Pre-match: World Cup 2018 Group Stage Prediction

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by Gilbertsson, Nov 16, 2017.

  1. IASocFan

    IASocFan Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 13, 2000
    IOWA
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A Uruguay, Russia
    B Spain, Portugal
    C France, Peru
    D Argentina, Croatia
    E Brazil, Costa Rica
    F Germany, Sweden
    G Belgium, England,
    H Colombia, Senegal
     
  2. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    A Uruguay, Russia,Egypt, Saudi
    B Spain, Portugal, Iran, Morocco
    C France, Denmark, Peru, Australia
    D Nigeria, Iceland, Croatia, Argentina
    E Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Costa Rica
    F Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
    G Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
    H Colombia, Poland, Senegal, Japan
     
  3. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I like to post my real predictions much closer to the tournament, but for now I will post the following:

    A Uruguay, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia
    B Spain, Iran, Morocco, Portugal
    C France, Denmark, Peru, Australia
    D Argentina, Nigeria, Croatia, Iceland
    E Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Costa Rica
    F Germany, Sweden, Mexico, South Korea
    G Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
    H Senegal, Japan, Colombia, Poland

    Of course, my group B predictions do involve some wishful thinking. I am also undecided still about Group H as well as between Sweden/Mexico in in Group F.
     
  4. Italy-Azzurri-Fan

    Nov 15, 2014
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    LOL Group H is hilarious. I am not saying your wrong, as it could happen, but it is just funny that you pick those 2. I mean I doubt many people will be predicting both Colombia and Poland to go out.

    Group B as well, LOL. Although a lot more people are predicting it. I must say though, I feel people are overestimating Spain as well. Spain is a team with great talent, but they will not breeze through this group easily. One team might get a draw with them, and I have a feeling it could be Portugal. Spain is always known as a slow starting team, and I think they could very well draw with Portugal first game, which will likely send Portugal through in second place.
     
  5. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    #105 Rickdog, Dec 20, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2017
    A : Uruguay - Russia - Egypt - Saudi Arabia
    B : ( Portugal - Spain ) - Iran - Morocco
    C : France - Peru - Australia - Denmark
    D : ( Croatia - Argentina - Nigeria ) - Iceland
    E : Brazil - Switzerland - ( Costa Rica - Serbia )
    F : Germany - ( Mexico - Sweden ) - South Korea
    G : Belgium - ( Tunisia - Panama ) - England
    H : Colombia - ( Japan - Senegal - Poland )

    (teams between brackets, can finish changed in order, between them)
     
  6. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    My group B pre-predictions aren't meant to be objective. As for Group H, as I mentioned, I am still undecided but see it as giving the AFC their best chance to advance. Of course, if we had some team other than Saudi Arabia in Group A, we might have see that team advance from that group.
     
  7. Italy-Azzurri-Fan

    Nov 15, 2014
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    OK now this is just ridiculous. You are giving England No chance to advance? LOL. You are giving Australia, Denmark, Costa Rica, and Serbia no chance? I mean predictions are one thing, but saying it like that and giving those teams no chance is just, umm I don't even know.
     
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  8. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    They all have "chances".

    I'm no predicting genious, you know.
    Those are my opinions, and you can't do anything, to change it.

    To me, currently, most Uefa teams are only full of smoke, capable of proving superiority only against other Uefa teams, and when it gets to the moment when they must show up to the suposed superior level they have against teams from elsewhere diferent to Uefa, they usually don't come out with anything near it.
    Has been happening, exactly the same for the last 2 WC editions. I believe that for 2018, it will not be much diferent.

    For the specific cases of Australia and Costa Rica, with their current coaches, they aren't anywhere even close to what they were before (Australia currently doesn't even have a coach yet).

    And England, well, they have a fabulous league at club level, but that happens basicly by having lots of outstanding players from elsewhere, where none of them plays for their National team, so what happens at club level there is no where even close to what happens at their National team (last I heard from them, as a National team besides from having the easiest WC qualifier group from Uefa, is how "fabulous" they did at the last Eurocup, and how and against whom they said good-bye to that tournament.....
     
  9. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    I wont speak for Costa Rica but in our case its not coaching that makes us weaker than 10 years ago, its the overall quality of the playing squad. Having said that, I'm sure that our players will give their all as they did in 2014. As long as they do that I'll be happy (to an extent) regardless of the result. I think this group gives us more chance to do something than last time as the other 3 teams aren't as strong collectively as the group last time, although its interesting to note that both teams who went through from our group last time didn't make it this time, and the two who were eliminated are back. I'm aware that we had an easier qualifying group than both Chile and Netherlands so no need to point that out.
     
  10. Smoga

    Smoga Member

    Jan 28, 2002
    Brooklyn, NYC
    Are you going to force people to make their predictions based on some sort of an affirmative action? Jerk.
     
  11. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    Compared to the group Australia got the last 2 WC's (specially for 2014), this one appears to be a "piece of cake" (you got to thank that FIFA this time decided to seed all pots according to ranking, and not base it strictly by confederation origin of teams).

    Besides from France, whom probably is a few levels above everybody else in that group, all other teams are in a very similar level, one compared to the other, where Peru holds a certain edge over the others based on their colective and individual skills (from my pov, in which case I'm also somehow, biased here :p ).
     
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  12. Smoga

    Smoga Member

    Jan 28, 2002
    Brooklyn, NYC
    You are entitled to your own opinion, but when you are trying to buttress that opinion with facts, you better make sure that you are correct. In 2010 out of four semi-finalists three were from UEFA, and in 2014 two, with that cup being played in South America. I don't see how the last two World Cups support you assertion that "most Uefa teams are only full of smoke, capable of proving superiority only against other Uefa teams, and when it gets to the moment when they must show up to the suposed superior level they have against teams from elsewhere diferent to Uefa, they usually don't come out with anything near..,"
     
  13. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    You cherry-picked the data by only going back two World Cups. Go back 10 World Cups (to 1978), and UEFA has provided 29 semi-finalists from 12 different countries, to 10 for CONMEBOL (with 9 of those coming just from Brazil and Argentina) and only one (South Korea in 2002) from the rest of the world.

    When it gets "to the moment when they must show up to the suposed [sic] superior level", UEFA has done pretty well over the years.
     
  14. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    BTW, for the four World Cups played in Europe since 1978, almost 90% of the semi-finalists have come from UEFA (14 of 16).
     
  15. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    Cherry picking ?, and afterwards suggesting to go back only till 1978 ?
    Why not go all the way to the very begining of the WC, instead ?, where 3 Conmebol teams have won it at least 2 times each, with a 4th Conmebol team also reaching a 3rd place once. In context, for Conmebol that is 40 % of all membership in the Confederation (for Uefa, including all their semifinalists and champions, don't even represent their 25 % of their whole membership).

    But for whatever case, that's not the issue here (this is not about "whom has it bigger"), as the players from way back in the past, are not playing now at present times. In which case for 2018, I only restrict myself to present times, where going back just a couple of WC's, seems to me, to be a reasonable period of time. If you wish, you can also include the 2006 WC, although none of the players from since then is still playing now, where Uefa as a Confed had great results, compared to the other Confeds, but since then, they are going down hill on overall results for most of their teams.

    Oh yes, a few of their teams have managed to keep on being among the top teams of the world (Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and maybe Italy, whom won it in 2006, although since then have performed pathetic), but these teams, compared to their whole Confederation membership, are exceptions. There has also been a few "newer" teams (Belgium and Netherlands), whom are even less teams than those who remain being among the top teams. But almost for everybody else from that Confed, they've done almost nothing of real value, when it gets up to performance at the WC, not being any diferent to the rest of the world.

    Not really, as for most of the times the ones really achieving it, usually are the same teams or teams that sudenly appear once, to afterwards disappear almost for ever, which in this last case, is not much diferent to how other Confeds have also done with some of their few teams that also did it.
     
  16. JLSA

    JLSA Member

    Nov 11, 2003
    The difference between this time and last time is that this time I can imagine a way for Australia to advance. Last time I couldn't see any realistic way we could get out of the group.

    That said, I still suspect we won't given the fact that literally no-one on the team seems able to score a goal and our unerring ability to give the ball away in dangerous positions at the 10 and 15 minute mark of every single match. Mile Jedinak playing out of his skin could give us a chance of not shipping dumb goals and then maybe finding a way of utilising Mooy and Rogic effectively might allow us to get the results we need against Denmark and Peru.

    J
     
  17. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    If you show me only one of those players that played back then, in those teams, still active and being part of their current teams that will play again in 2018, then I would swallow every one of my words in my past posts and say that you might be the "only owner of the truth".

    If not, then you must accept that I am entitled of keeping my current opinion as still being valid (you don't have to agree with it, I don't really ask anyone to think the same way as I do) ;)

    Btw, from those 14 Uefa teams, 3 were Germany, 3 were Italy, 3 were France, and 5 others were teams that only made it once (in context those 14 semifinalists were only 8 Uefa teams, and 8 to almost 55 teams which is their total membership represents less than 15 % of their whole membership, while Conmebol having only 2 diferent teams in those same WC's, still reaches 20 % of Conmebol's total membership. In this case, we still did better. :p
     
  18. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    The 2 teams that made the semi's for 2014 were Germany and Netherlands, whom also were among the 3 teams that made the semi's in 2010. In context, only 3 teams from all of Uefa's 55 teams made the semi's. For the case, in 2010, Uruguay made the semi's, while for 2014 the teams that made it from Conmebol were Argentina and Brazil.

    In this case, 3 teams for each Confed in numbers may be the same, but proportionally 3 teams out of 10 teams, is lots more than 3 teams out of 55.
    And all of this, is a fact.
     
  19. Nani_17

    Nani_17 Member+

    Nov 3, 2011
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Come on buddy you know this doesn't hold up. We have teams like San Marino and Luxembourg etc. If you want a more comparative analysis go by population
     
  20. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    To believe that those teams you mentioned, as being representative of the level of their whole Confederation, would be about the same thing as to believe that every team in Uefa are at the level of Uefa's very best teams.
     
  21. Nani_17

    Nani_17 Member+

    Nov 3, 2011
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Huh? No one said that. I'm saying going by a % basis of overall teams really means nothing. I can say UEFA has a overall stronger amount of teams and you can say on a percentage basis CONMEBOL is stronger, both are true statements and both don't add any real insight.
     
  22. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    I went back 10 World Cups because that is exactly half of the World Cups played. You want to go back to 1930 and crunch the numbers for all World Cups be my guest. I seriously doubt the proportions will change very much.

    As for going back only two World Cups, you said it's because "if you go back further players from way back in the past aren't playing now in present times". Well, if that's your argument it probably doesn't make much sense to even go back to 2010. The average age of Denmark's current players is 26. I doubt that anyone from the 2010 squad will even see the field in Russia. So under your theory I guess we can only look at the 2014 results for relevant data. :rolleyes:

    "But almost for everybody else from that Confed, they've done almost nothing of real value, when it gets up to performance at the WC, not being any diferent to the rest of the world."

    As I showed before, 12 UEFA countries have made it to the semi-finals in the last 10 World Cups, which is about half of the UEFA countries with a population of over 4 million. The others are just too small, by and large, with 13 of them having a population of less than 1 million. It's silly to expect anything from them, the remarkable Iceland notwithstanding. So of the UEFA countries that have a population large enough to even dream of reaching the semi-finals, somewhere between a third and a half have actually done so since 1978, which is rather impressive when you think about it.
     
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  23. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    Straw man argument, thy name is "Rickdog." It is his stock-in-trade. :sneaky:
     
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  24. Nani_17

    Nani_17 Member+

    Nov 3, 2011
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    This was way too rational a argument, which means it has to disregarded by the UEFA haters. Haven't you heard? 2010 and 2014 are the world cups that represent uefa, now and forever more.
     
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  25. jogger

    jogger Member

    Jun 24, 2010
    Club:
    Olympique de Marseille
    The fact that two or three finalists came from UEFA in the recent WC is irrelevant considering that the teams capable of winning the World Cup from this confederation come from a small groupe of "elite" WC perennial contenders.

    It also does not change the fact more than half of UEFA did not make past the first round of the last two WC.
    The problem is that there is always a group of smaller teams that are riding the back of the most prestigious nations from this confed to help their cause.
    Explain how does the fact that Germany always almost reach the semi improves the chance, let's say Poland (since everyone seems to wonder why they are seeded) of doing the same ?
    Last time they made it past a round was back in 1986.
    Football in Europe has clearly become more "elitist" since it appears that the time were various CE/EE countries could make it far is over...
    It is probably right to say that an UEFA team stand the best chance to win the whole thing based on recent results, but based on that we can also point towards the one that are going to crash out heavily ...
     
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