Home of football statistics and historySince 2006, there have been four World Cups, and each has been won by a European side. Indeed, this is the case for five of the six World Cups in the last 24 years. France in 1998, Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010, Germany in 2014, and France again last time around. Each of the European winners from 1998 to 2014 not only failed to retain its title in the following competition but failed to even make it out of their first-round group. That’s a quite remarkable statistic, and one that will make the more superstitious fan of les Bleus nervous.
But is the World Cup Curse merely superstition? Should we look at odds for the World Cup at betting sites listed at the casino guide in light of how things tend to have gone for the champions? Is there something deeper behind it and is there a way for France to avoid becoming the first team to become double victims of the weird World Cup Curse? Let’s dig a little deeper…
Success can breed conservatism
When France won in 1998, they did so on the backs of a thrilling young squad underpinned by some wily veterans such as Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc. Come 2002, Deschamps and Blanc had retired from international football. Perhaps they should have been followed into retirement by some of their teammates, because the team that took the field to lose 1-0 to Senegal in the tournament’s opening game was barely different from that which had beaten Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final. The players mostly looked old, the underdog fire that blazed four years earlier had been dimmed by success, and it was a tournament too far for half of them. A more in-depth rebuild was in order.
Teams figure you out
The dominance over European international football and over football betting that Spain had from 2008 to 2012 may never be replicated. They won the European Championship, then the World Cup and then retained the Euros. In 2014, though, they lost heavily in their opening game against the Netherlands. After a scrambled draw against Chile, a win over Australia was not enough to carry them through to the next round. Part of the problem was that the tiki-taka style favoured by Vincente del Bosque was so successful that coaches devoted their time to countering it. 2014 was a tournament too far for tiki-taka, and for Spain.
Will France fall victim again?
While the presence of Didier Deschamps in the French dugout after ten years in the job may be cause for concern, le coach himself is determined not to let the complacency or fatigue of previous champions affect his preparation for the 2022 World Cup. Yes, a lot of players are returning, but they include Kylian Mbappe, who was just 19 when he scored in 2018’s final. More importantly, the bulk of the squad has been renovated since 2018. This year, they’ll build their plans around Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Christopher Nkunku and of course Mbappe, and players in their 30s will be very much the minority.
While you can’t predict anything 100% when it comes to betting on football, France look well-placed to break the curse this year, even if they don’t go on to win the World Cup this time.
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