All roads lead to Qatar as the FIFA World Cup football championship starts today where 32 of the best teams have been drawn into eight groups with Italy being a notable absentee having failed to qualify.
The opening match will be between the host Qatar and Ecuador and the experts are predicting a Brazil versus Germany final on December 18.
According to the experts the countries in group C, D and E are expected to have it tough to qualify while predicting the winners in the other five groups may not pose any big headaches.
Four teams are in each of the eight groups and the team that finishes on top will make it to the quarter finals or knockout stage.
In Group C are Argentina, Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia while in Group D are defending champs France, Denmark, Tunisia and Australia.
The teams in Group E aiming for the place in the quarter finals are Spain, Germany, Japan and runners-up of the last World Cup Croatia.
The Netherlands, England, Belgium, Brazil and Portugal are expected to top their respective groups for places in the quarter finals.
For the first time in the history of the World Cup female referees will be in charge of the whistle and as many as eight venues around Qatar will host 64 matches including the final.
The World Cup will also be the last major showpiece for Argentina’s legendary superstar Lionel Messi who announced his intention to retire from big time football.
Argentina has not won the World Cup with Messi in the team and their last win was in 1986 when they beat West Germany 3-2 in the final.
Brazil has won the World Cup five times, the highest by any country in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 and are considered favourites to enter the final with Germany.