Group C
France (7)
Australia (40)
Peru (11)
Denmark (12)
France
is a team that is loaded with talented players, from the starting eleven to
those sitting on the bench. Not only is the French national team gifted with depth,
but the age of most of the players is 26 and younger. This can be analyzed as a
team that is built for the future. However, the world cup is played in 2018 and
no national team can loan itself success by borrowing from the future. France
leads Group C heading into Russia this summer as favorites to win the group and
even make a deep run in the tournament. Les
bleus were runners-up in the Euros and would enjoy reaching the final in the
summer for another opportunity to win an international trophy.
Australia
is the lowest ranked on FIFA’s ranking system of the teams in group C. The Socceroos have qualified for their
fourth consecutive World Cup which is an achievement in itself since before qualifying
for Germany in 2006 the Australian national team had a 30-year absence. I don’t
see the socceroos causing too much
trouble for any of the other teams and will most likely be eliminated once the
group stage is over.
Peru
and Denmark are close and not just in the FIFA rankings. The two national teams
will participate in their fifth world cup in their respective history. I think
the two national teams are ranked slightly higher than they merit based on
their quality of play. However, they are close in quality which is somewhat
indicated by the rankings. How Peru and Denmark perform against Australia will
be a key factor in which team will advance to the knockout phase of the
tournament. Any slip up against the Australian team will open up a huge opportunity
for the other.
France is an easy pick to finish first,
but who will finish in second is a bit more difficult to state with
historically assured confidence. I will side with Peru to advance simply
because I was memorized by the fans in the stadium who passionately cheered on
their national team during the qualification and after it was set that La Blanquirroja would be in Russia in this
summer. Denmark has not lost in their last 11 matches winning 6 of them and drawing
with the likes of Germany and Chile. They have quality players and can finish 2nd.
My tiebreaker was my emotional attachment to Peru after watching the two
national teams play their playoff matches to qualify for the World Cup. I admit
that’s not the usual manner in which I attempt to analyze football, but as the
world cup nears the emotions are starting to quickly ascend.
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