By John Fearn
Russia and Saudi Arabia kick off the 2018 World Cup in June, and every pundit, bettor and football fan alike will be struggling with the task of picking the winner, so it’s useful to know there is help out there in the shape of some of the best verified football tipsters around, who are willing and able to share their knowledge and expertise.
This year’s tournament is perhaps as wide open as it has ever been, but the final stages will almost inevitably be made up of the usual suspects, with one from a few European countries and a couple from South America likely to lift the trophy.
The European contingent will be spearheaded by current world champions, Germany, who qualified with imperious ease, winning all ten of their qualifiers, although they have failed to win any of their subsequent four friendlies, drawing with England, France and Spain, before finally having their 22-game unbeaten run ended by Brazil last month.
Previous World Cup winners Spain also qualified comfortably from a group including Italy (who, along with The Netherlands and the USA, are the biggest non-qualifying casualties), and they stated their case as serious candidates recently when they demolished Argentina 6-1 in Madrid.
An exciting French side boasting an embarrassment of riches including the likes of Mbappe, Griezmann, Coman, Martial, Lacazette and Pogba will be a team to watch through the tournament, as will Belgium’s plethora of Premier League stars, while any team containing Cristiano Ronaldo must not be discounted, as Portugal proved when lifting the Euro 2016 trophy.
Elsewhere in Europe, the likes of England, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland will all be realistic enough to know they will have exceeded expectations if they reach the quarter-final stage. The same might be said for South American nations Colombia and Uruguay, who are likely to again be in the shadow of Brazil and Argentina. Brazil lost their first qualifying game in Chile, but went unbeaten for the remaining seventeen games to progress with ease and at 9/2 could be a perfect example of betting on value, Argentina needed the magic of a Lionel Messi hat-trick to secure qualification in the last game win they needed to win in Ecuador, highlighting how important the little magician is to his national team.
So what are the chances for the rest of the field competing in Russia? Well, Russia themselves will have home pitch advantage, of course, but that advantage can only go so far to cover a dearth in quality. Sooner or later, there will be an African winner of the tournament, and when it happens it will be shock. Do the likes of Nigeria, Egypt or Algeria have what it takes to spring that surprise? Surely, Iceland can’t repeat their heroics of Euro 2016, but at 200/1 they might offer some betting value.
If you’re still none-the wiser about who is the best bet to lift the World Cup, then you could stick a pin in any of the teams above, or else you might be well advised to take the advice of some of the best football tipsters around to give you some insight.