[SuperMatt18]

All this talk about England blowing an easy path to the finals but Croatia had an even easier path to the finals.

Denmark = Columbia
Russia < Sweden

And Croatia needed penalties twice to get through. Plus IMO Croatia were the favourites against England coming in - so technically England having to beat Croatia was a tougher path than Croatia beating England.

When you Look at the path of the past champions going back to 1990 this year does look a bit soft to get to the finals.

Germany in 90: Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, England, Argentina (who beat Brazil, Yugoslavia, Italy)

Brazil in 94: US, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy (who beat Nigeria, Spain, Bulgaria)

France in 98: Paraguay, Italy, Croatia, Brazil (who beat Chile, Denmark, Netherlands)

Brazil in 02: Belgium, England, Turkey, Germany (who beat Paraguay, US, South Korea)

Italy in 06: Australia, Ukraine, Germany, France (Beat Spain, Brazil, Portugal)

Spain in 10: Portugal, Paraguay, Germany, Netherlands (beat Chile, Brazil, Uruguay)

Germany in 14: Algeria, France, Brazil, Argentina (who beat the Swiss, Belgium, Netherlands)

Honestly think the reason the path to the finals looks soft this year is because a champion usually has to beat at least two of Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Argentina, or France to get to win the World Cup. But this year all those teams (outside of France) have disappointed with Brazil making it the furthest to the QFs.

Croatia: Denmark (PK), Russia (PK), England (ET) ... that looks more like a Euro cup group.

France: Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium... tougher for sure and more in line of what you’d expect but Argentina the only “power” in the last 30 years and they were no good this year.

I’ll say right now if Croatia wins the finals on penalties it will be the easiest path to a title ever - it’d be 3 PK wins and not having to beat Germany, Brazil, Italy, or Spain. Only other finalist that’s path to the final has been easier IMO is Germany in 02 and they lost in the final.