The 2018 World Cup is off to a thrilling start. They were too many surprises , too many upsets and bloopers in this tournament so far. We can all be honest and even admit that a few results did not go the way we thought when the groups were decided by FIFA a few months back. Meanwhile, the World Cup holders were beaten 1-0 by Mexico, putting their hopes of advancement in doubt.
You make your picks on which teams top their respective groups at the 2018 World Cup, but before that you need to check out our prediction.
We here at “Beyond The Posts ” have made a prediction of the teams that will likely progress to the next rounds, based on form, fixtures, likely points that can be earned, goal differences and injuries:
GROUP A :
In this group, Uruguay will likely make the cut as table toppers. After a late goal sealed the match for the South Americans against a stubborn Egyptian side, winning against lowest ranked team in the tournament, Saudi Arabia wasn’t really hard for them. Russia on the other hand, who pumped in 5 goals against Saudi and beat Egypt as well, though they might drop points to the South Americans.
Qualifying Teams: Uruguay , Russia
GROUP B :
This group made us witness a mouth watering clash between Portugal and Spain that ended in a 3-3 draw. Iran on the other hand defeated Morocco to grab three points and stay on top for now. All of that will change soon. Neither Iran nor Morocco have the resilience to stop European champs Portugal or 2010 world champions Spain.
The duo should easily grab points against Iran and Morocco to proceed further in the tournament. Portugal seems like the nation to go on as the table topper for this group.
Qualifying Teams: Portugal, Spain
GROUP C
France and Denmark defeated Australia and Peru respectively to get three points. The French defeated Peru next 1-0 and Denmark did have trouble against Australia, as the game ended 1-1. However, the teams that should go through from this group will be the Europeans.
Qualifying Teams: France, Denmark
GROUP D
This group made us witness Argentina struggle against Iceland and Croatia get past Nigeria. However, after the loss to the Croatians, Sampaoli’s team will have to really score plenty of goals against the Nigerians. Argentina will likely regain their sharpness, while Croatia will somehow get past Iceland to go on as table toppers. Well, for now it is a possibility that Croatia and Argentina will be better than Iceland and Nigeria to go through, though the two teams play later in the day and that result could surely have an effort on the final standings. The South Americans could possibly go home soon.
Qualifying Teams: Croatia, Argentina
GROUP E
Serbia may be table toppers for now but Brazil have beaten Costa Rica, after their draw with Switzerland that made them miserable, they may likely get a win against Serbia and top the group. We predict that Brazil and Switzerland both will go to the next round with 7 points each, if the Swiss can win tonight.
Qualifying Teams: Brazil , Switzerland
GROUP F
Mexico have the chance of going ahead as table toppers in this group after defeating defending champions Germany in their fixture. Germany may recover to claim wins against South Korea and Sweden, while Mexico will win against Korea and even if they draw against Sweden, even then they will move to the next round. Joachim Low’s side has got a tough job ahead but we predict that they will see it through.
Qualifying Teams : Mexico , Germany
GROUP G
This is easy to predict for now. Belgium and England both won their fixtures and will likely win against Panama and Tunisia respectively as well. We predict that Belgium will be the table topper. The fixture between these two teams will decide who will go as table topper .
Qualifying Teams: Belgium, England
GROUP H
We predict that Colombia will win against Senegal but draw against Poland thus grabbing 4 points. Poland will defeat Japan too and stay at 4 points. Senegal have enough prowess to win against Japan and go as table toppers while Colombia and Poland will have only one among them going forward.
Qualifying Teams: Senegal, Colombia
ROUND OF 16 :
Uruguay vs Portugal Winner : Portugal
Russia vs Spain Winner : Spain
Croatia vs Denmark Winner : Croatia
Argentina vs France Winner : France
Mexico vs Switzerland Winner : Mexico
Brazil vs Germany Winner : Brazil
Belgium vs Colombia Winner : Belgium
England vs Senegal Winner : England
QUARTER-FINALS
Portugal vs Croatia Winner: Portugal
Spain vs France Winner : Spain
Mexico vs Belgium Winner : Belgium
England vs Brazil Winner : Brazil
So we at the moment predict that Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Brazil will make it to the semi-finals of the Russia World Cup 2018 .
