Group L's General Discussion Thread

This will be interesting. I do think Croatia has recovered from Euro 2024 slip, but still not the Croatia of 2018 or even 2022. Still a Top team though with a world class coach in Zlatko Dailc.

That being said I also think England have improved since Tuchel took over from Southgate and even if Croatia vs England ends in a draw, England will definitely win on goal difference against the other teams compared to Croatia.

I say:
1. England
2. Croatia
3. Ghana
4. Panama

 

The England squad will be announced tomorrow. This is someone looking for clicks.

 

Some surprising picks from Tuchel. I think he could have made England's attack more dangerous. Toney is a huge question mark. Eze, Rashford and Madueke were just ok/decent this season, nothing special.

Palmer will be hugely disappointed. He hasn't progressed like we thought he would after the Euros just two years ago, but neither has Bellingham.

 

Definitely some surprises. Chelsea have been a disaster zone, which has affected Palmer. Toney takes a great penalty but should you select players for that reason? The third striker was going to be a weak point whichever option was selected. Apparently Toney was surprised and was at the US Embassy applying for his visa yesterday. At least Tuchel has picked the players that he wants rather than the public and media. We have to trust that he knows a lot more about building a squad than they or I do. It would have been easy to overload the squad with attacking midfielders because that is where the strength is, instead he has picked more defenders, which is the weak point.

 

to be fair, many of the players that Tuchel picked contributed to England’s success in qualifying and are the ones that got England to the World Cup. The only real huge surprise to me is leaving out Foden and Trent Alexander Arnold; but besides those 2, England does have a lot of depth.

 

My extreme hot take (pre-Carrasquilla injury but still the concept holds) is that Panama will do OK in this group.

- Play twice in Toronto, which allows them to set up a base camp just north of the city as one of the very few teams in the tournament to play B2B games in the same venue. Their 336 miles travelled in group stage (ie a flight from Toronto to New Jersey before MD3) is the fourth lowest of anyone in the tournament

- They are familiar with Toronto and the surroundings even aside from that, as they played matches at BMO Field in 2021 and 2024

- The schedule is in their favour as they open against the other 'weaker' team in Ghana, then sit and wait for Croatia to make the flight from Dallas for MD2. Then they finish with England in a 5 PM game in New Jersey which has a variety of factors which could work in their favour, from it being a dead rubber for England to a significant weather advantage if its a hot/humid day.

They will face a rabid pro-Croatia crowd in Toronto, but I really like them as a darkhorse to come second in this group (of course this means they will lose 3-0 to Ghana and implode from there).

 

England: This team is one of the most talented teams in the whole World Cup. Rice, Bellingham, and Saka are their best players and top world class. There’s also Stones, O’Reilly, Kane, Livramento, James, and a lot more. So much depth. This team over the past years has suffered from bad coaching; but they’ve tactically improved a lot since Tuchel took over in 2024. Although I do have some reservations about the omissions of Foden, and a few other playes; I do think Tuchel has a good plan. England has conceded ZERO goals in qualifying.

Croatia: This team has the best mental strength and team spirit of any team in the tournament. It is unbelievable how much of this that Dalic has had with the team as coach. While the talent is not what it used to be, there is still Gvardiol, Stanisic, Sutalo, Kovacic, Sucic, Pasalic, Perisic, and an aging Modric. My biggest concern is where the goals will come from. Budimir and Kramaric are ok, but this team will struggle to breakdown solid and organized defenses. This team’s attack really lacks pace and creativity; and it’s really hard without both of these things.

Ghana: A very young team that has been growing with some talented players like Partey, Sulenana, Semenyo, etc. This team also just hired Queiroz to lead them in this World Cup who’s a coach that’s very defensively and structurally organized. Based on the youngsters in attack, solid midfield, and Queiroz as coach, this team can go somewhere.

Panama: Second World Cup for this team. This team has some ok players, but overall one of the weaker teams, and nothing to rave about. I don’t expect much from Panama.

First of all, when I look at the teams in this group and the scheduling; expect a lot of cautious and conservative play in this group. The games might be boring to watch.

Otherwise, I think this group is fairly straight forward with England first, Croatia second, and Ghana third. There are question marks about whether Ghana can advance as third place, and based on Ghana playing defensive, and Croatia’s attack being meh, I fancy Ghana to advance in third place. Expect Croatia to grind out results for second place. Will NOT be pretty at all.

Final Standings:
1. England
2. Croatia
3. Ghana
4. Panama

 

Same, the only question I have is how Northeastern heat and humidity might advantage Ghana and Panama. Depends upon how bad the weather gets, especially on match day 2 and 3. Panama just isn't good enough and if they draw UEFA refs they'll have to clean up their foul happy habits.

 

I feel like many people overestimate the heat and the weather. All teams will be affected by it. The gap between who’s more affected is way less than people and the media make it out to be.

 

It's not a minor thing.

 

Maybe not, but it affects most teams equally

 

Natural climate adaptations determine how the body performs in different situations.Czechia has nothing like Korean humid, boiling summers, which are comparable to conditions in Mexico. They failed to do altitude training, which Koreans did do, and all this decided the winner.

 

I voted for Croatia but that is more of a wishful thinking.