By Gary

One of the most controversial sporting competitions in recent memory is set to kickoff as the 2022 World Cup starts with hosts Qatar facing Ecuador.

With 31 teams heading to the Middle East to join Qatar the question turns to who will win the Golden Boot, Player of The Tournament and which team will be World Champions.

First of all we will look at the big one World Cup winners and to start which of the 32 the betting company Oddschecker believes will win.

From the odds it looks like football is not coming home but could be heading to South America for the first time since 2002 with Brazil and Argentina having the best odds.w

While Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and hosts Qatar could pull a Leicester City and win on long odds but are very unlikely too.

For up to date odds visit oddschecker.com the ones used below were correct at the time of publication.

My Prediction – Argentina to win

This is the first time for a while that Argentina arrive at a World Cup in peace, excited, yes, but also calm.

The greatest strength is the team’s collectiveness, the fact that everyone works hard for each other and that has been highlighted again and again over the past four years.

Everyone in the team, in the squad in fact, knows their role.

Scaloni discarded some players who were coming towards the end of their careers and stood by his decisions to form a cohesive unit that goes into the World Cup undefeated in 35 games, only two short of the record set by Roberto Mancini’s Italy between 2018 and 2021.

Part of that Argentina run included winning the 2021 Copa América, the country’s first major title for 28 years.

Beating Brazil in the final at the Maracanã made the triumph even sweeter.

Will this World Cup finally be the one where Messi brings his club football to a World Cup?

I believe the answer will be yes and that can only be a good thing.

Darkhorse – Denmark

Denmark have continued on the same path that took them to the semi-finals of the European Championship in 2021 and the only real worry is the long search for a centre-forward to fit Kasper Hjulmand’s 4-3-3 system.

They may have lost twice to Croatia in the Nations League, but they beat France twice.

Once in Paris where they won 2-1 against a full-strength French team and in the final game before heading to Qatar, they beat the 2018 World Champions 2-0 at the Parken Stadium, Copenhagen.

Denmark topped their qualifying group four points ahead of Scotland, winning nine of their 10 games.

Player Of The Tournament – Lionel Messi

If all goes according to what I believe will happen Messi will show us why he is often described as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

His performances will help Argentina win this World Cup.

There are several other players to watch with Messi’s long time rival Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), who will be playing with a point to prove after that interview also looking to prove he is the greatest.

Another three that could be looking to prove themselves are Neymar (Brazil), club mate Kylian Mbappé (France) along with national teammate Karim Benzema (France).

2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner Harry Kane (England), Christian Pulisic (USA), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Jamal Musiala (Germany), Kai Havertz (Germany) are all potentially in the mix.

Golden Boot Winner – Harry Kane

I am going to go for Harry Kane, yes I am a biased Tottenham and England fan.

Not only the 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner, Kane sits second on Englands all time goal scorers list and will probably move to top scorer in this tournament.

While all players with an eye for goal will be keeping tabs on who’s scoring but the main players to watch out for are Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, Lautaro Martinez (Argentina).