Dates, times and venues are now finalised.
England v Iran will be the second match of the tournament at 1pm on Monday November 21st.
England v USA is at the more enticing time of 7pm on Friday November 25th.
Spain v Germany is at 1pm on Sunday November 27th, clashing with the Ulster club football final.
That Brazil/Serbia/Switzerland/Cameroon group is a doozy. I think all of Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland are better than in 2018.
Would you think Brazil are better now? They were actually fairly good in 2018. Took probably the performance of the tournament by Belgium to beat them.
They only lost that game as well because Casemiro was injured/suspended and Fernandinho came in and was atrocious
Theyâve some fairly average players in their team still donât they?
Looking there and theyve won their last 3 games 4-0 tbf although South America is gone very weak
Lads on here have been talking up Serbia as potential winners of this tournament despite their inability to beat us in Dublin. Theyâll be in a 50-50 situation with the Swiss again Iâd say. They actually would have knocked Brazil out if theyâd beaten in the final round of group games in 2018.
Underdogs donât win World Cups. Lads can forget about Serbia. I think the Swiss will knock them out again
I suspect so. Tite has been over them a good while now. Aging figures in defence would be a concern for them but they have excellent defensive midfield options. Iâd imagine their experiences at recent World Cups will have knocked some humility into them.
Looks like a possible Brazil v Spain quarter-final if both win their groups.
That said, Brazil are in the sort of group where they could go out in the first round and their likely last 16 tie doesnât look very easy either, probably against either Portugal or Uruguay.
Will be fascinating to see how the lack of preparation time affects teams and who copes best with it.
Are there any half decent teams out there who donât have a lot of players playing in Europe?
The US? I see the MLS season is finishing up on October 9th which is very early. I wonder could that give them an advantage.
If France get their shit together theyâll win it out.
The likes of alex telles, Fred, countinho and neymar are still starting for Brazil. Hard to see them being good enough.
Most of their talented players are in the front 3 and they will all be European based. Be interesting to see how Canada go. Somebody mentioned here that England could run into Senegal in the round of 16. Now thereâs a proper banana skin for England. They could easily lose that.
I would have thought that in a situation where there is very little preparation time having a world class ball playing midfielder would be heightened in importance. Serbia have that in Tadic and theyâre a beautiful ball playing team in general. Like, the importance of Modric as the central figure in the 2018 tournament as it wore on couldnât be underestimated.
Xhaka turns into that player when he plays for Switzerland
A lot less time to prepare for this World Cup. I think players will be only together for ten days as opposed to three weeks for a normal World Cup.
Also players wonât be as tired so it might suit underdogs with smaller squads. Bigger nations will be able to rotate and handle injuries better.
Being in the winter is a game changer.
Have Argentina and Messi any hope iyo?
The unfamiliar conditions and circumstances could see a raft of shocks like 2002 or 2010 where a few big guns get bundled out in the group stage
Tadic might be too far forward to do have that control over a game against strong opposition though.
Iâm throwing my weight behind by beloved Uruguayanâs and my not so beloved Daneâs.
Iâd probably agree though I think Spain have a decent shout too, especially if they could get a decent striker.
Iâd be looking at the Dutch as dark horses to get to the semis purely based on the draw, it has been very kind to them.
In theoretical terms the draw looks something like this:
Top half
Holland v USA
Argentina v Denmark
Spain v Croatia
Brazil v Uruguay
Bottom half
England v Senegal
France v Mexico
Belgium v Germany
Portugal v Switzerland
Only one African team there. Theyâll thrive in Qatar.
Spain are going to win this.