The World Cup contenders have all released their provisional rosters for Russia, and it's clear that a few countries have an embarrassment of footballing riches. Led mostly by French and Spanish players, the following team comprised of World Cup snubs could make some serious noise if granted a wildcard into the tournament (get on it, FIFA).
Spain manager Julen Lopetegui announced his 23-man squad for the World Cup in Russia on Monday, and the big news is that the Chelsea quartet of Alvaro Morata, Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and Marcos Alonso have all been omitted after a disappointing season in the Premier League.
Folks, we are so close to the World Cup we can taste it. Over the next 32 days, we will be releasing our team by team preview for the 2018 World Cup.
Rafa Márquez looks set to make his fifth World Cup squad this summer for Mexico. But he might stand out from his teammates in Russia.
Márquez is a living legend in Mexico, having played for decades at some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Monaco and Barcelona. He’s made 143 appearances for El Tri and will retire after the World Cup.
There’s a lot to like about this Moroccan side at the World Cup, and I’m not just talking about hunky French manager Herve Renard.
In 1998, France won its only World Cup title, defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final at the Stade de France just outside of Paris. It was the culmination of an impressive tournament for Les Bleus and the perfect way for the country to win its first World Cup on home soil. Apparently, it was too perfect, according to France’s Michel Platini.
For many of the players who tasted glory with Portugal at the 2016 European Championship in France, it’s not been a story of pushing onwards and upwards ever since.
France announced the 23-man squad it will be taking to Russia in a few weeks and to the shock and awe of no one, Karim Benzema isn’t on manager Didier Deschamps’ list. Instead in the forward positions Deschamps has named Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappé and Florian Thauvin.
Investment banks are big into making predictions — by their very nature they have to be good at it. But the UBS World Cup predictions might need a bit more work. The company gave Italy a 1.6 percent chance to win the World Cup, even though the Azzurri aren’t even in the tournament.
UBS, which stands for you don’t really need to know for the sake of this article, is an investment bank based out of Switzerland. They recently employed 18 analysts and editors and ran computer simulations to predict the most likely winner of the 2018 World Cup.
Every four years the World Cup crowns a new champion. But the tournament itself isn’t just about who is left standing at the end; it’s about the fans, the historic meetings of rivals, the David vs. Goliath matchups, the World Cup upsets.
While the globe gathers every four years to see who the winner is, one of the best parts of any tournament is the upset — the unexpected favorite falling to an unlikely underdog. World Cup upsets are no different.