Students share World Cup hopes and predictions

by Sally Zhu, Jessica Tang, and Gabe Sachse

This year’s World Cup has taken the sports world by a storm, taking place in Qatar and with games lasting through Dec. 18. The United States defeated Iran in a high-profile game on Tuesday, advancing to the knockout round of 16, and the team will face the Netherlands tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. in an elimination round, with the winner making it to the quarter-finals.

Watch the following video to hear five upper school soccer fans share their hopes and predictions for the World Cup.

Which country do you want to win? 

Sara Glusman (10): I want Argentina to win because obviously my family is from there. But also, my idol, my favorite player Messi like plays for that team. And I think we have a pretty good chance of winning.

Ryder Hewitt (9): USA man! I’ve heard a lot of guys talking about the soccer Lombardi, and it’s just such a fun environment right now. Everybody’s loving the US national team. And I am too.

Rahul Herrero (12): Well, absolutely I want Spain to win, and my dad’s actually from Spain, if you didn’t know. So that’s really the main reason I want Spain to win. I think Spain has a pretty good team this year.

Anya Chauhan (11): I want Argentina to win because of Messi, but we’ll see how that goes. That’s really the only one I’m rooting for.

Deeya Viradia (12): I’ve always been a big supporter of Brazil because of Pele, originally, and now Neymar is the best player on the team.

Which country do you think will win?

Sara: Argentina had a rough start, but I think we have the possibility to make it to the final and then the other team, I think France is really, really strong this year as well.

Rahul: I did say that Spain’s a good team, but I actually think that Brazil is probably going to win, they have Neymar, Vinicius. Those two guys are probably top five players in the world. And overall, their entire team is just not not too many weaknesses. So I think they’re gonna win.

Ryder: Brazil looked amazing in their in their group stage games. And I just feel like they’re the kind of team that can easily hold out and just go on the whole thing.

What specific players are you rooting for or keeping an eye on?

Ryder: Specific players, I would probably say, Christian Pulisic. He is a player for the United States men’s national team. He’s always been a big inspiration to me.

Sara: I’m keeping an eye on obviously Messi and Ronaldo, but also Kylian Mbappé. He’s a pretty young player from France. And he’s really, really fast and just a big addition to the team.

Rahul: I’m a Real Madrid fan. So I’m always looking for Real Madrid players on the teams. Vinicius is my favorite player, and so I’m always looking out for him. I’ve been watching because Ronaldo and Messi because for both of them, this is probably their last World Cups. So it’s gonna be interesting.

What do you think of the United States team so far? How far do you think they will get?

Anya: Honestly, I don’t think we’re gonna do too well. I think it’s definitely gonna be competitive, but I’m not… I don’t really have any high expectations necessarily for the US.

Rahul: I’m surprised with the US team. I didn’t expect much, especially after them getting eliminated, or not even qualifying, for the 2018 World Cup. And so I think they have a chance of beating Netherlands. I think after that, they’ll probably get eliminated. But yeah, that’s the furthest they’ll go is a quarterfinals.

Deeya: The US has had some pretty good games against Britain. And I don’t know, they could win.

What matches are you looking forward to watching? 

Ryder: Looking forward to Saturday, it’s a Saturday morning, you know, Netherlands facing off with the USA. I’m so excited to watch though. I think the USA can go far in this world cup. And so I’m very interested in that match.

Sara: I mean, I’m always looking forward to watch Argentina games, but I’m just really looking forward to you know, the quarters and the semis and seeing how that ends up.

Rahul: Well, I’m definitely gonna be watching all Spain matches whoever Spain matches up. I know Spain will be playing Morocco, either Sunday or Monday. So I’ll be watching those. I mean, really for me, and all the matches are good, but go España!