The closer we get to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the more the question of who actually goes home with the richest prize in World Football gets asked. The real winner will not be known until football has been played on the pitch but it doesn’t hurt to make your own 2022 World Cup Predictions.
Betting sites create different betting options that could be assessed prior to the start of the tournament that is not for individual matches alone. You see betting options for who is going to win the World Cup, as well as betting odds that shows who the bookmakers feel could be the winners of the tournament.
Whether you are betting on the eventual World Cup winner or just fantasizing on who you want to go home with the gold, part of what makes this tournament special is how it allows fans to dream.
As a football fan myself, I have an opinion on who I believe will win the World Cup and in this piece I will share my prediction and the journey they will take to get there.
The team I predict to win the World Cup is France.
An overview on France
Les Bleus are the current World Champions ranked fourth in the World according to FIFA heading into the World Cup and are second favourites to win the World Cup with 6/1 odds behind Brazil.
The French squad is the most talented squad in world football. You won’t see a squad at the World Cup that boasts of so many talented young players as well as world class veterans who have played in and won on the biggest stages in World football.
It’s a squad with several World Champions, a 19 year old Champions League winner and a 34 year old Ballon d’Or winner. A team filled with prestige and pedigree, and we haven’t even mentioned Kylian Mbappe.
Though their team is stacked for days and days, injuries to two of the key players in their World Cup effort four years ago will definitely weaken them. Paul Pogba has not been confirmed to miss the World Cup but he has been injured for a while and is still a doubt to make the tournament while tireless midfielder N’Golo Kante definitely going to miss the tournament after undergoing surgery that will rule him out for four months.
They will be big losses but it won’t stop the French dominance on the road to another World Title!
Group stages
They have been drawn in group D alongside Australia, Denmark and Tunisia. They are the strongest team in this group and will expect to breeze through. The fixture against Denmark will be their toughest as the Danes have proved to be troublesome for France in the past.
They were drawn in the last edition UEFA Nations League group stages and beat France twice, but at the World Cup, France will get their revenge and come away with a strong win against Denmark.
By the end of the group phase, they will have won all three games with nine points in the bag, looking unstoppable.
Knockout rounds
In the Last 16, they will take on Mexico, who will finish second in their group behind Argentina. The Mexicans will have little answer for the brilliance of Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Ousmanne Dembele and probably lose by a big margin of three to four goals. The French freight train motors on.
In the quarterfinal, France will play their toughest game of their tournament so far against England. The Three Lions are already favorites to win the World Cup as well and their strong performances in the tournament to that point will make this match a battle for the ages. It will be a cagey game as both sides will go into this game having conceded the fewest goals in the tournament.
This tie will go to extra time and it is there that the best player in the world, Karim Benzema will show his brilliance and win the tough tie for the French and crush the hopes of the English.
The games will only get tougher for France as they face another European giant in Portugal in the semifinal. With Cristiano Ronaldo seemingly on a roll and scoring goals for fun, this affair will be laden with goals and high intensity entertainment from start to finish. As hard as both defenses try to stop each other from scoring, the offensive play in this game will be the best fixture of the Semifinal round.
The game is winding down at 2-2 and fans of both sides are beginning to anticipate the stress of extra time and even the agony of a penalty shootout when all off a sudden, Kylian Mbappe comes to life. He picks up the ball, runs past a few defenders like they were never even there and slots past the Portuguese keeper. Half of the crowd goes ballistic. French limbs in the air celebrating and Portuguese hearts in shattered.
The French have done it. They’re in the World Cup final with a chance to make history. Standing in their way are South American juggernauts, Brazil.
After beating Ghana, Germany and then eternal rivals Argentina in the Semifinals, the most entertaining team in the tournament have come to claim their sixth World Cup trophy. The stage is set for the spectacle of a lifetime. France against Brazil.
A fixture filled with the who’s who of European football. Champions League winners and multiple League titles holders on both sides as well. Some have done it as teammates but none of that matters now because right now, it is all about winning the FIFA World Cup in front of 80,000 screaming fans inside the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
Both teams will try to go at it from the off but as most finals are, it will become a tense and cagey affair, at times even boring but the brilliant players like Neymar, Mbappe and Vinicius show flashes of brilliance without scoring. In the second half, France will begin to turn the screw and Brazil will begin to fold under the pressure until France get the all-important first goal and game winner from the most unlikely source, Rafael Varane. The center back leaps highest to give his country the lead fifteen minutes from time.
Brazil throw everything they have at France but the nation stands firm. In the 89th minute Brazil get caught out sending men forward, giving Kylian Mbappe the chance to seal the World Cup on the counter attack. He rounds the keeper and slots home, France are World Champions.
Les Bleus become immortalized in history as only the third-ever country after Italy and Brazil to retain the FIFA World Cup.
And so the curtain closes on another exciting World Cup which will end in France becoming World Champions. At least that’s what I think will happen. Only time will tell as November 20th will mark the beginning of France’s as well as 31 other teams’ road to glory in Qatar. You wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.
Photo by Rhett Lewis
