Ranked: Which World Cup favorite teams are most li...
Key takeaways
- For these players, their home nation expects a run deep at the World Cup.
- The beauty and horror of the World Cup is one and the same.
- At the same time, it's all taking place in a sport where everyone is helplessly chasing around a bouncing ball and trying to control it with their feet.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
For these players, their home nation expects a run deep at the World Cup. Experts tab their national team as one of the heavy favorites to win at all. And then ... they're eliminated from the World Cup after just three matches.
The beauty and horror of the World Cup is one and the same. Since soccer is the most popular sport in the world and since the tournament happens only once every four years, these games are imbued with more collective meaning and emotion than anything you might see in your favorite league or even in the Olympics.
At the same time, it's all taking place in a sport where everyone is helplessly chasing around a bouncing ball and trying to control it with their feet. Favorites in soccer win way less often than favorites do in any of the major American sports. This is why, say, the Premier League awards its champion based on an equal, cumulative schedule where you play each team twice, home and away.