Write on the money

trophy in Paris last year, but the hosts were denied by Portugal.

Didier Deschamps will hope his side can go one better this year, but I fancy them to lose in the final to Germany, who have more recent experience in knockout football at this level.

France have the quality to go all the way, but I think the current champions have enough about them to break French hearts in a second consecutive final. soil since a Pele-inspired Brazil in 1958.

I don’t expect that trend to be broken this year, although I think Argentina and Brazil will make it to the semi-finals where they will be knocked out by Germany and France respectively.

Despite both sides having a lot of attacking talent, question marks remain over both sides’ defences heading into the tournament.

Poland The Polish have Robert Lewandowski in their ranks - a man who netted 16 goals in qualifying for the World Cup finals (one more than Cristiano Ronaldo).

With the Bayern Munich man leading the line and the experience of Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski in the squad, I expect Poland to surprise a few in Russia - especially after their quarter-final appearance at Euro 2016 when they were knocked out by eventual champions Portugal.

I have Poland advancing to the quarter-finals, where they are beaten by Germany. line of all the teams in the World Cup, you’ll struggle to find a stronger and more experienced one than the one Argentina possess.

Mauro Icardi bagged 29 league goals in Serie A this season and didn’t even make the squad, which epitomizes the firepower they have.

Lionel Messi came close four years ago, but I fancy him to go one step further this time and cement himself as the greatest ever, without any arguments.

Brazil Brazil should be up there again, when you look at the squad Tite has, they probably have a better squad than Argentina, but just like Portugal proved in Euro 2016, the best squad isn’t always what wins it and I’d expect Argentina to narrowly edge it. & Germany

I think this tournament will once again come a bit too soon for this generation of French superstars, but such are the small margins in knockout competitions I wouldn’t be surprised to see France beat Brazil in the semi-finals.

Germany just know how to win games, and even though nothing suggests they’ve improved since the 2014 World