WC 2018, Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay

I would favor Egypt over Wales but I am also not sure why we have this discussion anyway? This group is definitely very weak and one of the weakest in recent memory. However, the group is at least interesting in that its rather balanced; the differences between the different teams in this group can definitely be overstated. To me, there isn't much to differentiate any of Russia, Uruguay and Egypt. And even Saudi Arabia aren't so far behind these teams not to be able to pull off some result against any of them.

 

The reason we came into this discussion was because we were talking this group vs Russia's Group in Euro 2016.

 

Russia are hosts this time around. And being World Cup hosts with the world watching, they will have focused on preparing their side for this tournament in a way that isn't going to compare to Euro 2016 (or even to the Confederations Cup which they hosted). For that reason, while I don't rate Russia that highly if they weren't hosts, as hosts they will likely advance from this group and the real question will be whether they will be joined by Uruguay or, less likely, Egypt.

 

I kind of agree with you. Also keep in mind Euro 2016 was right after Russia sacked Capello, so they were a little in crisis, and the CSKA coach took over temporarily for Euro 2016 until they find someone new. So that Russia was not necessarily in the best form and not prepared well as a team. This Russia will likely be quite a bit better for all the reasons you pointed out.

On another note in 2017 Confederations Cup, Russia did not field their strongest squad. Kokorin, Dzuyba, Cheryshev, Shatov, Berezutski, Smolov, and Neustadter were all missing from the Confederations Cup Squad.

 

Why were they missing?

 

Dzuyba and Cheryshev were injured. Kokorin I think was supposedly involved in some fixing scandal that proved not to be the case later on. I am not sure about the rest, but I know they were missing for some reason.

 

I know Russia didn't use its first choice keeper against Iran, but had this lineup and used these subs in our recent friendly. How close is this lineup to the side that we are to see in the World Cup? (I have highlighted 2 of the players you mentioned - Krokorin and Smolov - that were in their lineup against Iran. I noticed another one, Neustadter, among Russia's unused subs but the rest of the players you mentioned don't appear to be favored by their coach right now).

https://www.theguardian.com/football/match/2017/oct/10/russia-v-iran

• Andrey Lunev
• Ilya Kutepov
• Konstantin Rausch
• Viktor Vasin
• Mario Fernandes
• Dmitri Tarasov
• Aleksey Miranchuk
• Alexander Erokhin
• Fedor Kudryashov
• Fedor Smolov
• Aleksandr Kokorin
• Georgiy Dzhikija (s 46')
• Dmitry Poloz (s 56')
• Daler Kuzyaev (s 64')
• Anton Zabolotny (s 84')
• Alexander Samedov (s 67')

Unused substitutes

• Igor Akinfeev
• Roman Neustadter
• Vladimir Granat
• Yury Zhirkov
• Magomed Ozdoev
• Igor Smolnikov
• Vladimir Gabulov

 

Cheryshev will be a starter at the World Cup, if he is fit. He is arguably their best midfielder but very injury prone which is why you have seen him missing a lot, especially since Russia did not really have any competitive matches since Euro 2016, they didn't want to call Cheryshev up too much when he was struggling to stay fit. If he is healthy and fit he will definitely be starting.

Dzuyba is one of Russia's best strikers up front. He was getting over a ligament injury in the summer, so he has not been in the best form, although he did play a few of Russia's recent previous friendlies like against Costa Rica. He should be there, but I am not sure if he will start or not. Smolov is having a great season and might put Dzuyba on the bench if he continues his form.

Shatov should be there but he is not usually a starting player. He has actually not been used much recently due to tactical reasons, but he should be at the World Cup.

Berezutski I am not sure if he will be there or not. He is normally a great defender but has not been having a really good season so far. If he picks it up in the second half of the season, then he will be in contention for a starting place, but I think the coach is not happy with his form so far. He has dipped in form a lot this season.

 

No russian guy here?

 

They are all too busy hacking into foreign governments' computers.

 

hahahah

 

saudi arabia is paying la liga teams to take their players. this is beyond pathetic.

https://www.kingfut.com/2018/01/21/...pain-in-saudi-arabia-and-la-liga-partnership/

 

Can you explain this better? I am confused. What do you mean by take their players?

 

The article says that nine Saudi internationals will be "on loan" to various La Liga teams for the rest of this season. This is presumably to get them ready for the World Cup.

I don't see anywhere in the article that it says the Saudis will "pay" to have their players go to Spain, although I suppose it is implied. It also doesn't say they are guaranteed playing time in matches. They may end up sitting on the bench for five months with the La Liga teams.

It would be ironic if Saudi and Spain ended up meeting in the second round. Presumably the Spanish don't see much chance of that, or they would never had agreed to this deal.

 

Yea i was thinking on that too, if they ended up meeting in the second round.
I always said i think Saudi have a chance to advance, the opening match, if Russia cant controll the nerves, and Egypt, derby is awlays a derby.
But good for Saudi this.

 

Have you seen Saudi play very much. The only match I saw of theirs was the final group match against Japan. Saudi needed to win the match to qualify for the World Cup, while Japan had already qualified, so just about the last place on earth they wanted to be that night was playing an away match in Saudi Arabia. Still, Japan generally had the better chances, including two shots cleared off the Saudi goal line, and it was only a goal somewhat out of the blue that gave Saudi the win they needed. But I was not impressed with them at all.

 

No doubt the Saudis weren't all that impressive. But while they would clearly rank behind everyone else in this group, none of the other teams in this group are that impressive either. Indeed, from what little I have seen from Egypt compared to some Egyptian sides that didn't make the World Cup, I consider this Egypt team less impressive notwithstanding Salah. Russia are hosts but otherwise they wouldn't rank highly either. And Uruguay aren't all that great to think they will be able to beat up on any of their rivals.

I hate almost everything about Saudi Arabia, including their football. But I can't deny they have a chance in this group. Not much of a chance, but enough. Egypt, Uruguay and Russia aren't significantly better (if at all) compared to the teams the Saudis had to face in their qualifying group, in particular Japan and Australia.

 

The host nations have played 9 times in the WC opening game with a record of 6-3-0. RIP Saudi Arabia.

1934 Italy 7-1 USA
1950 Brazil 4-0 Mexico
1958 Sweden 3-0 Mexico
1962 Chile 3-1 Switzerland
1966 England 0-0 Uruguay
1970 Mexico 0-0 Soviet Union
2006 Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
2010 South Africa 1-1 Mexico
2014 Brazil 3-1 Croatia

 

I'm not a fan of Uruguay (primarily due to Suarez--as my 11 year old daughter calls him, the "vampire guy"), but there is no denying their quality. You don't finish 2nd in CONMEBOL qualifying ahead of Argentina, etc., if you're not a pretty solid side.

As for Russia, playing at home has to be worth at least a goal a game for the Russians, which is probably more than Saudi is capable of scoring in Moscow. So I think it is likely the Saudis lose their first two matches and are the first team eliminated.

I don't think they will be missed too much.

 

Funniest photoshop from WC 2014:

 

But i just explained why, derby is a derby and if the Russian players cant handle the nerves. They played oki with bert van marwijk i think, they scored some nice goals too.
And they gonna have much time together before the world cup, maybe Pizzi can do something with the team.

 

I don't get why you call the match with Egypt a "derby". They've played twice in the last 25 years. Egypt and the Saudis are not heated rivals. They rarely play each other.

As for the Russians, take a look at the record of World Cup hosts in their first match. The hosts have never lost.

 

Because i have read everywhere they call it a arab derby.

And i think Russian gonna win but i say their is a chance.

And sometimes must be the first time.