World Cup 2018: 3 teams who have failed to live up to expectations
One of the reasons which makes football as exciting as it appears is the sport's unpredictability. Fair to say, the FIFA World Cup 2018 has been one such enthralling tournament; it has had a bunch of eye-openers in store for the fans right since day 1.
Predictions are much like mandatory norms in every sport, and football is no different. As such, many of you might have your guesses as to who will lift the most coveted trophy on 15th July 2018.
However, I am sure many of you might've been disappointed over the performances of certain teams who were expected to do better. On that note, here are 3 nations who have performed way below the expectations of the fans.
#3 France
France have been touted as the favourites by a large number of fans to lift the World Cup in Russia this summer. And you can't blame them, given the insane squad depth and big-name players Les Blues boast in their ranks.
Yet, it's fair to say that France has been far from matching the expectations, given their performances in the first two group stage games.
When you have one of the most potent attacking line-up including Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Nabil Fekir, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud and Florian Thauvin, a tally of just 3 goals in 2 games seems almost negligible to those who expect the nation to win the tournament.
True, those goals have won them a qualification to the round of 16, but the style of play has been unsatisfactory. France haven't dominated as much as they were expected to; they have maintained an average of just 50.4 percent possession in their first 2 games.
If they dream of bringing the trophy home, Didier Deschamps' men definitely need to up the ante as the competition advances towards the next stage.