To many of us, not having a summer World Cup feels very strange - whatever you think about the
winter World Cup, when it rolls around, there is every chance that we will all be ready to watch the
matches and cheer on our nations.
Before reaching this stage, there was a long and arduous qualification process, and there have been
some qualifying countries that will come as no surprise, and others that are not regularly at World
Cups but will have the chance to impress in Qatar.
Whether you are looking to back the underdogs or the favorites, there are bound to be opportunities at
the upcoming world cup.
Bookmakers are bound to have some
special offers for the tournament - you may opt to gamble on an
accumulator of World Cup matches - you may delve into markets such as cards, goal scorers or even
corners and immerse yourself in all the details.
The World Cup teams and their groups
The teams for this year’s
World Cup have already been drawn, and fans of football all over the world
will be licking their lips at the prospect of some of these matches.
The groups are as follows:
Group A: Qatar (hosts), Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B: England, Iran, United States, Wales
Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, Korea Republic
Debutants
We have just one debutant team in the tournament, and it is the hosts, Qatar. They qualify
automatically by virtue of having been named hosts, and it will be interesting to see what they bring to
the table.
Some speculated that they would be the whipping boys of the tournament, but this seems a harsh
assessment. In the recent
Arab Cup they surprised a few by reaching the semi-finals, and though their
chances to get to the knockout stages appear slim, you just never know in a tournament like this.
The favourites
The bookmakers have named their favourite for the tournament, and it is no huge surprise. Brazil is
expected to do very well at the tournament and has been named as the overall favourite with odds of
around 5/1 at the time of writing this.
The Brazil squad mixes incredible amounts of experience with players such as Casemiro, Thiago
Silva and Marquinhos, with wonderful talents such as Neymar and Vinícius Júnior. With such a strong
squad, there is every chance they will get to the late stages of the tournament.
The second favourites in the early betting are France. Once again - it is not hard to see why,
especially when you consider the sizzling form of players such as Mbappe and Benzema.
A few new faces may have to step up in midfield positions to see the French win the tournament, but
nobody would be shocked to see them win and retain their title.
On top of this, we need to consider other teams such as Spain, and even England, who have reached
the latter stages at recent tournaments, and the undeniable talent on the German team will also be
looking to prove they are still contenders.
Contenders for the “group of death” title
There is always a group that is given this title, and this year, there are a couple of contenders.
However, there is not necessarily a “pressure cooker” group like there has been in recent years. A
relatively lowly-ranked team can be found in each of the groups.
To pick a group, both Group C (Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland) and Group E (Spain, Costa
Rica, Germany, Japan) appear quite difficult on paper, leaving the lowly teams from each group,
Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia, with a very difficult task to progress past the group stage.
When
Saudi Arabia take on Argentina in their first game, they will go into their sixth ever World Cup
campaign facing a team full of household names, including Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez and many
more.
Against Mexico and Poland, they also face superstar players such as Lewandowski and Lozano.
In Group E, it may look as if Spain and Germany are destined to qualify, but there are a few who have
high hopes for Japan, whose squad is in stronger shape than it has been for some time. Many of
Japanese players ply their trade in Europe, including players in the German Bundesliga.
England’s chances
Well, we seem to do this every time; hyping up the English team’s chances.
On paper, the squad has an incredible amount of talent and some of the best players in the world,
including the exciting talents of Harry Kane, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish.
The weakness the squad has may well be defensive. A couple of injuries in these positions could be
devastating for England. On top of this, the recent dip in form in international fixtures is not the best
sign for England fans.
That said, England often goes into these tournaments in sizzling form and doesn’t manage to achieve
much at all, so it could be that going in “lukewarm” takes some of the pressure off the squad.
In a winter World Cup, who knows what could happen.
Summary
We have 32 teams at a winter tournament this year. The World Cup is evolving, and whether you love
it or hate it, there’s every chance that it will make all the headlines when November comes around.
The first games kick off on the 21 st of November, and we expect the excitement to start to build from
there on, in all 32 of these nations, and even Italy, who are surprisingly not involved.