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

I also put Russia winning the group in the World Cup threads.

I expect them to beat Uruguay, but even a tie gives them the A1 slot.

If Iran manages to beat Portugal, we may see Russia easily into the QFs.

Of course if they win the whole thing I'll be demanding testing results.

 

I dunno.. Portugal and Spain haven’t looked particularly good either. I could be easily convinced that Russia can get by them as well..

 

Yeah but I called them getting through after only 2 games [emoji41]

 

If Iran beats Portugal, we won't be worried about facing Russia. To be sure, Russia have been excellent and going to be a tough team. But they have not faced a side like Iran. Their tactics won't work against us, although containing their #9 will be tough still.

 

Very likely both Russia and Uruguay will take it easy on each other.

Gotta rest your players to face Spain+Portugal on the next phase.

 

Some of my armchair criticisms:

While I expected Russia to advance with Uruguay after reading about Salah's injury I didn't expect them to overperform like this. Russia is one of the few teams of this tournament that look like an actual well-coached team. Saudi-Arabia is terrible and that should come as no surprise, they were already one of the weakest teams going in and the whole coach carousel before the world cup didn't help either. Egypt is shockingly poor I guess we all believed too much in the hype, Salah is pretty much the only quality player they have. The situation is kind of comparable to Poland. Salah & Lewandowski are only really good when they get service and both Egypt & Poland cannot provide said service. Uruguay is quite poor as well and they are lucky to be in such a weak group. Suarez looks out of shape and ready for retirement and I regret putting him on my fantasy team. The biggest problem, however, is Uruguay's midfield. bad passing, no creativity and no link up with the offence. Cavani is also that odd player who has good stats but almost no one has seen him play a good match as striker for Uruguay. he works tirelessly and helps out a lot with the defence and midfield though.

 

Wow who knew EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA were in the GROUP OF DEATH. Both Uruguay and Russia off to QUARTERFINALS.

 

I always thought that Uruguay and Russia were both stronger teams than many people made them out to be. Uruguay especially. Although I did not expect Russia to beat Spain. Although I feel that is more of a fact at how bad Spain is. Gosh sacking their manager right before the World Cup, really costed them. I doubt this would have happened, had they kept Lopetegui.

 

What are the odds for Brazil vs mexico ? Found a good resource on Mexico chances to win the world cup in this guide stating

"Back in Fifa World Cup 2014, Mexico did draw the game against Brazil in a breathtaking match. It was as exciting as possible, and honestly, Mexico did have it quite hard from the referees.

This time, however, there are changes in the refereeing system we’re hopeful there won’t be any completely ridiculous decisions.

Also, Mexico is at the top of their game right now because of their win against Germany in the Group stages. Brazil will have to bring their A-game to the stadium if they want to stand a chance at winning this one."

It covers well how you can watch brazil vs mexico live online.

 

It was by the most slimmest of margins though. Uruguay over Portugal isn't even a surprise to be honest. While Russia over Spain while a surprise, isn't totally inconceivable given preceding events - Spain's coaching change and form being a factor obviously.

 

So you are admitting Uruguay is better team than portugal?

 

They clearly are. If you take Ronaldo out of that Portugal side, the only other promising players are Andre Silva and Pepe, and neither of them are world class. Pepe has past it. Renato Sanches looks good, but he was not even in the squad.

Uruguay has three world class players: Godin, Suarez, and Cavani, along with a number of other really good and promising players: Gimenez, Bentancur, Rodriguez, etc.