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. :lol:

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!

France will never win with deschamps in charge!

 

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

France will never win with deschamps in charge!

 

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

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.

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

 

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.

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

 

Bit like Costa Rica four years ago then. :lol:

 

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 :lol:

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.

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

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.

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

Edited December 1, 20177 yr by Houdini

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?

 

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

Edited December 1, 20177 yr by N-S

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

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.

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.

 

 

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.

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

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. :lol:

 

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

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.

 

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.

 

2004 - Finals

2006 - Semifinals

2008 - Quarterfinals

2010 - Round 2

2012 - Semifinals

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.

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.