Group G
Countries: Belgium, Panama, England, Tunisia
Fixtures:
Belgium vs Panama at 8.30 pm IST on June 18 (Sochi)
Tunisia vs England at 11.30 pm IST on June 18 (Volgograd)
Belgium vs Tunisia at 5.30 pm IST on June 23 (Moscow Spartak)
England vs Panama at 5.30 pm IST on June 24 (Nizhny Novgorod)
Panama vs Tunisia at 11.30 pm IST on June 28 (Saransk)
England vs Belgium at 11.30 pm IST on June 28 (Kaliningrad)
Key game: England vs Belgium
World Cup fixtures | Groups and points table
| England | Tunisia | Group H analysis" title="Belgium | Panama | England | Tunisia | Group H analysis" />Belgium | Panama | England | Tunisia | Group H analysis
Eden Hazard in the #PL:
— Premier League (@premierleague) June 4, 2018
Played - 208
Won - 125
Goals - 69
Assists - 39
The Belgian agreed to join @ChelseaFC #OnThisDay in 2012 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/bSjNeJNGAq
Interesting battles: Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium) vs Roman Torres (Panama)
Harry Kane (England) vs Toby Alderweireld (Belgium)
Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia) vs Kyle Walker (England)
Group predictor: Belgium are clearly the favourites in this group for they have an abundance of talent with the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and others in their ranks. The 'dark horses' of every tournament will hope to put their poor international outings behind them and rise to the occasion in Russia. Given they will face a feeble challenge in their first two games against newbies Panama and mysterious Tunisia, Belgium will hope to pick two wins out of two before they face England for the top spot in the group.
There's no dearth of talent in Gareth Southgate's England too. The old and unshakeable members like Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have made way for a young and energetic side that will be led by Tottenham striker Harry Kane. However, the weight of expectations could work against England, who could succumb to Belgium in the final group game.
England's World Cup opponents Panama trained at 7am today ahead of facing Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
— Liam Blackburn (@liamblackburn) May 27, 2018
Captain Ramon Torres even has a leg tattoo of his qualifying-clinching goal #gawa pic.twitter.com/okPx8VVwyP
Panama have made the World Cup for the first time but unfortunately, the two European giants in the group will make their progress to the knockout stages difficult.
Tunisia's last appearance in the World Cup came back in 2006 in Germany. They have just one win in the World Cup competition and that was their first-ever game way back in 1978. Their goal would be to at least pull off a victory against Panama in the group.
Tunisia's football team has been fasting the last two matches.
— 8 Fact Football (@8Fact_Footballl) June 4, 2018
When the time to break fast comes, the goalkeeper pretends to be injured so the players can get a drink and break their fast. pic.twitter.com/8GFSFG98fJ
Group picks: Belgium to top table, England second. Panama and Tunisia to battle it out for the last two spots.
Other team-by-team analysis:
| Mexico | South Korea" title="Germany | Sweden | Mexico | South Korea" />Germany | Sweden | Mexico | South Korea
| Colombia | Senegal" title="Poland | Japan | Colombia | Senegal" />Poland | Japan | Colombia | Senegal