🇵🇹 Portugal’s projected road to the World Cup Final looks absolutely brutal.
🇨🇴 Colombia in the group stage.
🇭🇷 Croatia in the Round of 32.
🇧🇪 Belgium in the Round of 16.
🇦🇷 Argentina in the Quarter-final.
🏴 England in the Semi-final.
🇫🇷 France in the Final.
If this pathway becomes reality, Cristiano Ronaldo may have to walk through almost every major football power on the planet just to lift the trophy.
No shortcuts.
No easy nights.
No second chances.
Every round would feel like a final before the final.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s projected route appears significantly kinder on paper.
🇯🇴 Jordan.
🇨🇻 Cape Verde.
🇮🇷 Iran.
🇨🇴 Colombia.
🏴 England.
🇵🇹 Portugal.
Of course, World Cups are never won on paper.
Football has a habit of humiliating predictions.
But if these projected paths remain unchanged, one side may have to survive a battlefield, while the other travels a much smoother road.
The greatest World Cup stories are often written through suffering.
If Portugal somehow navigate Croatia, Belgium, Argentina, England and France consecutively, it would be one of the toughest knockout runs ever seen in modern World Cup history.
Perhaps that is why knockout brackets matter.
Sometimes destiny gives one king a staircase.
Sometimes it gives another king a mountain.
