A little more than a month remains before the start of the World Cup. It’s time to get to know the participants in detail and sort out all the hands before the start of the group tournament. Group B will be at the epicenter of our attention today. England, Wales, the USA and Iran will play in this quartet.
England
Main stars: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho.
Best result at the World Cup: Victory (1966)
More than 50 years have passed since the last and only resounding victory of the founders of football. England were incredibly close to winning the Euro last summer, but failed to keep the lead and eventually lost on penalties to the Italians.
England is traditionally included in the list of favorites of all possible tournaments. If we evaluate the personnel potential, here at the “Three Lions” everything is very cool, but the latest results are very alarming. For example, in the League of Nations, the British failed to win a single match, took last place and went down in class. The team goes to the World Cup with an anti-record streak of 6 games without a win.
The main question is, what kind of England is real – the one that was at the Euro a year ago or the one that failed in the LN? In the first round, Southgate’s men will face Iran. BC Mostbetuz considers England the clear favorite of the meeting and offers a coefficient of 1.30 for its victory.
Wales
Main stars: Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen.
Best result at the World Cup: 1/4 (1958).
Wales became the last European team to qualify for the World Cup. The Welsh got into the play-offs and there they managed to beat Austria first, and then Ukraine.
The team is entirely dependent on its leader, Gareth Bale. For many years he has looked extremely modest at the club level, but in the national team he regularly turns into a top-level player. In general, Wales are a very experienced team that completes its cycle with the top and peak – reaching the World Cup. The lion’s share of the leaders, for sure, will leave the national team after this tournament, therefore, they will want to slam the door loudly.
USA
Main stars: Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, Weston McKenny.
Best World Cup result: Third place (1930)
The United States, together with Mexico, will host the next World Cup in 2026. However, this is a matter for the days to come, and today the Americans already have a high-quality and balanced line-up, which has quite ambitious goals, at least reaching the playoffs.
The backbone of the US team plays in European clubs, and many players even in teams with the prefix “top”. This is still a young, but already quite strong and downed team. The main hopes are connected with the flanks of the attack in the face of Pulisic and Reina.
Iran
Main stars: Serdar Azmoun, Mehdi Taremi, Ehsan Hajsafi.
Best World Cup result: group stage (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018)
Iran is rightfully considered one of the strongest teams on its continent. The team regularly gets to the world championships, but so far can not overcome the barrier of the group stage.
The main hopes of the team are connected with the coaching genius of Carlos Queiroz. The Portuguese recently returned to the well-known national team and is preparing it for the World Cup. Special tactical variability should not be expected. Iran will try to play as reliably as possible in defense and rely on the fast players of the attack group.
Our forecast
If England manages to tune in correctly and defeat the “inner demons”, no one will be able to prevent her from taking first place. But all three remaining teams will claim the second line. We will still give our preference to the United States, because this team looks a little more balanced than Wales and Iran.
