World Cup 2018: The Wait is Nearly Over

We are just days away from the start of the FIFA World Cup, and the excitement is only growing day by day. 

Who are this tournaments dark horses? Who will crash and burn? How will England fare? And who will eventually lift the FIFA World Cup Trophy on July 15th?

Let's begin with England. England, as we've all began to realise in recent years, come into this tournament with not a great deal of expectation. Long gone are the days when we thought we could compete with the world's best and challenge for titles, now simply getting out of the group is considered an achievement. 

However, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the Three Lions chances in Russia. No, not going all the way. But maybe they are able to play in a style that is pleasing for the fans, and maybe they can push some of the bigger playing nations. 

England are a young, energetic and full of confidence, even if the British media will do anything to knock them down a peg - the Sterling tattoo debacle being a prime example. But this lack of expectation could certainly play more into England's hands. They have no pressure, yet have everything to prove.

It would be a travesty if they don't make it out of the group, especially as teams like Tunisia and Panama should be relative walk-overs, and even if they don't finish top of the group, I think they stand a real chance of reaching at least the quarter-finals.

Their opposite group, which they will face in the Last 16, contains Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan. None of those teams should scare England, even Colombia with the likes of James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao aren't anything on Belgium who England will have already faced. 

Get through that game, and you're more than likely facing the Germans, and I think we can all have a good guess at how that will go. But who knows, eh? Knock-out football can throw up some odd results, maybe it's England's turn to have a shock result go their way (for once!).

This England team, under the leadership of Gareth Southgate, is building for the future. And the future really does look bright with this team. There is pace in every position, and players who look like they will fight for every ball. Even if we (probably) aren't going to win the whole tournament, I believe there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about how England will do.

Now to the rest of the tournament.

I'm not going to do an analysis of every team at the tournament because, 1. there are plenty of better places to get those kind of reports and, 2. there are far too many teams that I don't need to even worry about.

So let's have a look at those who could really mount a challenge to lift the 21st FIFA World Cup.

Brazil, according to the majority of the bookies, are the favourites to win their first title since Ronaldo bagged two in the final against Germany in 2002. But a South American team haven't won a World Cup on European soil since Brazil won it in Sweden in 1958. They will be desperate to put to bed the demons of the last World Cup, where they lost their last two games by a combined score of 10-1. 


But they have an extremely exciting attack, lead by the world's two most expensive footballers in Neymar and Coutinho, they will surely make a strong push for the final. I see them making the final.

But I see them losing to this team. Germany. Despite losing to Austria in one of their warm-up games, and dropping PFA Young Player of the Year Leroy Sane from the squad, they still have a scary amount of talent across their team, arguably more so than 4 years ago. 

No one has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in '58 and '62, so history beckons for this German side. The fact that they have had almost the same squad, ran by the same manager, for many years is what sets them above the rest for me at the moment. They have a great squad cohesion, and are all on the same page. I think they'll be our 2018 winners. 

So, those are who I think the finalists will be. Now the rest of the challengers.

Spain are always going to be in or around the talk for the title, even if their last World Cup was forgettable at best. Despite that group stage exit, Spain have to be considered as serious contenders. A manager that is already set to succeed Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, they'll surely be ready to give him a great send off.

France and Belgium are also being spoken about highly in this tournament. I have the same issue with both these teams. Both have fantastic, world class individuals, but how well can they gel together? Both have such great potential, but both have the ability to crumble under the pressure. 

It is tough to argue with their talent on show, but I don't think either are good enough, or experienced enough in Belgium's case, to go all the way in these finals. Semi-finals for France, quarters for Belgium.

You can't ignore the noise being created by Portugal or Argentina either, for exactly the same reason. Messi and Ronaldo. These players have the ability to carry a team, and in this case a nation, all the way to the top prize. Argentina probably have more chance than Ronaldo's Portugal as there is more world class talent around him, but I still think it would be a huge task to go all the way.

But now it is nearly time to sit back and simply enjoy one of the greatest shows on earth. We are going to have shocks. We are going to have emotional moments. But there is no doubt that Russia 2018 is going to entertain. Enjoy!

What are your predictions for the World Cup? What are you most looking forward to? Share and comment.

You can read my other blogs at ScriptEye and I Can't Write Words here.