The world descends on Russia for the month-long festival of football insanity that is the FIFA World Cup. I already have my picks logged in at Fox Sports and am ready for 64 games of end-to-end delight. And with that comes my Top Ten List of "Intriguing Items About the 2018 World Cup".
1. Germany will repeat...There seem to be many signs that Die Mannschaft will chug its way to back-to-back crowns in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels anchor a crushing defensive backfield, and Thomas Muller can still score goals as well as anyone else in the world. Young lions such as Joshua Kimmich, Julian Brandt, and Timo Werner add spice to a team laden with experienced hands like Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil. And there is no better managerial mind in the world than Germany's Joachim Loew.
2. ...and they might not. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer looks rusty in his return from a broken foot last September, leaving analytical minds wondering if Marc-Andre ter Stegen would be better between the pipes (He was fabulous in the 2017 Confederations Cup). Sami Khedira is not getting any younger, nor is Mario Gomez. And there is no telling if leaving Leroy Sane and 2014 hero Mario Gotze off the squad will be the right call. But you still have a squad with only three players over the age of 30, so if they beat Mexico in their first group stage game, look out.
3. We have a slate of amazing initial group stage matchups. Portugal/Spain highlights the Friday slate, and one wonders if Sergio Ramos, the doctor of thuganomics, will try to impale Cristiano Ronaldo. Odds are he will try with the subtlety of a Belfast car bomb (and I don't mean the drink). On Saturday, perennial contenders Argentina clashes with World Cup debutants Iceland, and if the Viking clap overcomes Lionel Messi and company, we might see Diego Maradona go into a Bueno Aries bar and do one final, fatal line of cocaine. And that Germany-Mexico contest on Sunday gives each side a chance to shake off some recent international friendly cobwebs.
4. A four-peat of sorts is in the works. Not in terms of a team repeating (no one ever has except for Italy in 1934/38 and Brazil in 1958/62), but in terms of individual scoring. If Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Tim Cahill of Australia put the ball in the net in Russia, then they will join the illustrious PSK Club...PSK standing for Pele, Uwe Seeler, and Miroslav Klose, the only players to have scored at least one goal for four consecutive World Cup tournaments.
5. Announcing could really suck. FOX Sports will be assigning twelve announcers to their 2018 World Cup coverage, and eight will be American, and only four will be on site in Russia! That means the rest will be announcing from the FOX Sports studio in Los Angeles. Oh, and no Ian Darke or Martin Tyler. The soccer announcing gods hate the world, apparently.
6. Who we'll be missing. Italy will not be there, courtesy of their playoff loss to Sweden. The Netherlands will follow their runner-up status of 2010 and third-place finish in 2014 with no appearance in 2018, thanks to a third-place finish in their group which Iceland won. The USA is out due to a final-game qualification collapse against Trindad and Tobago. Wayne Rooney of England is an international participant no more. And the players who notched the game-winning assist (Andres Schurrle) and goal (Mario Gotze) will not be on this year's German team.
7. One of the following will happen: Corrupt officiating costs a team a game. Or Russian forest-fighting hooligans or other fans will ruin a game with flares or other incendiaries. Or the Russian team will have its numbers cut in half by getting nailed for blood doping.
8. Lionel Messi will win the Golden Ball for best player. And people in his homeland will still diss him because he will not have World Cup championship on his resume.
9. I am praying for an Egypt-Spain matchup in the first knockout round. Because I want to see the flash-boil temperature of that contest with Mohammed Salah and Sergio Ramos back on the field opposing each other after this thug shot during the Champions League final.
10. And hopefully, #10 comes true tomorrow in the form of a selection of North America to host the 2026 World Cup.
Check back for daily commentary on World Cup action over the coming months!
No comments:
Post a Comment