No question the world is excited about this year’s football tournament.
Finally the people have the opportunity again to watch the games and celebrate together even if it is just in their own garden and not in the stadium in Qatar.
Many fans and football enthusiasts have already chosen their favorites and as the games are about to begin very soon the bookmakers are accepting first bets as more and more fans are looking for the best betting sites for World Cup 2022 in the UK and elsewhere.
One of the teams which is among the favorites to win the title of this year’s tournament is without a question the national team of England.
The team of the coach Gareth Southgate has so far exceeded all expectations with knocking out the other teams and qualifying for the tournament.
Now that the qualification rounds are over, the team is going to join the group phase of the World Cup in which it has to face different national teams in order to move on.
The question is who will the English team have to compete with and what are their chances of beating their opponents.
We have the facts for you!
The group phase
As described, the first part of the World Cup is always the group phase.
The decision about who is going to be with whom in one group has been made randomly and been announced
on the April 1 this year in Doha, Qatar, where the games are going to take place this year.
As always the results of this year’s draw about the group phase was awaited eagerly by both fans and teams.
In order to set up a good strategy the information about who their own team will have to face is crucial.
The decision was made and many of the English fans were happy to see that England will not have to play against the other favorites like Germany, Brazil or Spain.
In the group phase each national team is going to compete with three other teams that have been selected for the same group.
In the case of England, the team is part of Group B together with the nations USA, Iran and Wales. Each team will have to play against every other team in the group.
Only two of the group’s teams are allowed to move on into the next phase.
The decision who will be able to move on is made upon the points the teams earn. The system is easy.
A winning team will earn three points, while the losing team will get zero points.
In case of a draw, each team will earn one point.
If this will for some reason not be enough to decide who will move on, the teams have to continue with so-called single-game knockouts.
Also the amount of goals shot will be considered in case of an unclear result.
The teams that England has to face
In order to make some assumptions and find out what to expect it is important to look at the opponents the English national team will have to face during the group phase.
England will have to play against the national teams of the United States, Iran and Wales.
With eight wins, two draws, and no losses in Group I, England easily qualified for the World Cup.
Although Group B doesn’t look like the hardest, England is projected to do well in the competition and are the overwhelming favorites to win it after losing on penalties in the Euro 2021 final and reaching the semi-finals of the most recent World Cup in Russia.
What are their chances?
USA
With four losses and three defeats at the hands of Costa Rica, Canada, and a shocking loss to Panama, the USA only won half of their World Cup qualifiers.
Famously the national team of the United States of America was able to knock out England in 1950 but since then was not able to get that far in the tournament again.
Just 16 years later the English team finally made it to win the title.
Since then they were not able to repeat this achievement again.
The USA is not necessarily famous for its football skills.
The sport itself is less popular in the USA than elsewhere.
While the American teams may be among the best in terms of American football, basketball and hockey, football is not as much in the focus of the Americans as it is for instance in England where this sport has a very long history and tradition.
Many expect the English team to be able to kick out the Americans without much difficulty.
But still the Americans have shown a strong performance this season are not to underestimate.
IRAN
Many may have focused on the fact of England having to face Wales and the USA and tend to forget the other team in the group: Iran.
It must be noted though, that Iran’s entrance into the World Cup was an extraordinary one.
The Middle Eastern country did only lose one of the 10 games they had to play in order to qualify.
Furthermore, they were the first Asian team to enter the tournament after the host Qatar itself, who was granted automatic participation due to hosting this year’s tournament.
Many who take a closer look see Iran as a quite mysterious team.
Not much is known about the team, their tactics and the skills of the players themselves.
This makes it harder for the other teams to prepare and gives the Iranian team the chance of being unpredictable.
Do not make too quick assumptions over this match, England should not underestimate the Iranians as well.
WALES
The third in the group is Wales and at the same time it seems to be the biggest challenge England will have to face in the group phase.
The Welsh have shown a strong performance as well.
Being a close neighbor the style of playing is similar to the English one.
That could make it difficult for England to compete and even though the English have a great team of players, they should prepare extremely well in order to defeat Wales.
Many see this match as one of the most exciting ones and are excited and try to gather any information and opinions about football and simply cannot wait for the games to begin.
