2022 Qatar World Cup

Brazil and Argentina are basically on tour to smash every team they face, except each other. Top two favorites, with France as third. France has struggled recently but they are also missing a lot of players, once the world cup starts if their team is fit they can definitely win again.

I think France is going to implode. I've never seen a more selfish player in open-play situations than Mbappe this season. I don't know what's happened to him. He wasn't like this last season, but now he's especially bad.

He already had ego problems in Euro 2020 and was laughed off, and if he's bringing that attitude to the World Cup you're going to hear a lot more drama. Benz needs to rein him in.

I also don't like their balance. They've been playing a 3-4-1-2 and they have profile issues. Pavard can't play as a wingback, but Coman is injury prone. The double pivot gets too stretched because Griezmann doesn't drop and make it a midfield 3 (the last time I watched France). No Pogba means they lack any chance creation from midfield either. They are also more respected so I don't know if they can get away with parking the bus like they did in 2018.

Playing counter ball with Theo and Coman as wingbacks and Mbappe and Benzema as strikers sounds good, but I have my reservations.

"I don't know what happened to him"...

I mean, come on, you know exactly what happened to him

Argentina's biggest weakness is that we only have 2 goalscorers, Messi and Lautaro, who together account for like 4/5 of our goals in recent times. And as we all know it's not that hard to take messi out of a game in the world cup, so you're left with just 1, who is also not the most consistent or clutch.

Imo we are 3rd favorites behind Brazil and France.

France ego problems exploded early this time, they'll have time to patch things up ahead of the wc.

Really hope Arg can keep things together and go all the way, as BC said though opponents can often packed and team up to take Messi out of a game so the rest of the team has to step up n share the load to find the goals when needed. As Cas said there are lots of things aligning up it seems for Messi's final chance to win it... its now or never n I'd been rooting up Arg for the last few WCs but often were more hope than being realistic tbh

France is weaker with Pogba out and Griezmann not the player he once was so it does look like they struggle to create through the middle, so I imagine I lot will need to come from the wings n magic from the front 2, as well as pumping crosses in to Giroud n set pieces

Its no wonder Brazil are being rated, they seem to have the least of issues out of all the big teams n been on a good run with many players on form...

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Argentina's biggest weakness is that we only have 2 goalscorers, Messi and Lautaro, who together account for like 4/5 of our goals in recent times. And as we all know it's not that hard to take messi out of a game in the world cup, so you're left with just 1, who is also not the most consistent or clutch.

Imo we are 3rd favorites behind Brazil and France.

France ego problems exploded early this time, they'll have time to patch things up ahead of the wc.

Alvarez?

what am i missing about Brazil? why are they being so highly rated for this world cup?

@BC i agree, Argentina will have to come up with creative ways to score when Messi will be inevitably crowded and targeted in WC games. That's where di Maria becomes even more important. He needs to step up in those moments, and as you said Lautaro can't become Higuain 2.0 at that stage.

@Cas even if you think everything is falling into place for Argentina, let's remember winning a WC ain't that easy, and it can often be a cruel competition. Even Spain who enjoyed a dominant spell heading into 2010, had to at times ride their luck during that world cup, especially in the final where they could have easily have come undone if Robben and van Persie just did better with their chances. Sometimes if you feel like things are falling into place and you should be the favourites, and with the added psychological pressure of knowing this is Messi's last chance, those things can backfire on you just for one night of football. It's not like in the CL where often the best team wins over two legs of knockout football.

However, with the rest of your assessment, i agree with, and i pointed that out myself in my previous post where i spoke about the balance in the squad. They do indeed share lots of similarities with previous world cup winners.

Dont watch Brazil much, but from their squad u can see its just loaded, with so many options, n many WC goal scorers. In midfield u got solidity so Neymar n co can focus on attack. GK is top, just the defense is a bit sus? Their results have been very good for a long time. Then just compare that with the other teams who are all less packed on paper except France prolly...

El Gunner wrote:@BC i agree, Argentina will have to come up with creative ways to score when Messi will be inevitably crowded and targeted in WC games. That's where di Maria becomes even more important. He needs to step up in those moments, and as you said Lautaro can't become Higuain 2.0 at that stage.

@Cas even if you think everything is falling into place for Argentina, let's remember winning a WC ain't that easy, and it can often be a cruel competition. Even Spain who enjoyed a dominant spell heading into 2010, had to at times ride their luck during that world cup, especially in the final where they could have easily have come undone if Robben and van Persie just did better with their chances. Sometimes if you feel like things are falling into place and you should be the favourites, and with the added psychological pressure of knowing this is Messi's last chance, those things can backfire on you just for one night of football. It's not like in the CL where often the best team wins over two legs of knockout football.

However, with the rest of your assessment, i agree with, and i pointed that out myself in my previous post where i spoke about the balance in the squad. They do indeed share lots of similarities with previous world cup winners.

Oh I agree. It's hard to predict knockout tournament winners because the level is so high and there's so much variance due to the impact small details can have on the outcome of matches.

Those details mainly involve the boxes. You don't want your goalies making brainfarts on the ball, and you want a couple of clutch saves from him. Likewise, you don't want your forwards to miss 2-3 clear chances in a row.

I think Martinez is reliable in that sense. I don't think he'll pass the ball to the opposition the way Caballero did in 2018. I also think if there's a penalty or a big chance you think he might have the chance to save it. He brings confidence to the team.

Forwards, I'm not as optimistic. Messi's finishing with Argentina has been really good in recent games, but it hasn't been the same story with PSG. Most of Argentina's goal output comes from him and Lautaro, and I don't have as much confidence in them scoring in absolutely crucial moments.

It's a lot easier to close Messi out of games, so they need another destabilizer. Di Maria is the only one who has shown he can consistently do that especially in big games. If the forwards can enter with good scoring momentum, and Di Maria can stay fit then things could bode very well for them. It's no surprise Argentina's 3 final losses have happened when Di Maria was injured.

Dybala is another goal threat, sadly not too compatible with Messi, but i hope he is included in the squad

Rooting for Argentina as second team, probably as soon as the group stage is over

If only Argentina had this squad when Messi was in his prime. If they had the 2018-19 Messi, I would be very confident of a WC win. Sadly with age he isn’t as consistent anymore, so it really depends on what kind of Messi shows up. I’m hoping his good form with Argentina is a positive sign.

El Gunner wrote:what am i missing about Brazil? why are they being so highly rated for this world cup?

Smashing most of AFCON apparently makes them favorites. I just don't see it.

Cruijf wrote:If only Argentina had this squad when Messi was in his prime. If they had the 2018-19 Messi, I would be very confident of a WC win. Sadly with age he isn’t as consistent anymore, so it really depends on what kind of Messi shows up. I’m hoping his good form with Argentina is a positive sign.

I don't think he was consistent in 2018 or in 2014. I feel like he would be more consistent this time. his and Argentina's recent form may be the reason behind this feeling.

Mane might miss WC

Shit luck.

This WC has been a colossal failure and it hasn't even started yet. F Fifa and their brown envelopes

It really feels weird to have a WC at this time...not seeing the month-long news and posters on WC and its prep....cant believe its going to start in 9 days time

Tunisia is going to get brutally roflstomped. We will lose all three games, but I really hope not to get slapped with 8 goals or more against France.

@Sports: in the very likely event that Mbappé scores 4 goals or more against us, don't you dare bring up his WC stats as an argument for the BdO. Even Lord Bendtner would have at least a brace against us.

if you're that shite, how did you make the world cup

Making the WC isn't a barometer for quality.

Mbappé and Benzema are going to have a field day, I tell ya.

Bangladeshier som får betalt för att leka portugiser.
Klipp som denna börjar dyka upp fr #QatarWorldCup2022 med "fans" fr olika deltagande nationer som är på plats.....
Fyfan vad tragisk.... pic.twitter.com/wM0NofXzc9

— Abay (@Abay_Anzali) November 12, 2022

lmaoooo im dead

My word, this guy has a whole twitter thread exposing this. Apparently Qatar are paying locals to pose as fans for the big nations. Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany and Spain

Argentinarna vill inte vara sämre än brasaarna och högst troligt att Maradona vänder sig graven i detta nu.#QatarWorldCup2022 pic.twitter.com/J4tqD0BSvn

— Abay (@Abay_Anzali) November 12, 2022

Jfc that is embarrassing. Can't wait for the hooligans to show up and show them how it's done.

Everyone gone through the brackets yet? Usually there are huge upsets even in the group top 1-2, but lets just say there isnt, then to get to the semis:

Arg beat Den, then Netherlands
Brazil beat Uru, then Spa
Fra beat Mex, then Eng
Ger/Por beat Bel then Por/Ger

This is considering my take Beligum is as always overrated I had high hopes for them in the past but underachieved n now past their prime. All other teams r pretty much second tier n would be surprises.

So then Arg v Brazil in one semi = heart says Arg (based purely on Messi of cos ), head says Bra (hope Neymar or Vini chokes or something ). The other semi Fra beat Por who has old CR now gone insane XD but actually are pretty loaded as well, but many saying Fra will implode who knows, if not then hopefully Arg beat Fra in the final.

Would be dream as a Messi fan n Arg fan in general, they havent won it in forever. Brazil also has won in a while. Fra retaining it would be some achievement by Mbappe...

U guys gonna study the bracket more closely n make some predictions?

Is there a website somewhere to make custom brackets ?

Spoiler i don't think Canada will advance from group stage, but rarely are we pathetic in any sport (exception made of football until recently) so i hope for a win vs Morocco and put a good fight vs Croatia and Belgium. That's as much as we can hope for.

One player to watch: Ismael Kone in midfield, great potential