The 2018 FIFA world cup since its kickoff can be summarized in two words: excitement and upset. Excitement in the sense that the matches played so far in the world cup have been filled with thrills, action, goals, skills, celebrations, social media bants and lots more, like the scintillating performance of the Super Eagles, especially the trending G.O.A.T in Nigeria’s “Ahmed Musa”. Still to come include the suspense we are anticipating in the final games of the groups. On the other hand, it will be difficult to ignore the word “upset” in this year’s world cup, with some of the underdogs giving some of the favourites a run for their money; with Germany and Argentina being prime examples: the former losing to Mexico in their opening game and the latter losing shamefully to Croatia after drawing their first match against Iceland.
The group stage of the competition is already coming to an end, with the third round of the group stage matches starting on Monday 25th of June, 2018; we analyze each group in this year’s edition of the world cup to see teams that have qualified or will qualify, and teams that have been eliminated from the competition already.
GROUP A: RUSSIA AND URUGUAY BATTLE FOR TOP SPOT
Group leaders Uruguay and Russia have six points each after beating Saudi Arabia and Egypt in their first and second matches. Uruguay in their opening game beat Egypt 1-0, and in their second match, they also won by the same goal margin. Russia and Belgium have been quite impressing in this year’s edition of the world cup. Russia has scored eight goals in their first two games in this tournament, beating Saudi Arabia 5-0 in their opening match and won their second match against Egypt 3-1. Uruguay and Russia having qualified already, will battle each other for the top spot in this group.
GROUP B: SPAIN AND PORTUGAL EXPECTED TO GO THROUGH
Spain and Portugal, like their counterparts in group A have not failed to live up to expectations. Both teams are topping the group with 4 points apiece. They started their campaign playing against each other, which ended in a six goal thriller. Spain and Portugal then played against Iran and Morocco respectively, with each of them winning the game with a goal margin. Spain will battle Morocco, and Portugal will battle a stubborn Iran side in the third round of the group stage match. Spain has already qualified irrespective of their result against Morocco, but the Portuguese’s must either secure a win or a draw to qualify.
GROUP C: AUSTRALIA STILL HAS A CHANCE
Back to back wins for France has seen them qualified for the knockout stage of the competition. France was expected to come out top of the group, but they did it in a rather unconvincing manner: winning Australia 2-1 and Peru with a goal margin. Denmark won their first game of the tournament against Peru thanks to Y. Poulsen’s goal in the 59th minute. Denmark was unable to secure back to back victories and settled for a draw against Australia. Australia on the other hand will be hoping to beat Peru and also for France to beat Denmark in order for them to qualify.
GROUP D: A WAR AT ST PETERSBURG AND ROSTOV
Croatia breezed through the group after securing victories against the duo of Nigeria and Argentina. Argentina has been really disappointing in this year’s edition of the FIFA world cup. The 2014 finalist has secured only one point from their first two games of the tournament, drawing their first game against Iceland and losing to Croatia in their second game with a three goal margin. Argentina will face Nigeria in their final game, knowing that a win in that game will save them the embarrassment of crashing out of the group stage. Nigeria on the other hand started the competition poorly losing to Croatia, but will be hoping to wrap up their impressive performance against Iceland with a win or a draw against an Argentina side which they have already beaten this year. Iceland will be hoping to repeat the same success they enjoyed against Croatia at the qualifiers, but will be doing it in a difficult circumstance. They will need to win Croatia with a 3 goal margin to qualify.
GROUP E: AN EPIC BATTLE BETWEEN BRAZIL AND SERBIA
Brazil came into the world cup with a very good reputation, thanks to their impressive performance at the qualifiers. However, if there is one lesson I have learnt from this world cup, it is the fact that there is a big difference between the world cup qualifiers form and the tournaments form (except for Argentina though). Brazil was the first team to qualify for this year’s world cup, however their performance has not been really convincing: drawing against Switzerland and scoring two late goals against Costa-Rica. Brazil will face Serbia in their last match of the group stage. Serbia on the other hand started the competition with a win against Costa-Rica but failed to continue their impressive record losing to Switzerland after scoring first in that game. Serbia will be hoping to win against Brazil Knowing that a win will see them through to the round of 16. Switzerland’s path to the knockout stage looks secured after beating Serbia in their second game and playing a draw with Brazil in the group stage of the competition. Switzerland will play against last world cup quarter-finalist Costa-Rica in their final group stage match. Costa-Rica is yet to score in this year’s world cup or even secure a point.
GROUP F: MEXICO: UNPREDICTED GROUP LEADERS, BUT GERMANY LOOKS SET TO BREAK THE JINX
One of the shocks of the 2018 world cup was Germany being defeated by Mexico. Mexico sits at the top of this group with six points from two games, defeating Germany and South- Korea in the process. Germany however has not been impressive, losing to group leaders Mexico and a lucky win against Sweden. Thanks to Toni Kroos’s goal in the dying minutes of the game, this saved them from the embarrassment of crashing out of the group stage. If Germany goes on to win their final game against South Korea they will be the first team since the 2006 world cup to qualify to the knockout stage after winning the previous edition of the world cup. Sweden was rather unlucky to lose against Germany after conceding late in that game. However, Sweden can still qualify from the group if they are able to win Mexico in their final game even if Germany wins their match against South-Korea. In this case the tie-breaker rules will be used to decide.
GROUP G: BELGIUM AND ENGLAND HAVE LIVED UP TO THEIR EXPECTATION
If there is one team who has made a serious statement in this year’s world cup, it would be Belgium. Belgium has scored an impressive eight goals in their first two matches of the group stage. Belgium started their campaign with a 3-0 win over Panama and then going on to secure a 5-2 victory over Morocco. England on the other started the campaign with a 2-1 win over Morocco. Unlike their counterpart, England did not really impress against a Moroccan side which Belgium trashed. Kane scored in the dyeing minutes of the game to give England three points.
GROUP H: FAVOURITES BECOMES BACKBENCHERS, BUT SENEGAL…
No one would ever think that the duo of Senegal and Japan would be sitting at the top of this group. Senegal and Japan sits on top of the group with four point apiece with group favourites Columbia (2014 quarter-finalist), and Poland (2016 euro cup quarter-finalist) occupying the third and fourth position. Senegal opened their campaign with a win over Poland and then went on to draw Japan. Japan also recorded a win in their first game, beating Columbia 2-1. The 2014 Quarter-finalist: Columbia will be hoping to advance to the next stage of the tournament after trashing Poland 3-0 overcoming their poor start in the tournament.
