Tariq Panja

So let me start with underdog number one.

United States of America.

This is not a good football team by any international measure.

They're fine.

Hey now.

But if you were to talk to oddsmakers, they would not be telling you that the United States is going to win the World Cup.

However, home support, they are playing in their own country.

If they get on a run, if their star man, Christian Pulisic, manages to put a bit of form together and the rest of the team back him up with that support, is there a chance that they can go deep?

Yes, there's a chance.

Are they going to win the World Cup?

Absolutely not.

Yeah, I mean, the US have never really made a big impact on global soccer.

They've done well at previous World Cups.

They've got through the group stages.

They've given a good account of themselves, but there's been no expectation of anyone that they should have gone any further.

But there are only ever two teams on a football pitch at once, on a soccer field at once, and one of them's going to win.

Who knows?

The luck of the bounce, the referee's decision goes your way.

You're through to the next round, aren't you?

So let's see how that goes.