Ahhhh the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Who knew four years could go by so quickly? Welcome to the most underrated sporting event in American sports and yet we will all become somewhat half-hearted fans for these next couple of weeks. Welcome to the 2018 FIFA World Cup! The Dollars and Sense Sports Blog has been all over the fandom of the World Cup with me being a former high school soccer player and also a fan of the English Premier League team Newcastle United (#NUFC!!). The atmosphere surrounding the World Cup is insane and to get in on the action, The D.A.S. Blog will display our picks for who we believe will win the World Cup. Now bear with us as this article was written while many of the matches were already concluded so since this article is titled a “redux”, that means we blew our first pick. Here’s who we thought would win and who we think would win now. Hey, everyone deserves a second chance right?
Our Former Pick: Argentina
Boy, talk about a complete abundance of Fool’s Gold. This was a team that was absolutely loaded (so we thought). This was a team that contained high-priced yet quality players (so we thought) and a player that was supposedly “the best player in the world” in Lionel Messi(FC Barcelona) (SO. WE. THOUGHT.). This team also boasted elite scoring talent in Sergio Aguero(Manchester City) and Gonzalo Higuain(Juventus) who have scored a combined 70 international goals between themselves. Angel Di Maria(Paris Saint-Germain) has proven himself to be a serviceable combination attacking midfielder/winger and traditonal passing midfielder. This team had all the tools to potentially win the World Cup. Then, the tournament happened and Argentina somehow forgot how to football. It all started with their group match-up with Iceland. Argentina had the ball for 73% of the match only for the match to end in a 1-1 draw due to a poor penalty shot by The LeBron James of Soccer: Lionel Messi. Things would get even more messy for Messi as Croatia completely shellacked Argentina 3-0 possibly putting them on the brink of elimination. Argentina would have to face Nigeria in a game that would see them sent packing if they would lose and disappoint all the supporters including this writer. While they would go on to win, Lionel Messi and the Argentinian team clearly did not look as dominant as their talent would indicate. This showed in their match against France where they were absolutely annihilated by a 19-year old phenom in France’s Kylian Mbappe who would score two goals within the span of four minutes. Messi as a much-needed scoring threat was absolutely non-existent. Paulo Dybala who is arguably the best player in Italian Serie A currently for Juventus was non-existent. Jorge Sampoli, current manager of the Argentina national team, was absolutely non-existent in his decision making and use of his talent. This was another disappointing effort from one of the most stacked teams in the history of the World Cup and it will surely affect the legacy of Lionel Messi.
My New Pick: France
Well heck if you can beat ’em then definitely join ’em. This team showed that they are deep enough talent-wise to win this World Cup. Mbappe’s single-handed destruction of a (supposedly) loaded team in Argentina was convincing enough to me to show that France is quite possibly the team to beat. France is loaded in its own right with players such as Antoine Griezmann(Atletico Madrid), Paul Pogba(Manchester United) and N’Golo Kante(Chelsea). France will face a hot and talented Uruguay team led by Luis Suarez(FC Barcelona) and Edison Cavani(Paris Saint-Germain) on Friday. Hopefully this pick goes a lot better than the last pick.
Who do you guys think will take the 2018 World Cup? Let us know in the comments!
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