Back at the start of the World Cup, we asked Liverpool Offside readers to pick who they thought would win it all and which player they would bet on to win the Golden Ball as Player of the Tournament as part of SB Nation Reacts!
Having now reached the quarter-final stage, it’s a chance both to look back at how those results are holding up—and to give you another chance to have your say!
Before things kicked off, a full 34% of TLO readers picked Spain to win it all with France second at 31%. Brazil at 12%,
England at 11%, Portugal at 7%, and Argentina at 5% rounded things out. Needless to say, while Spain and France are still in the mix, Brazil and Portugal are gone—and England and Argentina have probably made strong cases for being a little higher up the rankings.
For most, then, Spain and France and England and Argentina will the favoured now—especially as none play against each other in the quarter-finals. To round things out we slotted in Norway, who face England and then the winner of Argentina vs. Switzerland, as (in our opinion) the underdog with the best chance to run the table.
On the Golden Ball (aka Player of the Tournament) front, nobody really wanted to lock in pre-tournament with 35% plumping for “other” and 25% picking Harry Kane second and 24% Kylian Mbappe third. Lamine Yamal at 11%, Lionel Messi at 3%, and Ronaldo at 1% rounded it out.
While other is still an option (though we suspect not the one that will win this time, Harry Kane hasn’t even been England’s standout—instead, it’s been Jude Bellingham, who put them on his back and was the star at the Azteca vs. Mexico.
Meanwhile, Erling Haaland has been a standout and with Norway still in it he has to be in the mix. Mbappe and Messi are still there, of course, along with Spain’s Yamal, and we’re quite curious how things will shake out this time around given all the changes.
