Group G
Belgium
How qualified – Won UEFA Group H
Best performance – Fourth Place in 1986
Squad
MIDFIELDERS: Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian).
FORWARDS: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Brom), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United).
England
How qualified – Won UEFA Group F
Best performance – Winners in 1966
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).
DEFENDERS: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United).
MIDFIELDERS: Dele Alli, Eric Dier (both Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).
FORWARDS: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)
Panama
How qualified – Third place in CONACAF Group
Best performance – First apperance
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Jose Calderon (Chorrillo), Jaime Penedo (Dinamo Bucharest), Alex Rodriguez (San Francisco).
DEFENDERS: Felipe Baloy (Municipal CSD), Harold Cummings (San Jose Earthquakes), Erick Davis (Dunajska Streda), Fidel Escobar, Michael Murillo, Adolfo Machado, Luis Ovalle, Roman Torres (Seattle Sounders).
MIDFIELDERS: Jose Luis Rodriguez (Gent), Edgar Barcenas (Cafetaleros de Tapachula), Armando Cooper (Universidad de Chile), Anibal Godoy (San Jose Earthquakes), Gabriel Gomez (Bucaramanga), Valentin Pimentel (Plaza Amador), Alberto Quintero (Universitario).
FORWARDS: Abdiel Arroyo (Alajuelense), Ismael Diaz (Deportivo La Coruna), Blas Perez (Municipal), Luis Tejada (Sports Boys), Gabriel Torres (CD Huachipato).
Tunisia
How qualified – Won CAF Group A
Best performance – Group Stage most recently 2006
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Farouk Ben Mustapha (Al Shabab), Moez Hassen (Chateauroux), Aymen Mathlouthi (Al Baten)
DEFENDERS: Rami Bedoui (Etoile du Sahel), Yohan Benalouane (Leicester), Syam Ben Youssef (Kasimpasa), Dylan Bronn (Gent), Oussama Haddadi (Dijon), Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly), Yassine Meriah (CS Sfaxien), Hamdi Nagguez (Zamalek).
MIDFIELDERS: Anice Badri (Esperance), Mohamed Amine Ben Amor (Al Ahli Riyadh), Ghaylene Chaalali (Esperance), Ahmed Khalil (Club Africain), Saifeddine Khaoui (Troyes), Ferjani Sassi (Al Nasr), Ellyes Skhiri (Montpellier), Naim Sliti (Dijon), Bassem Srarfi (Nice).
FORWARDS: Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (Al Ittifaq), Saber Khalifa (Club Africain), Wahbi Khazri (Rennes).
Fixtures
18 June
- Belgium vs. Panama (4pm, BBC)
- Tunisia vs. England (7pm, BBC)
23 June
- Belgium vs. Tunisia (1pm, BBC)
24 June
- England vs. Panama (1pm, BBC)
28 June
- England vs. Belgium (7pm, ITV)
- Panama vs. Tunisia (7pm, ITV4)
Group Preview
We get to the penultimate group and finally we find the section where England are housed in. They were in the second pot in the draw and came out alongside Belgium, which while a tough test would have been a choice if they were given one I would say as they know what they are coming up against. Those two sides will be expected to progress because the other two teams in it are the African outfit Tunisia and arguably the worst team in the tournament in debutants Panama.
Group Betting
When the draw was made and having had time since to process it all I think this is the most predictable of all the groups that were drawn out. Tunisia have had some good efforts in friendlies recently but them and Panama look a level below the other two sides and the fact England and Belgium don’t meet until the final match I’m not expecting any curveballs to be thrown at us in this section.
I think the destiny of this group in terms of who wins it will come down to the final match between Belgium and England and given that I expect Belgium to have a goal difference advantage going into that clash which would give them the draw too I think the 5/6 on the Red Devils winning it is just simply too big.
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Team Bets
Before I got stuck into outright betting on this tournament there were a couple of markets I was eyeing up from a team bets point of view but then I got stuck into a number of outrights involving these two sides and I’m not totally sure I want to be staking more money on.
I’m happy to sit with the group bet here and hope that the section plays out how I expect it to in which case we should be sitting pretty with a number of outright bets that are involved in this group.
Tips
WON – Back Belgium to win the group for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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