It’s showtime in Moscow!
32 nations are about to go to war on the soccer fields of Russia and our man on the spot reckons France have the firepower to vanquish the opposition.
The greatest soccer show on earth gets underway on Thursday when Russia and Saudi Arabia kick off the 2018 World Cup at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, although the two nations are among the real lightweights of the 32-team tournament.
There will be an initial focus on whether the Russians might be able to get past the first round and spare themselves the ignominy that befell South Africa when they did not make it to the knockout stages of their own tournament in 2010.
But after that, the attention is on the big guns and who will emerge as world champions after a month of intense action when the final is played, again at the Luzhniki Stadium, on 15 July.
The winner should come from one of Brazil, France, Germany and Spain with value bets on Argentina, Belgium, England and Portugal worth contemplating.
There is no clear-cut favourite, although Brazil’s efficiency in the qualifying campaign since Tite took over as coach, suggests they are in top form and have banished the ghosts of their own hosting of the 2014 finals. Then they were fortuitous to make it through to the semi-final and were thumped 7-1 by Germany in an extraordinary game.
Joachim Low’s side won the Confederations Cup in Russia last year - the traditional warm-up event 12 months preceding the World Cup finals that gives eight participating sides a good foretaste of what to expect when the main event rolls around.
The Germans, despite again qualifying in comfort, have looked a little undercooked in their preparatory games, failing to win five times in a row before ending that unwanted streak with a lukewarm 2-1 home success over Saudi Arabia in their last World Cup game last Friday night.
But no one ever discounts the ability of Germany to go through the rigours of a month-long tournament and emerge tops at the end. They can never be discounted and that they feel able to leave Leroy Sane of Manchester City out of their 23-man squad speaks to the potential of their latest group of players.
Spain look like world-beaters again and in Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos and David Silva still have the core of the group that won three major tournaments from 2008 to 2012. The dynasty seemed to have fallen with consecutive early exits at the 2014 World Cup and EURO-2016, but new coach Julien Lopetegui has revitalised them.
But TAB Sports Express’ tip for the title is France. Their squad is bristling with talent and contains three of the game’s most expensive players - Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba - and coach Didier Deschamps is seeking to become only the third man to win the World Cup as both a coach and player.