World Cup 2018: Top 5 contenders from Europe

#1 Germany

Europe's golden boys are heavily favoured to win again

Defending champions, eternal contenders and the designated spoilers of dreams and aspirations at the World Cup, Die Mannschaft once again represent Europe’s best chance of retaining the title it had won in the last three editions (Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010 and the Germans themselves in 2014).

The team is much changed from that which went all the way in Brazil 4 years ago with a significant number of the squad retiring from international football after lifting football’s greatest prize.

In their place, the uber-efficient German football system has thrown up a good number of talent that have shown that they have what it takes to help the nation equal Brazil as the countries with the highest number of World Cup titles (5).

Philip Lahm, Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker are just some of the stalwarts that have left the international stage. In their place, manager Joachim Löw can call upon young talents like Joshua Kimmich, Timo Werner, Leon Goretzka, Nicklas Sule among others to deliver.

The initial 27-man list named by the manager is expected to be whittled down to the final 23 by June 4th and with the winning mentality and experience of players like Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira and others alongside the youthful talent, Europe’s golden boys look set to go all the way once again.