1: France<\/p>\n
Have looked unbeatable so far this tournament. Fearsome in attack and Kylian Mbappe looking on top form. The team to beat.<\/p>\n
2: Spain<\/p>\n
Quietly effective so far. After a shock 0-0 draw with Cape Verde in their opener, Spain have been quietly going through the gears. More to come as well.<\/p>\n
3: Argentina<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi. What else needs to be said? With the ‘little magician’ as the leader, Argentina have looked very impressive despite a huge scare against Cape Verde before coming through 3-2 in the last 32.<\/p>\n
4: Brazil<\/p>\n
Not many were talking about Brazil pre-tournament but Carlo Ancelotti is getting a tune out of them. With Vinicius Jr firing, you wouldn’t rule them out.<\/p>\n
5: Morocco <\/p>\n
Semi-finalists four years ago and look capable of going deep again. Will be a tough opponent for anyone.<\/p>\n
6: Colombia<\/p>\n
One of the most exciting teams in the World Cup so far. Full of pace and dynamism with Luis Diaz as a sprinkle of stardust.<\/p>\n
7: Mexico<\/p>\n
Explosive in attack and rock solid at the back. A favourable draw so far but will no doubt be a huge test for England.<\/p>\n
8: England<\/p>\n
An impressive second half in their opener against Croatia, winning 4-2, but have struggled to hit such heights since. Job done but will need to improve.<\/p>\n
9: Norway<\/p>\n
Perhaps a bit unfair to be so low. Erling Haaland looks full of goals – as ever – with a capable supporting cast. Solid more than spectacular.<\/p>\n
10: United States<\/p>\n
Football fever is growing in the States with the co hosts looking an organised side. A lack of that X-factor could hurt them.<\/p>\n
11: Portugal<\/p>\n
Not kicked into gear yet this tournament but are still there. Players still capable of magic.<\/p>\n
12: Switzerland<\/p>\n
A first World Cup knockout win since 1938 is something to celebrate for Switzerland. Their tournament has been smooth so far but Colombia will be a huge test.<\/p>\n
13: Egypt<\/p>\n
Need Mohamed Salah to come to the party if they are to progress much further.<\/p>\n
14: Belgium<\/p>\n
Out played by Senegal for long periods in the last 32, they somehow found a way, coming from two down to win 3-2. Will need to improve massively to go any further.<\/p>\n
15: Canada<\/p>\n
Have perhaps already exceeded expectations. It only gets tougher from here, though.<\/p>\n
16: Paraguay<\/p>\n
Produced one of the shocks of the tournament so far by beating Germany, but further progress may be tough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1: France Have looked unbeatable so far this tournament. Fearsome in attack and Kylian Mbappe looking on top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-778526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}