If you’re looking for a shining example of how beautiful football can be, then there’s no better way than to catch all of the games of the FIFA World Cup 2018! The entire world will bear witness to the best footballers raining goal upon goal in Russian stadiums.
All of the biggest World Cup 2018 predictions point towards South America or Europe as the continent from where the eventual winner of the World Cup will come from. Few expect the other continents to against these giants.
However, I don’t think the rest of the competing countries will just take care of the pitch and let them be on their merry way to the World Cup trophy. The supposed minnows of the World Cup will fight with every fibre of their being in order to reverse the odds that were stacked against them and make it as far as they can.
In this article, join SBOBET as we take a peek at the teams coming all the way from the East. The Asian teams in this tournament are not just here to fill out the numbers.
Korea Republic
Group F for the Korea Republic faithful can be renamed as Group Fear due to the quality of players they will face. Sweden, Mexico and Germany are surely tough opponents that will be above and beyond the competition they faced in the qualifiers.
The South Koreans will be pinning their hopes on one man alone: Son Heung-min. The Tottenham defender has been identified as the talisman that will help the team get out of the group stage. His seven goals in the qualifiers mattered as Syria, Uzbekistan and China PR were hot on their tail.
Thankfully, he’ll be coming in with help. Jang Hyun-soo, Ki Sung-yeung and Koo Ja-cheol will be doing their utmost to ease the burden on their star attacker and pull off memorable upsets their supporters will be talking about for years.
Iran
Iran topped their Group in the of the Asian qualifiers. They easily dominated Korea Republic and the rest of their opponents, not dropping a single match throughout the third round.
However, they are playing the World Cup at a time when Muslims are treated differently for others. Things get a lot trickier with the fact that racism and homophobia are rampant in a country as successful as Russia. Their supposed friendlies against Kosovo and Greece were also cancelled, causing their football federation to sever ties with their Greek counterparts.
The pressure is heavy for Sardar Azmoun. The 23-year-old is the ace of this Iran squad and he is more than aware of Russia’s issues due to his stint in the Russian Premier League. His steps in this World Cup will be heavier than it seems.
Australia
The Socceroos took a long trip in order to make it to Russia. They first had to defeat an extremely motivated Syrian team in order to make it to the inter-confederation play-offs. They then had to take down an equally strong Honduras squad in the second leg.
Australia will be playing against France, Peru and Denmark in Group C, and it looks like they are quickly dismissed as bottom feeders. However, Tim Cahill, Aaron Mooy, Matthew Leckie and Tomi Juric will do everything they can to defy World Cup 2018 results that are assumed by fans and make it past this tough stage.
Now that they got their foot into the ball, there is no way that these lads from down under will concede.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia are loved by Lady Luck. They barely escaped playing Syria in the Asian qualifier playoffs by scoring two more goals than Australia. They also got lucky in the draw and got into the “Group of Life” with Uruguay, Egypt and Russia.
Like Iran, they will be facing the same problems. However, they will be more focused on one thing: they are hoping to snatch their first win in the World Cup since 1994. The Green Falcons failed to grab a single win in 2006 and failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2014 tournaments, so there’s no wonder that they’re hungry for at least a victory on the biggest stage.
Experience will hopefully carry this Saudi Arabia squad past the group stage. Yehya Al Shehri, Osama Hawsawi and Mohammad Al Sahlawi will be looking to end Saudi’s losing slump and push the Green Falcons to the knockout stages.
Japan
Japan also stood atop a competitive group in the third round. However, they are grouped against strong competition and there’s no certainty that they will even make it out of the group stages. Like what happened in the qualifiers, they will have to claw their way through.
Fortunately, Japan wouldn’t want it any other way. Shinji Okazaki, Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and Genki Haraguchi are more than prepared to carry the burden of scoring against their opponents. While they still struggled against teams like Brazil and Belgium during their friendlies, it’s not like they let them do whatever they pleased.
The Blue Samurai are ranked 60th-best in the world, but their will is not determined by numbers. They will fight to the end. Count on it.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE WORLD CUP 2018 STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
