In this round, Japan faces a do-or-die battle with two European powerhouses in the same group. Spain's players' confidence has risen dramatically since Enrique guided them to an amazing result in the UEFA Europa League. Since the World Cup qualifiers last September, Spain has been winning by small scores, and Enrique has selected new players to join the national team, but it is expected that they will still play with the same team in the World Cup.
Spain's forward line has suddenly become formidable, with Ferran Torres becoming a starter at Barcelona, and although he doesn't score much, he has matured in his passing and running up front, and is expected to earn a starting spot in the Spanish team as well. Adama Traore, who has also just returned to Barcelona, was selected for the national team last year when he was still with Wolves. Together with Olmo, Sarabia, Oyarzabal and Morata from the Europa League, Enrique has a lot of options at his disposal, and despite not having a superstar at the moment, has a strong ability to control the ball and penetrate the field.
In the midfield, Pedri will be the absolute starter, he has been in great form this year, and his performance at Barcelona seems to be a reproduction of Iniesta, Enrique has high hopes for him. Recently, Enrique also frequently used Valencia's Soler, together with the original Busquets, Koke, Gavi, Rodri and Thiago, if we consider the 433 formation, other players seem unnecessary.
The backline is relatively weak, with Gaya from Valencia and Bilbao's Inigo Martinez potentially emerging as new forces in this World Cup.
Overall, Spain is stronger now than in the European Cup, this group is striving for the first place, the first in the group will face the second in Group F. It may be Canada or Croatia, if it's Croatia ...... then it may be time to renew the European Cup's destiny again.
Germany qualified at the top of their group in this World Cup qualifying campaign and remained strong in the qualifiers despite a poor showing in the UEFA Europa League. With a change of manager from Loew to Frick, Germany continues to use the 4231 tactics he used at Bayern and has begun to reshape the defense. With the exception of center back Rudiger, Germany has made a lot of personnel changes this year, with Sule, Kehrer, and Hofmann relatively stable, and Klostermann, Gunter, Raum, and Ginter making appearances.
Germany's midfield is well stocked except for the strikers, with Kimmich and Goretzka at the back and Sane and Gnabry on the wings, which is pretty much Bayern's all-star lineup. Attacking midfielders were Havertz, who did well at Chelsea, and Gundogan of Manchester City, while the original Muller has been brought up front several times because of Werner's poor form.
If we follow Frick's style of soccer at Bayern, then Bayern's all-star lineup should all play, with a hard-hitting player like Havertz playing in attacking midfield and Gundogan perhaps placed at the back, but then Muller would probably have to play up front, and Bayern's striker, Levin, has exceptional strength. If Havertz and Gundogan can be placed side by side in the formation, it will obviously make the German team stronger, but from the whole World Cup qualifying matches, at present, Havertz and Gundogan are still rotating the attacking midfield, and no matter how the final choice is made, at present, the German team lacks of good strikers may become a soft spot.
However, in this group, Spain and Germany faced relatively weak opponents against the winning teams of Japan, Costa Rica and New Zealand. Japan's current form is unstable, only one win and two losses in the first three rounds of the qualifiers, but then played six consecutive wins, but due to such results, the group ranked second to advance, this time, Japan is obviously stronger in defense than offense, the offensive part of the attack has a significant decline, very dependent on the striker Jumuya Ito, but the other attackers are not performing well, the back line of the Kenzo Tomoyasu is this year's most important highlights, Hiroki Sakai, Mayuya Yoshida, the veteran Nagatomo Yuto and others should also appear in the final round.
However, the Japanese team in this condition, not to mention advancing, I'm afraid that even the ability to influence Spain and Germany to advance, and Germany is unlikely to lose to Japan again as they lost to South Korea in the group stage four years ago.
Group F - Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Belgium's golden generation is nearing its end, starting with Vermaelen's retirement, the golden generation defense has aged and they are now letting Boyata and Denayer gradually take over, but Vertonghen is doing well at Benfica and he should be at the World Cup.
In the midfield, De Bruyne and Hazard are in the best form, as for Hazard's brother, he has been doing well in Dortmund, while Hazard's brother doesn't get many chances to play in Real Madrid, and his form in the UEFA Europa League was horrible, and hasn't improved this year either. Lukaku on the front line in Chelsea is also extremely low, although he returned to the national team every time the performance will be better, but this year is really the worst performance in his career, other people like Carrasco and so on most of the European Cup with the European Cup is comparable, but this group is actually a little bit dangerous and is considered to be the group of the loser, after advancing to the group may have to face the Group E of the first and second place, which is likely to be Spain or Germany, Belgium this time! This time, Belgium will probably end up in the round of sixteen.
