WORLD CUP-All now seems set for the 2018 World Cup finals slated to hold on the Siberian Peninsula- Russia. The highly anticipated draw for the group stages has been made and each participating team is now aware of its opponents in the group phase of the perhaps football’s biggest and most watched event.
England, an outside contender to win the trophy for the first time since 1966, will take on Belgium, Panama and Tunisia in Group G , and will face one of Poland, Senegal, Colombia or Japan should they reach the last 16. Gaffer, Gareth Southgate has opined that the Red Devils of Belgium are somewhat group favourites ahead of the three lions.
In the other groups, we have:
Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay
Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran
Group C: France, Australia, Peru, Denmark
Group D: Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
Group G: Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England
Group H: Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan
The summer showpiece event will be without several popular faces, as the qualifying phase proved to be too strong for the countries of some star players. At some point during the course of the famously rigorous South American marathon qualification rounds, it seemed as if two-time champions Argentina will miss out. Thereby denying Barcelona ace, Lionel Messi, arguably his last real shot at winning a major international honour. But Messi-inspired comeback win against Ecuador on the last day of the qualifiers ensured the iconic number ten and the star studded Argentine team led by Coach Jorge Sampaoli will again grace the Summer shiw piece event. Chile, back to back South American Champions, were perhaps the biggest casualty of the South American qualifying phase as they were unable to even make the playoff spot following a dismal 3:0 defeat at the hands of table topping Brazil. Consequently, the likes of Arsenal’s Alexis Sanches, who may be at a new club by the time the event kicks off, Arturo Vidal of Bayern Munich and Claudio Bravo will among the host of Chile stars who will have to watch the games from their homes. Meanwhile Gianluigi Buffon and Arjen Robben will not be making the flight as their National teams- Italy and Netherlands respectively-failed to qualify same with Pusilic whose USA team had a dismal qualifying run.
Former World most expensive player and Real Madrid star forward Gareth Bale will not be teaming up with Wales as they were second best in their group; Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Turkey and Norway will also be watching the tournament from home.
Cameroon and Ghana both failed to qualify from Africa along with Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria, who had a dismal qualifying campaign. China will also not be in Russia, along with Ecuador and Venezuela.
The World Cup gets underway on Thursday, June 14, with hosts Russia kicking it all off against Saudi Arabia at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, the same venue where the final will take place on July 15.