Group G
Belgium (3)
Panama (55)
Tunisia (14)
England (13)
I have
been discussing teams based on the order in which the national team was drawn.
Hence the order is not alphabetical or based on FIFA world rankings, but in the
order in which the teams were plucked from the designated pots into the groups.
I will break away from my short tradition on this group. Why? England, that’s why.
For those who read or more likely discuss sports with me in person understand
that I see England a bit different then most of my anglophone speaking people.
To some, especially supporters of The
Three Lions, will see me as having ill will or some sort of hostility
towards the English. I can assure them and to one and all that I have no such
feelings. I study history of sports and my emphasis and main focus is football
(soccer). From what I gathered I don’t see England as elite or a world class
footballing national team. Are they good? Yes. Excellent and memorable players?
Definitely. But, to place them in the same historical category as Brazil,
Italy, Germany, France, and Argentina is a stretch too far for even the most
bias supporter. I see them closer to Uruguay. For those who are upset or
disagree with that statement by all means lets discuss it. Chances are I
already know who and why, but that will be for another time and I prefer in
person discussions.
The
reason for the clarification on my English stance will come to fruition in my
closing statements. Moving on. Belgium is national team that at the moment has
players to win a World Cup. Whether they can or can’t will be based on how they
perform in Russia this summer. A “golden generation” is what Belgium has and if
they fall short of a semi-final it will be seen as a failure.
This will
be Panama’s first World Cup appearance. Well-earned and deserved. Unfortunately,
I don’t see Los Canaieros playing a
fourth game. Tunisia won their two most recent friendlies with a score of 1-0
for both games. They were against Iran and Costa Rica, both world cup qualified
teams. As impressive as that may seem I don’t see the Tunisians beating the English
or Belgium for the first and second spot to advance to the knockout stage.
Now who
will win group G? England! I predict England finishes first and the lack of
experience from the Belgium national side will cause them to slip up and finish
behind their former EU partner. I am a fan of Gareth Southgate, the English
national team’s coach, and think he is did an excellent job managing England during
the world cup qualification stage. I mean this sincerely, I am rooting for
England to win the World Cup as my underdog team.
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