2018 World Cup

No real Group of Death, although Group H looks tough because the teams are relatively evenly matched. Russia sure got an easy draw. Group D will be very competitive, too.

 

I'm hoping Costa Rica and Poland pull off some offsets. Also go Denmark, Sweden, Panama and Belgium.

 

Scandinavian ancestors, so always root for those teams. Denmark and Iceland are stronger than Sweden. Although Sweden kept Italy from qualifying, their offense needs a whole lot of work.
I'd also like to see a CONCACAF team do well. I'm leaning toward Panama right now; but not sure they can make it out of their group. Mexico (ugh) should easily advance from group play.

 

I doubt Iceland does well. Sweden has more WC entries than all other Scandinavians even if none in the current team has the experience.

 

I don't remember any Scandinavian/Nordic teams in 2014 and now there are 3.

Here's fourfour-two's teaser preview
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/world-cup-2018-group-group-what-you-need-know?page=0,3

I always like watching Croatia at WCups for some reason. I guess it's because they play with a lot of heart?

They are in group D with Argentina, Iceland and Nigeria.

Saw this story about Klinsmann wanting to manage soceroos in Russia
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...smann-interested-coaching-australia-world-cup

The group is France Peru and Denmark. I see Klinsi beating Peru, drawing Denmark and failing on GD to go through. But I'd definitely be rooting for Roos.

 

I always root for the Socceroos, largely because I think they have the best nickname in all of international football. I could see them getting through the group stage. Peru looked beatable against New Zealand. And there's often one or two European teams who are exposed at the Cup as imposters who don't belong - Denmark could be one of them.

UEFA's qualifying route isn't very grueling, and they have so many qualifying berths, that a team can get through by hitting a hot streak or getting the right opponents. I'm not saying it's easy, but a pretender can get through UEFA qualifying under the right circumstances.

 

I am shocked that such an upstanding, above-board country like Russia who's never once been involved in any hint of brazenly naked corruption that would make Tammany Hall say "woah wait a minute" managed to draw the easiest possible combination of teams in their group.

Totally didn't see it coming.

 

I'm trying to think of who will be carrying the American colors into Moskva.

There is Klinsmann as manager of Socceroos.

Is Subotic on the Serbian nat team?

Any other yanks aybody can think of?

 

Australia only has 1.5m/year, so they can offer at most 6m/4years.

Klinsmann got 10m/4years with us. It's not common for an international manager to take a lower salary after earning experience.

Also, the Australian media puts other names as much more likely: Graham Arnold (Australian, Sydney FC coach), Ante Milicic (current interim manager, Australian too, worked under Postecoglou) and Slavoljub Muslin, the Serbian manager who just qualified his country for Russia atop the group with Wales and Ireland in it.

 

Iceland is not part of Scandinavia, : ) however it is a Nordic country.

 

I'd be interested why you think Denmark could be an imposter? Because of the group they are in?

Having watched them a handful of times in qualifying and looking at their roster I would say 'dark horse"

 

True but it's lingustically more Scandinavian than say Finland is. Though Finland is included in the 'Nordic" labeling.

 

Finland is not close to anyone linguistically save Hungary and Basque spain

 

Also Estonia. The funny thing is Estonia says they are more Nordic than Baltic (which could be true), but perception wise they will forever be associated with Latvia and Lithuania.

 

Isn't USA N&A and it's not fun to come here and see this thread. @dark knight, I vote for moving this elsewhere.

 

Not onbly USA missing, Italy, Netherlands and Chile missing really makes the field look a bit less glamorous. But, sometimes old favorites missing out makes for a more interesting tournament.

 

So what else is new? The host nation always gets a number-one seed whether they deserve it or not, which means that if they don't deserve it, they end up in a group without a true number-one seed. This gift was handed to Mexico in 1986, to the United States in 1994, to both Japan and South Korea in 2002, to South Africa in 2010 and now to Russia in 2018.

 

say that when Brazil and Germany don't qualify for 2022

 

I hear ya and I'd rather have all the big guns there. But, it can be interesting when some different teams get a chance.

 

I'm happy for the Panamas' of the world. So I def agree with you

 

I'm not sure what arrangement US Soccer made with Klinsmann but if he is still on the payroll, they'd probably welcome a contribution from Australia and maybe it's all the same to Klinsmann whether it's Australia or US who pays.

I kind of got the impression he just wanted the job thru the World Cup. Don't know if that makes any sense.

Klinsmann likely sees Peru as beatable and Denmark as draw-able. That gives him an even chance of getting into R16 and reviving his reputation.

 

USA, Netherlands and Italy would not have made the WC any more interesting. Those were sluggish uninteresting teams playing bad football. I thought the Netherlands U17's at the NIke friendlies were more fun to watch than their Senior team. Our U17's and U20's were more fun to watch than our senior team. I worry that we haven't learned our lesson. The poster child for the Bosnia friendly is Kellyn Acosta. Excited?

 

I don't think they are imposters. I've only seen them in limited action, but they've looked good when I did.

But often there's at least one European team that disappoints or flops at the World Cup. And often it's a team that got hot recently in qualifying. Denmark didn't make it to the UEFA 2016 (though it was very close), and they had a fairly straightforward route in WC qualifiers - a group of Poland, Montenegro, Romania, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, and then a playoff with Ireland. It's not a murderer's row, exactly.

I don't think Denmark will disappoint - I expect them to handily get through to the Round of 16 and maybe beyond.

But, if we expected it - it wouldn't be a surprise. If I had to identify possible European teams that might flop, I'd say Denmark, Croatia, or Switzerland.

Maybe even Portugal. Euro 2016 was impressive, but it was also kinda freakish considering Portugal won just a single match in regulation. And their WC qualifying group was Switzerland, Hungary, the Faroe Islands, Latvia, and Andorra.

And hell, England's always a good bet to fail in new and exciting ways.

 

is it flopping if Switzerland do poorly? They have a decent side but no one is expecting much from them. If they make it round of 16, the Swiss are happy. If say Poland fail in the group stage, it's a flop since they have the best striker in the world.