Well, with the World Cup in Russia just 80 days away, I thought I'd start this thread..

Here you'll find a run down of who's in which groups, the (UK based) betting odds for the outright winner, top goal scorer and potential finalists.

My personal thought is that England will make it out of the group stages but fall at the Quarter Finals.

I think the final will be Germany v Brazil with Germany winning.

Group A:

Russia
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Uruguay

Group B:

Portugal
Spain
Morocco
Iran

Group C:

France
Australia
Peru
Denmark

Group D:

Argentina
Iceland
Croatia
Nigeria

Group E:

Brazil
Switzerland
Costa Rica
Serbia

Group F:

Germany
Mexico
Sweden
South Korea

Group G:

England
Belgium
Panama
Tunisia

Group H:

Poland
Senegal
Columbia
Japan

Sky Bet has the following for the Top Scorer odds:

Lionel Messi (Argentina) 10/1
Neymar (Brazil) 10/1
Antoine Griezmann (France) 16/1
Harry Kane (England) 16/1
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 20/1
Gabriel Jesus (Brazil) 20/1

William Hill have the following for potential finalists:

Brazil v Germany 12/1
France v Germany 14/1
France v Spain 14/1
France v Argentina 16/1
Spain v Brazil 16/1
Spain v Portugal 18/1

The odds which feature England are:

France v England 33/1
Brazil v England 40/1
Germany v England 40/1
Spain v England 40/1
Argentina v England 50/1

William Hill also has the following for the outright winner:

Germany 9/2
Brazil 5/1
France 11/2
Spain 7/1
Argentina 8/1

England are at 16/1.

I'll add more odds and facts as and when I get them, there tends to be more obscure odds/trivia which comes to light as and when the team rosters are confirmed.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I am interested to see what Belgium does. Since the USA can't seem to be Trinidad, I'll have to find another team.

Lukaku
Hazard
Chlesea keeper( can't spell his name and don't want to look it up)
Michy
Kompany
Kevin De Bruyne
Dembèlè

It is an insane looking team.

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I am interested to see what Belgium does. Since the USA can't seem to be Trinidad, I'll have to find another team.

Lukaku
Hazard
Chlesea keeper( can't spell his name and don't want to look it up)
Michy
Kompany
Kevin De Bruyne
Dembèlè

It is an insane looking team.

Thibaut Courtois...

I think Belgium should reach the quarter finals, but I don't think they will get much further. I don't rate their coach (Roberto Martinez) very highly... yes, he's had some good results, but the teams he's faced include: Estonia, Bosnia, Gibraltar & Cyprus.. the one time they've face anyone of note (Spain) they got beat.

It'll be interesting, that's for sure.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

England will disappoint per usual.

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England will disappoint per usual.

It's what we do best.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I don't see see Germany being a strong as what they were 4years ago but I could be wrong. They may still pull it off, but I don't see a 7-1 dismantleing of Brazil happening in the same fashion as last time. france is also another interesting one. Between greizman, pogba, that striker from psg, and konte, they look stout. Does ribery still play, ole scar face is always fun to watch.

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I don't see see Germany being a strong as what they were 4years ago but I could be wrong. They may still pull it off, but I don't see a 7-1 dismantleing of Brazil happening in the same fashion as last time. france is also another interesting one. Between greizman, pogba, that striker from psg, and konte, they look stout. Does ribery still play, ole scar face is always fun to watch.

France have a very interesting squad of players.. Lloris, Varane, Umtiti, Kante, Matuidi, Pogba, Griezmann, Martial & Mbappé.. a very strong team. But I don't think they'll get past the semi finals. Franck Ribery retired from international football following the 2014 World Cup.

I think Germany are going to be the strongest team, it'll be close but at this stage I find it hard to look past them:

Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Kroos, Draxler, Sané, Gomez & Wagner.. all very very good players.

Then again.. Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Fred, Coutinho, Paulinho, Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Neymar, Firmino, Gabriel Jesus... scary team to face.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I don't see see Germany being a strong as what they were 4years ago but I could be wrong. They may still pull it off, but I don't see a 7-1 dismantleing of Brazil happening in the same fashion as last time. france is also another interesting one. Between greizman, pogba, that striker from psg, and konte, they look stout. Does ribery still play, ole scar face is always fun to watch.

France have a very interesting squad of players.. Lloris, Varane, Umtiti, Kante, Matuidi, Pogba, Griezmann, Martial & Mbappé.. a very strong team. But I don't think they'll get past the semi finals. Franck Ribery retired from international football following the 2014 World Cup.

I think Germany are going to be the strongest team, it'll be close but at this stage I find it hard to look past them:

Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Kroos, Draxler, Sané, Gomez & Wagner.. all very very good players.

Then again.. Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Fred, Coutinho, Paulinho, Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Neymar, Firmino, Gabriel Jesus... scary team to face.

I agree but I think Germany is Brazil's kryptonite. Germany is strong all the way through but especially defensively. Brazil has a strong D but not like that, the Germans have a potent offense that will thrive in counter attacks or possession base so Brazil has to get up early on them and avoid playing from behind if they go against the kraits. At least that Is my take on them.

Brazil has a lot flashy names but I'm never that impressed wat hung them play as a unit.

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USA is showing strong support of the UK, in response to the recent killing of the spy, and as such is also boycotting the World Cup which is being held in Russia.

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Looking forward to it, although I wish my Yanks were in it!

What group do you think takes the "Group of Death" title for the World Cup. I go with Group C, but there is definitely not one that sticks out like a sore thumb as being egregiously tough.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

Looking forward to it, although I wish my Yanks were in it!

What group do you think takes the "Group of Death" title for the World Cup. I go with Group C, but there is definitely not one that sticks out like a sore thumb as being egregiously tough.

I'd be inclined to agree, although Group F won't be too easy, either.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Looking forward to seeing Zlatan Ibrahimović return to Sweden for the World Cup.

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Looking forward to seeing Zlatan Ibrahimović return to Sweden for the World Cup.

I hope he can stay healthy.. his goal yesterday on début was special.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Looking forward to it, although I wish my Yanks were in it!

What group do you think takes the "Group of Death" title for the World Cup. I go with Group C, but there is definitely not one that sticks out like a sore thumb as being egregiously tough.

I'd be inclined to agree, although Group F won't be too easy, either.

Yea, definitely not a bad looking group either when it comes to some pretty good teams.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

USA is out of it, Netherlands are out of it, it's a toss up between Sweden, Germany and Denmark as to who I'm obligated to root for at this point.

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I have no idea who to root for since the USA decided not to enter the tournament this year...

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I had no idea this had gotten this out of hand 



[video=youtube]http://https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak[/video]
https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak

Holy [BLEEP] that was eye opening. Those freaking Russians are insane. No joke that was legitimately terrifying... but for some  insane reason I was like , meh I would dabble a bit on weekends if I lived in a [BLEEP] hole like that too lol. 

English hooligans are FOOTBALL hooligans, Russians couldn't give a [BLEEP] about the game. That is crazy

Properly crazy, I mean look at these guys. 

This 2018 World Cup should have some pay per view portions as well

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I had no idea this had gotten this out of hand 



[video=youtube]http://https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak[/video]
https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak

Holy [BLEEP] that was eye opening. Those freaking Russians are insane. No joke that was legitimately terrifying... but for some  insane reason I was like , meh I would dabble a bit on weekends if I lived in a [BLEEP] hole like that too lol. 

English hooligans are FOOTBALL hooligans, Russians couldn't give a [BLEEP] about the game. That is crazy

Properly crazy, I mean look at these guys. 

This 2018 World Cup should have some pay per view portions as well

What's also scary is that the Russians have said that any English football hooligans showing ANY signs of hooliganism (this includes offensive chanting) will do jail time in a Russian prison. Scary thing is, what do they class as hooliganism and where do they define offensive chanting? I mean, I would consider racist chanting as offensive, but almost ALL chants these days make personal jibes towards players (for the duration of the 90 minutes they are considered enemies).. almost ALL chants these days also contain swear words..

I know one thing, I wouldn't like to spend time in a RUSSIAN prison with the label "English Football Hooligan". No, not for me.. I think I'll watch all of the England games (plus as much of the World Cup as I can) in comfort with the BBQ on and sipping/glugging a cold one..

---

I have no idea who to root for since the USA decided not to enter the tournament this year...

---

80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I had no idea bookthis had gotten this out of hand 



[video=youtube]http://https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak[/video]
https://youtu.be/HE0qSx0P6ak

Holy [BLEEP] that was eye opening. Those freaking Russians are insane. No joke that was legitimately terrifying... but for some  insane reason I was like , meh I would dabble a bit on weekends if I lived in a [BLEEP] hole like that too lol. 

English hooligans are FOOTBALL hooligans, Russians couldn't give a [BLEEP] about the game. That is crazy

Properly crazy, I mean look at these guys. 

This 2018 World Cup should have some pay per view portions as well

What's also scary is that the Russians have said that any English football hooligans showing ANY signs of hooliganism (this includes offensive chanting) will do jail time in a Russian prison. Scary thing is, what do they class as hooliganism and where do they define offensive chanting? I mean, I would consider racist chanting as offensive, but almost ALL chants these days make personal jibes towards players (for the duration of the 90 minutes they are considered enemies).. almost ALL chants these days also contain swear words..

I know one thing, I wouldn't like to spend time in a RUSSIAN prison with the label "English Football Hooligan". No, not for me.. I think I'll watch all of the England games (plus as much of the World Cup as I can) in comfort with the BBQ on and sipping/glugging a cold one..

---

I have no idea who to root for since the USA decided not to enter the tournament this year...

Eh. I don't want to root for another team that will just ultimately end up disappointing me, lol.

---

What's also scary is that the Russians have said that any English football hooligans showing ANY signs of hooliganism (this includes offensive chanting) will do jail time in a Russian prison. Scary thing is, what do they class as hooliganism and where do they define offensive chanting? I mean, I would consider racist chanting as offensive, but almost ALL chants these days make personal jibes towards players (for the duration of the 90 minutes they are considered enemies).. almost ALL chants these days also contain swear words..

I know one thing, I wouldn't like to spend time in a RUSSIAN prison with the label "English Football Hooligan". No, not for me.. I think I'll watch all of the England games (plus as much of the World Cup as I can) in comfort with the BBQ on and sipping/glugging a cold one..

---

Eh. I don't want to root for another team that will just ultimately end up disappointing me, lol.

At least you get to choose! Haha..

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...