FIFA Men's World Cup

For many of the players who tasted glory with Portugal at the 2016 European Championship in France, it’s not been a story of pushing onwards and upwards ever since.

France announced the 23-man squad it will be taking to Russia in a few weeks and to the shock and awe of no one, Karim Benzema isn’t on manager Didier Deschamps’ list. Instead in the forward positions Deschamps has named Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappé and Florian Thauvin. 

Investment banks are big into making predictions — by their very nature they have to be good at it. But the UBS World Cup predictions might need a bit more work. The company gave Italy a 1.6 percent chance to win the World Cup, even though the Azzurri aren’t even in the tournament. 

UBS, which stands for you don’t really need to know for the sake of this article, is an investment bank based out of Switzerland. They recently employed 18 analysts and editors and ran computer simulations to predict the most likely winner of the 2018 World Cup. 

Every four years the World Cup crowns a new champion. But the tournament itself isn’t just about who is left standing at the end; it’s about the fans, the historic meetings of rivals, the David vs. Goliath matchups, the World Cup upsets.

While the globe gathers every four years to see who the winner is, one of the best parts of any tournament is the upset — the unexpected favorite falling to an unlikely underdog. World Cup upsets are no different.

Quick! I want you to grab a friend, a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Now, using the 10 items listed below, it’s time to start wagering on the World Cup!

“But what do I bet with?”

Your money! Your savings! Your firstborn child, ya Rumpelstiltskin looking drangus! I don’t care how you do it, just honor the U.S. high court by putting a bet on something, anything! 

Here are 10 fun bets you can explore with the World Cup just 29 days away. 

The final 23-man England World Cup squad was announced on Wednesday. But I’m not really sure if Gareth Southgate actually named any players to it or if those English kids were just spewing jibberish.

OK, so I admit I’m an American. I prefer American grammar to British grammar and sometimes need to turn the subtitles on to watch “Snatch” or “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” But the England World Cup squad announcement video was just pure garbage to my ears.

Oh how things change, oh how things stay the same. The Spanish national team enters this year’s World Cup in Russia in a rather strange state. World champions in 2010 and European champions in 2008 and 2012, Spain are sort of favorites for this year’s tournament, as they’re always expected to do well.

After cruising through the treacherous realm of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying with only one defeat from 18 matches, it should come as no surprise that Brazil manager Tite has named a largely expected 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.