This group looks a foregone conclusion with two clear favorites and two weaker teams. Belgium should be strong enough to win this group with their star studded squad. Their warm up games before the tournament they have been playing well and scoring for fun. If they can keep Eden Hazard fit and strong they could finally live up to their potential and go far. England should take second place and should have more than enough to beat Tunisia and Panama, maybe even take something from the Beglian game if they play to their potential. However the thing both Belgium and England have on their sdie, their game between eachother is the final one of the group meaning if they win both previous games they will be through before kick off. Tunisia are an ok side and are the third best in the group, but they should not really be a match for England or Belgium. They gave good accounts of themselves in their warm up games before the World Cup, but they will need an even better performance to get out of this group. Panama are the final team here and well, it is just an amazing story that they have made it here for the tournament. The best they can hope for it scoring a goal or two, it would be a bigger miracle than Iceland if they managed to pick up some points.
Predictions 1st - Belgium 2nd - England 3rd - Tunisia 4th - Panama
Squads
Goalkeepers Thibaut Courtois - - Simon Mignolet - Koen Casteels Defenders Toby Alderweireld - Thomas Vermaelen - Vincent Kompany - Jan Vertonghen - Thomas Meunier - Dedryck Boyata - Leander Dendoncker Midfielders Axel Witsel - Kevin De Bruyne - Marouane Fellaini - Yannick Carrasco - Thorgan Hazard - Youri Tielemans - Mousa Dembélé - Nacer Chadli Forwards Romelu Lukaku - Eden Hazard (captain) - Dries Mertens - Adnan Januzaj - Michy Batshuayi
Goalkeepers Jaime Penedo - José Calderón - Álex Rodríguez Defenders Michael Amir Murillo - Harold Cummings - Fidel Escobar - Román Torres - Adolfo Machado - Erick Davis - Luis Ovalle - Felipe Baloy (captain) Midfielders Gabriel Gómez - Édgar Bárcenas - Armando Cooper - Valentín Pimentel - Ricardo Ávila - Aníbal Godoy - José Luis Rodríguez Forwards Blas Pérez - Gabriel Torres - Ismael Díaz - Abdiel Arroyo - Luis Tejada
Goalkeepers Jordan Pickford - Jack Butland - Nick Pope Defenders Kyle Walker - Danny Rose - John Stones - Harry Maguire - Kieran Trippier - Gary Cahill - Phil Jones - Fabian Delph - Ashley Young - Trent Alexander-Arnold Midfielders Eric Dier - Jesse Lingard - Jordan Henderson - Dele Alli - Ruben Loftus-Cheek Forwards Harry Kane (captain) - Raheem Sterling - Jamie Vardy - Danny Welbeck - Marcus Rashford
Fixtures and Results
Monday, Jun 18 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Monday, Jun 18 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Saturday, Jun 23 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Sunday, Jun 24 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Thursday, Jun 28 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Thursday, Jun 28 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
CSS: FO-nTTaX Graphics: Sneirac Awesomeness: Panda
(Vote): England & Belgium (Vote): Tunisia & Panama (Vote): Panama & Belgium (Vote): England & Tunisia (Vote): Belgium & Tunisia (Vote): England & Panama
Poll: Who Do You Want To Advance?
Tunisia & Panama (6)
46%
England & Belgium (5)
38%
Panama & Belgium (1)
8%
Belgium & Tunisia (1)
8%
England & Tunisia (0)
0%
England & Panama (0)
0%
13 total votes
Your vote: Who Do You Want To Advance?
(Vote): England & Belgium (Vote): Tunisia & Panama (Vote): Panama & Belgium (Vote): England & Tunisia (Vote): Belgium & Tunisia (Vote): England & Panama
Given how the favorites are playing, perhaps this is the group to watch! Outside of their respective countries, there are zero expectations for England or Belgium to do much of anything. So, clearly their chance to shine!
Lukaku was amazing in the last friendly, scored two goals, got one assist and did not manage to properly control a single pass he received, so weird to see a high caliber player with such a low technique.
Hazard has been "amazing" in training and pre tournament games, Tibo even citing this is the best Hazrd has ever looked. If that is the case...well i fear for everyone who plays them.
Nah Hazard was not so good, the opponents defended very lightly being very careful to not harm him and Hazard was way too selfish. He won't get as much freedom in a world cup game, we've seen the refs are slow to give yellows so far.
On June 18 2018 23:23 Acrofales wrote: And they went and destroyed my fantasy league. I was convinced Dembele would start, and made him my captain after Neymar was pathetic.