FIFA World Cup 2018 Is On Arrival And Here Are The Top 4 Contenders For The Race To Win The Golden Trophy

The World Cup is undoubtedly, the best, biggest and most honourable stage to showcase your talent to the world.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018,

For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, all eligible nations - the 209 FIFA member associations minus automatically qualified hosts Russia - entered the qualifying process. Zimbabwe and Indonesia were later disqualified before playing their first matches, while Gibraltar and Kosovo, who joined FIFA on 13 May 2016 after the qualifying draw but before European qualifying had begun, also entered the competition.

Today, we're gonna see the best teams who are participating in the world, and who among these greats would be able to win the most glories Cup there is the world of Football, whether it would be Messi, who is regarded as the greatest ever footballer, or the last time champions, Germany or the Brazilians, who won the world cup in 2002 last time. We've few more favourites. Let's list them.

1. GERMANY:

Germany's World Cup squad:

Goalkeepers : Manuel Neuer, Kevin Trapp, Marc-Andre ter Stegen Defenders : Marvin Plattenhardt, Jonas Hector, Matthias Ginter, Mats Hummels, Niklas Sule, Antonio Rudiger, Jerome Boateng, Joshua Kimmich.

Midfielders: Sami Khedira, Julian Draxler, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Leon Goretzka, Sebastian Rudy, Julian Brandt, Ilkay Gundogan.

Forwards: Marco Reus, Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez, Timo Werner.

ANALYSIS:

It is being said that the reigning world champions boast a stronger squad than they did in 2014. What do you think? They have better back up keepers, Marc-Andre ter Stegen has has his best season with Barcelona. It must be heartbreaking to sit out the World Cup as a back-up when you perform like he has and still lose your place to Neuer, who has been out for almost 8 months with an injury.

Coming back to the strength of the squad, Neuer seems nowhere his best, 2014 was probably his peak when he saved Germany from getting knocked out multiple times throughout the tournament.

In the defence department, Lahm would be big miss, no offence here to Joshua Kimmich's abilities, but he still has to learn a lot to be anywhere near Lahm. Boateng and Hummels would make the Centre Back partnership as they did in 2014 with Sule providing back up as the third CB.

Coming to the midfield controllers. In 2014, Germany had Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was at his prime then. Now, Germany has Ozil, Kroos, who are far more experienced campaigners now, especially Kroos who is coming to World Cup at the back of consecutive 3 Champions Trophies, and Gundogan, who is likely to fill the hole left by Schweinsteiger. Another addition to the squad is Leon Goretzka, who has occasional eye for goal and can fill in for any lack on goals, by making runs from midfield, very late.

Forward area would the one where Joachim Low may consider they lack the gun power as compared to 2014. And the obvious problem is missing the Miroslav Klose, World Cup's most prolific striker. Timo Werner, who is playing his first world cup and Marco Reus would have to fill in the space left behind my Klose.

2. SPAIN :

Spain's World Cup squad:

David de Gea, Pepe Reina, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jordi Alba, Nacho Monreal, Alvaro Odriozola, Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Cesar Azpilicueta, Sergio Busquets, Isco, Thiago Alcantara, David Silva, Andres Iniesta, Saul Niguez, Koke, Marco Asensio, Iago Aspas, Diego Costa, Rodrigo Moreno, Lucas Vazquez.

ANALYSIS:

Spain has a squad which can very well win the world cup. It was a shame how they went out in the last world cup after being crowned champions in 2010. everyone was in disbelief, the fans, the players, the opponents, everyone. After the initial loss of 5-1 by the hands of Netherlands, they never recovered. Spain won't repeat the same mistake twice. They have overhauled their squad and they look strong.

There is one obvious major piece missing in the puzzle for Spain. It's forward department, but Real Madrid duo Isco and Asensio can be more than handy when it comes to proving goals/assists. Isco who has a very prolific record for his national side used to play as a Centre forward for the Spain U19 team.

3. BRAZIL :

Brazil's World Cup squad:

Goalkeepers: Alisson, Ederson, Cassio

Defence: Marcelo, Danilo, Filipe Luis, Fagner, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Pedro Geromel

Midfield: Willian, Fernandinho, Paulinho, Casemiro, Philippe Coutinho, Renato Augusto, Fred

Forwards: Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino, Douglas Costa, Taison.

ANALYSIS:

Brazil had a horrific end to their campaign in 2014, when they're beaten by the champions Germany, 7-1. Neymar, who is the best in the team was sidelined after suffering an injury in the quarter-final against Colombia. Brazil will be looking to start their campaign in fifth gear and forget the memories of the previous game. Other stars who are in Brazil squad and can make difference for them are Marcelo, Coutinho, Firmino, and Jesus etc. Now, it'll be interesting to see who will be leading the line between Firmino and Jesus. My guess is Jesus, who is usually preferred to start. But attack wins you games, defence wins you titles as said by Sir Alex Ferguson. Brazil has captain Thiago Silva and in-form keeper Alisson along with Marcelo's expertise. Brazil who are the dark horses in the world cup are definitely a team to keep eye on.

4. FRANCE :

France's world cup squad:

Goalkeepers : Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain)
Defenders : Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Adil Rami (Marseille), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
Midfielders : N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)
Forwards : Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Florian Thauvin (Marseille).

France has arguably the best squad in the world cup. Antoine Griezmann, is the star in the squad with Paul Pogba, and three most talented youngsters Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, and Thomas Lemar.

ANALYSIS:

Only weakness in the France squad that may cease to exist is the inexperience of the players at the country level football, and lack of ruthlessness to bury the opponent down, especially at counter attacks. The most talented ones are the least experienced, but you never know in knockouts tournaments. One moment of magic and then everything can change in a moment and that is exactly what France is capable of producing magic in an instant.

Honourable mentions:

ARGENTINA :

Argentina's 23-man squad:

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (Manchester United), Wilfredo Caballero (Chelsea), Franco Armani (River Plate).

Defenders: Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla), Cristian Ansaldi (Torino), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City), Federico Fazio (Roma), Marcos Rojo (Manchester United), Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax), Marcos Acuna (Sporting Lisbon).

Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Hebei China Fortune), Eduardo Salvio (Benfica), Lucas Biglia (AC Milan), Giovani Lo Celso (Paris Saint-Germain), Ever Banega (Sevilla), Manuel Lanzini (West Ham), Maximiliano Meza (Independiente), Angel di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain), Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors).

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City).

ANALYSIS

Any team who has Messi playing in it, cannot be discarded. Argentina reached the final last time around. Angel Di Maria was their best player in the Semi-Final and he didn't feature in the final due to an injury caused in the same match. Argentina has a good enough squad and highlight of the squad is certainly the forwards. The probably has the best forward line, with the likes of Aguero, Di Maria, Higuain, Messi, Dybala. It's so good that they had to leave Icardi out who has 28 odd goals this season for Inter Milan.

PORTUGAL :

GOALKEEPERS : Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Goztepe), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

DEFENDERS : Bruno Alves (Rangers), Cedric Soares (Southampton), Jose Fonte (Dalian Yifang), Mario Rui (Napoli), Pepe (Besiktas), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Ricardo Pereira (Porto), Ruben Dias (Benfica)

MIDFIELDERS : Adrien Silva (Leicester), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon), Joao Mario (West Ham), Joao Moutinho (AS Monaco), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv Moscow), William Carvalho (Sporting)

FORWARDS : Andre Silva (AC Milan), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gelson Martins (Sporting Lisbon), Goncalo Guedes (Valencia), Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas).

ANALYSIS:

The UEFA EURO 2016 champions. It's never reasonable to leave Portugal out, and when you've the world best player in your team you could certainly do wonders, like they did in EURO 2016, where uncharacteristically the captain Marvel, Cristiano Ronaldo, has an injury, but that didn't stop him from cheering his team. He almost seemed that he's managing the team when the game was about to end.
Portugal is a big team who has tasted the success recently and they'd be hungry for more.

Sources: 1. Wikipedia 2.Indepedent.co.uk 3.Telegraph.com