It's here! The greatest tournament on Earth. Handballs, headbutts and heartbreaking tears, the World Cup has it all. This year Russia are the hosts and while the tournament hasn't been marketed fantastically, I'm still really excited for all the spectacular goals, underdog upsets and controversies over the next month. So, what do I think will happen? Let's get into my predictions!





Vladimir Putin will welcome the World to Russia, but will his people?

The Russian fans were labelled as hooligans at Euro 2016 in France.





The Three Lions:





As I'm English, I'm never too optimistic going into tournaments. From my memory, the 2006 and 2010 World Cup exits were quite unlucky. Against Portugal, Rooney got a red card and we lost on penalties and then there was *that* Lampard shot against Germany. But recently, England have been pretty dreadful. Two consecutive 2-1 defeats to Italy and Uruguay meant we crashed out of the 2014 Brazil World Cup in the group stages (before we had even played our final match). And we all know what happened against Iceland in the 2016 Euros... However, since then we've appointed a new manager- Gareth Southgate- ushered out the last of the "Golden Generation", and brought in a host of exciting young talent. Harry Kane, as much as I hate him for S****, is our best player, and Pickford looks like quite a good goalie (fingers crossed!)



Luis Suarez's two goals booted England out of the 2014 World Cup

after just two games



My prediction:





England will reach the Quarter Finals- Looking at our group, we should be able to beat Tunisia and Panama, and whilst Belgium have a great squad, I think we can grab a draw. Therefore, I think we'll finish 2nd in our group on goal difference, due to Belgium thrashing Panama or Tunisia.



Man City's Keven De Bruyne is likely to worry England's defence

when they play Belgium on 28th June



In the Round of 16 we are likely to play either Poland or Colombia. This will probably come back to haunt me, but I think we're better than both nations and will scrape through- maybe a 1-0 or 2-1. I can see us going out in the Quarter Finals to Germany or Brazil, depending on if we finish 1st or 2nd in our group, and barring a shock early exit for either side. They're superior to us and I don't think losing to a team as big as Brazil would be anything to be embarrassed about. If we reach the Quarter Finals I'll be proud and happy to have seen progress from when Hodgson was manager.





The World Cup Winners:





France. It's a really tough call, but they have such good squad depth, which we all know is needed to win the World Cup. They have one of the best strikers in the world in Oliv- I mean Antoine Griezmann, a solid defence, and an array of quality midfielders. If they don't do well this year, I can see Deschamps being sacked and replaced by Le Prof.



I can see this French God scoring a few headers and scorpion kicks

this month...



Wildcards:



