An interesting group to say the least – Costa Rica are the oldest squad in the tournament considering player’s age average, Japan are known for surprising favourites in the past and as far as Spain and Germany go – words should not be wasted. They are powerhouses of world football and although they are not as strong as they were in the recent past – they can easily be placed in that top 8 circle. Top 5 even.SPAINFour years ago, the Spaniards entrusted Luis Enrique with the always uncomfortable process of rejuvenating the national team, and it seems that they were not wrong. Little by little, the former coach of Barcelona renovated the team, thanked the worn-out aces and ushered in new forces. The success of what he did is easily visible: La Furia Roja lost on penalties to Italy in the semi-finals of EURO 2020), played in the final of the Nations League last year (lost to France with a late goal), and next year has a chance for a new one.As an epilogue, we have fairly accurate and combined assessments by experts and bookmakers that Spain is among the five-six biggest favorites for the grand final in Qatar as well.Did you know? Spain won the World Cup in 2010 by only scoring 8 goals. pic.twitter.com/OFYRey7sIN— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) November 17, 2022 Luis Enrique is one of the experts who like to experiment, during the qualification he tried dozens of players, changed their positions, searched for the right formula. At times it may seem like he is wandering, but the results say otherwise. No one has beaten Spain since he took the wheel. And as the strongest impression: they are damn hard to defeat. Especially when they leave the group. As we have already stated, Italy kicked them out of the Euros on penalties; they were eliminated in the same way in Russia 2018, and the last time they were defeated by France in the knockout stage of the World Cup in the basic 90 minutes. It was back in 2006 in Germany.From the veterans of the golden, champion generation, Enrique took Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba to Qatar. They should bring stability, together with Koke and Rodri, while the “fire” will be brought by the younger guard: Pedri, Gavi, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, Nico Williams…It can also be seen that Luis Enrique did not give up on forcing Barca’s school. And that he will not give up the firmly established 4-3-3 formation and possession game. When we talk about weaknesses, the situation is similar to that of the Germans – there is no centre-forward who guarantees goals. It is certain that Alvaro Morata, who is not appreciated in Spain like his predecessors, David Villa or Fernando Torres, will get a chance to start.Red Fury in Qatar: No Ramos, Thiago or AlonsoGERMANYSpeaking of the Germans, they have failed miserably in the last two major competitions. In Russia 2018, as the defenders of the throne, they were shockingly eliminated in the group stage, and at the latest Euro they could not go beyond the first knockout round. Changes were inevitable. Several veterans retired from the national team, while Hansi Flick, probably the most wanted strategist on the planet at that moment, came to the bench instead of Joachim Low.With the man who brought Bayern their last treble, Die Mannschaft started excellently, had a streak of eight victories, and then fell into a massive crisis embodied in a single triumph in the last seven games. And there is that unpleasant defeat against Hungary (0-1) which brought a serious dose of doubt into this team.To a good extent also due to the fact that Flick does not have a center forward of high class at his disposal, and for his style of play that forces something like that is necessary for him. In short, he misses Robert Lewandowski, who played the season of his life under him at Bayern.The Magnificient African Seven embellish Germany’s World Cup squadHence the assumption that Hansi Flick will fight the idea of a “false nine” in Qatar (Timo Werner’s injury also speaks in favor of this) and give the experienced Niclas Fullkrug a chance. Little known outside of Germany, but dangerously explosive in the Werder Bremen shirt.Toni Kroos also said goodbye to the national team, there is no Hummels, Boateng, Reus is out again due to injury. Of the leading players from the World Cup winning generation (2014), there are only Neuer and Müller and, as a surprise, Mario Gotze after five years in the team. However, the German public expects the most from up-and-coming stars. First of all by Jamal Musiala. Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Ilkay Gundogan are the backbone of the team; Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz need to step up and prove themselves on the biggest stage. Flick will entrust Antonio Ridiger with the keys to the back line…If a “chemical reaction” happens in that experiment Flick is trying, well, the Germans can go to the very end again.17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko has been called up to Germany’s World Cup squad.If he plays, it will be his first appearance for the senior national team 🤩 pic.twitter.com/LMMapSpPE2— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 10, 2022 JAPANSince they qualified for the World Cup (France) for the first time in 1998, the Japanese have not missed a single major football event. And they were always decorated with fanatical combativeness, perseverance. No matter how much weaker they were than their rivals (on paper), they would seriously torment them – 11 defeats were experienced by the Japanese at the World Cup, eight of which were by a one-goal difference. From time to time they had a big star in their roster like Nakata, Nakamura, Honda, Okazaki or Kagawa, but it never seemed they have a well-balanced team such as this.No one from Hajime Moriasu’s list has the class of, say, the aforementioned Hidetoshi Nakata, but the experienced expert can count on a dozen big names that have been in the starting lineups of clubs from the “top five leagues” for several years. Specifically, there are as many as 13 of them.And most importantly, everyone is at their best form right now.It is interesting the decision of the head coach Moriasu to leave out Celtic’s first “gun” Kyogo Furuhashi from the list, regardless of his holster with the classic “nine”. He also gave up the best scorer of the national team, counting all active players (Yuya Osako), so we can expect him to play with a “false nine”.Official Japan squad for World Cup 2022 confirmed 🇯🇵#WorldCup2022 #Qatar2022 #NFT #FIFA2022 pic.twitter.com/4mrxcBhX6i— Crazy Cup 🏆 (@crazy__cup2022) November 15, 2022 On the right wing, the playful Ritsu Doan from Freiburg, on the left Takumi Minamino, the first star of the team, in the middle as the “ten” currently the best player of Eintracht Frankfurt, the current winner of the Europa League – Daichi Kamada.Wataru Endo from Stuttgart and Gaku Shibasaki should hold the central areas of the field, while the strongest defensive links are Takehiro Tomiyasu from Arsenal and recent Manchester City player Ko Itakura.The biggest force off the bench and potentially the Samurai’s biggest star going forward will be Takefusa Kubo.Three times so far, the Japanese have advanced to the round of 16. Now, regardless of their excellent staff, their chances are not great. Because they will have to surpass Spain or Germany.And if they happen to qualify further, then they could easily achieve a historic result – reach the top eight for the first time.When Japan began the 2018 World Cup, Takehiro Tomiasyu was a teenager experiencing his first months in Europe after swapping Japan’s second tier for Sint-Truiden.Four years later, he looks set to play a leading role in Japan’s mission to escape Group E.https://t.co/x5aqXKcYgf pic.twitter.com/8mFzhVKf98— Breaking The Lines (@BTLvid) November 15, 2022 COSTA RICACoaches change, but Costa Rica’s ‘dinosaurs’ remain. The Ticos are living their most fruitful streak, for the third time in a row they qualified for the World Cup and all three times with a different expert at the wheel. In Brazil, they were led by Jose Luis Pinto, four years later in Russia, Oscar Ramirez sat on the bench, and Luis Fernando Suarez took them to Qatar. What all three of them have in common is that they did not give up on guys who already have considerable world experience such as Oscar Duarte, Celso Borges, Yeltsin Tejeda. Not to mention the stars there like Keylor Navas, Joel Campbell or Brian Ruiz.The final roster for the upcoming World Cup includes as many as four Costa Ricans with 100+ caps for the national team – Borges (154), Ruiz (144), Campbell (118) and Navas (107). So much for what kind of experience they have and what will be their strongest asset in Qatar.For example, the entire Spanish team from the last list has less than 500 matches in the jersey with the national emblem, if we exclude Busquets and Alba. Only these four mentioned exceed that number by far…◾ GK that led Real Madrid to 3 #UCL titles in a row.◾ GK that led PSG to there 1st ever #UCL final.◾ GK that led Costa Rica for the 1st time to 3 World Cup editions in a row.One of the most underrated and under appreciated players of our generation, Keylor Navas! 🙌🇨🇷 pic.twitter.com/2Z7FSJWbqQ— Football Factly (@FootballFactly) November 16, 2022 Among the bigger names on Suarez’s list is Brian Oviedo, an experienced left winger who once played quite successfully in the Premier League (Everton and Sunderland), while the Costa Rican’s biggest loss is the absence of the injured right back and stopper Christian Gamboa from Bochum.When we talk about the flaws, it seems that the change of generations is not very well implemented, so there is a huge generational gap between the oldest and the youngest. At the same time, as many as 13 younger players have less than 15 games in the national team.Luis Fernando Suarez uses multiple formations. In the qualifiers, he mostly played with five players in the backline. On the flanks, Oviedo and Fuller are somewhat more offensive. It can be expected that the Costa Ricans will remain in that somewhat more defensive system, considering their rivals.OFFICIAL: Costa Rica’s 26-man squad for the 2022 World Cup. 🇨🇷 pic.twitter.com/7ZuBBcl0AI— Squawka (@Squawka) November 14, 2022 WORLD CUP – GROUP EWednesday, Nov 23rd16:00: (1.50) Germany (4.30) Japan (6.50)19:00: (1.15) Spain (7.50) Costa Rica (20.0)Sunday, Nov 27th13:00: (1.85) Japan (3.40) Costa Rica (4.60)22:00: (2.60) Spain (3.25) Germany (2.75)Thursday, Dec 1st22:00: (8.50) Japan (4.80) Spain (1.37)22:00: (12.0) Costa Rica (6.50) Germany (1.23)***odds are subject to change***
