Who is excited for the World Cup?

I've always been a fan of football (soccer), and I remember as early as 1998 being enthralled by the World Cup in France. I bought the guide book and followed along, watching most of the matches that year, and have done the same for every successive World Cup. The stakes are high in a competition that only comes around every four years, and the fervor of the fans that follow the action from all over the globe adds drama to the spectacle in a way that doesn't happen in the Olympics, that other quadrennial sporting event.

Having recently started to play football recreationally after a twelve-year absence has invigorated my interest in watching this year's competition. Between travel and work and a big move and other more important things in my life, I haven't followed sports of any kind for a few months (unusual for me), but I'm excited get back into it this summer.

For most of my fan career I've supported England, having some kind of affinity for them as a commonwealth Canadian, perhaps, or maybe from a deep masochistic desire to support teams that lose in penalties every single time, I don't know (memorably, I was in London in 2006, in a restaurant outside Liverpool Street Station when England lost to Portugal in penalties that year), I've fallen away from the sport in recent years and no longer recognize or connect with the English squad. Gone are the Terrys, Ferdinands, Coles and Lampards.

Since my connection with England is fading (though I'd still love for them to succeed), and my own country frustratingly never qualifies (despite soccer being the most played sport in Canada), I have to admit that I've fallen for a new team, and I'm not alone: Iceland, formerly known as the land of Ice and Fire, and my favourite place to photograph, came into football prominence two years ago with their heroic efforts in the European Championship, in which they ultimately fell to France in the quarter-finals; but not before first knocking out England (notably not in penalties) and capturing the hearts of football fans all over the world, because we all love an underdog.

It remains to be seen how much of an underdog Iceland will be now, having qualified for the biggest stage of all. I'm excited to see how far their defensively stifling, offensively surprising style of play will take them against teams like Argentina, who are under constant pressure to win, and win always, and especially to win against Iceland. A country of under 400,000 fielding a side of eleven has little to lose against the powerhouses of world soccer, but much to gain, and two years ago the Icelandic squad took full advantage of the opposite being true of their opponents. It's already impressive that Iceland qualified for a World Cup that lacks teams like Italy and the Netherlands. My expectations for the little island nation are not high, but I know I'll enjoy following them throughout the tournament, whether they play three games or more.

My prediction

Going on my own intuition rather than the odds, I feel like Brazil is the team to beat this year, having a younger team farther removed from the pressure that they almost overcame in 2014 to win at home before falling apart in the face of the relentless Germans. I'm not convinced Portugal has what it takes to repeat their Euro success, and since I haven't followed the sport internationally in a couple of years, I don't know who else may challenge Brazil or Germany for the crown, so I'll stick with my gut guess.

What do you think? Who will win the 2018 World Cup?

This is your chance to set your predictions in stone on the blockchain. ;)

I don't have a prize to offer, so this is just for fun and bragging rights (but feel free to mention any good World Cup prediction pools you find on Steemit).

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Here's a fun image I made for the Scavenger Hunt a few years ago. I used the liquify brush in Photoshop to make myself look like a kid again. ;)