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Posted by: ML Hammer95 16th November 2017, 05:24 PM

Pot 1
Russia (Hosts)
Germany (Holders)
Brazil
Portugal
Argentina
Belgium
Poland
France

Pot 2
Spain
Peru
Switzerland
England
Mexico
Colombia
Uruguay
Croatia

Pot 3
Denmark
Iceland
Costa Rica
Sweden
Tunisia
Egypt
Senegal
Iran

Pot 4
Serbia
Nigeria
Australia
Japan
Morocco
Panama
Korea Republic
Saudi Arabia


For me this is the equivalent of Christmas Day, I cannot wait! Feel free to speculate before the draw in two weeks time.

Posted by: Rooney 16th November 2017, 07:02 PM

Pot 2 looks really strong, certainly lots of dark horses in there. I think if you take out Belgium/France/Brazil/Germany, Pot 1 is incredibly average. I think most teams would be happy drawing Russia, Poland have regressed slightly imo from a couple of years ago, Argentina basically need Messi to carry them and I think Portugal are very beatable.

Brazil, Spain, Senegal, Serbia would be a real 'Group of Death'

Posted by: Mart!n 16th November 2017, 07:17 PM

I laugh if England get Iceland again in their group, realistically England need Panama, Tunisia and probably Poland or Russia in their group.

Posted by: Steve201 16th November 2017, 09:03 PM

Nobody would want England and Russia again lol

Posted by: Mack'sXmasSack 16th November 2017, 10:32 PM

There's even a World Cup Draw Simulator:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/russia-2018-world-cup-draw-simulator/

Posted by: D0bz 16th November 2017, 10:34 PM

Just did that and we're in a pot with Poland, Iran & Morocco.

I mean on paper you'd take that but that's the exact type of group England would huff & puff to get out of & barely scrape through...

(Brazil vs. Spain in the groups too!)

Posted by: Mack'sXmasSack 16th November 2017, 10:37 PM

Got Germany, Egypt and Australia.

As long as it isn't like South Africa 2010 again....

Posted by: ML Hammer95 16th November 2017, 11:01 PM

I got Poland, Egypt and South Korea - not the easiest group by any stretch and one that would probably see England go through with a win and two draws. Two toughest groups were France-Uruguay-Denmark-Nigeria and Brazil-Spain-Senegal-Serbia.

Spain in Pot 2 is the real outlier... seeing a lot of hype for Nigeria in Pot 4 too (the Guardian have tipped them for the quarter finals).

Posted by: King Rollo 16th November 2017, 11:54 PM

I got France,Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia. Costa Rica finished top of England's group in 2014 so I don't think they would want to be drawn with them again.

Posted by: Houdini 17th November 2017, 12:15 AM

In my draw England were drawn in Group E with Argentina, Tunisia & Japan. England should hope my draw isn't a mirror of things to come because in Group F Germany have the easiest group on paper as they're drawn with Peru, Egypt & Panama which would likely result in a England vs Germany last 16 match and certain elimination


I don't think Nigeria would get as far as the Quarter finals, they've got a decent young squad but I think that would be a step too far. They did beat Argentina in a friendly this week though and have an annoying habit of facing them in a World Cup so I would expect Argentina & Nigeria to be in the same group in the actual draw.

Posted by: Soy Adrián 17th November 2017, 08:45 AM

I got us getting Russia, Tunisia and South Korea. That'd be a very favourable draw.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 17th November 2017, 01:12 PM

In that scenario, you'd just know we'd draw 1-1 with Russia, 0-0 with Tunisia and beat South Korea 1-0 to scrape through.

Posted by: DJHazey 17th November 2017, 01:14 PM

We know one thing for sure and that's Argentina will be in the same group as Nigeria.

Also, it'll be interesting to see if any double Africa or Asia groups are formed, or will they re-draw if this occurs?

EDIT -- Nevermind, I've just read that they will limit the groups to one per confederation and two for UEFA.

Posted by: Soy Adrián 17th November 2017, 02:06 PM

We could get a repeat of the 2002 'Group of Death' featuring Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria. I wouldn't fancy that much, but then again we didn't last time.

Posted by: LewisGT 17th November 2017, 03:29 PM

I got us in a group with Belgium, Senegal & Panama. Although Belgium would be tough, I wouldn't be too displeased with that.

The groups were fairly nicely spread, the group of death would have probably been Brazil, Croatia, Costa Rica & Nigeria.

Posted by: DJHazey 17th November 2017, 04:56 PM

I don't think you can really get a full 'group of death' this time around since they've sorted the pots completely by FIFA rankings. Morocco and Japan are the two that have the best chance of being a surprise.

Look out for them, Iran, Egypt, Costa Rica, and Iceland as darkhorses.

Posted by: commonsense 17th November 2017, 05:28 PM

Why certain though? Germany didn't beat us last week and they're World Champions. Neither did Brazil. We need to think positively and not automatically think that we'd lose to Germany when we may not! I don't think their side is quite as good as when they won it four years ago. I disagree with many who say they'll win it again.

Sorry to see Italy won't be there. I like watching the Azurri in blue.

Posted by: DJHazey 17th November 2017, 06:14 PM

If I were a betting right now, I'd say it's Brazil vs. Spain in the final.

Posted by: Houdini 17th November 2017, 08:37 PM

That was a friendly match and wasn't very competitive, Germany would have all of their best players in the World Cup squad and England are nowhere near the level of Germany at the moment.

Posted by: Soy Adrián 18th November 2017, 12:41 PM

Germany do invariably take their foot off the gas in friendlies - we beat them before the Euros, for example.

They could well win it again this time, but I'd be more concerned with England being drawn against Brazil of the two.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 18th November 2017, 12:53 PM

I don't think Germany or Brazil will win it actually, but I can see them being the two losing semi finalists for some reason. To be honest, I could see it being Spain v Portugal.

Had a dream a few weeks ago that I was travelling to England's opener, which was against Denmark, so fingers crossed that happens.

Posted by: Rooney 18th November 2017, 01:06 PM

We look a lot more solid with the 3-5-2 formation, but our problem really is our lack of creativity in midfield. On paper we have some great players, but for some reason we never look good as a team. Kane-Sterling-Ali-Lallana is a pretty good front 4. I am not sure many teams have as good a front 4 as that.

Brazil and Germany are cut above most teams, so I would most certainly fancy them again in the World Cup. But a lot of it will be down to the draw, as if Germany/Brazil/France end up in the same half of the draw then you know one of them is going out early!

Posted by: Steve201 18th November 2017, 01:26 PM

France will never win with deschamps in charge!

Does the draw make sure continents are mixed in some way?

Posted by: Suedehead2 18th November 2017, 01:35 PM

Yes. The allocation of pots has been used to achieve that in the past, but it still applies this time. No more than one team from any confederation (apart from UEFA) can be in the same group.

Posted by: Suedehead2 18th November 2017, 01:40 PM

Using the Telegraph simulator, England get Brazil, Iceland and Panama. Tough draw for Panama

Argentina, Spain, Tunisia, South Korea should be the easiest one for predicting the two qualifiers.

Belgium, Mexico, Sweden and Japan is a pretty tough group to predict.

The other one where one team's ambitions amount to damage limitation is Portugal, Uruguay, Denmark, Saudi Arabia.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 18th November 2017, 02:22 PM

Bit like Costa Rica four years ago then.

Posted by: Mart!n 18th November 2017, 04:30 PM

Germany won the Confederations Cup this year, and they did look good on the field, I should imagine they are probably one of the favourites to win it, Brazil and Argentina seem to have fallen behind a bit recently, but in football you can never tell some of them could have a bad day. If I'm looking for a different country to win it, I would look at Morocco or Iceland to cause an upset

Posted by: D0bz 18th November 2017, 04:35 PM

I just have a feeling it will be either Portugal or Argentina as it's the last world cup for both Ronaldo & Messi surely and I can't see both of them finishing their careers without one of them cementing themselves as a great on the domestic & international stage. Yes Ronaldo won the Euros but everyone remembers that as a bit of a fluke as any other tournament prior they'd have been eliminated at the group stage.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 1st December 2017, 10:43 AM

Very excited for the draw later on today! Will anybody be following?

Posted by: DJHazey 1st December 2017, 12:44 PM

I will be following it at work (It'll be at 10am for me). Excited to see which top team gets Spain in their group, it would be amazing to see Germany or Brazil be in the same group with them. Also most interested in what Iceland gets for a draw.

Posted by: Houdini 1st December 2017, 03:43 PM

Watching the World Cup draw at the moment, how on Earth are Poland in pot 1? what have they done to warrant being that high?


Spain and Portugal in the same group! , England paired with Belgium, Tunisa & Panama as well. Nigeria with Argentina again , at least Iceland and Croatia are also in the group so they should have a good chance of qualifying.

Posted by: N-S 1st December 2017, 04:05 PM

The post were solely based in the FIFA Ranking, and everyone knows how flawed that ranking is.

Posted by: Soy Adrián 1st December 2017, 04:39 PM

Poland basically gamed the system by not playing any friendlies for the last two years.


Looking forward to the human rights derby in the opening game.

Posted by: DJHazey 1st December 2017, 04:47 PM

Groups F and G are the closest to a "group of death".

I cannot believe Argentina and Nigeria were grouped together again, what are the odds? They need to ban it from happening next time.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 1st December 2017, 04:52 PM

It's a very 'England' group isn't it? One team with lots of Premier League players in and two unknown quantities (like 2006, 2010 and 2016). Belgium are essentially the 2018 version of Sweden, USA or Wales and Tunisia/Panama are this year's version of Paraguay/Trinidad, Algeria/Slovenia and Russia/Slovakia. I stand by my prediction of two draws, a narrow win and second place. Probably ties with Group A as the least interesting group.

Very interesting groups elsewhere! Argentina are in a toughie as is Group B (Morocco are very underrated and Iran are well organised defensively). Brazil won't have it easy either and most of the groups are well balanced.

That opening game (Russia v Saudi Arabia) does not look good on paper does it? Lucky that Portugal v Spain is Day 2.

Posted by: Mack'sXmasSack 1st December 2017, 04:54 PM

A - Russia, Uruguay, Egypt, Saudi Arabia
B - Portugal, Spain, Iran, Morocco
C - France, Peru, Denmark, Australia
D - Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, Nigeria
E - Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
F - Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Korea
G - Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
H - Poland, Colombia, Senegal, Japan

Posted by: LewisGT 1st December 2017, 04:57 PM

Watching the draw always gets my so excited for the tournament. The group we got was actually 2/3 the same as the one I got on the simulator.

Can’t wait for the tournament to get under way now!

Posted by: Yuki On Ice~ 1st December 2017, 05:22 PM

I like that Group B has three countries who are about as close to each other geographically as you're going to get in a WC group, a true battle for Iberia (or IBria). In that the forerunners of Morocco used to own parts of Iberia and if one wants to stretch the analogy further, there's a bit of land in the Caucasus that used to be called Iberia that's a mere TWO countries away from Iran. Someone stop me.

Posted by: N-S 1st December 2017, 05:42 PM

2004 - Finals
2006 - Semifinals
2008 - Quarterfinals
2010 - Round 2
2012 - Semifinals

Posted by: Houdini 1st December 2017, 06:28 PM

Yeah Group F looks the toughest all round but Spain vs Portugal in Group B is the heavyweight clash of the group stage. Groups A and H look the weakest, Group A in particular. Both teams that qualify from Group A will stand very little chance of making it to the quarter finals.


Argentina & Nigeria being in the same group was destined to happen, Nigeria have been in 5 previous World Cup tournaments since their debut appearance in 1994 and they've been in the same group as Argentina on 4 of those occasions losing every single time.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 1st December 2017, 06:46 PM

Uruguay weak?

Group H is extremely well balanced in my opinion, could see any of those teams finishing in any order.

Posted by: Suedehead2 1st December 2017, 06:46 PM

It has been pointed out on Haven that Russia have got the easiest draw possible. They have got the lowest-ranked team from each pot apart from Egypt who are one place above Iran. However, as Iran and Saudi Arabia couldn't be drawn in the same group, Egypt were the lowest possible team for them to get,

Not that I'm suggesting more Putin corruption of course.

Posted by: Houdini 1st December 2017, 08:21 PM

I meant the overall standard of Group A is the weakest in my opinion compared to the other groups though Uruguay should top that group without much difficulty. Poland are very lucky that they got drawn into Group H and into pot 1 in the first place.

Posted by: ionderella 1st December 2017, 10:41 PM

indeed this was the first thing I thought of when they announced the draw too. Ha

Posted by: Rudolph 1st December 2017, 10:47 PM

England & Belgium should qualify quite easily, unless Panama do an Iceland on us that I love to see

I think the toughest group will be group B, but on paper all the groups look well placed, I can easily pick 2 countries from each group that will qualify for the next round.

Posted by: ionderella 1st December 2017, 11:05 PM

The Spain-Iran and France-Australia (and something else, as well as one quarter final) matches take place in the city I live. I remember mild craziness from this year's summer championship (whatever that was) that happened here but this will surely be something else. I mean you don't even need a visa to enter Russia if you have a ticket.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/russia-world-cup-2018-travel-warning-fans-football-official-rules-passports-crime-scams-police-a8086536.html

Well, good news it's not really the 90's anymore but I guess there is still a lot of those happening. More risk since everyone will be working double-triple shifts to scam and rob tourists. The advise I would add is - don't trust/talk to anyone unless you have no choice.

Posted by: D0bz 2nd December 2017, 02:03 AM

Sorry I really wasn't clear with my original post! I meant that they only qualified from their group because the format was expanded. in any other previous euros tournament finishing 3rd in the group stage would have meant elimination...

Posted by: Rooney 2nd December 2017, 10:27 AM

Group D is really interesting, certainly could see any of the 4 teams plausibly go through.

England got as kind of draw as they could have hoped for on paper really, but will be tough still.

Posted by: DJHazey 9th May 2018, 04:33 PM

Didn't want to start a new thread but here are the list of the pre-World Cup friendlies for all countries involved in the World Cup

Date - Venue - Matchup

5/9 - Cadiz - Algeria vs. Saudi Arabia
5/15 - Seville - Saudi Arabia vs. Greece
5/18 - Tehran - Iran vs. Uzbekistan
5/26 - Kuwait City - Kuwait vs. Egypt
5/28 - Tehran - Iran vs. Turkey
5/28 - Paris - France vs. Ireland
5/28 - Braga - Portugal vs. Tunisia
5/28 - St. Gallen - Italy vs. Saudi Arabia
5/28 - Abuja - Nigeria vs. Congo DR
5/29 - Lima - Peru - vs. Scotland
5/29 - Los Angeles - Mexico vs. Wales
5/29 - Buenos Aries - Argentina vs. Haiti
5/29 - Panama City - Panama vs. Northern Ireland
5/30 - Luxembourg - Luxembourg vs. Senegal
5/30 - Yokohama - Japan vs. Ghana
5/31 - Geneva - Morocco vs. Ukraine
6/1 - St. Polten - Czech Republic vs. Australia
6/1 - Nice - France vs. Italy
6/1 - Sion - Tunisia vs. Turkey
6/1 - Jeonju - South Korea vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
6/2 - London - England vs. Nigeria
6/2 - Stockholm - Sweden vs. Denmark
6/2 - Reykjavik - Iceland vs. Norway
6/2 - Brussels - Belgium vs. Portugal
6/2 - Klagenfurt - Austria vs. Germany
6/2 - St. Gall - Saudi Arabia vs. Peru
6/3 - Mexico City - Mexico vs. Scotland
6/3 - Liverpool - Brazil vs. Croatia
6/3 - Villarreal - Spain vs. Switzerland
6/3 - San Jose - Costa Rica vs. Northern Ireland
6/4 - Geneva - Morocco vs. Slovakia
6/4 - Moscow - Russia vs. Turkey
6/6 - Brussels - Belgium vs. Egypt
6/6 - Oslo - Norway vs. Panama
6/6 - St. Polten - Czech Republic vs. Nigeria
6/7 - Leeds - England vs. Costa Rica
6/7 - Lisbon - Portugal vs. Algeria
6/7 - Reykjavik - Iceland vs. Ghana
6/7 - TBD - South Korea vs. Bolivia
6/8 - Lugano - Switzerland vs. Japan
6/8 - Leverkusen - Germany vs. Saudi Arabia
6/8 - Montevideo - Uruguay vs. Uzbekistan
6/8 - Osijek - Croatia vs. Senegal
6/8 - Tehran - Iran vs. Lithuania
6/8 - Lugano - Switzerland vs. Japan
6/8 - Poznan - Poland vs. Chile
6/9 - Gothenburg - Sweden vs. Peru
6/9 - Budapest - Hungary vs. Australia
6/9 - Brondby - Denmark vs. Mexico
6/9 - Lyon - France vs. USA
6/9 - Krasnodar - Spain vs. Tunisia
6/9 - Tallinn - Estonia vs. Morocco
6/10 - Vienna - Austria vs. Brazil
6/11 - TBD - South Korea vs. Senegal
6/12 - Innsbruck - Paraguay vs. Japan
6/12 - Warsaw - Poland vs. Lithuania