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

World Cup 2018 could be next sport caught up in Russian doping scandal
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...uld-next-sport-caught-russian-doping-scandal/

 

Does a member here know where I can watch Egypt's qualfying games in full lenght? I just found the home fixtures vs. Congo and Uganda online.

 

1 KSA 2 EGY 3 URY 4 RUS

 

I think Egypt-Ghana are on youtube.

 

Nope. There are even barely good highlights for that game.

 

Mohamed Elneny was good against Chesea yesterday!

 

Preliminary round
Chad v Egypt 1-0
[copywrited will try to find you a link later here is a highlight though]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su-48_3ImUU

Egypt v Chad 4-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmhJZSueMXY

Group stage (last phase of qualification):
Round 1 (Congo v Egypt) 1-2
[copywrited will try to find you a link later here is a highlight though]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U2Sz_LH5h8

Round 2 (Egypt v Ghana) 2-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njyhxvewT8o

Round 3 (Uganda v Egypt) 1-0
[you're lucky I found a link cz this one is also copywrited]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NJYLeshC54

Round 4 (Egypt v Uganda) 1-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mJeJEXreY

Round 5 (Egypt v Congo) 2-1
[Long video as it contains celebrations and so]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNo_2Gy7G8k

Round 6 (Ghana v Egypt) 1-1
[copywrited will try to find you a link later, here is a highlight though]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwLSWhcdHcc

 

Thank you for your effort. Really appreciate it. That's way better than what I could find. But you see it's hard to get the games in full lenght. I will skip the Chad fixtures though. Just inrerested in the six group games.

 

Urw

It’s not common in Egypt to (re)watch the match online.. it gets even worse with other African sides that Egyptian sides (clubs and NT) have to contact the Egyptian embassy to ask for match recordings to study the opponent tactics before facing them!

Anyways.. Good luck watching over 4.5 of Hector Cuper’s football! [emoji23]

 

In terms of my rankings, the teams in this group would be graded as follows:

1- Uruguay (B+)
2- Russia (B)
2- Egypt (B)
4- Saudi Arabia (C+)

As I explained elsewhere, in general, when all other things are equal, one should expect a team I have graded a full letter grade above its opponents to win something like 8-1-1 (80% win, 10% draw, 10% loss). The chance when the difference is less than full letter grade but 2/3 (B v C+) would be something like 6-3-1 and when just 1/3 (B+ v B) would be around 5-3-2.

 

While I do agree that Russia are relative favorites to go through together with Uruguay, I think much of it is simply down to their host team status.

I see them as a fairly average team (definitely among the weaker European squads at the WC) that doesn't really have a clear edge over a very disciplined and tactically solid Egypt side that also has an excellent world-class player currently in top form among their ranks (Salah, obviously). That's assuming that Uruguay are the best team on paper here and will take one of the top two spots.

I should also point out that ever since World Cup 2002, when both South Korea and Japan were a very positive surprise (let's forget the fishy refereeing), host nations that aren't footballing superpowers have disappointed under the weight of expectations and failed to progress out of group stage at every Euro and WC. Austria/Switzerland in 2008, South Africa in 2010, Poland/Ukraine in 2012, ALL of them failed despite home status and even some rather favorable groups in certain cases. It's possible that being expected to go through by both the home and global public, as well as a political leadership that puts a lot of emphasis on sporting prestige, might heap a ton of pressure on a team that's not that great at the moment and in the process of rebuilding after very poor showings at the last two major tournaments (Euro 2016 and WC 2014). Home soil status might actually be more of a burden then a blessing for the Russians.

 

Salah is an incredible talent, and Egypt is a tournament team. They and Uruguay should advance from this group.

 

I really see Russia being "helped" into the second round. You would think that with VAR this would be impossible, but I still see it happening. I hope I am wrong.

 

Its not impossible with VAR, just look at Serie A this season. VAR is used and is sparking even more controversy. Refs can always choose when to use it.

 

what players are going to start for Russia? the best eleven for them right now

 

Not 100% sure but I can tell you some of them, assuming everyone is healthy:

Akinfeev, Cheryshev, Kokorin, Smolov, Miranchuk, Shatov.

 

"B" is too generous for Russia, imo. They've shown us no reason to get excited about them since they won their WC 2014 qualifying group.

I agree with the other 3 grades.

 

Russia's grade is boosted because of their status as hosts. Otherwise, I would have graded them lower.

 

oki thanks, i think Golovin and Kuzyayev too.
Not sure about Dzagoev.

 

Uruguay is the clear favourite to win this group. That being said I find it odd that some people on this forum considered them dark horse candidates. While their defensive core has remained intact through the years, the midfield looks lacklustre and their 2 star forwards are in the sunset of their careers. If they want to get far in the tournament the midfield has to overperform and Cavani & Suarez must not get injured. Egypt is my pick for second place. A solid team as a whole and they have a top-class player with Salah. While I want to disregard Russia as a below average team that would never have made it to the tournament if they played qualifiers, there are some factors which make me think that they can take second place: the home support and while the Russian premier league keeps going down the toilet in terms of quality they do have some promising players such as Golovin and Miranchuk. Not sure what to make of Saudi Arabia. Asian teams were already looking pretty awful back in 2014 with Japan being the sole exception(and even they shit the bed when push came to shove), the situation is arguably even worse now. I expect them to finish last. The coaching carousel is doing them no favours either.

 

Maybe just me, but i think Russia can wake up like they did Euro 2008. And i think they have improved more and more lately. But iam probably wrong

As for the asian teams, i thought they was better?
Iran 4 years better since Brazil?
Australia people say they are better now.
Japan i think they looks really interesting. Good players and a good coach.
South Korea i dont know but they didnt do well in the qualify but i must say, the two last friendles against Serbia and Colombia they really impressed me.
Saudi with Pizzi! that team that gonna prepare most, maybe they can suprise.

Iranian Monitor am i right? i think you know better about those teams

 

Very clearly, Iran is better than it was in 2014. Our group is tougher though.

Japan isn't as good as 2014 on paper or in impression, as they went to Brazil really looking good. A lot more was expected of them at the time. But they might have learned from the experience and might get better results. We have to see.Their group is pretty much the same.

Australia are also not as good as in 2014 but they have a much better group now. In 2014, they had a terrible draw. I see Australia has having a decent chance in its group.

South Korea are pretty much at the level of 2014.

Saudi Arabia wasn't at the World Cup in 2014 but have a relatively easy group. Still, even that easy group might be a challenge for them. We have to see.

p.s.
This is a good article on the Asian teams heading to Russia.
http://www.atimes.com/article/runners-riders-assessing-asian-world-cup-prospects/

 

Looks like your country is the only one that is better.

But i cant agree with you, if its like you say that Australia are not so good as 2014, no chance they can advance from that group.

 

What a side looks like heading to a tournament isn't always what they look like in the tournament itself. But at this time, the article I posted, and my assessment of these teams, reflects conventional wisdom about the Asian sides from those who follow Asian football.

With respect to Australia, their side will probably play a very different tactical style under their new coach. They have the ingredients to frustrate the sides in their group and, at least in my eyes, have a chance to grab one of the two top positions to advance.

 

With all this discussion, I am really looking forward to this World Cup!