World Cup 2022 Megathread

So.. maybe this is a bit late considering the world cup kicks off today. Well, a bit late for actual full tournament predictions anyway.

Firstly I would like to keep this thread relatively clean of any talk of the political or corruption issues surrounding the tournament. That's not to say I'm dismissive of them or anything, I would just prefer to keep this thread focused on the actual football on the pitch.

I also know football isn't exactly a popular sport among this community, so I may be talking to myself here. Ah well.

Tournament winner prediction: Argentina

A solid team all around, Argentina might not be as strong as they were in 2014 or even 2018 but Lionel Messi is back in form and is always going to be a menace for opposition defenders. That's not to take away from any of the other attackers either - Scaloni has a plethora of options, with the likes of Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez and Angel Correa to complement the greatest player of all time. The midfield options aren't bad either - Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes are among the favoured options for a double pivot, who could also operate in a three man midfield with Alexis Mac Allister or Papu Gomez playing as an attacking option ahead of them. Defensively there's solid options too - Christian Romero has to be starting and Nico Otamendi can provide the experience to solidify the back line. Tagliafico has been one of the more underrated left backs in the past few years and Montiel is more than good enough on the right to go the whole way. Not only has the back line got the pedigree, but even if you get past that, Emi Martinez is the best goalkeeper Argentina has seen in quite some time.

20/11/22 - Game predictions

As with all world cups, the hosts will be kicking us off in group A of the tournament. I'm going to be honest and say that I am not familiar whatsoever with the Qatari team, as all of them play their club football in their home country. Rankings wise, the hosts sit 48th whilst their South American opponents sit just 4 places above them.

Home advantage will definitely work in Qatar's favour - they'll be used to the climate, the atmosphere and the conditions in general. The Ecuadorians though have a lot of players based from around the world, including several with experience among European sides. Former West Ham and Everton striker Enner Valencia is among the predicted starters, with Brighton having the young and promising duo of Moses Caicedo in midfield and Pervis Estupinan at left back, and Bayer Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie providing a solid option in central defence.

The more I list off the names, the more I feel confident in this Ecuadorian side's ability to pick up the points tonight, and I predict them to come away with a 2-0 victory. It could go either way though and with both teams having a lot to play for to make it through the next round, we're in for an exciting, albeit not marquee game. It's worth noting that the hosts have never lost their opening game in the world cup, but nonetheless, I believe this Ecuador side can break that mold.

A result like this will surely put pressure on the other teams in the group, as the short group stage could start to see Ecuador slip through over Senegal or even the Netherlands into the knockout rounds. We will have to wait and see though..

Well, yesterday's game went about as well as expected, with a well-taken brace from Antonio Valencia to give Ecuador the 2-0 victory, and make Qatar the first world cup hosts to lose their opening match. It was a sloppy performance from Qatar in general, a night to forget for their goalkeeper, Saad Al Sheeb. I did note that Abdelkarim Hassan was very sharp throughout the game, showing excellent pace and control for a defender to help keep the result look a little nicer for the hosts, but that was about the only positive I can list about their performance.

21/11 Game predictions

The first Monday of the tournament gives us plenty more gameweek 1 action, with us seeing the remaining fixture in group A, and both of the group B matches taking place.

The Netherlands have had a rocky few years internationally. They failed to qualify to the finals of the 2016 Euros and even the 2018 World Cup finals. When they finally qualified for Euro 2020, they got humiliated in the round of 16 to the Czech Republic, who they were expected to beat.

Meanwhile Senegal have been on the rise. While the Netherlands have lost a record three world cup finals, Senegal are at just their third world cup. Still, they aren't to be underestimated. They're the reigning champions of Africa and have built one of the strongest teams the continent has seen.

This will be a close game, closer than last night's fixture and certainly a marquee game. Ecuador's 2-0 victory last night will have both of these clubs nervously looking ahead of them as failing to secure a victory today will hurt either of their chances at progressing to the round of 16 - and these two are the favourites to do so.

Netherlands are entering this tournament with some top names. The likes of Virgil Van Dijk in defence and Frenkie De Jong in midfield are among the European elite, the former captaining the side from central defence. Jurrien Timber and Denzel Dumfries are both dependable, young and promising options as well. Its not all sunshine and rainbows though - Memphis Depay misses this game due to injury, and attacking options are slim, with two of Vincent Janssen, Luuk De Jong and Wout Weghorst likely to see game time. None of these are bad per se - they're all at the world cup, but they're not the type of strikers that can see one progress too far in the tournament. Cody Gakpo, however, is in form and can provide an option as an attacking midfielder or a second striker, so there's hope.

That's not to say Senegal are without those problems either. Sadio Mane is without doubt and by far their best player, but due to a late injury he will miss the entire tournament. This leaves the African side with slimmer pickings for attacking options - we're likely to see a 433 with Ismaila Sarr, Boulaye Dia and Krepin Diatta starting, who will have a tough test against the Dutch back line. Still, like their opponents tonight, the back line is where things improve. Idrissa Gueye will most certainly be holding midfielder for them today, providing his experience to keep the midfield tight and composed. Kalidou Koulibaly, like Van Dijk, is among the best centre backs in the world. And Édouard Mendy comes to the tournament off the back of an incredibly successful time at Chelsea, where he's become a world champion at club level.

Thus, we have two teams with solid back lines but due to injury, relatively weak attacking options. That all being said, I believe Netherlands have the quality to oversee the Senegalese in this one, so I'm going to predict a 2-1 victory for the Dutch in a cagey affair. Moreso than yesterday, I can see this game going either way, I feel this is the most likely result.

Then we move on to group B, and boy, will this be an interesting one for the fans. England, last year's semifinalists and finalists in the European championships will want to improve on these performances with a young, fresh and upcoming squad. After 56 years of hurt, they can't be written out among the favourites.

Still, there's always the doubts. England's recent form in the borderline friendly competition, the nation's league, has left a lot to be desired. They're winless in their last 6 games, their last victory coming 375 days ago, a 10-0 over San Marino in the final qualifying match. Since then, they've suffered relegation from their nations league group, finishing below a Hungary side who beat them twice - 4-0 in the most recent outing. Not the result you want to see going into this tournament.

Their manager, Gareth Southgate certainly has his job on the line for this one and they are going to want to hit the ground running to stand any chance of meeting expectations - and boy, they are high.

Iran come into this tournament having shown their own improvement in recent years. They were unlucky not to qualify from a tough group at the last world cup finals, and certainly have a team capable of progressing in one of the closer groups in the tournament.

England won't be easy for them though. The British side are stacked to the brim with talent and I'd be here all day listing names. Harry Kane dubiously won the golden boot at the last world cup and is seeking to become England's all time leading goalscorer in this tournament. He's more than going to have the service to do so, with both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier available on either side - with Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw providing more defensive cover, instead of either of those if needsby.

The deep squad is capable of operating both a back 3 and a back 4, both of which have been utilised recently, so talent aside, the tactical style they'll go for is hard to predict. Whether for good or for bad remains to be seen.

Iran are not to be sniffed at either. While he hasn't been prolific as their injured star Sarsar Amount, Medhi Taremi will be keeping England's central defence busy with his intuition and keen finishing ability. Alireza Jahanbakhsh will be hoping to recapture the form he showed back in 2018 from that right flank, and Saman Ghoddos' attacking versatility leaves it uncertain where he will play exactly - but I would predict as the 10 in a 4231. All that said though, their defence is very poor and there aren't really any notably names in a positive light.

All in all, despite England's poor form and the undoubtable talent of Iran, the Asians sides midfield and defence will likely let them down across the 90 minutes, and maybe even across the entire tournament. I'm saying 3-1 England for this one, as Harry Kane will be an almost insurmountable force against that back line. The European side could manage a clean sheet, but given their form and Iran's talent up front, that seems unlikely.

64 years. That's how long it's been since Wales have last played at the World Cup finals. That doesn't mean they've had nothing to sing about, though. They topped their Euro 2016 group which contained England, then put aside Northern Ireland in the round of 16 before obliterating tournament favourites Belgium to make it all the way to the semi finals. 6 years on from that fateful tournament and a lot has changed in the world of football, but the major mainstay in the squad comes in the name of Gareth Bale who captains the side into this tournament. That's not to say they're a one man team though - Daniel James seemingly has 3 lungs on top of his already electric pace, and Aaron Ramsey is another one to bring his experience to the table (just hope he doesn't score), whilst up and coming fullback Neco Williams will be looking to strengthen the flanks even more - capable of playing on both sides.

The USMNT however also seems to be getting stronger as time goes on. Whilst Christian Pulisic might not be the LeBron James of soccer, he's still a talented winger and will give whichever fullback he's up against a problem. Tyler Adams will hold the midfield and captain the side despite being just 23 years of age, and the fullbacks are full of pace and energy with Milan's Serginio Dest and Fulham's Antonee Robertson on the right and left side respectively.

This game should be a good one, with these two teams being assumed the main contenders to join England in the round of 16. There's a lot at stake here and despite this not being the marquee game of the day, I think this will play out the most exciting and entertaining. I think the quality the USA has will be enough for the future hosts to scrape by this evening though, and thus I feel they will come away with a 2-1 victory.

Since there's just a 3 game group stage, we'll already be 1/3 of the way through the world cup journeys for 8 teams today. We might start to see how these groups will look to be shaping up even at this early stage.

Quote from RedEastWood

well…

Quote from enchy

this aged poorly

not my finest prediction. After I got the first game right it just went downhill from there lmao.

Quote from enchy

also wales sucks, nobody plays a 5 man defense along with 2-3 others right ahead of them and also talks to women. should not have been a tie, we got a good goal and almost got another beautiful header goal, they got lucky on a pk

sorry for rant, screw you wales

Wales were abhorrent in the first half and were nothing short of terrible. USA dominated that half and could've had another goal or even two with a bit of luck.

But then Wales made a big tactical change at half time which allowed them to ease into the game a lot more, producing more second half chances with USA having less chances towards the end of the game.

Tbh I think a draw was a fair reflection of the score. The penalty was a bit of luck and I don't think Wales would've scored without it but they deserved a goal for that turnaround.

Both teams are really gonna want to get something big out of Iran and could even hope to take points off England to try and get through. Iran are fucked, England are almost guaranteed.

Quote from erin

Tournament winner prediction: Argentina

A solid team all around, Argentina might not be as strong as they were in 2014 or even 2018 but Lionel Messi is back in form and is always going to be a menace for opposition defenders. That's not to take away from any of the other attackers either - Scaloni has a plethora of options, with the likes of Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez and Angel Correa to complement the greatest player of all time. The midfield options aren't bad either - Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes are among the favoured options for a double pivot, who could also operate in a three man midfield with Alexis Mac Allister or Papu Gomez playing as an attacking option ahead of them. Defensively there's solid options too - Christian Romero has to be starting and Nico Otamendi can provide the experience to solidify the back line. Tagliafico has been one of the more underrated left backs in the past few years and Montiel is more than good enough on the right to go the whole way. Not only has the back line got the pedigree, but even if you get past that, Emi Martinez is the best goalkeeper Argentina has seen in quite some time.