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Former Arsenal striker has his own dark horse at the World Cup
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Reading Time: 3min | Sat. 20.06.26. | 18:32
And Zlatan Ibrahimovic also thinks that they could go a long way
Before the start of the World Cup, everybody gave their predictions, which included the favorites for winning the tournament, but also dark horses. After the first round, and after a few games of the second round, some TV pundits are giving additional predictions, according to the current results at the World Cup. There are teams which clearly disappointed, and Turkey is the first one of them. Loaded with talent, they lost both games and along with Haiti are already out of the World Cup. One of the teams which no one considered to be a ‘dark horse’ was the USA, a co-host of the competition. But their two convincing wins so far made one former player name them as his secret favorites, while the other even believes they can go all the way.
Ian Wright was impressed with the USA’s wins over Paraguay (4-1) and Australia (2-0), and believes that they can reach the semi-finals.
“I think America will get to the semi-finals. The reason I say that is because I think they have got a back four that is solid, they have midfielders who play at a good level and we saw with Flo Balogun that he can score goals. They have a fan base that is now starting to get it. Once the Knicks game finished, everyone started to say ‘right, let’s focus on the World Cup. I think that if they can continue with that momentum and play like that with that energy with a striker up front taking chances like that then they can get to the semi-final to meet England” former Arsenal striker told FourFourTwo.
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If you think that’s a surprising statement, you will be shocked that Zlatan Ibrahimović thinks that they can actually go all the way.
“If you didn’t believe before, I will repeat: Start believing. They have the country behind them, and when you have this support, it’s difficult to beat you” Ibrahimovic told FOX Sports.
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Unlike these two former footballers, their TV pundit colleague Gary Lineker shared his views about the USA selection near the start of the tournament.
“I was interviewed on one of the big TV stations I think it might have been CNN, and they were saying to me, you know, who do you fancy? I was going, well, Spain, I think, and really take some beating, obviously France, possibly England, blah, blah, blah. The usual suspects. And then they said, well, what about the hosts? Can America go all the way and win it? And, and I went, ‘What?’ And I said do you want me to be honest or diplomatic? I wasn’t diplomatic. I said you have zero chance. They can’t win it, but I think they can perhaps get to the knockout stages” he told “The rest is football”.
WORLD CUP - GROUP STAGE (ROUND 2)
Group E
Saturday 20.06.
23.00: (1.58) Germany (4.00) Ivory Coast (5.90)
Sunday 21.06.
03.00: (1.12) Ecuador (9.50) Curacao (19.0)
Group F
Saturday 20.06.
20.00: (1.72) Netherlands (3.60) Sweden (5.30)
Sunday 21.06.
07.00: (6.50) Tunisia (3.60) Japan (1.60)