A Group Stage Retrospective

As the World Cup group stage draws to a close, I can’t help but look forward to the last-16 and England’s chances of advancing all the way through the knockout stages. First though I want to take a quick look back at the group stage to see how each team performed.

I could go straight to the abysmal showing, for the second World Cup in a row, from the Germans or stop off at the humiliation of the Belgians, but instead I’m just going to go group by group with a couple of sentences to sum up each team’s performance.

Group A
Netherlands – Back at a World Cup again having missed out on qualifying for 2018 they will be pleased to top a group with a couple of possible banana skins. Sure, Qatar were an easy win in their final group match but beating Senegal (AFCON champs) 2-0 is nothing to be scoffed at. Drawing with Ecuador was just a minor hiccough on their way to the knockouts and they will hope that is their awful game out of the way.
Senegal – Done well off the back of their AFCON victory, even without their talisman Sadio Mane. Their best player being out of action due to injury would cripple many teams but, a slow start against the Dutch accepted, it didn’t affect Senegal at all. How they cope without him in the pressure-cooker of knockout football will go a long way to determining how far they progress.
Ecuador – Traditionally the weakest of the South American teams at the tournament but when your competition is Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay (all former winners) that isn’t an awful distinction to have. Would have qualified if they had better back-up for Enner Valencia up front.
Qatar – The worst hosts in history and it was no surprise when they were the first team knocked out of the competition. They will have to improve immensely and quickly to have any hope of qualifying for a future World Cup on merit

Group B
England – Dropped in the group of death on paper, with all the teams in the World’s top 20 of FIFA’s rankings, but made a mockery of that moniker by dominating the majority of the matches they played in. To open with a 6-2 demolition of Iran that included virtuoso performances from 19year-old Jude Bellingham and 21year-old Bukayo Saka was always going to be difficult to follow up and so it proved with a tepid performance against the USA. The Three Lions were back to their roaring best in the second half against Wales though and with the quality of the bench they are well placed to make a deep run into the tournament’s later stages.
USA – Just the 2 goals in 3 group games off the back of abysmal finishing in each of the matches leaves question marks over their ability to progress farther than the round of 16. Further doubts are thrown on their hopes by their inability to finish off Wales having taken the lead in that game. A failure to finish teams off is balanced out by a robust defence that have only conceded once so far.
Iran – Recovered really well from their opening defeat to give themselves an excellent chance of progressing with a 2-0 win over Wales. The character shown by that turn around was admirable but losing to a goal-shy American team shows that they simply don’t have the quality to compete at this level with the players they currently have.
Wales – Their return to the World Cup for the first time since 1958 clearly hasn’t gone the way they may have hoped, but one goal in 3 games was never going to be enough. Failing to build on snatching a draw from their opening match against a team that had just been hit for 6 was the full coffin and its final nail for their chances of progressing. With their golden generation now ageing and the lack of viable replacements coming though they’re likely to suffer another long break between appearances.

Group C
Argentina – It was a huge shock to see one of the favourites to win the whole thing start off their journey by losing to lowly Saudi Arabia, so to see them recover from this earthquake to end off topping the group appears to signify a return to normality. A lot of hope is being set on Lionel Messi propelling his country to the title on his final outing at the World Cup, but no Man wins alone and without his teammates raising their levels they will come unstuck against another top team in the latter stages.
Poland – The lack of attacking impetus shown in their final group game gives me no faith in their chances of making it past the last 16. If Lewandowski and his teammates can work out how to score and that doing so requires some form of teamwork and a will to move the ball towards their opponent’s goal, they could be fine. That feels a long way off right now though.
Mexico – Only kept out of the last 16 by a last-minute Saudi sucker punch, but none of that would have mattered if they had started with a win against Poland. Didn’t have a chance to watch many of their matches, but as they were my dark horses to reach the latter stages begore a ball was kicked I’m disappointed to see them falling at the first hurdle.
Saudi Arabia – Never seemed to recover from the extasy of springing the shock of the tournament in their opening game. Whatever the reason behind this was, Saudi Arabia ended up consigned to their expected place at the bottom of the group. They will always be able to look back on their win over Argentina as one of the best days in the history of Saudi football.

Group D
France – As the reigning champions they will be ecstatic to have avoided the fate they suffered in the same position 20 years ago. Obviously, the loss to Tunisia is a blot on their copybook, but as this happened to what was essentially their back-up 11 I don’t see it affecting them too much. The prospect of facing them in the Quarter finals concerns me greatly.
Australia – A brilliant set of performances from the Socceroos secured their place in the knockout stages, but a couple of 1-0 wins and the capitulation after taking the lead against France won’t worry many opponents going forward. The levels of their performances have yet to secure the larger wins they deserved.
Tunisia – A statement victory over France on the final day couldn’t compensate for being the only team to drop points to the Danes and a crucial loss against the Antipodeans took their fate out of their hands going into the final match. Such a shame that a famous victory for the North Africans counts for so little in the grand scheme of things.
Denmark – Came into the tournament with such big expectations on their shoulders after their excellent run to the Semi Finals of Euro 2020 and some creditable performances at the last World Cup. Unfortunately, they were awful this time round and to go from reaching the Semis of one tournament to finishing bottom of their group at the next one a year later should ring some serious alarm bells within the upper echelons of the Danish FA.

Group E
Japan – Conquers of Europe, with comeback wins against both Germany and Spain seeing them top the group. That ability to come from behind and never just accept that you’ve lost will serve them well as the tournament progresses and another European team to face in the last-16 will hold no fear for them at all. The less said about their loss to Costa-Rica the better.
Spain – Their World Cup started off in incredible fashion as they tore through a pedestrian Costa Rica. To follow up that 7-0 drubbing with a draw against a German team on their way to back-to-back group stage exits left me worried about their chances of progression. The goal difference they had in their back pocket saved them after they threw away a lead against Japan in their final group game, but that may provide a boost for their chances of reaching the latter stages as they now avoid a date with Brazil in the Quarter Finals.
Germany – Known for so long as a team built for tournament football, they have now achieved the unwanted record of back-to-back group stage exits. I am loving seeing Germany take England’s place as the joke team from Europe as England take on the German’s traditional role.
Costa Rica – Being the only team to get anything off the Japanese is a feather in their cap and gives them something to draw on going forward. However, as with so many teams that have achieved a shock result at this tournament, they have failed to back-up this performance in their other matches. Any team that concedes 11 goals over 2 matches is always going to struggle to advance.

Group F
Morocco – To win a group ahead of 2 of the Semi Finalists from the last World Cup shows that they are not a team to be taken lightly. Their ability to fight and grind out a result should serve as a warning to the teams they will face in the knockout stages, don’t expect an easy game against these Moroccans.
Croatia- Taking Canada to the cleaners is their only creditable result so far as the form that took them to the final in 2018 has deserted them. Expect Japan to waltz past them in the Last-16
Belgium – The last hurrah of their ‘golden generation’ has ended in disaster. From being on the ropes for the whole of the Canada game, scoring insanely against the run of play, to failing to threaten in either of their other matches. It is no surprise that Martinez has left the manager’s job after overseeing such an abysmal set of performances that deserved to see them finish bottom of the group with no points.
Canada – Failing to win against the shockingly awful Belgians was a sign of things to come for Canada. They qualified by playing in the coldest conditions they could manufacture for their home games, but they wilted in the heat of Qatar. They join the hosts as the only other team to exit the competition without a point to their name, but they deserved more from their opener. If they get a host’s place at the 2026 World Cup, and bring a decent striker with them, I wouldn’t be shocked to see them make a deep run.

Group G
Brazil – As long as their first team stays fit they should make it far, but when they need to dip into their squad depth, they may find the wallet of reserves to be unexpected shallow. The loss to Cameroon in their final group game, when they put out a whole handful of those reserves, shows that they may not have the strength in depth necessary to make good on their favourites tag.
Switzerland – They stayed true to the Swiss brand in their first 2 matches, hard to beat and not free-scoring either. Then they threw that all away to secure their spot in the last-16 with a thrilling 3-2 win over Serbia. A bit more of that final game ethic would make them far more enjoyable to watch in the knockouts, but they have the brand for a reason and sticking to it will get them further than they will if they try ripping it up too much.
Cameroon – Another team to deliver a shock result yet fail to advance to the knockouts. Their best performance came in the 3-3 draw with Serbia, but by failing to turn the comeback into a win their fate was in other team’s hands on the final day. Never a place you want to be and they fail to advance despite being awesome to watch.
Serbia – If they knew how to defend, they’d be advancing to the last-16 at a counter because goodness knows they can score. To bag 3 goals against Cameroon and 2 against the naturally stingy Swiss is a credit to their strikers, but they also conceded 3 goals in both those games and were the only team to let Brazil chalk up more than a single goal against them.

Group H
Portugal – Topped the group as expected, but a less than convincing performance against Ghana, the lowest ranked team in the tournament, and a last second loss against South Korea expose vulnerabilities they would rather keep hidden.
South Korea – The manner of their qualification might boost their confidence of springing a last-16 surprise. Their team has yet to really gel and with no rest days between the groups and knockouts it will require a herculean effort for them to make it any further
Uruguay – Despite beating Ghana on the final day they failed to progress on goals scored. The 2-0 win, with Suarez laying on an assist for the 2nd goal, was enough to see them sneak through till South Korea crushed their dreams with a final minute winner of their own. They failed to score in either of their other matches, so even if they had advanced to the knockouts they wouldn’t have got past the last-16
Ghana – Missing a penalty against Uruguay once again proved their undoing in a tournament where their performances had belied expectations. They even had their fate in their own hands going into the final day but chose the worst timing imaginable to turn in their worst performance of the tournament. Being the lowest ranked team in the tournament they were always expected to fail to advance, but they were far from the worst performers.