O n May 11 2020, the crypto world experienced the phenomena knows as Bitcoin halving . For those who are still a little looney-toons regarding this phenomena, here's the lowdown . Moral of the story is that, as the Bitcoin supply decreased and it's 21 million market cap slowly approached, it was widely accepted that the low supply and high demand will increase the price of the cryptocurrency back to its previous highs. Basic business right? Wrong! Source: Equity Trust Company BTC prices actually fell and after briefly holding steady, are only just rising above the 10000 USD range. Surprise eh? Well, we are not done yet. Because while the most valuable crypto coin wasn't showing it's expected gains, some other cryptocurrencies shot to outer space. There was no SpaceX rocket nor a Tesla Roadster involved. These "altcoins" bumped up in their market value thanks to the entire underlying system of cryptocurrency: investor speculation. But what exactly are these ...
Let me make it very clear from the beginning, I am a Lionel Messi fan so I really want Argentina to lift the trophy. At least that will put him ahead of Ronaldo when the inevitable comparisons run their course. But the fact is such that Argentina is not a really great team ( Enormous Sadness engulfs me). So I question myself as to who will lift that golden trophy.
Apparently FIFA 18 suggest it will be France. And in case you were wondering how a game could come with such a wild name, it will be prudent to mention than the same EA FIFA game accurately predicted the 2010 and 2014 world cup winners. So there might be some truth behind it. France are an amazing team and they probably the greatest number of talented young players ( Martial, Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Fekir etc.). And given the chance, they would love to exorcise their Euro 2016 demons and humiliate Portugal on their way to lifting the World Cup.
But then again no one really expected Portugal to win the Euro's so maybe this year we will see a challenge from some dark horse teams like Nigeria, Iceland etc.
I would have mentioned Egypt but sadly Sergio 'Bruce Lee' Ramos had other plans. Honestly putting Bruce Lee's name is an insult to Bruce Lee's legacy (and probably not the right type of martial arts put on voracious display by Nice Guy Ramos). Obviously speaking they would not be a match for more established team like Germany, Spain, Sweden( maybe but since no Zlatan..), Belgium, England ( maybe they'll beat England but I got high hopes for Southgate's side). Germany are, as expected, to be one of the favourites to defend their trophy and surely, with Merkel watching, their minimum expectation would be at least their semifinals.
Wait a minute, what about Brazil? They too should be World Cup favourites and they now probably have something to prove after their ridiculous humiliation against the Germans. Tite ( my friend used to call him Titees until I remind him that there was no 'es' at the end of the name), surely has reinvigorated his squad and they have world-class players in Neymar, Coutinho, Marcelo, Paulinho, Casemiro ( I guess) and of course Man City's Ederson and Roma's Alisson. Brazil have an amazing strength in depth, and before you scoff at the importance of having a great bench just remember the Champions League where Klopp had Lallana and Co. compared to Zidane's Bale.
I did say Argentina is not a great team but if you just look at their squad they look like they could score goals for fun ( on paper at least). Their offence includes Messi, Dybala, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria etc. And do remember that despite Icardi scoring almost 30 goals this season ( forgive me if my statistics are wrong), he wasn't picked for the squad. However, they barely managed to scrape through qualification thanks to some timely magic down to Messi. This is a team who were runners up in 3 consecutive international tournaments. Surprising really that their participation in Russia decided on their last qualification game.
And of course there is Spain. If I was a betting man my money would be on Spain to win this tournament. They made a total fool out of Argentina in their friendly. It's all well and great humiliating Lichtenstein but pulverising the 2014 runners up is not something to be taken lightly. And as much as I hate admitting it, I would love to see Iniesta scoring another match-winning goal in the final. Despite all this talk about favourites though the World Cup yet spring a surprise on the viewers. I mean if Ramos can get away with some Judo ( maybe jiu-jitsu), Leicester can win the Premier League, Wenger can actually step down, and Portugal can win the Euros, maybe Russia would be the dark horse in this tournament and win it. Putin would surely celebrate it like crazy, considering the fact that the United States failed to even qualify for this 2018 showpiece.
Update: France actually won the World Cup, making this the 3rd year running where EA Sports massively popular franchise has got it right. Qatar will be something to look forward to.
Apparently FIFA 18 suggest it will be France. And in case you were wondering how a game could come with such a wild name, it will be prudent to mention than the same EA FIFA game accurately predicted the 2010 and 2014 world cup winners. So there might be some truth behind it. France are an amazing team and they probably the greatest number of talented young players ( Martial, Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Fekir etc.). And given the chance, they would love to exorcise their Euro 2016 demons and humiliate Portugal on their way to lifting the World Cup.
But then again no one really expected Portugal to win the Euro's so maybe this year we will see a challenge from some dark horse teams like Nigeria, Iceland etc.
I would have mentioned Egypt but sadly Sergio 'Bruce Lee' Ramos had other plans. Honestly putting Bruce Lee's name is an insult to Bruce Lee's legacy (and probably not the right type of martial arts put on voracious display by Nice Guy Ramos). Obviously speaking they would not be a match for more established team like Germany, Spain, Sweden( maybe but since no Zlatan..), Belgium, England ( maybe they'll beat England but I got high hopes for Southgate's side). Germany are, as expected, to be one of the favourites to defend their trophy and surely, with Merkel watching, their minimum expectation would be at least their semifinals.
Wait a minute, what about Brazil? They too should be World Cup favourites and they now probably have something to prove after their ridiculous humiliation against the Germans. Tite ( my friend used to call him Titees until I remind him that there was no 'es' at the end of the name), surely has reinvigorated his squad and they have world-class players in Neymar, Coutinho, Marcelo, Paulinho, Casemiro ( I guess) and of course Man City's Ederson and Roma's Alisson. Brazil have an amazing strength in depth, and before you scoff at the importance of having a great bench just remember the Champions League where Klopp had Lallana and Co. compared to Zidane's Bale.
I did say Argentina is not a great team but if you just look at their squad they look like they could score goals for fun ( on paper at least). Their offence includes Messi, Dybala, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria etc. And do remember that despite Icardi scoring almost 30 goals this season ( forgive me if my statistics are wrong), he wasn't picked for the squad. However, they barely managed to scrape through qualification thanks to some timely magic down to Messi. This is a team who were runners up in 3 consecutive international tournaments. Surprising really that their participation in Russia decided on their last qualification game.
And of course there is Spain. If I was a betting man my money would be on Spain to win this tournament. They made a total fool out of Argentina in their friendly. It's all well and great humiliating Lichtenstein but pulverising the 2014 runners up is not something to be taken lightly. And as much as I hate admitting it, I would love to see Iniesta scoring another match-winning goal in the final. Despite all this talk about favourites though the World Cup yet spring a surprise on the viewers. I mean if Ramos can get away with some Judo ( maybe jiu-jitsu), Leicester can win the Premier League, Wenger can actually step down, and Portugal can win the Euros, maybe Russia would be the dark horse in this tournament and win it. Putin would surely celebrate it like crazy, considering the fact that the United States failed to even qualify for this 2018 showpiece.
Update: France actually won the World Cup, making this the 3rd year running where EA Sports massively popular franchise has got it right. Qatar will be something to look forward to.
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