By Dylan Bettencourt
With each World Cup, there are the favourites to lift the crown and there are those that are destined to spring a couple of surprises.
Those teams are referred to as dark horses. These sides go into the tournament and are not considered to go all the way – but they have the ability to potentially shock the world.
Below is a list of nations that could prove to be dark horses in Qatar.
Uruguay:
Despite enduring a tough qualification period, South American side Uruguay look like the perfect candidates to go the distance in Qatar.
For several years the blue and white of Uruguay were carried by Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani up top and Jose Giménez and Diego Godin at the back – however the rest of the squad lacked the depth needed to progress right to the very end.
This year the squad depth and talent has increased considerably, with the likes of Darwin
Nunez, Ronaldo Araujo, Rodrigo Bentancur and Federico Valverde being added to the fold.
Uruguay have a tough group to contest however, facing South Korea, Ghana and Portugal. Serbia:
Serbia qualified for the World Cup for the first time in six decades, ending their qualification stage unbeaten despite being pinned up against Portugal.
The shining light for Serbia will be the attacking duo of Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic.
The pair of tall, aggressive and lethal strikers will be aided by the likes of Dusan Tadic, Filip Kostic and Sergej Milinković-Savić.
The Europeans will have to navigate through a group with Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon if they are to progress.
Senegal:
The African champions carry the hopes of the entire continent of progressing to the knockout stages.
The standout player for the number one ranked African team is of course Sadio Mane, however the side will have to do without him for the first games in Qatar.
The Lions of Teranga still have the likes of Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Kouliably, Idrissa Gueye, Cheikhou Kouyaté and Nampalys Mendy in their arsenal.
Senegal are in a group with the hosts Qatar, Ecuador and the other dark horse in the form of The Netherlands.
Netherlands:
After missing out in 2018, Louis van Gaal and his Netherlands side are back with an element of vengeance.
The Dutch outfit have an incredible squad with the likes of Virgin van Dijk, Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Light and several others to watch out for.
Netherlands are expected to top their group but it is how they navigate the knockout stages that will determine how surprising they are.
The World Cup in Qatar kicks off on Sunday 20 November where one of these dark horses will look to cause several upsets.
Pictured above: Uruguay national team
Image source: @Fifa
