Fútbol Fanatics: World Cup Predictions

After a long four and a half year wait, the FIFA World Cup is finally back. As of November 9th, the games are still to come, regardless, here’s a few predictions for the upcoming Qatar World Cup!

The 2022 World Cup has been marred by controversy in the buildup, with people boycotting the tournament and countries like France preventing watch parties in their country due to allegations against Qatar officials for mistreating migrant workers. I believe that it’s important to highlight those issues, but outside of that, there are many interesting storylines to follow.

In the group stage, there are some toss ups and World Cup surprises always happen, but I believe that many of the favorites will win.

Further into the knockout rounds, I believe that Brazil, Argentina, and reigning champions France stand above the rest. I also really like Spain and the Netherlands as contenders. The warm Qatar weather suits the Brazilian and Argentine players better, and France are obviously the reigning champions. As for other teams with potential, I believe that Spain is too young and lacking a true striker to win the tournament, and Belgium’s defense is weak. England is a solid side, but they are simply not on the level of the other three. For other teams, Portugal’s midfield will likely let them down and Germany lack the backline to have the consistency to be a bonafide contender. There are also some sleeper contenders like Uruguay and Serbia. 

For the eventual winners, I’m taking Argentina to lift the trophy. They may be lacking in a few areas, but they have the best player of the entire tournament, an excellent young center back duo, attacking talent, and a solid midfield.

A few members of the men’s soccer team also weighed in on the tournament. Sophomore Ameen Berjis believes that his country Iran could do better than they ever have in the tournament. He says that Iran could get to the round of 16, and possibly even the quarter-final if everything goes their way. Freshman Luke Sera-Tacorda doesn’t have as much faith in his country, Japan. Despite recent success in the tournament, Sera-Tacorda believes that Spain and Germany are simply too tough for Japan to qualify. Freshman Ibrahim Rashad believes that England will falter due to pre-tournament hype. The Euro finalists are fourth in betting odds per CBS Sports, but Rashad believes that they won’t get farther than the quarterfinals. As for their picks to win the tournament, all three of them picked the heavy favorites, Brazil, to take home the tournament. 

This World Cup may have some major flaws, but that doesn’t stop this from being an interesting tournament and possibly even a historic landmark in terms of soccer history.