5 countries who could pull off a surprise in World Cup 2018

Counting down to the World Cup, many are adamant that the European powerhouses of football will dominate the competition and go on to clinch the trophy.

With the notable absence of Netherlands and Italy, other countries such as France, Spain and Germany are favourites to win the competition.

The World Cup has long been a competition filled with surprises. During the previous edition of the World Cup, 2010 Champions Spain, were knocked out in the group stage.

There are ongoing fears that a similar drama could happen to the 2014 World Cup Champions even though that scenario looks unlikely under strong-willed Joachim Low.

Russia will soon be hosting the 32 nations for the competition. Representatives from Asia and certain parts of Europe have been considered the underdogs of the competition.

They are highly anticipated not to advance past the group stage but could still surprise the world in June.

Here are the five countries who may impress the world with their quality in the competition.

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#5 South Korea

Son Heung-min is a player to look out for in the competition

The Tottenham Hotspur superstar could lead his nation to some World Cup glory. This season, Heung-Min Son has performed superbly well for the English club, scoring 18 goals in 49 appearances across all competitions.

The South Korean received praise from Mauricio Pochettino for becoming more mature this season. If the forward can bring his fine form to the World Cup, the South Korean national team could emerge as a team stronger than expected.

Besides Son, Ki Sung Yueng, captain, from Swansea City could play a big role too. He usually sits at the back to defend the backline and has a tackle success of 76% in the Premier League.

His long balls passed forward could be critical in aiding South Korea attack quickly. The South Korean midfielder has a 90% pass accuracy and his balls often travel around 18m. This can catch his opponents by surprise.

The Asian team is ranked 59 in the world rankings and will be facing Germany, Mexico, and Sweden in the group stage.

It will be extremely difficult to foresee South Korea overcoming Germany, but getting a positive result against the other two countries seems possible.

The Asian team experienced a rough time during their qualifying campaign as they suffered defeats to China and Qatar.

Following that, the head coach Uli Stielike was sacked. The position was taken over by a Korean manager Shin Tae-Yong who led his country to qualify for the World Cup.

The manager has coached the Korean youth teams and this will be his first time managing the senior Korean national team.

After taking over, Shin mentioned his desire for his team to play quick attacking football. He aspires his team to be able to dominate possession in the World Cup and play at a high tempo.

The key to advancing past the group stage could be to rely on quick movements of the ball and exploit the weaknesses of their opponents.

#4 Denmark

Denmark's team is set to be centred around Eriksen

In the last World Cup, Denmark failed to qualify for the group stages. In the 2010 World Cup, the Danish were eliminated after the group stage.

This year, Denmark has made it for the Russia World Cup and the squad is likely the strongest after many years.

Denmark has been into a relatively easy group as they will face Peru, Australia and France. The European countries are favourites to progress to the next round and Denmark would be hoping to face a weaker opponent.

The country that is ranked 12th in the world by FIFA and has several well-known players such as Kasper Schmeichel, Christian Eriksen and Simon Kjaer.

There is little doubt that the creative mastermind in the midfield will be Eriksen, who has become a vital player for his club and country.

Schmeichel has been following the footsteps of his father, Peter Schmeichel, to become Denmark's first choice goalkeeper. The Schmeichel together with Eriksen had played crucial roles in ensuring that Denmark advances to the World Cup, denying the Republic of Ireland a spot in the competition.

Besides that, the Leicester City shot-stopper is calm in the box and has an average claim success of 91%.

Since taking charge in 2016, Åge Hareide has a win percentage of around 52% as of March 2018.

Hareide's managerial style has been likened to that of Jose Mourinho. The Norwegian national prefers his team to get the ball moving quickly into the opponent's half rather than sit back and soak up the pressure.

Hareide has also experimented with utilising long balls to transit from defence to attack in a short span of time and that has worked pretty well for the Danish.

Now, with a more talented and resilient squad, the team could advance far in the World Cup.

#3 Egypt

Salah sealed World Cup qualification for Egypt in the qualifiers

Mohamed Salah led Egypt to the country's first-ever qualification for the World Cup since 1990.

After missing out the competition for 28 years, Egypt could make a huge comeback into the competition with their starman, Salah.

Salah has been on a great form for Liverpool since joining the English side in the summer. He has now scored 41 goals across all competitions as of 23 April 2018 and is earning the praise of many around the world.

Egypt enters the competition as underdogs but they are lucky to face relatively manageable opponents such as Saudi Arabia and hosts Russia in the group stages.

There are still doubts over the quality of the Egypt squad but with Salah representing his nation, it will not be a surprise he fires his country past the group stages to advance further in the competition.

Essam El-Hadary, Egypt's goalkeeper, is set to be the oldest keeper to make it into the World Cup.

At 45 years of age, he has won African Cup of Nations four times but has not played in the World Cup. El-Hadary has not been in a good form in recent games for his club, but with so much experience he has, he could prove to be a valuable player for the national team.

Egypt was close to getting a draw against Portugal in the international friendlies earlier in March.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo destroyed the hopes after a last-minute winner. Despite that result, Hector Cuper, Egypt's coach, remains upbeat ahead of the World Cup.

He believes his team is strong enough to survive in the competition and thus far, it has been a positive managerial campaign for the Argentine who has a winning percentage of close to 60%.

Cuper's favoured formation is playing 4-2-3-1, maintaining stability in his team's play by balancing attack and defence.

#2 Iceland

Iceland has improved by leaps and bounds over the years

Iceland is the country with the smallest population to qualify for the World Cup. Despite all the challenges that the team has faced, Iceland managed to impress in Euro 2016 and they may surprise many in the upcoming World Cup too.

The team demonstrates a great deal of togetherness and resilience in their play. Even with the odds against the team, Iceland footballers have failed to believe in that glimmer of hope left and they have been confident with one another.

After taking over the reins in 2013, Heimir Hallgrímsson has won 62.75% of the games in charge of Iceland.

His preferred formation is playing 4-4-2. Having worked so many years with the national team, Heimir now knows every detail of his squad and the players have confidence in their manager.

There are concerns that Iceland's top player Gylfi Sigurdsson may be unable to play in the World Cup after suffering a knee injury.

The player remains hopeful that he can play a part in the upcoming World Cup. 77% of the midfielder's passes are made forward and he has become one of the world's best attacking midfielders.

In addition to Sigurdsson, Guðmundsson from Burnley has gradually established himself a name in Premier League and the world. Gudmundsson is efficient in taking set-pieces and the winger is defensively strong too. Lately, the 27-year-old has three assists in four Premier League matches and is in a brilliant form.

Iceland will face Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia in a tough group. It will be a challenge for the European team to find a way to advance from the group stage, but nothing is impossible. Heimir focuses on getting his team to play in a structured and organised manner.

If his players can stay in their positions and perform up to standard, they will surely be able to shock the world.

#1 Poland

Lewandowski will be Poland's main striker

Robert Lewandowski will be one of the most lethal strikers playing in the World Cup and Poland will be relying on him to bring them glory in Russia.

The Polish striker has scored 39 times in 43 games this season as of 23 April 2018. He is also on course to becoming the top scorer for Bundesliga again this season.

Despite that result, the country remains one of the most underrated in European football as fans refuse to believe that Poland can go far.

Over the years, the team's football talents have improved massively and players are gaining more experience abroad.

Wojciech Szczesny has been identified as Gianluigi Buffon's successor in Juventus. The goalkeeper would probably be Poland's first choice between the sticks ahead of Lukas Fabianski from Swansea City.

Szczesny has played 20 games for Juventus this season and conceded just 10 times. The former Roma man has improved by leaps and bounds after playing in Serie A and could be difficult to get past.

The Bayern Munich striker will be tasked to lead the attacking force and Polish nationals will be hoping that their player can bring his scoring form for the club to the World Cup.

In 2016, manager Adam Nawałka led the country to their first Euro quarterfinal and the country succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup in 2017.

However, Poland has never been considered a serious threat in competitions. This time around, with more experience and hopefully luck on their side, Poland could be able to progress far.