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Germany are the defending world champions and head to Russia this summer among the favourites to repeat their success from four years ago.
Joachim Löw’s side were 1-0 winners after extra time in the final versus Argentina in 2014, after humiliating hosts Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals.
Brazil are the current favourites for the tournament with Betfair’s odds on the World Cup 2018 having the South Americans at 5.6, closely followed by Germany at 5.9.
Spain, France and Argentina are the next most-likely nations to lift the trophy this summer according to the betting exchange.
Today we’re going to look at Group G which is made up of Belgium, England, Panama and Tunisia. This means the group consists of two of the top seven favourites and a debutant:
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Belgium
Belgium will be participating in their 13th World Cup this summer, though only their third this millennium.
The Red Devils were many people’s outsiders for the tournament four years ago but after only narrowly edging out the USA in the second round they were beaten 1-0 by Argentina in the quarter-finals. Belgium were poor in attack under Wilmots, but head to Russia with Roberto Martinez and Thierry Henry in charge.
Brazil 2014, where they lost in the quarters, was Belgium’s best finish at a World Cup since their fourth place in Mexico 1986. They will be expecting much more in Russia and are heavily expected to win Group G this summer.
This squad is without doubt Belgium’s golden generation with a couple of the very top players in world football: Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard.
Belgium also have a top goalkeeper in Thibaut Courtois, protected by top defenders Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, Thomas Vermaelen and Thomas Meunier.
Romelu Lukaku faces competition from Michy Batshuayi up front, whilst Christian Benteke has struggled badly at Crystal Palace this season so is unlikely to feature. The strikers will be supplied by the likes of Dries Mertens, Radja Nainggolan, Yannick Carrasco and Mousa Dembele.
With odds of 13.0, Belgium are the sixth favourites to go all the way in Russia and are creeping up on a few World Cup winner predictions across the internet.
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England
One of only eight nations to have ever won the World Cup, it’s been more than five decades since England enjoyed their success and, but for a minor miracle, the Three Lions won’t be coming out on top in Russia either.
Their best finish since 1966 was fourth in 1990 after losing to West Germany on penalties in the semi-final. However, the once proud nation has had some poor showings of late – humiliation by Germany in the second round at South Africa 2010 was followed by exiting at the group stage after only two games four years ago.
England will be participating in their 14th World Cup this summer, having qualified for each tournament since missing out on USA 94. They were comfortable in qualifying, as they often have been in recent years, but they continually fail to show up at the big tournaments.
Gareth Southgate’s side are reliant on striker Harry Kane for goals whilst this is arguably their weakest defence on paper for a while. Neither Raheem Sterling, Jamie Vardy nor Dele Alli have been prolific at international level. Though the group stage draw has been favourable they’ll do well to get past the second round.
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Panama
Along with Iceland, Panama are one of two nations making their World Cup debut this summer.
The country is small in size, as it is in football history, but the four million population in the Central American country were delighted and proud of their country’s achievement in qualifying in October, 2017.
Heading into their final qualifying match, Panama had not occupied one of the qualifying births throughout. To get through they required a victory over Costa Rica and for already-eliminated Trinidad and Tobago to do the same against the USA.
That’s exactly what happened. Panama had to come from behind before winning with just two minutes to go thanks to centre-back Roman Torres. The video of the goal and celebrations is sure to be shown time and again in the build up to this summer’s World Cup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNKzN7wysj8
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Tunisia
Tunisia are one of five African nations to qualify for Russia 2018 and it will be the North African country’s fifth World Cup.
In fact, Tunisia have not won a single game in a finals tournament since their first ever, when they beat Mexico in 1978. Their record in their last three World Cups have been identical – one draw and two losses each time.
Tunisia made relatively light work of their qualifying campaign, though the 0-0 draw with Libya that was enough to secure their place wasn’t as easy as it could have been.
Nabil Maaloul’s side start their campaign against England and realistically need to avoid defeat in their opener if they want to progress beyond the group stage for the first time.
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Written by Ketan Patel
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