{"id":380989,"date":"2022-12-05T06:01:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T20:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=380989"},"modified":"2022-12-05T06:01:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T20:01:23","slug":"fearless-fifa-2022-world-cup-forecasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/fearless-fifa-2022-world-cup-forecasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearless FIFA 2022 World Cup forecasts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fifa-group1wb.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fifa-group1wb.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 2022 FIFA World Cup is entering the homestretch with Sweet 16 thinned down to the Elite 8 by the time newspapers hit the stores today.<\/p>\n<p>Saipan Tribune reached out to futball fanatics to find out their picks on who will eventually take home the Jules Rimet Trophy in the 22nd staging of the World Cup. Here are their picks:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to pick Holland to finally win the World Cup because my family would disown me if I didn\u2019t. Soccer is also the Netherlands\u2019 national sport. In reality they probably make it to the final by the skins of their teeth and then cave in the final as is their modus operandi due to some silly call, snafu, or penalty kicks.<\/p>\n<p>First they have to beat the U.S., Argentina, and most likely Brazil to play in the final against I am going to say France (both Holland and France have been somewhat untested in the pool play). France is looking pretty smooth&#8230;..so far only Italy and Brazil have managed to win back to back world cups. Holland is going to ruin the French party!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<strong>Richard Sikkel<\/strong>, Saipan Swim Club coach<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Japan because I\u2019m Japanese. If the people don\u2019t trust their home country to win, what country do the people trust to win then?<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Hiroyuki Kimura<\/strong>, Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center coach<\/p>\n<p>Undecided. I am rooting for the Netherlands but I want Messi to win before he hangs up his cleats. Of course, Brazil and France are favorites. But this edition has been full of upsets and dramatic comebacks like what Japan did against Germany and Spain, and there\u2019s also South Korea\u2019s win over Portugal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Jon Perez, former Saipan Tribune reporter <em><strong>(Mark Rabago)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPortugal of course. Why? [Cristiano] Ronaldo!\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Mikky Vargas<\/strong>, NMIFA admin<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going for the U.S. or Japan because they\u2019re the underdogs&#8230;\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Catherine Attao-Toves<\/strong>, Tan Holdings vice president for Corporate Affairs and Human Resources<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJapan! Because it\u2019s an Asian country and we\u2019re good friends with them.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Ross Zapanta<\/strong>, NMIFA general secretary\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team I wanted to win is gone (Belgium) so now, Japan.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Jershwin Angeles<\/strong>, NMIFA coach<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArgentina because everyone has a heart for [Lionel] Messi.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014<strong>Sebastien Manabat<\/strong>, Kanoa Football Club player (Leigh Gases)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2022 FIFA World Cup is entering the homestretch with Sweet 16 thinned down to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":380985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13896,3187,4174,8635],"class_list":["post-380989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mikky-vargas","tag-richard-sikkel","tag-ross-zapanta","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}