Group B Predictions 2022

The second group to join the action is Group B, containing England, Iran, the USA, and Wales. England should be reasonably happy with this draw and will be more than confident of getting out of the group and into the knockout stages. Expectations are high for this England team that reached the semi-finals in the last World Cup and went one better by reaching the final of the European Championship last year.

The other three teams will surely be left battling it out to join the group favourites in the next round. The group itself is full of interesting backstories and should make interesting viewing. Wales were the last team to join the tournament having beaten Ukraine and Scotland in a much-delayed final playoff round.

The battle of the British teams will surely be a highlight of this group, the players know each other well and the old traditional rivalries will surely surface. Another rivalry that is likely to be an interesting matchup in Iran against the USA, two nations that don’t see eye to eye politically taking on each other on the pitch.

England

England have said for many years now that the target of their long-term planning was success in Qatar 2022. The time has now come to see whether that will come to fruition as they will be looking to go one step further than the final that they reached in the European Championship. And, finally, add a major trophy to the solitary World Cup win back in 1966.

Gareth Southgate has come under some pressure lately due to recent results in the Nations League, he will be hoping his players are far more motivated on the main stage. They have an abundance of young talented players and now have some with the best international and club level experience too. Some of the stars of the present and future will line up for England including star striker Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and youngsters Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden.

That is not to say there are no concerns, a number of players who were thought to be guaranteed starters have question marks on their place in the team, in particular defensive duo Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw. The two Manchester United players were excellent at Euro 2020 but have lost form and confidence and are no longer guaranteed starters for their club side.

Other players have gone missing so far this season, including Trent Alexander Arnold, Ben Chilwell, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin whilst defensive stalwart Kyle Walker is likely to miss out having undergone surgery at the start of October. As always, media pressure will play a role when it comes to England and expectation is high, they are third favourites this time around. The three lions should win the group though, anything less would be a big shock.

Iran

Iran have once again turned to Carlos Queiroz to guide them through this World Cup campaign and come into this tournament having had an impressive qualification campaign. They dominated their group, only lost one game and qualified with ease for this tournament. They have only lost two games since 2021 and have recently beaten Uruguay and drawn with Senegal. They are certainly not to be dismissed.

This is their third consecutive World Cup finals appearance but they have never passed the group stage. It will be a tough ask this time too but it might also be argued that, apart from England, none of the remaining three teams in this group really stand out. They have a good combination of solid defence and a decent goalscoring record and the team is experienced with the majority having played together for a long time. Ranked 22^nd in the World, they are the lowest-ranked team in this group but they are not far below Wales or USA.

The United States

The USA themselves had a successful 2021, winning both the Gold Cup and the CONCACAF Nations League. They finished third in their qualification group but their recent form has not been great as they only won one of their last five friendly matches. This will be the tenth time the USA will be taking part in the World Cup.

They missed out on Russia in 2018 so they will want to show their fans, and the world, that they are back. They have a number of very good players playing in some of the top leagues in the world including the likes of Weston McKennie at Juventus and Christian Pulisic at Chelsea. They have a young squad with the likes of Giovanni Reyna hoping to make an impact on the world stage.

Some of their players based in Europe are not getting enough regular Football currently though, so that will be a worry for the coaching staff. They have also not played many matches against teams that are not from their own region and with their form being quite poor it will be a challenge for them to get out of this group. They will face challenges they are not used to and will need to adapt quickly.

Wales

This is only the second time ever that Wales have made it to the finals of a World Cup tournament, the last time being way back in 1958. The road to this tournament was a hard one. They had to wait for a long time to confirm their place with a narrow 1-0 win over Ukraine in June of this year. Wales managed to get out of the group stage at the last European Championships and that will be their target here. They will be confident that they have enough in their squad to get the better of the USA and Iran and a battle against old rivals England will surely fire them up.

What is worrying, however, is their recent form. They have not won a single match since that win against Ukraine in June, racking up losses to Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They will, once again be hoping that the same key players can remain fit with Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, and Ben Davies still their most important players. Bale in particular is the talisman of this team, he loves playing for his country and has come up with countless memorable moments. They are solid and hard-working but often lack that extra quality in matches and they will need to be more solid defensively if they are to get out of the group.

Conclusion

All four teams have plenty to play for here and it wouldn’t be a surprise if any of Iran, the USA or Wales qualified along with England. The expectation, as always will be on England, so anything other than winning the group will be viewed as a failure. They will have a target on their backs and a win for any other team in the group over England will be a memorable occasion.

The prediction is that this group will not contain many high-scoring matches, with all four teams basing their recent successes on solid defending. Even England are unlikely to score many goals in this group. Iran could be a dark horse as they come into the tournament in far better form than the USA and Wales and have an element of the ‘unknown’ about them to the casual Football supporter. All three of these teams can use the underdog tag to their advantage and will know that anything they get from matches against England will be a bonus whilst the real battles will take place between them.

It is not easy to pick the most important match of this group but perhaps it might be in the first round of fixtures where the USA take on Wales. A win for either team will set them on their way and give them the confidence they need going into the remaining two matches whereas a defeat will knock them backwards.

The other match that is likely to generate the most interest is England against Wales on gameday three. British teams up against each other is always worth a watch and depending on previous results it could be a case of Wales needing something from the match against their neighbours to get through.

Key players in the group are likely to be England’s Harry Kane and young midfield star Jude Bellingham with Christian Pulisic likely to be key for the USA and Gareth Bale for Wales.

It would be a big shock if England didn’t win the group, three wins would help them build momentum and confidence heading into much harder matches in the knockout stages. Second place is very much up for grabs though and we are likely to see some tough, hard-fought battles between all four teams to get out of Group B.