Reigning champions France, maybe England, Spain or Germany. Maybe Brazil or Argentina could put an end to the European chokehold over the World Cup this year. These are all very plausible scenarios that may pan out over the course of the next month.
While punters are piling in on the usual suspects, former Barcelona and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has given his own predictions for the World Cup, and they are outlandish to say the least.
Samuel Eto’o World Cup Predictions
Thoughts on @SamuelEtoo's World Cup predictions ⤵️✍️#WorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/rhwWfuBIg2
— AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™ (@Qatar2023en) November 15, 2022
Rather incredibly, Eto’o has predicted Senegal to become to the first ever African side to clinch the most coveted prize in football. Not only this, he has tipped three nations from the continent to reach the last four, a feat never achieved across any of the 21 iterations.
Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (South Africa 2010) are the most successful sides having reached the quarter-finals, but Eto’o is expecting records to be well and truly decimated.
Group A
Starting with his predictions for Group A, Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal are by no means a poor shout to finish top, but tipping hosts Qatar, who are the third-lowest ranked side among the 32 teams this year, is certainly a left-field prediction as runners-up.
The Netherlands are on a road to redemption having failed to qualify for the last two international tournaments, but have been in impressive form leading up to Qatar, winning 11 and drawing four of their 15 matches since their early Euro 2020 exit.
Group B
England are widely favoured to reach the latter stages of the competition so there’s no surprises there, but Iran as runners-up, although the highest ranked Asian side at the World Cup, is perhaps not a prediction many would be bold enough to make.
Group C
Again nothing too contentious here, although Poland in second is chancy given Mexico have escaped the group in every World Cup since 1994.
Group D
Tunisia are an interesting selection to finish second.
Denmark are widely favoured to escape the group, possibly even as winners, having reached the semi-finals of the Euros last year as well as beating reigning champions France twice in the Nations League.
Group E
The only group predictions from Eto’o that the majority of football fans would unanimously agree on.
Group F
Morocco, who he has tipped to go all the way to the final to face Senegal, are behind both 2018 finalists Croatia and semi-finalists Belgium in the bookies estimations across football betting sites.
Group G
This one isn’t bias at all…
His home nation Cameroon to top the group above long-time favourites Brazil is a stretch, but we will be keeping a close eye on this group to see if Eto’o knows something we don’t.
Group H
And finally, Group H may have been a plausible scenario down the years, but Ghana have dropped down the pecking order having been in free-fall and they are the lowest ranked side in this year’s World Cup.
For a bit of fun, we were eager to put these bizarre predictions to the test by placing them on a betslip with Virgin Bet.
By combining each prediction for every one of the eight groups, a £10 stake would yield a stupendous return of £68,461!
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