2018 World Cup: who should you cheer for?
I typically really hate this time of year. The NBA and NHL have both wrapped things up, baseball is far from exciting at this point of the season, and the football season is still just a far-off dream. However, this year is different! Once every four years we get to watch one of the most exciting tournaments in all of sports when the world’s top soccer squads get together to compete in the World Cup. There’s only one small problem:
After suffering a 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago (yes, you read that right) back in October, the US failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. While this is certainly disappointing and could be a major setback to the sport in the US, look at it this way: you are now a free agent! That’s right, you have no cheering obligations to any team, and nobody can accuse you of being a bandwagon fan for choosing a squad.
Because most Americans are now team-less and the tournament is just days away, I’m going to help you choose which squad to adopt. If you want to cheer for Saudi Arabia or Tunisia, than more power to you. I wish you luck. But if you want to cheer for a contender, I would suggest following this nifty guide.
Portugal
(AP Photo/Paulo Duarte, File)
If you were cheering for the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s NBA Finals and you didn’t get enough of watching one superhuman athlete carry an otherwise not very good team, you may want to consider lending your allegiance to Portugal this summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo is widely considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest soccer player in the world. His greatness carried Portugal to a surprising championship at Euro 2016, and I say carried because much like the LeBron/Cavs comparison I made, he really doesn’t have much around him. While Andre Silva and Goncalo Guedes are nice pieces, Portugal is aging and doesn’t have much depth or scoring help around Ronaldo. In the last world cup they were unable to advance past the group stage, and in the team’s history they have only finished in the top 10 twice. All of that aside, Portugal received a fortunate draw for this WC, landing in Group B with Spain, Morocco, and Iran.
If you want to watch a generational talent go all out in what may be his final World Cup, you’re looking for a team which has a shot at making a deep run but is still widely considered an underdog, or you really like Ronaldo’s hair, Portugal is a safe bet for you.
Brazil
(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
In the 88-year history of the World Cup, only one team has participated in every single tournament. That would be Brazil. While that’s impressive, it’s even more impressive to consider that they have won it five times, that’s more than any other country in the world. However, the nation that “eats, breathes, and drinks football” according to Pele, is in a bit of a dry spell the past few years, not achieving a top-3 finish since 2002.
Brazil enters the World Cup as the favorite according to Vegas oddsmakers (for those of you who are into that kind of thing), and they will be coming out with a chip on their shoulder this year after being eliminated in the 2014 semifinals on an embarrassing 7-1 loss to Germany. This team is widely thought to be better, faster, and stronger than the 2014 version, and you will have a lot of fun watching them. Neymar and Gabriel Jesus are a couple of the most electrifying players in the game, and Brazil could be poised to hop back on top of the soccer world.
If you’re looking for a team with superstar talent, you want to see a ton of goals scored, you like a good redemption story, and you don’t mind the dirty looks and judgment that come from cheering for one of the world’s most hated powerhouse teams, you may want to consider cheering for Brazil.
Germany
(AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
Are you just looking for the safe bet, and want a team who is almost guaranteed to make a deep run in the World Cup? Are you the kind of person who loves dynasties and often cheers against the underdogs? Did you find yourself cheering for Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid? Boy, do I have the perfect team for you.
While Brazil is the Vegas favorite to win the World Cup, Germany is very close behind, and for a good reason. The reigning champs earned their fourth title in 2014, have finished top-3 in each of the past four tournaments, and with a win this year Germany could join Brazil as the team with the most titles. In the qualifying rounds, Germany was absolutely ridiculous. They went a perfect 10-0-0 with a +39 goal differential. Think about that for a minute. Forward Timo Werner is one of the top young players in the world, and in just 10 games for the German National Team he’s already scored seven goals. Forward Thomas Muller is a versatile player who may be ready for a breakout tournament. It’s crazy to me that Germany isn’t considered the favorite in this tournament, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
If you’re looking for a team with a ton of young talent who will likely be good for many years to come, you don’t care about cheering for “the little guy,” you’re the world’s biggest Patriots/Warriors/Crimson Tide fan, or you usually cheer for the bad guy in movies, I would recommend following Germany.
England
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
You know that kid in high school whose parents had a lot of money and had a lot of friends just because they liked to party at his house? That’s England in a nutshell. While for much of the year England is home to the world’s top soccer league, the English Premier League, it hasn’t been quite as successful at producing home-grown talent to play for the national team in recent years. A 26th-place finish in the 2014 World Cup wasn’t very satisfying for the fans of a team which had been a powerhouse in nearly every WC up to 2006.
Forward Harry Kane has been, as the British might say, “brilliant” for England. As far as pure goal scorers go, I’m not sure there are many guys in this tournament who are better than Kane. He has scored 108 goals in 150 Premier League appearances for Tottenham, and at just 24-years old, watch for him to continue to break out in the national scene in this tournament. England is another team who got a nice draw, as they will face Belgium, Tunisia and Panama in the group stage. If you’re looking for a team with a rich history, and want to watch some great young talent try to lead a team to victory, give England a shot.
Spain
(AP Photo)
This one is interesting to me. Spain might just be the wildcard of this year’s World Cup, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this team. For decades Spain had the label of the team with elite talent and a great system, but who consistently under-performed when it came World Cup time. That seemingly changed when they won the 2010 WC, but then a team with a very similar roster in 2014 failed to even make it past the group stage. They are a Jekyll and Hyde kind of team, and one which may be fun to watch, but I would never consider betting on them.
Spain has the best goalkeeper in the world in David De Gea, a 27-year-old who could make all the difference in the world in this tournament. They also have what many may consider to be the top corps of defenders, with a back line of Dani Carvajal, Jordi Alba, Nacho and Gerard Pique. That’s right, they have a dude who is named Nacho. Just Nacho. While Spain definitely isn’t an underdog in this one, I could very easily see them making a run at the championship, while at the same time an exit in the round of 16 is about equally as believable. Just be careful, Spain is often viewed as a “dirty team” and one which plays the villain role in most cases, so cheering for them means accepting that.
If you want to follow a wildcard team who has a very real shot, you want to cheer for a dude named Nacho, you are that guy who never stops hitting the slide tackle button while playing FIFA, or you simply want to watch a world-class defense play, Spain is the team for you.
Belgium
(AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, File)
I’ve heard Belgium referred to as the “paper tiger” of this year’s World Cup, and to be honest, that seems sort of dead on. As the tournament approaches, this team seems to be gathering more and more hype by the day, and understandably so. On paper, they look VERY good. Every position has some star power, there’s a good mix of youth and experience, and they are coming off of the second-best WC showing in team history, finishing 6th in 2014. Not only that, but the squad had an impressive 9-0-1 run in the qualifying rounds.
However, there are a lot of questions about consistency and whether this team can perform on the big stage under a coach who is unproven in the national game. In Euro 2016 they were embarrassed by Wales, getting knocked out in the quarterfinal round on a 3-1 loss. An aging defense is a concern, but an elite goalkeeper like Thibaut Courtois could make a big difference. Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is very fun to watch (and to play as in FIFA), and his playmaking ability is nearly unmatched.
If you’re looking for a team with loads of talent and starpower, you don’t mind risking the possibility of a total flop in the early rounds, you really enjoy Belgian waffles and want to give back to a country which has given so much to you, or you want to follow what could be a bit of a cinderella story and the deepest WC run in a nation’s history, Belgium might just be the perfect fit.
Argentina
(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
There is really only one reason why I would recommend that you cheer for Argentina in this tournament, and it’s an obvious one: you, like me, really enjoy watching Lionel Messi play soccer. There is something about watching Messi play that is mesmerising and almost puts people into a trance. He has the ability to turn a passive soccer fan into a diehard, and is truly one of the greatest to ever do it. But let’s pump the brakes.
As fantastic as Messi is, I expect his team to struggle in this tournament. Argentina has been a powerhouse in the soccer world for a long time, making it to the quarter-finals or further in eight of the past 10 World Cups. However, this team lost a lot of the talent which helped it to a championship game appearance in 2014 with only six of the starters from that squad back for another run. If it weren’t for a hat trick performance by Messi against Ecuador, Argentina wouldn’t have even qualified for the tournament. The team went just 7-4-7 in the qualifying round. It also doesn’t help that they will have to compete with Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland in the group stage, three teams which are very capable of pulling upsets.
If you really, really, really like watching Lionel Messi, you don’t mind rooting for a team with a difficult path in the tournament, or you just look good wearing baby blue and white, Argentina might be right up your alley.
France
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
So you’re having a hard time choosing from one of these teams, or you don’t feel like any of them are a good fit for you but you still want a team who could be competitive in this tournament? I guess you could cheer for France. I have a hard time getting too excited about this team because there isn’t a ton that jumps out about them on paper, but they very well may be the most underrated team in this World Cup. They are not super flashy, don’t have nearly as much star power as some of the other contenders, and they’ve been very off-and-on in the WC in recent history. That said, none of that is necessarily a bad thing.
Though they went 7-1-2 in the qualifying rounds of the tournament, France scored just 18 goals in 10 games while finishing on top of Group A. Again, that is not a bad thing, but it should be interesting to see if their offense can keep up in this tournament. While France doesn’t have a ton of superstar talent, they do have a whole bunch of solid players which come together to form a great team. Watch out for the forward duo of Antoine Griezmann and 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe to make some noise. 24-year-old defender Samuel Umtiti is a young talent who has been phenomenal for Barcelona and could be a breakout player in his first real opportunity to shine on a national stage.
If you love low-scoring, grind-it-out kind of games, you want to watch a team which plays together as a team very well, you want to watch several players who may be on the verge of breaking out, or you enjoy watching great teams that don’t get as much spotlight as they deserve, you should probably cheer for France.