WC-18 qualifying groups : Group A: Netherlands France Sweden Bulgaria Belarus Luxembourg Zlatan and Andreas Isaksson are both turning 34 a few month from now, just as Kim Källström is turning 33 next month ... so are they going to quit the Swedish NT before the WC qualifiers ? ... Jonas Olsson and Sebastian Larsson are also in their 30's now, so I guess the Swedish U21 Champions need to step up and show what they can do for the senior team pretty soon ? ... However, the Dutch also need a face-lift ... Dirk Kuyt has retired from the NT, Van Persie is turning 32, Robben and Sneijder are 31, van der Vaart is 32 ... and so I could go on .. So France are the top favorites in my opinion, while the Netherlands and Sweden will fight for the 2nd spot, though Bulgaria also could do some damage... ------ Group B: Portugal Switzerland Hungary Faroe Islands Latvia Andorra The Faroe Islands advanced to Pot 3 due to the home and away win aganist Greece in the present Euro qualifiers ... and considering that Andorra is by far the easiest team from Pot 6, I'm quite sure that the Faroes are not going to finish last in this group either. ------ Group C: Germany Czech Republic Northern Ireland Norway Aserbajdsjan San Marino Germany no doubt are the favorites to win this group ... But I was far from impressed by the Czech Rep. in the last WC qualifiers, where Denmark beat them easilly 3-0 away ... right now they are 2nd behind Iceland in their Euro qualifying group, though ahead of the Netherlands and Turkey, but then they are both at an all-time low right now ... Northern Ireland are in 2nd spot in their Euro qualifying group, but quite honestly, it says more about the quality of their group than the quality of Northern Ireland, so I believe Norway got a good chance to finish 2nd in this group, ahead of the Czech Rep. though it's probably going to be a close battle between the two team. ----- Group E: Romania Denmark Poland Montenegro Armenia Kazakhstan Group E-astern Europe is slightly bland from a Danish point of view and has no clear favorite, but at least we did not end up in a group with Portugal, as we almost always do .... though Poland have been looking strong in the Euro qualifiers, I also suspect that Germany came off to a slow start after their WC-14 victory, while Denmark have mainly been using the WC-14 and Euro-16 qualifiers to build up a new team, but still producing decent results by beating the Czech Rep. to finish 2nd in the WC-14 qualifying group and also beating a strong looking Serbia both home and away in the present Euro-16 qualifiers .... obviously youngsters like Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Jannik Vestergaard, Pione Sisto, Andreas Christensen, Lasse Vigen and Viktor Fischer are going to look more experienced by the time we reach the WC qualifiers, which should be the time for them to really shine .... Romania are narrowly leading their Euro-16 group, but then again, they are in the weakest looking group of them all, so I believe Denmark and Poland are going to battle for the first spot in this group, with Romania trying to keep up ... ----- Group I: Croatia Iceland Ukraine Turkey Finland Iceland and Finland are in a tough looking group, though Turkey are not what they used to be, while Finland also have been quite a disappointment in the present Euro qualifiers so far.... Ukraine is a solid looking team much like Iceland, while Croatia must be the top favorite to win this group.... Eiður Guðjohnsen is turning 37 and Kári Árnason 33 a few month from now, so I would be highly surprised to see them in the WC qualifiers, but otherwise Iceland is not a team of old men, close to retirement, so I belive they have a great chance finishing 2nd in this group, behind Croatia. .