Who are the favorites to win WC 2026?

Some German scienist, who is being said to have predicted the last three WC winners right, has written his system came up with a very surprising and controversial prediction, a final between Portugal and the Orange Squad and we would win it.
Fisrt of all, us in the final already is considered a huge success, but on top of that beating our bogey team Portugal too is going to be a reason to party for a week.

 

To me, the current France is better than the 1998 team also. That 1998 France attack was nothing to write home about IMO. MF and defense might have had a slight edge over the current team, but not enough to make up for a big difference in all 3 attacking positions plus depth in those 3 positions.

 

The WC98 French defense (including the GK) was much better than the current one.

 

I generally don't like this kind of comparisons because there is a tendency to compare current players with past players in their prime. e.g. Henry, Trezeguet, Vieira are all huge names now, but they weren't anywhere near their peak in '98.

Also, defenders usually take longer for fans to have a strong level of confidence towards even if they are really good at a young age. Not many people are going to think of Saliba or Kounde as rock solid defenders right now. But 10-15 years from now we could very well be looking back at this time and consider them as really top defenders.

 

Maybe. But Desailly, Blanc and Thuram were already huge names prior to 1998.

 

I think Argentina have been slowly regenerating quietly. They are tip 4 easily for me. Just basic chemistry and moments from from 2022 Re gone but they have been planning their squads imo underrated manner.

 

I agree they’re still probably Top 4 after France, Spain, and England

 

True. Big names by 1998 for sure, but not as big as now (I'd argue). Its just very difficult to recall how highly we rated players at a moment in the past.

And we tend to underrate current players by quite a lot.

 

France backline (+ Barthez) had already a reputation for being solid as steel even before 1998. From 1995-96 I'd say. This is not really the case with the current French defense.

Players are not evaluated in absolute terms, but in relation to their contemporaries. Desailly, Thuram, and Blanc were all considered among the top three or four players in the world in their respective positions even before the World Cup began (actually top 2 for Thuram). Lizarazu was considered as such afterward. I don't think the same can be said for any of the current French defenders.

 

Exactly. And France were only joint 3rd/4th-favorities in 1998 well behind Brazil, despite having home advantage. Now they are at worst close 2nd favorites.

And I'm not saying the 1998 defense wasn't definitely better. It was. The difference might just not be as big as we imagine. Surely not enough to overcome the huge edge the current team has in attack.

 

I think the difference in level between the two defenses is significant. We're talking about one of the best defenses in history. The bar is set very high. It must also be said that the midfield built around Deschamps and Zidane was also remarkable.

It can happen that we underestimate a team. That was the case with France before the 1998 World Cup, in my opinion. For anyone who followed them closely, it was obvious that they would be extremely difficult for anyone to break down, despite some doubts about their attack.

I don't think the current team is better overall, despite all the attacking talent, but we'll have to wait a while to be sure.

 

It’s very interesting. I’ll be honest I wasn’t alive in 1998 so I can’t really compare; but from what I’ve heard, I think the attack is more stacked now but defense better back then. Midfield not so sure. There was Zidane, but was it as stacked as the midfield is now all around?

All that to say, I don’t think the defense compares to 1998 but don’t underestimate the defense now. Theo Hernandez is world class and there’s also Malo Gusto who’s an extremely good young player. I don’t even know who starts in center back but pretty sure they play for top clubs.

 

The attack was an issue. Guivarch was sh!t and Dugarry -even if technically skilled and definitely a hard worker- was a mediocre goalscorer. Henry and Trezeguet were obviously good but not yet mature players. The only borderline world-class player up-front was Youri Djorkaeff (definitely world class on his day).

The Juve midfield duo Zidane/Deschamps was the engine of the team. Definitely world class. They were usually surrounded by Emmanuel Petit who played the best football of his life in 1998 and Christian Karembeu, a technically limited player but with huge physical power and stamina. There was also a young but promising Patrick Vieira. Karembeu (or Vieira)/Deschamps/Petit formed a perfect shield to the defense and a great platform for Zidane.

The backline + GK (Barthez) was insanely good. Lizarazu, Desailly, Blanc, Thuram played 28 games together between 1996 and 2000, losing none and conceding 7 goals.

 

It’s worth noting that Lloris has always been dreadful for penalties, while our new keeper Maignan is very good at them. So the good old “method” to eliminate us on pens that worked so many times may not be the easiest anymore.

I think our midfield may be our weakness this time around, we may not control games as much as we should, and that will cost us greatly in my opinion.

 

Well hopefully it goes better for them than the last time they were overhyped heading into a U.S. hosted World Cup.

 

Japan has to be higher on that list - I know Lalas is American, but come on. Swap Japan and US, and it's somewhat realistic. As for Colombia, IMO, they are around the 8 -10th place.

 

U.S. are worse. In recent years, they've had shit CONCACAF results. No way can they be ranked higher than Japan. Also, Japanese natural stamina and Moriyasu's rotation habits mean they should be able to keep a high tempo in games, regardless of time zone or climate. I honestly would put Japan higher than my Croatia.