated in the nations league, they can still cause an upset against England. I think USA will qualify as you have rightly predicted but England for me is not up there at this moment.
Am a Ghanaian and that’s why I’ve jumped to group H so quickly.
I don’t have hope in this Ghana team. The friendly we played against Brazil showed to a lot of Ghanaians that we don’t have enough going forward and at the back and this will disturb us enormously.
Back at home we have a sense that the interest of the team is not out first as we don’t think some players who be starting but they always start.
Yeah let's see how everything will actually turn out :D
Damn, I would actually give the first place of the group to Mexico if I were Argentina lol
Yeah that would be clever if everything would stay the same :D