[junodog4]

Just thought I'd put this up - the World Cup is my favourite - I love the chaos, the level of play, and the fan energy. Hopefully this one can be a classic.

My thoughts:

France and Spain are their own tier. Clearly the favourites, but the favourites don't always win the World Cup.

At the next level, I think England, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal have a shot. The Dutch and Germans have an outside chance. Argentina is 4 years older, and Brazil seems to be still stuck in a funk, but they have so much talent. England always drives me crazy, so I'm afraid to get my hopes up; but they seem to have it together more than the 'Golden Generation' of 20 years ago. This is the best Portugal team I've seen.

For darkhorses - I know people will be looking for Morocco again and Norway is a trendy pick, and they'd not be wrong. However, I like Japan, Colombia and Mexico to have surprise runs.

I don't think USA is getting far. Round of 16 perhaps. Likewise Canada, but that would be seen as a success.

Who's getting beat up th worst? Curacao? Uzbekistan? Haiti? Qatar?

For context - I am Canadian, and my family is from England. I root for Canada and England. I have a soft spot for Denmark because of my wife, and I'd be happy to see Mexico win, as the country would go bananas. I generally root against Argentina and Italy (salty English fan) and USA (doesn't everyone outside America?)
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Finnegan was super bad-ass.

[Cheddar]

I can't say I've been all that plugged into the football world recently, but I do love the World Cup, so I usually read up a bit and get really into it every four years. Of course I will root for my USA boys, but I have no illusions that we'll make a deep run. We have a fairly soft group (although the extra teams have made most of the groups a bit softer), so we could look really good out of qualifying and get some false hype going into the knockout stage, but I am not letting myself buy into the USA going far unless or until we make a strong showing at that stage against a contender. Plus Australia have already made things more interesting in that group. It will be interesting to see how we try and break down the defense that Türkiye couldn't.

For rooting interests outside of the US, I love the chaos of this tournament like you and generally want new blood. Although I do love Messi, so Argentina is probably the only one of the past 4 champions I'd be happy to see lift the trophy. I love when African teams go far (or really any team outside of Europe and the two SA juggernauts), so I'll be watching to see if Morocco or Senegal can make runs in the knockouts, with DR Congo being my dark horse out of Africa to make some unexpected noise. I agree that Mexico would be fun to see go deep since they have so much passion for the game and should get a boost from most of their matches being down there. Columbia is another good shout for American teams. I love me some Hueng Son Min, so I'll be hoping South Korea can make the knockouts from Asia. And for Europe I'll always pull for Sweden for heritage reasons and generally just want some new blood from there to do well (i.e. I enjoyed seeing Croatia's deep runs the past two World Cups).

As far as who I think will actually win, I have a feeling Mbappe and crew will get it done again or at the least make their third straight finals. I also wouldn't be surprised if England finally brings it home if only because we've already had a couple of different teams in major world sports break long championship droughts with the Knicks and Arsenal.
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My overall top 100 is far from fleshed out at this point, so here are some charts I am actually proud of:
2025

[Hayden]

[albummaster]

Too many teams in it this time imho, leading to too many games which won't be competitive (already seeing some of those). France or Spain to win probably. Sweden as a surprise package. Disgusting how some of the teams/officials have been treated at immigration (except for Partey maybe). Iran should be interesting matches.
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Bluesky · Facebook · Spotify · X

[kokkinos]

The World Cup is supposed to be a celebration of football, the ultimate experience for players and fans alike. Admittedly, it feels less and less like it. The politics had already reared its ugly head in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, and it’s more of the same this time around – albummaster has already mentioned the most striking and embarrassing cases. The cost of the tournament is another reminder that football’s romantic era has been well and truly lost to the sands of time – examples include the absurd prices or the fact that no match starts on the hour because it needs to be over-commercialised. In short, the World Cup used to be a distraction from the world’s problems, now it’s a part of them. The number of teams is a valid concern, too, though it could be argued that moments like Cape Verde vs Spain make it all worthwhile.

Anyway, let’s try to enjoy what happens on the pitch. I agree that France and Spain are in a league of their own. I’d say France have the most talented squad, but Spain are functioning better as a team. I also expect Portugal to be there or thereabouts. They have the most complete midfield and that's where most games are decided. England and Brazil are tricky to call. They play an uninspiring brand of football, but they have elite managers who specialise in the knock-out format. I can’t see Argentina repeating their 2022 heroics, but a Ronaldo vs Messi final would break the internet. Germany are suspect defensively, most Dutch players had underwhelming seasons and Belgium have missed their window of opportunity. Can’t view any of them as contenders. Senegal look like Africa’s best bet, but can’t rule out Morocco. South Korea and Japan have balanced squads that can adapt to pretty much any opposition. Either of them could be the tournament's biggest overachievers, though the latter have been unlucky with injuries. Mexico are solid and always reliable, but I don’t think they have the individual quality for a really deep run. Actually, I was more impressed by how well-drilled the United States were. Not having to play any qualifying matches did wonders for their preparation.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus

[MadhattanJack]

There are a lot of good teams, but this is BEA, so my money's still on Radiohead to win the whole thing. Though it'll probably come down to a penalty-kick shootout in the final, the way things are looking right now.

[albummaster]

[Johnnyo]

[Johnnyo]

[Johnnyo]