Men’s Football
The men's football tournament is always hard to predict given the squads are primarily made of up under 23 players, however, some squads can be composed of a higher level of players than others. Brazil have won the last two but have not qualified for Paris. As the host nation, France took a qualification spot to qualify for the first time this century. France arguably has the greatest talent pool in the sport at the moment though and have picked a decent squad including young attackers Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki. Spain are in a similar boat and were runners up in the 2023 European under-21 Championship. The semi-finalists were Israel and Ukraine. Neither has a particularly strong-looking squad. Morocco will be looking to continue from the success of the senior team including star full-back Achraf Hakimi. USA won the CONCACAF under-20 tournament in 2022 barely conceding a goal. Argentina has won two Olympic gold medals this century and has a strong set of young players looking to add to the World Cup. Arguably the best player competing in the tournament is Julian Alvarez. Paraguay were the other team with a hand in knocking out Brazil led by Enso Gonzalez of Wolves. Japan won the Asian Under -23 Cup and beat Uzbekistan in the final, who did not concede a goal until that final. The other competitors are the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Iraq, Mali and New Zealand.
Groups B and D seem to be the toughest. You would expect France to go through with the United States in Group A. In Group C, Spain and Egypt will likely progress although the Uzbekistan defence is clearly impressive. Argentina will be favourites for Group B but Ukraine and Morocco have both impressed in recent years. I prefer Morocco as the squad looks stronger. Group D is open because it feels like there is no dominant team. Paraguay are strong, but Israel and Japan are also quite strong sides. Argentina should be favourites if they win their group and given this seems to mean more to the teams from South America, I would give them edge against any opposition. If France and Spain win their groups, they will clash in the semi final, although that feels like underplaying Morocco. I will go with France at home to earn their way on to the podium. On the other side of the draw, I think Japan can edge their way through and will probably be more motivated in the bronze medal matchup.
🥇Argentina 🇦🇷
🥈France 🇫🇷
🥉Japan 🇯🇵
Women’s Football
After winning four of the first five tournaments, the United States has struggled recently, losing in the quarter-finals in Rio and only winning bronze in Tokyo. Emma Hayes will have not long taken over in the manager’s seat and will expect a big performance in Paris. The reigning champions are Canada, but it is an ageing squad and they are past their best. They struggled to get out of the group stage at the 2023 World Cup, eliminated by Nigeria. The other former champions that will be competing are Germany who won in 2016. They were runners-up at the European Championship before a disappointing World Cup performance but with Lena Oberdorf and Alexandra Popp, they still have some of the better players. The current World Cup champions are Spain, despite numerous disputes between team and board. Ona Battle, Olga Carmona, Aitana Bonmati and Alexis Putellas are some of the best players in the sport today. They were beaten at the World Cup, 4-0 in the group stages by Japan though and a rematch would certainly be interesting. Australia were semi-finalists in their home country but will be missing star player Sam Kerr. They knocked France out in the quarter-final of the World Cup, the same round they were knocked out in 2019. They also made the European Championship semi-final in 2022. Colombia also made the World Cup quarter-final in 2023, led by young superstar Linda Caicedo. They were runners-up in the 2022 Copa America behind Brazil but a lot of the key Brazilian players seem to be on the back end of their career. Zambia are a young team led by Rachel Kundananji and Barbra Banda whose moves to America made them the two most expensive players in the world earlier in the year. New Zealand will also compete but after not making it through the group stages at their home World Cup, expectations should be low.
The draw has put together some fascinating matchups. France should be favoured in Group A with Colombia and Canada battling for second. United States and Germany will feel relieved that Sam Kerr will not be competing which probably makes them favourites to qualify from the group. Spain and Japan should have the final group with Japan having an edge after their big win in the World Cup over Spain. Spain and France should qualify for the semi-finals as the best group winners will have the easiest route to the final. I would favour the US to qualify with Japan against Germany being a massive match. I edge the Japanese team to beat an ageing Germany. France should be favoured to make the final over Japan where they come up against Spain. Spain will be favourites in the final and although I think a shock is possible, I cannot predict it here. The one worry with Spain is the intensity that a lot of these players have played with for a long time. Most of these play in the dominant Barcelona side and this will be the third tournament in three summers for the majority of this team. That is before mentioning the political dispute with management. I do think the United States win a bronze in Emma Hayes’ first tournament.
🥇Spain 🇪🇸
🥈France 🇫🇷
🥉United States 🇺🇸
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