Group B
England
How qualified – Won UEFA Group I
Best performance – Winners 1966
Squad
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope.
Defenders: Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Ben White, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Eric Dier, Conor Coady, Luke Shaw.
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson, Conor Gallagher, Mason Mount.
Forwards: Harry Kane, Callum Wilson, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, James Maddison.
Iran
How qualified – Won AFC Group A
Best performance – Group Stage x5
Squad
Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand, Amir Abedzadeh, Hossein Hosseini, Payam Niazmand.
Defenders: Ehsan Hajsafi, Morteza Pouraliganji, Ramin Rezaeian, Milad Mohammadi, Hossein Kanani, Shojae Khalilzadeh, Sadegh Moharrami, Rouzbeh Cheshmi, Majid Hosseini, Abolfazl Jalali.
Midfielders: Ahmad Noorollahi, Saman Ghoddos, Vahid Amiri, Saeid Ezatolahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Torabi, Ali Gholizadeh, Ali Karimi.
Forwards: Karim Ansarifard, Sardar Azmoun, Mehdi Taremi.
USA
How qualified – 3rd in CONCACAF
Best performance – Last 16 x4
Squad
Goalkeepers: Matt Turner, Sean Johnson, Ethan Horvath
Defenders: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Sergino Dest, Aaron Long, Shaq Moore, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Joe Scally, DeAndre Yedlin, Walker Zimmerman
Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson, Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Cristian Roldan
Forwards: Jesus Ferreira, Jordan Morris, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Joshua Sargent, Timothy Weah, Haji Wright
Wales
How qualified – Won UEFA Play-off
Best performance – QF 1958
Squad
Goalkeepers: Wayne Hennessey, Danny Ward, Adam Davies
Defenders: Ben Davies, Ben Cabango, Tom Lockyer, Joe Rodon, Chris Mepham, Ethan Ampadu, Chris Gunter, Neco Williams, Connor Roberts
Midfielders: Sorba Thomas, Joe Allen, Matthew Smith, Dylan Levitt, Harry Wilson, Joe Morrell, Jonny Williams, Aaron Ramsey, Rubin Colwill
Forwards: Gareth Bale, Kieffer Moore, Mark Harris, Brennan Johnson, Daniel James
Fixtures
Monday 21 November
England vs Iran – 1pm – BBC
USA vs Wales – 7pm – ITV
Friday 25 November
Wales vs Iran – 10am – BBC
England vs USA – 7pm – ITV
Tuesday 29 November
Iran vs United States – 7pm – BBC
Wales vs England – 7pm – BBC
Group Preview
The Euro 2020 finalists England are the big dogs in Group B. They were semi-finalists at the last World Cup and are odds on favourites to not only come out of the group but to win it as well. They haven’t been in the best form in 2022 though and that will interest the other three teams. USA came out of the CONCACAF group but they could only come through in third place behind Canada and Mexico so that doesn’t inspire confidence. Wales held themselves together to win knockout matches against Austria and Ukraine to reach this stage and they should take plenty from that. Iran won their group in the AFC qualifying competition but it remains to be seen how strong Asian football is.
Group Betting
Bookmakers have England as odds on favourites to win the group and they should be capable of justifying that but in behind them I’m not sure they have got everything right. They have USA as second favourites to qualify with Wales third and Iran fourth but I think USA could be getting a lot more love than they merit. The only player with more than 11 international goals in the America squad is Christian Pulisic and he has had a real shortage of football over the last 12 months.
USA failed to score in their two friendlies in the last international break and a draw with El Salvador in the Nations League in the one before that doesn’t exactly scream positive vibes either. USA have failed to score in six of their last 11 matches and there are plenty of critics of coach Gregg Berhalter with one of them being that he doesn’t know his best team. You get the impression that the first match is key for USA. If they lose it they could be done before they know it and with Iran fully motivated to beat them in the final match I think USA can bring up the rear in this group.
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Team Bets
I like a couple of team bets over the course of Group B. The first of those is for Kieffer Moore to score the most goals for Wales. I don’t expect Wales to score many goals in this tournament but with Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey surely having their minutes on the pitch managed then Moore has to be a fairly safe selection, although in fairness Daniel James could be a danger but in the heat and humidity that these matches will be played in I’d be surprised if he plays all the minutes too. Moore is a huge aerial threat and Wales do put a lot of balls into the box and that could be handy against the likes of Iran and USA. He might only need to bag a couple of goals to land this market and at 5/1 I’ll pay to see if the Bournemouth man can do exactly that.
I’ve not got on too many England bets in this tournament so far but I am happy to get on Kieran Trippier to assist two or more goals for England during their time in Qatar. He will be on most of the set plays whether they are free kicks or corners and with England likely to play Bukayo Saka as a sort of inverted winger, Trippler will be asked to get forward and contribute to the attacks from right-back or right wing-back. In this England squad only Saka and James Maddison have more assists in the Premier League than the Newcastle man and the latter isn’t likely to start. The 13/10 Trippier assists a pair of goals throughout the tournament looks big to me.
Tips
Back USA to finish bottom of Group B for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with 10bet
Back K.Moore Top Wales Tournament Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back K.Trippier to assist two or more goals for a 2/10 stake at 2.30 with Betfair
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