If not the usual suspects, why not someone outside UEFA/CONMEBOL? For instance, Nigeria, or Mexico, or someone really surprising...Iran?
Chile to lift the Cup. After advancing from their group they will proceed to win each of their knockout round matches via penalties following 120 minutes of scoreless action.
Yours, is a very unfair judgement call or you've never really seen Chile play. The times Chile has gone to a pk definition, after a scoreless match, are counted with the fingers of only one hand (for facts, has only happened twice vs. Argentina, and once vs. Portugal). Against Brazil in the 2014 WC, we first had a 1-1 draw. At both Copa America's we won, we defeated cleanly all our opponents by scoring more goals than them, in regular time (ask mexicans if they still remember us ) . One thing we almost never have been, is to be a team that stands back parking the bus. We usually go out and try to win by scoring before our opponents do ( which also backfires many times and we get scored on, losing some matches, but that's who and how, we've always been the last 10 years).
This prediction is way off. Australia was the fifth team of AFC and Korea had a disastrous campaign. Japan and Iran are the best chances AFC has this time around. Algeria didn't even make it and Nigeria is a weak team now. Egypt and Tunisia are in better position. Italy was eliminated. Germany, France, Spain and England are the contenders as always Mexico is the only decent team from NA. US didn't even make it. Chile was eliminated. Argentina and Brazil are the true contenders as always.
Chile is a bloated team. We defeated them with all their big stars, 2-0 in a match prior their championship in Copa America. Don't take Chileans seriously. Everyone knows Brazil and Argentina rule the Conmebol region. Chile is just the poor water-boy on the sideline.
I didn't say we beat them. I said clearly that we won by defeating them, both times after a pk definition. To defeat an opponent, is not the same thing as to say that you beated them. Same thing on regards to our defeat against Brazil in the 2014 WC (they didn't beat us there, but they did defeat us, reasons why after it they went through, while we went home).
Who is we ?, for you, as according to the club under your avatar, we haven't lost against England in a long time till now. Last 2 times we faced them at Wembley (first the old, and last time in the new), we won them both, easily. . . Anyhow, we must be the team that lost the biggest amount of friendly matches during the last 4 years, reasons why we are so lowly ranked, currently. We even lost against Mexico a couple of weeks before Copa America Centenario, only to show them our true colors once we are at the main tournament, during quarters. In the same tournament, we lost to Argentina during the group phase, but still lifted the trophy at the end, against them, for our second time.
My comment was in jest, as I'm sure the comments of the person I quoted were as well. I know Chile played very well in those tournaments. But although most, if not every, Chilean will disagree I do feel the two grandes finales stick out over the matches leading up to the finals because (a) like all finals, they were the games that decided who lifted the trophies, (b) they denied Messi winning silverware at senior international level and (c) they were decided on penalties, which many people consider to be an unfair way to decide the winner of a match (which isn't the fault of Chile). There's also the semi in the Confederations to further the impression. (I was actually hoping the Confederations final ended up going to penalties since both teams were considered masters of spot kicks. )
Ranked in order of most likely winner in my opinion. 1. Brazil (Best team at the moment) 2. Argentina (They have Messi) 3. Spain 4. Germany 5. France 6. Portugal (Because they're lucky and have Ronaldo)
Ok, accepted explanation from my part. The reasons why you probably didn't see Chile go full out against Argentina, or to certain extent against Portugal as well, is because their players individually speaking, are maybe better than ours (not the whole team, but most of them better than ours). And when you face a team where opponents may be better than your own, you have to play them being smarter than them and take all the necessary cautions while doing so. After all, football will always be a team sport, and playing smarter can make weaker teams win, despite not having the best players. (of course if playing level diferences are excesively huge, it still will not be enough) It's not as if I would want to make a mock over those eventual opponents, but we achieved what we needed to do (being smarter than them), to finally get away with it, in our convenience. Sometimes though, you need to not forget that other teams can out smart you in return, which is what Paraguay perfectly did to us at our own home, which finally meant us our potential qualification to the WC. Too bad, this type of lessons usually are learned the hard way (and I really hope our players learned it, so we can come back in the near future) ......
I say this: 1. Germany (2014 World Cup Champions, and 100% record in Qualification) 2. Spain (Extraordinary Talent, and impressed in Qualification as well, almost 100% but did draw Italy away due to a controversial penalty) 3. Brazil (Have impressed really well in qualification, and do have a bunch of talented players) 4. Argentina (Despite struggling in qualification, you can never leave out a team with Messi, Dybala, Icardi, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria, etc, also did make 2 copa America finals). 5. Croatia (Arguably national team that is coached the best, and have a clear idea of tactics. Also best midfield in the world, and a deadly attack, with an improved defense). 6. Portugal (Impressive in Qualification, and do have some young players that look promising, as well as the good old Christiano Ronaldo). 7. France (Solid midfield and attack, but very disorganized, and a little weakness in defense). 8. Belgium (Second best attack after Argentina, and great midfielder Nainggolan, but shaky in defense, and the rest of their midfielders are a little questionable).
I totally agree. I'm a firm believer of winning ugly if need be, by hook or crook. Search through my posts and you won't find me having said anything negative about Greece 2004 or Suarez v Ghana 2010. The objective is to win/advance. (I've had my fair share of debates in the Barcelona forum on this topic. )
Croatia at number 5? They couldn't even beat Iceland and Finland to top their group. I'd put France, and maybe even England or Uruguay above them....
I actually forgot about Uruguay. Maybe put them between Croatia and Portugal. Croatia have always been known to be inconsistent in qualifying. Almost always go through playoffs. They reached semis in 1998 World Cup but highly underperformed in qualifying though. But trust me when it comes to the actual World Cup and they all give their best, they are a huge menace. Not team wants to face them. Remember Euro 2016? They were impressive in their group. Dominated Turkey, Dominated the Czechs as well but tied because they got distracted due to flares being thrown on the pitch. Then outplayed Spain for most of the game and could have beaten them by more. They did seem to have an off day against Portugal, but on a normal day they probably would have won. Modric is the best midfielder in the world. Rakitic is also up there. Mandzukic is a menace and works his guts off and is a player that is always a threat to any defense. I am a Juventus fan and could probably say that Mandzukic is our third best player. Perisic always works hard for the national team and has also been a huge menace. He is quite an underrated player if you ask me. Their defense has improved as well with Vida and Vrsaljko now in. Lovren has been criticized but with everyone healthy he probably will not be a starting player anyway. Subasic is also an expert at penalty saving. Pjaca and Kovacic are young players that really look promising and can be very deadly. The thing is that Croatia might not have the best team on paper, but they do have the talent with many of their players either underrated or not recognized. They are arguably the best coached national team at the moment. Germany is the only other coach that is probably getting the best out of his players. Croatia's crossing game is also really hard to stop as they are experts at it. France might look better right now, but Deschamps is not the best manager for them and can lack tactics at times. Croatia is also organized a lot better than France. Also Iceland at home is a really tough team to beat, and I expect many teams would struggle to beat them at home. Anyway Croatia is the best they have ever been. Their talent is even stronger than in 1998 World Cup and they made the semis during that time.
Beating Iceland, nowdays, is not something so easy to do for most teams. They have a very good team (let me remind you that they eliminated England during the past Eurocup, which you would put above Croatia). It's not for nothing why they won their Uefa group. Playing at home, Iceland went undefeated by no one, and their only 2 lost matches during their qualifier campaign, came while visiting, the same Croatia you disregard, and also while visiting Finland, whom you also don't give much credit.. And Croatia did beat Finland, away. Their Uefa qualifier group was a very difficult one with 4 real candidates to reach the WC (both Turkey and Ukraine, whom are also good teams that have finished among the 8 best teams in WC's before, played there as well). Not even comparable to Spain's group, which really was a 2 horse battle; or Portugal's group, which was also a 2 horse battle (unless someone believes Andorra became a powerhouse after defeating Hungary).
I personally can't really say anything about true favorites until the draw in December. Seeing how teams match up against teams in their groups and the different styles is crucial. Also , being able to see possible bracket scenarios will sway my opinion immensely. But if I had to pick five right now I would say Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina, Spain in that order. But it may change a lot next month and in the months to come.
Im just going to keep repeating the same after the confederations.. Just give the damn trophy to Germany already, specially now with Italy out of the picture
It is very difficult to repeat as champions. I think that pressure will get to them. However, if there is any team that can do it ... ...it is Germany. So I would not be shocked.
I don't think Croatia should be judged much prior to the managerial change. If they can find their collective form they are pretty dangerous for anyone. It's only my opinion but I think Uruguay will disappoint many people as I see they are being way too overrated.