Who will win this group of death?

Group of death? lol

 

Saudi Arabia will win this group of death. My vote goes to their jockey cousins.

 

LOL this is the group of life. Belgium should win it with England second.

 

Actual fans that show up to Panama vs Tunisia.... Over/Under 5000?

 

Belgium with England in second. The game between those two should be fun.

 

I think this is the most predictable group by far, really can't see anything other than England and Belgium.

Actually the most interesting thing about this group is who is better between the worst concacaf and worst caf side in this tournament.

 

I'm going with Tunisia between those two.

 

You are exaggerating too much, Tunisia are not the kind of team that losing heavily like 0-4, 0-5.
You maybe comparing apples to oranges, you probably meant worst caf team due to their style of play as they are too defensive minded and that by no means as a weak side as a matter of fact they were always a decent side in the past world cups. Not a superb nor a weak, a decent team.
I still remember in 2006 giving a great spanish side a run for their money then it was 50-50 game with the eventual quarter-finalist Ukraine who awarded a controversial penalty in that match.
Even down 0-2 to DR Congo through this campaign they never fail to comeback in front of 80,000 spectators in Kinshasa that amazing, they beat also Guinea 4-1 on their home soil.
Perhaps they are the lowest african level in this tournament but a pretty solid team to me.

 

Belgium and England both are the favorites to win this group.
Panama by far the weakest team in this tournament, as a newcomer with no experience at all.
Panama at the world cup it could be like Trinidad and Tobago 2006/Honduras 2010 (solid and a decent performance by the way) or either be Jamaica 1998/Honduras 2014 (an extremely poor team), Panama isnt USA.
So arguably Tunisia most likely will cause the danger in this group, they always plays with a clever tactics and brave defending, Tunisia in their games will play ugly football and boring 90 minutes but at the same time are a very capable at getting results from either Belgium or England.
If you look at the world cup history the matches between Belgium or England vs northern african teams are always really close affairs due to their style.
England vs Morocco 0-0 (1986)
England vs Egypt 1-0 (1990)
Belgium vs Morocco 1-0 (1994)
England vs Tunisia 2-0 (1998)
Belgium vs Tunisia 1-1 (2002)
England vs Algeria 0-0 (2010)
Belgium vs Algeria 2-1 (2014)
The northern african teams plays similar to the european as a team effort, a well organised and discipline while the western african teams more of individual skill and talent, they plays attacking approach but sometimes naive in defending.
Can't take anything for granted.

 

This is the most boring and predictable group, Belgium to easily win this with lucky England getting second but I see England losing some points against both Tunisia and even Panama.

 

As long as there are goals! In the post-match interview with Hazard today they asked him about Belgium drawing England and he said he was excited and the whole team is buzzing as many of them play in the EPL. The English TV panel then asked him jokingly 'please let's have a draw and we'll both go through'. So now I hope one of these two teams 'drop' points to Panama or Tunisia and we get a more meaningful match (more than just for who tops the group, maybe to eliminate one or the other

 

They'll most likely play hard to get the first spot.

 

I'm only crossing my fingers for Tunisia or Panama to shock the system in this group, but I'm not keeping my hopes up.

I expect Tunisia to play much like Algeria in 2010. This will likely be the most boring group.

 

I will take the "over".
This is Panama's first World Cup ever. I think 5K fans from Panama /New York/ Florida will show up on their own. The hype and the Buzz in that country is epic.
Tunisia will bring more than one person. And Russian fans get a discount on their tickets so I will say something like 25-30K actual fans in the stadium.

 

Belgium
Tunisia
Panama
England

 

Maybe if half the England team get some rare disease or something.

 

England again overestimates its talent and underestimates its opponents, and will fall flat on its face with Panama going through.

I see England getting the win over Tunisia Matchday 1 and coming out of it typically overconfident, with English pundits even talking such nonsense as winning the group. For the other matchday 1 game, I see Panama bunkering, but eventually conceding 1-0 or 2-0 to Belgium.

On matchday 2, England will be looking past Panama toward Belgium, and Panama will pull the upset leaving England shocked, whining, and wondering, per usual.

Panama will get a result on matchday 3 against Tunisia, with England getting destroyed by Belgium even though Belgium won't have a whole lot to play for at that point.

Belgium 9
Panama 4
England 3
Tunisia 1

England currently 6 to 1 to be eliminated during group play is a juicy price.

 

To keep things in a realistic perspective let's look and see what happend to Panama the last time they were on a really big stage (the biggest stage they can be on other than a World Cup.)

They lost 4-2 to Chile and 5-0 to Argentina in the Copa America Centenario 2016.
They did get three points against Bolivia though (2-1). Arguably the worst team in South America, but hey, they got three points. Hooray.

 

Yes, and Chile and Argentina were the finalists of that tournament. Not exactly the easiest group draw. They even had a lead against Chile. Your point?

 

My point is a team like Belgium and a team like England should beat them.
Their Defense is way too leaky outside of Panama to think otherwise.

 

Dude.... England isn't even close to the same level as Chile and Argentina. England would rarely qualify out of Commebol. To use those two teams as some sort of barometer of England's near assurance of advancing in this group over Panama is just adding to my argument of the absurd overestimation of talent by England and the people who believe in them.

I'm not sitting here saying England is a bad side by any means, but c'mon. People acting like they're a world class side are just setting themselves up for disappointment. See WC 2010, WC 2014, Euro 2008 Qualifying, Euro 2016.

Wake up. When is the last time England was remotely a contender in a senior tournament and went on a run? I'm aware that they are a much better side than Panama, but the truth is, they are closer to Panama than they are to Germany.

 

The argument is not if England is closer to Panama. The argument is do I think Panama gives up too many goals to be considered a contender in this Group.
They just don't have the horses to win against either of the favorites in this Group.

I do believe that they capable of doing what T&T did to Sweden in 2006 to either Belgiun or England though.
But I am not expecting much more than that. I am thinking they will more than likely lose to Belgium after giving their all and then not being able to beat England either in back-to-back games against teams with good offensive talent they have not seen since the Copa.

 

What is it with Americans always underrating England? Alexi Lalas always loves to say "Maybe you're not that good." I feel like its personal with England sometimes.

They're my second favorite side after Mexico. They will cruise through the group stages. I agree they play flat and without heart often times, but the talent is there. In spite of their shortcomings mentally, they've been doing great these past few months.