How will Celtic’s World Cup Players Fare?

In general, most players playing in Scotland get the summer off when a major tournament comes around. Unless Alex McLeish can turn around Scotland’s fortunes, or St Mirren sign the bulk of the Brazil squad, this looks set to continue for a few years to come.

For Celtic, World Cup 2018 has perhaps come a little too soon for players like Moussa Dembélé and Odsonne Édouard, who could both conceivably be in future France squads. Josu Simunovic could have been on the plane to Russia with Croatia, but he opted to represent Bosnia after becoming frustrated with a lack of chances for his country of birth.

As it stands, Celtic will have three players at the World Cup this year: Tom Rogic, Mikael Lustig and Cristian Gamboa. It is safe to say that they will not be taking winners medals back to Celtic Park, but how will they get on at the Finals? Is there any hope that Australia, Sweden or Costa Rica might do well?

Knockout rounds look a good shout for Lustig and Sweden

Sweden have been given a tough draw with Germany, Mexico and South Korea. Obviously, Germany are favourites to top the group, and are in fact 5/1 favourites for the World Cup, so it looks like a scramble for second spot for the other three teams. Bookies have put Sweden at 11/8 to qualify, behind Mexico (evens) and ahead of South Korea (3/1). Sweden’s price looks thoroughly decent though for a European side who will be used to the kind of atmosphere and climate in Russia.

Rogic and Australia will have work cut out for them once more

Australia have been drawn against France, Peru and Denmark in Group C. Qualifying looks a tall order for the Socceroos though, with recent results, such as the 4-1 drubbing by Norway, being generally terrible. It’s 9/2 for them to qualify from the group, but you may want to check out these no deposit free bet offers first as it looks a bit of a longshot. The Australian media put plenty of pressure on their players to perform, but they might once again come up short. This group could be very tight though, with a few matches looking like draws. Expect Rogic and Australia to be in with a shout when the final group game comes around against Peru.

Costa Rica back for more after 2014 heroics

Cristian Gamboa has not played a huge amount for Celtic since his move from West Brom, but he is the only Celtic player who can claim a World Cup quarter-final appearance. Costa Rica were terrific in the 2014 World Cup Finals, becoming everyone’s ‘second-team’ as they topped the ‘group of death’ containing England, Italy and Uruguay before going out to the Netherlands in the quarters on penalties. A similar mercurial effort will be required this year from Gamboa and co, with Brazil, Switzerland and Serbia joining them in Group E. If you think they can match the heroics of 2014, you can get odds of 20/1 for Costa Rica to go out in the quarter finals again.