*WARNING: READ THIS OR YOU WILL BE BUTT HURT*
I too know the obvious favorites based off the readily accessible odds that are available to everyone. But upsets do happen at the World Cup. In fact, they happen every single tournament. Every. Single. Time.
So if you want to see traditional power rankings with all the countries lined up entirely how you’d expect them to be, go to ESPNFC or something. Have fun reading that.
In terms of glamour, no group stage game comes close to matching Portugal vs Spain on June 15 at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. This is, after all, a meeting between the last three European Champions (Spain in ’08 and ’12, Portugal in ’16), and a clash between arguably the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a who’s who of talent concentrated at the mega clubs of the world’s two best domestic leagues.
When it was confirmed that Russia would be opening the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a match against Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the general response was one of deep cynicism: here was a bit of home cooking on FIFA’s end; certainly this was the worst opening match in the history of the tournament.
Let’s see a show of hands: With the U.S. not participating in the World Cup this summer, how many of you are just interested in seeing who wins? OK, that’s about 15 percent of you. Well you’ll probably be asking yourself: When is the World Cup final?
The World Cup begins on June 14 and lasts more than a full month. The group stages run through June 28, with the knockout rounds beginning on June 30. So when is the World Cup final?
Germany’s “Snubbed XI” just added one of the most electric talents in all of world football. A few weeks ago, the “Snubbed XI” began assembling itself with a preposterously strong attacking core spearheaded by the dropped Borussia Dortmund duo of Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle (the two players who expertly combined to sink Argentina in extra time back in 2014).
Last we saw Neymar on the soccer pitch he was crying as he was stretchered off the field in a Ligue 1 match. But the Brazilian is back, and if the Neymar goal vs Croatia is anything to go by, he’s ready for the World Cup.
The Mexico national dominated in its final match in Mexico ahead of the World Cup on Saturday evening at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. But despite dozens of chances and a majority of the possession, Giovani dos Santos was the only goal scorer for Mexico vs Scotland in a 1-0 friendly victory.
The youth project continued for interim coach Dave Sarachan and U.S. men’s soccer with the second of three friendlies in the span of a couple weeks on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland. A young squad showed a few positives and a few more negatives in a 2-1 loss for the USMNT vs Ireland.
Ireland and the United States play a relatively meaningless soccer match on Saturday at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Neither squad is preparing for the World Cup, but the teams did manage to make an important statement: in support of equality and rights for all. Unfortunately, not everyone understood the message on the back of the Ireland and USMNT jersey.
A front line of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé sounds terrifying. Italy just found out exactly how terrifying. The three-man attack played a key role in all three goals in a 3-1 win for France vs Italy in a pre-World Cup friendly in Nice on Friday evening.
France manager Didier Deschamps started the fearsome forward trio against Italy’s generally well-regarded back line in Les Bleus’ penultimate warm-up match for the World Cup.