Germany to Mount Successful World Cup Defence

Germany’s scary strength in depth, its winning mentality, its familiarity with the venues and its kind draw make it stand out as the best FIFA World Cup betting option.

Competition for places in Germany’s FIFA World Cup squad is hotter than that for any other Russia-bound team and nothing says more about the embarrassment of riches at the beck and call of Joachim Low than how the Germans approached the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Low elected to select a relatively inexperienced Germany roster for last year’s tournament in Russia with the party not featuring any player in his 30s and temporary captain Julian Draxler being the most capped individual having made 29 previous appearances. Low did not regret his decision; Germany won the FIFA Confederations Cup and Draxler received the Golden Ball for the best player.

Winning tournaments is in Germany’s DNA. Germany’s lengthy honour roll includes one FIFA Confederations Cup, three UEFA European Championships and four FIFA World Cups, as well as three UEFA European Championship second places and four FIFA World Cup runner-up finishes. Success breeds success and, whereas some sides arrive at major competitions without a great deal of confidence, Germany rocks up with a positive attitude and a belief that it will do the business.

Events such as FIFA World Cups are logistical challenges so it is a positive that Germany spent a chunk of last year participating in the FIFA Confederations Cup on Russian soil. Germany has chosen to base itself in a small village south of Moscow for the duration of its FIFA World Cup campaign and, if the Germans win group F, they will enter the knockout stage draw that would result in them playing their semi-final and final matches in the Russian capital.

The Draw was Kind to the World Champions

The FIFA World Cup draw, conducted in December, is the most significant reason why one is nailing one’s colours to Germany’s mast. The results of 48 group games will determine how the FIFA World Cup knockout stage shapes up but, if the eight pools go according to one’s forecasts, Germany will find itself in the bottom half of the draw along with these three section toppers – Spain, Argentina and Colombia – with the top half featuring France, Brazil and Belgium.

If Germany makes it past the first stage of its 17th FIFA World Cup in a row then it will encounter one of Brazil, Costa Rica, Serbia or Switzerland in the round of 16, with the odds pointing to Germany facing either the Serbians or the Swiss. Next up for Germany would be either the FIFA World Cup group H winner or the group F runner-up, which is most likely to be either Colombia or England. Again, every bookmaker on the planet would install Germany as the hot favourite for its FIFA World Cup quarter-final in the event of the Germans lining up versus the aforementioned teams.

Ahead of March friendlies against Spain and Brazil, Germany is unbeaten in its last 21 matches since losing 0-2 to France in the UEFA Euro 2016 semi-finals. During that run Germany has kept 11 clean sheets, won nine games to nil and lifted aloft the FIFA Confederations Cup trophy. England (home and away), France (home) and Italy (away) have played Germany over the last two years and the Germans have shut out the English and the Italians and, of course, not lost. One rates France and Brazil are serious FIFA World Cup candidates so one will be hoping that their respective groups go according to the script and they end up on the opposite side of the knockout stage draw to the Germans.

Only two sides have won back to back FIFA World Cups and both teams – Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) – achieved the second leg of their double in their home continent, which is the task facing Germany this year and one that Low’s terrifically talented side can pull off.

About the author

Eric Roberts

Sports Journalist

Eric has been a sports journalist for over 20 years and has travelled the world covering top sporting events for a number of publications. He also has a passion for betting and uses his in-depth knowledge of the sports world to pinpoint outstanding odds and value betting opportunities.