So as the dust settles on Brazil 2014 and Germany well and truly partied out after their triumph, it’s probably a bit too soon too look forward to Russia 2018. But hey, we football fanatics don’t know the meaning of too soon and it looks like MyTopSportsbooks.com agrees, as they already have odds for the next World Cup online.

The tournament is already on the political agenda with UK’s deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calling for Russia to be stripped of the right to host the finals in four years time. That is all due to the conflict happening in Ukraine, but as we know FIFA will be stubborn and certainly wont entertain the idea of stripping the Russians at this stage.

Quite a few countries will be looking forward and hoping that they can get their hands on the trophy come July 2018.

The European sides could continue their recent dominance.

Current champions Germany have a great system of bringing through top players just in time for the big competitions. Can they remain hungry for another four years?

France have some excellent youths coming through and a lot of the squad that went to Brazil this summer will be hitting their peak in 2018 like Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane.

Spain still have a superb crop of youngsters that will replace the old guard. The performance from the Spanish this summer was hugely disappointing but they will go to Russia expecting to right a few wrongs.

Brazil could be interesting. The appointment of Dunga as coach isn’t the one they needed to make if they want to go back to their attacking roots. The 7-1 shame may take more than a few World Cups to get over.

Argentina will need to have more stars that can help Lionel Messi, who will be 31 come 2018.

Plus we shall always have that team that starts off as a dark-horse and then excites us as the tournament go on. Like Colombia did at the 2014 World Cup.

So that’s why I am still excited for 2018. Let the twists and turns start already!

Posted on July 29th, 2014 by scott
Filed under: Article, World Cup