The State Of Play

The World Cup is finally here! 🌍⚽ In this World Cup Preview, we break down everything you need to know ahead of the tournament, including our World Cup predictions, outright winner picks, dark horses, group stage analysis, Golden Boot contenders, and the biggest talking points with former England goalkeeper, David James, as well as esteemed broadcasters, Julien Laurens and Dan Bardell.Will Brazil, Argentina, England, France, Germany, Spain or Portugal lift the trophy? Which underdogs could shock the world? In this video:✅ World Cup Winner Predictions✅ Group-by-Group Preview✅ Golden Boot Predictions✅ Dark Horse Teams✅ Players to Watch✅ Controversy Corner✅ England's squad analysed👇 Let us know your World Cup winner prediction in the comments!The State of Play is brought to you by WhoScored in association with Skrill. 0:00:11 - Introduction to the World Cup Preview0:00:46 - Discussion on the 48-team tournament structure0:01:13 - World Cup winner predictions0:04:39 - Golden Boot contenders0:05:55 - England's squad analysis and Thomas Tuchel's approach0:07:01 - Debate on Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham0:10:35 - Japan as dark horses0:12:00 - Managing the team: Comparisons to the Capello era0:13:28 - Argentina's chances as reigning champions0:16:35 - Portugal, Messi, and Ronaldo's final tournament narrative0:19:30 - Neymar and Brazil's squad selection0:21:21 - Controversy Corner: England squad omissions0:25:18 - France squad and Didier Deschamps0:28:29 - Historical controversies and the Frank Lampard disallowed goal0:32:30 - The debate surrounding the new halftime show format0:37:35 - Rapid-fire group-by-group score predictions0:52:52 - Final Golden Boot picks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.