Early 2022 World Cup Betting Predictions

Now that France has taken home the trophy from the 2018 World Cup, sports betting experts are already setting their sights four years down the road, when the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar will host the next World Cup. Will Italy and the United States manage to qualify after missing Russia altogether? Can England and Croatia make deep runs again? How will Germany regroup after finishing last in their group? Take a look at some of our 2022 World Cup betting predictions on soccer’s next grand tournament.

Early 2022 World Cup Betting Predictions

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Africa will perform more successfully

The African nation that came into Russia with the highest expectations was Egypt, who had Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on their roster. However, their first World Cup in 28 years was simply awful as they lost all three group play games, even falling to Saudi Arabia. Nigeria looked like they were headed to the knockout round until they surrendered a late goal to Argentina, which sent them home while Argentina advanced. Tunisia did beat Panama and almost drew England — and Senegal was eliminated by a fair play tiebreaker against Japan. With travel less of an issue, African nations should get better results by and large.

Traditional powerhouses will have their day

Italy, the Netherlands, Chile, Cameroon and the United States were all missing from this World Cup. The Netherlands had finished third in Brazil in 2014 before missing this tournament altogether, and Chile had won Copa America twice in a row but could not come out of CONMEBOL qualification. Each nation has plans in place to make it back to the World Cup in Qatar, as the United States has an intriguing youth movement led by Christian Pulisic, and Italy and the Netherlands all have strong developmental programs that will bring younger players along and have those teams back.

Qatar will go 0-3 in group play

There has only been one host nation that did not move out of the group stage — that was South Africa in 2010. One reason for this is that, traditionally, only nations that feature soccer prominently have hosted the Cup. Many thought that Russia might well fail to advance, but they did so — and then they knocked out Spain in the round of 16. The bid that Qatar launched was connected with accusations of bribery that riddled FIFA’s leadership with criminal indictments. It helps that the host nation becomes a seeded team in Group A, giving it a likelihood of three easier opponents, but Qatar has never qualified for a World Cup final and ranks #97 in FIFA’s international rankings. They will appear in the Copa America in Brazil next year, so we’ll see how they fare there, but for now, I’m not optimistic about Qatar doing anything at the Cup besides hosting it.

France could well repeat

Kylian Mbappe, who became the first teenager to score a goal in a World Cup final match since Pele did it, will be 23 in Qatar. Such stars as Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will be in their last World Cups, and Neymar will also have passed 30 years of age. Mbappe could be the best player in the world by that point, and with the surrounding cast that he had in Russia, France could emerge as the first team to repeat since Brazil did it.

Award predictions

If Germany finds a way to get back to their dominant form, look for Timo Werner in your list for the Golden Boot. He still hasn’t made a name for himself on the senior team yet, but by then he should have, and a deep run could give him that award. The Golden Glove could go to Hugo Lloris. He had the save of the World Cup against Uruguay, and his strong play was an underreported story in France’s run to the championship.

What about Iran?

The travel for this team will be negligible, and if this talented group — mostly in their late 20s — can progress behind Alireza Jahanbakhsh, they could be around in the quarters or even the semis.