2018 FIFA World Cup

[Shaka_Khan]

This international tournament will be held in Russia (June 14th - July 15, 2018).

I think:

Group A
Uruguay and either one of Russia, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt will go through.

Group B
Portugal and Spain are clearly the strong teams in this group. Morocco sometimes surprises people. Iran is one of the strongest teams in Asia now.

Group C
France and Denmark will go through. I've seen Australia beat strong teams before, including France and Mexico during the 2001 Confederations Cup. But I've seen the younger generation struggle recently. Peru also struggled to get qualified.

Group D
This is an interesting group, especially because of Iceland. They made it to first place in their qualifications group. This will be Iceland's first appearance in a World Cup. Argentina will be the other team most likely to make it through.

Group E
Brazil and Switzerland are the strong teams in this group. Costa Rica is another strong team and may surprise people.

Group F
Germany and Mexico are the strong teams in this group. Sweden might do better than expected. South Korea has been struggling ever since the team got a new coach and new players. They seem to be improving in their more recent games, but they continue to struggle with goals.

Group G
I'm sure that Belgium will go through. Common sense tells me that England would be the other to go through, but Tunisia isn't a bad team either. This is my first time seeing Panama in a World Cup game.

Group H
This group is hard to predict. None of these teams are bad. And neither one is considerably stronger than the other.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

USA soccer will be undefeated in this year's World Cup. That much I know.

[Vincent Butler]

USA soccer will be undefeated in this year's World Cup. That much I know.

I don't know who to go for. Netherlands are out, USA is out. Being a fan of Oranje, I hate to root for Germany; however, I can't help but respect them, and will not be disappointed if they do well. Maybe Denmark or Switzerland (the Swiss were my first reactive choice after Netherlands and USA were eliminated). Several things are sure; don't root for any team named Brazil or Argentina, and don't root for a certain nation to the southwest of the Netherlands who got beat 5-1 in the opening round of the last World Cup ~D.

[drone]

Russia will get through to the knockout stages. Host nation usually does, by hook or by crook...

England will also make the knockout stages, they can't lose on penalties otherwise. ~D

[Pannonian]

Which is the Group of Death?

[Fragony]

The brother of the captain of Marocco is a good friend of mine, Marocco gogogo

[Ibrahim]

USA soccer will be undefeated in this year's World Cup. That much I know.

:laugh4:

That's a good one, mate. :clown:


Russia will get through to the knockout stages. Host nation usually does, by hook or by crook...


Unless that country be Brazil, and the one it's fighting is Germany. :clown:

[Gilrandir]

Which is the Group of Death?

The one with Iceland.

[Shaka_Khan]

Well, I'd say that my predictions weren't too bad. I really didn't predict the Korea vs. Germany one.

Many people around the world are celebrating France's win. I actually predicted France would win from the beginning.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGgzUFMIokk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDEAwjfJg78

[Shaka_Khan]

Is this for real?

https://sports.yahoo.com/u-s-soccer-president-cordeiro-confederations-cup-no-gold-cup-might-discontinued-204617821.html

U.S. Soccer president Cordeiro: Confederations Cup is no more, Gold Cup might be discontinued

As part of the annual U.S. Soccer general meeting, federation president Carlos Cordeiro said that the FIFA Confederations Cup won’t be played again, and the reverberations could be felt in the biennial CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Confederations Cup has been contested every summer before the World Cup since 2005, collecting the reigning continental champions along with the current World Cup champion and upcoming host nation for an eight-team tournament.

But with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar taking place during the winter due to extreme heat, FIFA announced plans last year to do away with the Confed Cup. Potential replacements have been floated, including an expanded Club World Cup, which is held in relative anonymity every December.

While there’s been no official word from FIFA, Cordeiro seemed to confirm the Confed Cup has been shuttered, and offered another possible replacement.

“It’s done and over with,” he said, according to The Athletic. “In place of Confederations Cup there will be intracontinental playoffs to get to that 48-team (World Cup).”

That would certainly be enticing for soccer fans, but what about teams that look at the Confed Cup as a reward, a proving ground?

Teams like the United States?

One of the U.S. men’s national team’s high-water marks was finishing as runners-up at the 2009 Confed Cup, during which the Yanks handed Spain its only competitive loss in a major tournament during its stretch of winning back-to-back-to-back European Championships and the 2010 World Cup.

Playing in the Confed Cup has been a big prize for teams in CONCACAF. The USMNT used the 2009 edition as a stepping stone to winning its group in South Africa the following summer. Mexico played in the 2017 tournament and shocked defending champion Germany to open last summer’s World Cup before reaching the knockout stages.

Winning the Gold Cup represents a chance for teams like the United States and Mexico to test themselves against world-class competition – and those chances are few and far between, considering Europe and South America are wildly more competitive than North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Cordeiro went on to say the Gold Cup could be scrapped after the 2021 edition.

“The Gold Cup is only legislated for this year and 2021, so it could go on but it may not happen,” he said.

“There have been talks in the last year between CONMEBOL (the South American confederation) and CONCACAF on a kind of combined Copa America,” he added, “but they haven’t been able to come to an agreement on that.”

[Shaka_Khan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8WZzA0zjc

[Jeniffer]

Which Group Found Dead...