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Fifa World Cups have tended to throw up some interesting results over the years, with the 2002 edition dishing up two when Senegal, playing in its first World Cup, beat defending champions France 1-0 and Korea Republic beating Italy 2-1.
But one of the biggest upsets was in 1990 when Diego Maradona’s Argentina went down to 9-man Cameroon 1-0!
But today’s opening encounter between hosts Qatar and Ecuador is not one of those stellar opening encounters but it will be an intense encounter with the crowd certainly behind the hosts, who will be playing in their first World Cup.
Qatar do come into the tournament as Asian Cup champions, winning the tournament in 2019 but I feel that the overwhelming pressure of their first massive tournament will be too much for the hosts with myself, and Chippy predicting an Ecuador victory but Paddy, a new addition to our predictor-series, says that the hosts will triumph 2-1.
The two sides have played each other three times with both Ecuador and Qatar winning one each and their first encounter being a draw. But Qatar will hope to feed off their last encounter back in 2018 when they ran out 4-3 winners.
On Monday, England kick off against Iran with Harry Kane confident of being on of the tournament’s golden boot hopefuls. Gareth Southgate’s charges have not had the best of times, having not won a game in their last six matches, which included a disastrous 4-0 thumping by Hungary at home.
But despite their poor run of form lately, England should have no trouble in dispatching with the Iranians with all of us predicting just that.
Senegal then take on the Netherlands where the Dutch side should have no troubles in overcoming their African counterparts. Both Paddy and Chippy claim a 3-1 victory for the Dutch while I think that the Senegalese will push the men in orange but ultimately going down 2-1.
The match of the day on Monday is a juicy one with the United States taking on Wales. The Welsh have not won a game in their last five attempts with only a draw against Belgium back in June.
The teams have face each other twice in the past with the USA winning 2-0 back in 2003 while the sides played to a goalless draw back in 2020.
Chippy and I both pick the USA to win while Paddy has said Wales will win 2-1 while Woody has gone for the safe bet of a 2-2 draw.
It is time for the World Cup to kick off. May the best team win – or the team with the most sadistic government in place with the strongest threatening powers!
