The draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was made a couple of days ago with some very interesting games to look forward to come November-December time.
The draw itself looks very open as there is no group of death and each group has one or two clear favourites to reach the last 16.
England will be more than happy with their group as they'll be facing USA, Iran and either Wales, Scotland or Ukraine. USA will be the tough game in their group as they have given England a tough game in the past and have a fairly exciting young team. Wales or Scotland could also be a challenging game depending on who wins that play off. But England should still have enough to beat either of them and reach the last 16.
Holders France also have a winnable group as they'll be up against Denmark, Tunisia and either UAE, Australia or Peru. The pressure may be on the French as the last three holders of the World Cup in Italy (2006), Spain (2010) and Germany (2014) have all gone out at the group stage the following World Cup. But they should still have more than enough to qualify from this group and go far because of the squad of players they have.
Holland arguably have the most straightforward group as they'll be facing hosts Qatar, AFCON champions Senegal and Ecuador. With the quality of players they're likely to take with them, the Dutch should win their group reasonably comfortably as the other teams don't have enough players than are similar in quality.
Brazil also have a straightforward as they'll be facing teams they'll be expecting to beat in Serbia, Switzerland Cameroon. But Switzerland may be a test for them as they drew with them at the last World Cup in the group stages. Despite that the record winners should still have more than enough to win their group.
Group E, Group F and Group H look set to be two horse races as they all have two clear favourites to reach the last 16. Group E should see Spain and Germany qualify comfortably over Japan and either Costa Rica or New Zealand, Group F should see Belgium and Croatia finish above both Canada and Morocco whilst Portugal and Uruguay should coast through Group H finishing above Ghana and South Korea.
The closest we have to a group of death has to be Group C which contains Argentina, Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia. Argentina will be expected to win the group with someone like Lionel Messi in their side whilst second spot is likely to be a battle between Mexico and Poland. Mexico will probably be the favourites as they have a good record of making the last 16 having reached it for the last six World Cup. Poland do have hope in talisman Robert Lewandowski, but their recent record in major tournaments has been pretty poor.
FULL WORLD CUP DRAW:
GROUP A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Holland
GROUP B: England, Iran, USA, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine
GROUP C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
GROUP D: France, UAE/Australia/Peru, Denmark, Tunisia
GROUP E: Spain, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Germany, Japan
GROUP F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
GROUP G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
GROUP H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
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