With just hours to go until kick-off in Russia, some of the OffTheBall.com team have put their necks on the line in giving their predictions for the 2018 World Cup.
Not long after his email zipped over from the host nation, Kevin Kilbane's pick for the winning team lost their manager but he has full faith in Andres Iniesta's ability to take the reins and steer La Roja to glory for a second time!
Kevin Kilbane
Winner: Spain
Dark horse and how far?: Uruguay - semi-finals
Top scorer: Diego Costa
Young player to make an impact: Marco Asensio (Spain)
How far will England go: Quarter-finals
Philip Egan
Winner: Brazil
Dark horse and how far?: Colombia - quarter-finals
Top scorer: Edinson Cavani
Young player to make an impact: Hirving Lozano (Mexico)
How far will England go: Last-16
Sue Murphy
Winner: Spain (although Sue feels she's now given them the kiss of death)
Dark horse and how far?: Belgium - quarter-finals (at least!)
Top scorer: Lionel Messi
Young player to make an impact: Timo Werner (Germany)
How far will England go: Second in the group before crashing out in the last-16
Darren Cleary
Winner: Germany (despite winless streak they’ll come good!)
Dark horse and how far?: Croatia to make the semi-final
Top scorer: Neymar - and mystic Daz has predicted 6 goals from the PSG man!
Young player to make an impact: Timo Werner (If the Germans are to go all the way they’ll need this man’s goals!)
How far will England go: Quarter-final penalty shootout loss
Stephen Doyle
Winner: Germany to be first back-to-back winners since Brazil in 1962
Dark horse and how far?: Uruguay - semi-finals (also feel Poland will go to quarter-final at least)
Top scorer: Robert Lewandowski
Young player to make an impact: Nahitan Nandez (Uruguay)
How far will England go: Heroic defeat to Brazil or Germany in the quarter-finals
Raf Diallo
Winner: Germany
Dark horse and how far?: Poland - quarter-finals
Top scorer: Antoine Griezmann
Young player to make an impact: Hirving Lozano (Mexico)
How far will England go: Quarter-finals
Tommy Rooney
Winner: France (and Tommy thinks Les Bleus will slay Germany in the final!)
Dark horse and how far?: Uruguay semi-finals
Top scorer: Antoine Griezmann
Young player to make an impact: Timo Werner (Germany)
How far will England go: Tommy's prediction of a 5-2 quarter-final defeat to Germany should please a few!
Dave McIntyre
Winner: Germany
Dark horse and how far?: Uruguay
Top scorer: Romelu Lukaku
Young player to make an impact: Gabriel Jesus (Brazil)
How far will England go: Eliminated in the last-16!
