England's World Cup group opponents will be revealed on Friday after they sealed their place at the Qatar tournament in impressive fashion. Gareth Southgate’s side enjoyed an unbeaten qualifying campaign and are amongst the top seeds for the draw.
The Three Lions are in Pot 1, which means they will avoid the strongest nations in the competition. The pots are decided by FIFA’s world rankings, but there are still a number of difficult/tricky opponents that could be placed in England’s group.
With that in mind football.london takes a look at who Southgate’s side could come up against in Friday’s draw…
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Pot 1
Qatar, Belgium, Brazil, France, Argentina, England, Spain & Portugal.
Pot 2
Denmark, Holland, Germany, Mexico, USA, Switzerland, Croatia & Uruguay.
The quality in the second pot is formidable with four-time World Cup winners Germany the standout name. However, England did defeat them on their way to the Euro 2020 final.
The Dutch also boast a plethora of talent amongst their ranks, whilst Denmark provided stern opposition for Southgate’s side in the semi finals of the Euros. Meanwhile, Croatia knocked England out of the last World Cup.
Pot 3
Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea & Tunisia.
England would fancy their chances against any team from Pot 3 with Serbia and Poland looking the most dangerous on paper. The Three Lions met the latter in qualifying and were held to a 1-1 draw in Warsaw before winning the Wembley encounter 2-1.
African champions Senegal could also be tricky opponents but the rest of the field looks fairly straightforward.
Pot 4
Australia/UAE/Peru, New Zealand/Costa Rica, Scotland/Ukraine/Wales, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Ghana, Cameroon & Canada.
FIFA rankings won’t apply to the last UEFA play-off winners with Ukraine and Scotland set to meet for the right to face Wales in June for a place at this year’s tournament. If England happen to be drawn against another European side before the last pot is drawn, they will face teams from other continents in Pots 3 and 4.
Peru will play one of the United Arab Emirates or Australia in another play-off route. Meanwhile, New Zealand and Costa Rica will meet for a place in Qatar.
