Now that we’ve gotten a chance to see every single team that’s still in the tournament play in their round of 16 matchup we can talk about the true contenders that are still in the tournament. With 8 teams left in the World Cup we’d typically hear about 4 potential contenders to win it all who are favored to win their quarter final matchups. In this particular case though Since England and France are facing off against each other it can be hard to choose between the two. Although it’s pretty much understood that whoever is left standing will have a good chance of going all the way. Here are our top 4 contenders to win the World Cup from 4 to 1 with the fourth being the team we feel less confident about.
4. Argentina
We talked about Argentina yesterday, and said that the team is too Messi dependent. That’s not the only flaw that the team has. In fact, if they have a chance to win it all it’s precisely because Messi is on the team. The reason though that we put them at fourth spot is because we feel that the teams ahead of them on our list have more all around talent. Even if none of the other players on the different teams are at Messi’s level when he’s on his game!
3. France
France is one of the more complete teams in the tournament. There was a lot of turmoil surrounding the team heading into the tournament. Injuries didn’t help and the fact that it seems like Deschamps is going to leave the squad no matter what happens in Qatar cast a shadow over this squad. Once they got rolling on the field though they showed why they are the current World Champions.
With France, it could come down to whether or not their midfield can hold up against teams like Brazil, Portugal or even England who they face in the quarter finals. We do feel that they are more talented than the English even though a ton of those English players are over valued in the transfer market. That’s why we put them at 3 believing that they will at least make the semifinal round of the tournament.
2. Portugal
The win against Switzerland certainly factors into this ranking. Particularly because coming into the game we did not get the sense that it would be a walk in the park for Portugal. They may have found that the key to their success is leaving Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. Joao Felix, and Bruno Fernandes don’t seem as eager to get Goncalo Ramos the ball as they were with Cristiano Ronaldo. Oddly enough since he doesn’t command as much attention from the defense he gets more open looks than Ronaldo. That’s pretty much why he was able to convert a hat trick today. Portugal is a very talented team in virtually every aspect of the game.
1. Brazil
Speaking of talent there’s pretty much nothing that Brazil does wrong. Yesterday for example a great day from Alisson Becker ensured that Korea was never able to get in the game. Brazil would do well to strengthen their defense though, they may not be so lucky in other games. From their midfield onward though there’s just too much talent on this squad. It’s going to be interesting to see how Croatia plays them. They may very well be the most talented team that Brazil will have faced so far. Modric is going to be key in the midfield. Ultimately though we do get the sense that Brazil has a fifth or sixth gear that the rest of the teams left in the tournament just don’t have.
