The Syndicate

Sup.

Early, non-official group predictions by someone who has been paying zero attention to national team football lately (or football for that matter) but knows world cup history decently:

A

Group A is always fun because it's the host country's group, who sucks more often than not so there isn't a clear favorite. This time there's Netherlands, though. That's world cup's perpetual "should have won but never did" country. Sometimes they are great, sometimes they just suck. But the competion is kinda bad. Ecuador fights Senegal for 2nd place, and I'll bet Ecuador for SA bias. Qatar's objective is to suffer a single digit number of goals overall.

Netherlands > Ecuador

B

England is the most consistent country ever: they always finish 1st place in ther group then lose at either final 16 or final 8. This is is no exception. Iran is just happy to be here. Gonna pick European Playoffs for second place because USA being bad at football is a meme that needs to stay alive.

England > European Playoff Winner

C

Argentina > Mexico > rest. Next. Ok Argentina is so dramatic I could see them managing to get behind Mexico, but they probably won't.

Argentina > Mexico

D

France. Then there are some playoff countries but none of them seem impressive. Denmark isn't impressive either, but they are like a bargain bin England in that they always finish somewhere near the middle so I'll pick them. Yes I'm Europe-biased but let's be honest Europe has ruled this sport for a while.

France > Denmark

E

What the fuck, FIFA. Germany not heading a group? I don't know if what events transpired to cause this but they probably don't matter, it's Germany, they are as consistent as England but better. But there's Spain. Spain is like Netherlands in that they aren't that good as their fame except they've actually won once. I think I'm gonna go with the German efficiency here. I like Japan and I'm sad they have to wait another 4 years, such a bad draw. Costa Rica (yes, let's not pretend New Zealand even comes here) makes a good fight for 3rd place and might even get it.

Germany > Spain

F

Belgium is the new sexy underdog of world cups. I'm not sure if that's going to last, but if Spain has taught us anything, there's a good chance it does. Croatia is a mainstay in quarterfinals and beyond. Morocco tries hard but it's probably out of its league. I wasn't aware Canada played football. I guess they probably got told that's a new type of hockey.

Belgium > Croatia

G

Brazil is here once again to overhype Neymar, overhype results against group phase and final 16 opponents, then either lose at quarterfinals to a B-tier European team (if they're lucky) or run into Germany (if they're not). So what I mean is they will steamroll those poor chaps who landed in group G. 2nd place is a fun race, though.I want to pick an African team but Cameroon isn't the place to start doing that. I don't remember Switzerland ever doing anything, and Serbia is Iugoslavia, I guess. Eh, not really but I need a criterium.

Brazil > Serbia

H

The weaksauce group. Meaning it's one of the most fun. Korea isn't that bad but... yeah ok they are. Uruguay is a ghost of an ancient past, but every once in a while they remember they are supposed to be good. Is it finally the time? Probably not. Portugal is ok. Hey, I still need to pick an African country, right? And Ghana is one of the strongest ones so let's be fun and do that.

Ghana > Portugal

dunya wrote: ↑Fri Apr 01, 2022 7:51 am added DDL and dunya's mom

Dunya's final objective is to have her entire family creating syndicate accounts.

My interest for world cups is at an all time low but these are fun on their own so sure.