For me It's Brazil their squad is looking its strongest then it has been in the last decade, with two world-class goalies, and a top-class attack. This World Cup is looking like their best chance

I will cheer for Brazil and then hope for some underdog to push and surprise everyone

I will be rooting for Brazil, but all this hype - again - makes me concerned. Every single World Cup, people hype Brazil to the point it is a sin not to win it. We all have seen the toll on their psych 8 years ago. We are still yet to see if the current team withstands pressure - half the team is somewhat "less experienced" - just like 8 years ago.

Recently we finally (FINALLY!) had a new "harvest" of young talents. It has been SO LONG since we had other players to talk about the way we talked about Neymar 10 years ago. The likes of Rodrygo, Vini Jr, Antony, Raphinha, it's been great. These are youngsters that watched Neymar growing up. Inside the closet room, there is a sense of "We are finally here with the guy who carried the team for the last 10 years, now he will step down after this Cup, and we do anything to make his last run easier". We all know Neymar is very bad tempered on field - recently we see that it's not only the older teammates, these youngsters are stepping in when the situation gets bad for Neymar. He is too hot on the head, we were not able to change that, so we handle it the way we can.

The team is now less dependant on Neymar all while he is still the "reference" in the team. But again, the "inexperience" of others might steps in. I feel like this is why some of them had interviews recently trying to mitigate that. Vini Jr said he is prepared not because he is technically superior (which he is in his position, there's no doubt) or that his roll in the Selecao is good, or he is physically perfect now, but he makes sure to say to the media "he is prepared because he won the Champion's League".

On the other hand, Neymar, yes him again we can't escape his issues when we talk about Brazil. The hate on him is still very very evident and real. Recently it's been lifted a little bit because of PSG and Mbappe shenanigans, but he is not the "good guy" in the media in any way. I mean, I still see every single day some Brazillians calling him a farce. Not Spanish, English or France media - where he gets criticisms every day - but some of his own people still doubt him, after all his achievements.

In the last World Cup, I could hear chants and celebrations outside my window just because we lose. I can't get over this.

Somehow I have a feeling that, even if he is decisive in this World Cup, or in this Champion's League, he won't have his Ballon d'Or anyways. People simply don't like him.

About other teams other than Brazil, I think France should bounce back. They are still technically one of the best, and very capable to win it.
Belgium is one that I think they will be willing to "risk it all" and make a strong point, it's the "Golden Generation"'s last run.
And Argentina. This is the most coordinated and tactically sound Argentina I've seen in years. Then add Messi to that.
Somehow I can't put my bet on Germany, Spain or England this time. It's just an irrational feeling based thing. I can't see them winning it.

Somehow I have a feeling that, even if he is decisive in this World Cup, or in this Champion's League, he won't have his Ballon d'Or anyways. People simply don't like him.

At this point, its seriously complicated because he's competing with a lot of people that are in the same teams as him.

I mean, lets say PSG win the CL this year, people will consider Messi and M'bappe as well.

And if Brazil win the world cup, Vini could potentially take some credit for it, depending how well Real also do in the season.

Seem hard for him to win a Ballon d'Or right now.

As for Brazil, I honestly think it got one of the best attack in the world and their midfield honestly not bad. But here where it get a bit worrying. Their defense as a whole isn't as good. Like, its not bad but some position aren't as world class as their offensive player. Especially the wing-backs. I don't doubt their keepers, those are very good. But they could certainly use some better defenders imho.

@ quikzzzy

I will cheer for Brazil and then hope for some underdog to push and surprise everyone

Qatar 😁😁

Anyone except them lol

So as a neutral, I'd guess I feel like putting the team that could win it in different category:

Team I'd love to see win:
Argentina: Because as you might know, I'm a bit of a Messi fan and I'd love for him to win it with his NT in what is propably his last WC.
Brazil: I love the enthusiasm behind the team, great new generation to help Neymar, talking about Neymar, he feel a lot more mature than before and I can appreciate that.
Canada: Okay, completely unrealist but it would be so great if that somehow happened.
Netherland: Never won a WC so I'd be supper happy if it happened, their team is looking great together and LVG is one of their best NT manager in recent history so why not.

Team I'd be glad or at least okay to see win:
Portugal: Mix of Argentina and Netherland for this one, both Ronaldo and his country never won it so I wouldn't mind it at all if they won it.
Belgium: Similar to Netherland and also the fact that this is the last chance of their golden generation. Put them lower however cause I feel they might have had their best chance last world cup sadly, its also harder to get excited for them because of their defense.
Croatia: Very similar to Belgium, only difference might be that they got slighty better new generation coming in?
England: Those I feel the most conflicted about, on one part, I dislike Southgate playstyle and their fans way of thinking like football belonged to them. On the other hand, they have a brillant generation of players which I like and it would be a shame if some of those player like Kane went down without any international trophy.
Uruguay: Propably not super realistic but considering the last 3 winner were european nation, I'd be happy if another South Americain team could win it. Beside, its Cavani and Suarez last dance and Valverde is super exciting right now so its still a team I'm rooting for.
USA and Mexico: Similar to Canada, its very unrealistic but I'd be super happy with another North Americain team winning even if it wasn't Canada.

Team I wouldn't mind if they won it but I'd rather they didn't:
France: Won it in 2018, now they have to deal with injuries (Kante is painful to me especially) and the potential winner curse hitting them, its just a bit hard to get excited for them as a neutral.
Germany: Similar to France, won it recently in 2014 and I'm not a big fan of a lots of their current players. I think they still figuring it out things under Hansi Flick and this WC might be too soon for them to really have to ambition to win it.
Spain: Third last team to have won it and they don't have a lot of standout player to get you excited about them imho. I do think they play very well though even if they sometime have a hard time scoring.

I'm very interested to see if this will lead to Ronaldo having an amazing World Cup. The world Cup is more exciting now

I don’t think he will have that great of a WC tbh… he’s way past his prime.

However Messi and Argentina have a great chance to win it all imo… Which would make Messi undoubtedly the greatest ever.

@Pelle I'm gonna stay careful about Ronaldo because he still class and he love to show up in tournament like those, especially when critiques start to fall. However, I nearly hope for him he does perform because if he fail at this world cup, pretty sure the Portugal national team fans are gonna be calling for his immediate retirement, I know some were already asking for it before this world cup.

On another hand, this a great world cup for PSG fans, with a lot of their key player being among the favorite to win it. Neymar and Marquinhos in case of Brazil, Messi in case of Agentina and obviously M'bappe in case of France. They also got Nuno Mendes who's hopefully should play for Portugal (Vintinha and Danilo Pereira too).

I'm gonna go for Argentina vs Brazil or Argentina vs Portugal in the final. And Argentina to win the World Cup 2022.

To me, for the first time in many decades, the South Americans seem to have a much stronger level than european teams

If you look at Brazil, you have Vini Jr, Casemiro, Gabriel Jesus etc... all evolving in the two best leagues (Liga and EPL), plus Neymar seems to have regained a very solid level.
If you look at Argentina, the same assessment goes.
Uruguay is always a good underdog.

I expect Senegal and Denmark to go very far during this WC, reaching at least the quarter finals

On paper we have the best team. Argentina don't even have the 2nd best team on paper so I don't get the hype.

@Footy Well for the first time in a long time, Argentina got a lot of chemistry going on and they also got a more evenly balanced players at more post than in the past. Just having Romero, Martinelli and Foyth in defense is a big upgrade over the like of Otamendi and Marcos Rojo (and yeah, I know Otamend still in the squad but hopefully he won't be first choice).

BRAZIL

@Emobot7

I don't get why people doubt about Argentina. They are undefeated for 3 years straight. As you said, this is a way more balanced team than ever, chemistry is fine, and Messi is at his best after his "change of style", in which this style does help more his team.

Now probably a controversy take: I think Maradona's death lifted their pressure by a lot. Maradona says too much bullsh*t and the Argentine media takes them all and punish the players for no reason.

Another team I'd add is Switzerland. They won't win it... but they always put a really strong performance against big teams. Brazillians vs the Swiss are at 3/4/2 W/D/L, and 11/9 GF/GA. 2 draws in WC.

Damn it, just praised them for them to be beaten by Saudi Arabia. WTF Argentina.

I TOLD YOU

Saudi dominated the weakling Argentina team. They were winning the 50/50 battles and even Inzaghi would've been embarrassed by how many times Argentina were offside.

The penalty was a joke. The ref did his best to keep a desperate diving cheating Argentina team in the game but Saidi were too strong.

Tbf, I agree that penalty was very soft. I only watched the highlight cause the game was way too early where i live.

I think Argentina scored a least 3 offside goal so their obviously not ineffective, just got their timing wrong.

Bit too harsh to say Saudi dominated them though imho but I felt they deserved the win if only for the second goal, it was pretty damn special.

I'm gonna be honest, the downfall of Martinelli might cost Argentina this world cup. He's nowhere as good as he used to be when they won the Copa America. I would start Rulli over him tbh.

The other 2 games are gonna be very important for Argentina now and they walk a tight rope now.

yeah pretty sad to see Saudi go out, but beating Argentina that was one hella of a victory