Group L preview
Croatia: Having made the semi-finals and final in the last two World Cups Croatia have massively over-performed expectations and I wonder if this sides best days are behind them, the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Ante Budimir, Andrej Kramaric’s all best days are behind them despite Modric being Milan’s best player this season at 40 years of age. They do have some top players coming through the ranks like Martin Baturina, Peter Sucic, Luka Vuksovic etc who are well capable of leading this Croatia side in the future so I’d expect them yet again to have a good tournament this time around in the USA, they find themselves in an interesting group with England, Ghana and Panama that they’ll be confident of qualifying from given Ghana’s recent struggles and the lack of quality from Panama. I think the making the quarter-finals would be success for this Croatia team depending on the draw and they could easily go further like we’ve seen in the past, could it be another tournament to remember for Croatia?
Player to watch: Martin Baturina
England: The Three Lions are led into this tournament by Thomas Tuchel who whilst being an excellent cup manager I do have reservations about particularly with the squad he’s chosen, leaving out Harry Maguire after having a brilliant season with Man United is crazy along with leaving the likes of Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer at home to bring Djed Spence and Jordan Henderson. They do go into the tournament with arguably the current favourite for the Balon D’Or in Harry Kane after scoring over 60 goals for Bayern last season so if he has a good tournament he could be the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen, the rest of the squad is obviously filled with star quality but I do think England will come up just short again at a major tournament based on just how strong the other favourites in the tournament are.
Player to watch: Jude Bellingham(point to prove)
Ghana: I think it’s safe to say that Ghana’s preparation for this tournament has been a complete disaster, they lost their last six matches before drawing to Wales and after not qualifying for the last AFCON things are looking scary for Ghana heading into this World Cup. They do have a relatively strong squad with the likes of Antoine Semenyo, Inaki Williams, Kamaldeen Sulemana all having top level experience but the disarray leading up to this tournament is most likely going to halt them from going far in this World Cup, they do have a new manager for the tournament in Carlos Queiroz who is no stranger to major international tournaments having managed Iran, Portugal and Egypt in the past to World Cups. Can Ghana get their act together in time for the first game against Panama? We’ll have to wait and see.
Player to watch: Abdul Fatawu
Panama: Panama are heading to the World Cup eight years after they qualified for the first time back in 2018 and are looking to avenge what was a pretty disastrous tournament last time out, they made it through qualifying unbeaten but do find themselves in a group which most people will predict they’ll finish bottom in. They don’t have any players you’ll probably recognise but under Thomas Christiansen they have built an identity completely different to that of 2018 in that they are a high pressing side similar to Austria and will look to win the ball up high and create chances through that avenue, at times it will leave them open at the back but if they want any chance of going through they’ll have to win a game so attacking high might not be a bad idea. With Ghana’s current situation I could see Panama possibly sneaking that 3rd spot if they play to their full potential, watch out for them at this World Cup.
Player to watch: Kadir Barria
Overall prediction for the group:
1.England
2.Croatia
3.Ghana
4.Panama