Yes. To be WC champion is hard even to the big favorites. I agree that Belgium or even Portugal can be the champions.
Once again, it depends on how you define "bold". If you had to defuse a bomb, and there were five different-colored wires you could cut to defuse it, with only one color being the correct one to defuse and cutting the other four meaning your blow yourself up, picking the yellow one would be a bold choice.
Despite Brazil being the bookmakers' favourites along with Germany & Argentina, I dont see the Selecao doing well at the tournament. The zing they possessed back in the 2000s is nowhere to be seen. Tite is a good coach but he will have to be very, very lucky to lift the trophy come July. Also, Germany despite the depth in squad isnt the same as 2014. The leaders have walked away and they are very much beatable compared to four years back! All in all, I feel deserving or not, Leo Messi will weave his magic this year and bury the ghosts of the past four years at the international scene. It is written in the stars for him to lift the trophy!
It would be pretty disrespectful for Messi to come in and lift the trophy like that, especially after Argentina get knocked out by Peru or Denmark in the R16 after scraping through the group with four points
1) Russia, Portugal, and Argentina fail to advance out of their groups 2) Mexico eliminates Brazil on round 2 3) Senegal reaches the Quarterfinals 4) Spain wins the World Cup (not sure if this can be considered bold}
A) There will be no major surprises. All the major teams (Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, etc.) will make the quarterfinals. B) There will be no cinderella story this time. C) The winner will come from the same predictable group, i.e. Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, and Argentina. D) The top goal scorer will be Messi, Neymar, some German, Suarez, Cavani, Mbappe, Griezmann. E) Uruguay is going to be very hard to eliminate (very, very hard). F) That's it.
I have written a blog about there always being a surprise team in the last 8. See here www.worldcupthinking.blogspot.com And as per my last post Peru are 10 to 1 to make the quarter finals. That is as bold as I think I can get. The way Fifa used the rankings instead of previous tournament performances means there will be less surprises (queue Colombia winning).
Bold predictions: Uruguay will beat Portugal in a dramatic match. Ronaldo will not fix it, while he had that two great chances. Brazil will be beaten by Poland, who have beaten Belgium before. The miracle is happening. Poland is in the semi-final, where they face France. Brazil improved – but did not put the ball in the net. Poland had the better striker(s). Germany, on the other hand, will beat the Swiss and then Colombia, who just sent England home, who believed till this second that only their game needs to improve... after the great achievement of scoring their only two 2 goals against Tunisia – and by that equalized the game in the 91 min – followed by the ground shaking 0:0 against Panama and awaited defeat by Belgium. 1 goal was just not enough if Colombia is 3 ahead. Russia will beat Spain in the Round of 16. This will result into a lot of Spanish conspiracy videos on YT, that should prove how the referee manipulated the game. They will be joined in by Argentina who loose against Russia after 120 minutes and a penalty kick given to Russia that was justified – BUT – before Argentina had one as well – and that was not given. From that point on the Spanish world calls it: "Their Korean dejavu ." Italy gives a damn. Germany put an end to the Russian dreams – will be not celebrated for that, instead – most of the former fans join French and/or Polish sides, together with the Russian fans. France beats Poland in a tense game (all fans shift to France) and faces Germany in the final in Moscow. Russia and Poland have a heated game for the 3rd place. Later we will hear about how Russian and Polish fans were attacking each other on alternative media sites – because the whole WC was a huge love festival officially. Poland will win the 3rd place and be celebrated at home like Russia in Russia. In the meantime you will hear about Russian fan – fall outs, tricks to improve viewer numbers, corruption, on most media sites - specifically here on BigSoccer, that an African team already won that cup (dramatized) till the knock out rounds - and on social media contributors how impressive the Russian police is and the people no monsters, but real human beings, except some idiots everybody inhabits. Most people from all over the world who travelled oceans to be there had a great time. ;-)
Morocco will beat Portugal and claim the second spot in Group B. They'll then lose out controversially to Uruguay in penalties. Russia will somehow advance from Group A. Poland will finish dead last in Group H without a win. Every South American team will advance from their group.
Well. As far as a bold prediction I think it has better chance than a few other things. If you read my blog it outlines my thinking. But, yes, I can see that happening and have put money on it!
Denmark will top the group with France England won't concede a single goal in regular 90 minutes throughout whole tournament, but still won't reach semi finals Argentina won't have a single clean sheet in whole tournament Croatia will reach semi finals Isco will be a top scorer
A midnight dream: Germany gets a second place in it's group (maybe after a draw with Mex), faces Brazil in 1/16. Brazil wins 6:2 (4:0 after halftime). The humiliation of 2014 is reversed (at least somewhat as I don't see disciplined germans going down 1:7). Chances of a World Cup: Brazil>France>Argentina>Germany>Portugal.
Winning a WC is extremely difficult, the odds of NOT winning a World Cup are always much higher than the odds of winning, even for countries like Germany or Brazil. Germany is the most regular team in World Cups and, even so, it took them 24 years to win their 4th title. The fact that Brazil has 5 WC titles is almost a statistical miracle.
My bold predictions: Germany will fail miserably Russia will reach semifinals ( even south korea did it in 2002.....). France or England will win the world cup.
The video review by referees will cause at least four match-critical decisions to be huge controversies.
Germany will lose to Austria. Then they will panic and call Loris Karius to be their starting goalkeeper.