Thoughts? Opinions? Who passes?

Group E or H are the strongest groups on paper based on facts.

Group B IMO is the actual strongest group, Spain and Portugal are strong enough but Morocco had an amazing qualifier run and so did Iran.

Group A IMO easiest group.

Some said that Mexico even as second in Group F is done because they will face Brazil as the first from group E, well actually Mexico tends to play really well vs Brazil so that match wouldn't be a default win for Brazil at all.
Anyway group F is really balanced like a World Cup group should be.

Should be easy for Argentina since only Island can show resistance, expecting Colombia to show their teeth but it's going to be very hard against Japan, their coach last time took Algeria to the next round and Germany the current World Champions needed a goal in Extra time to pass them so many people are sleeping on Japan.

Teams that should top the groups: Uruguay, Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Colombia.

South American teams traditionally don't do that well when the World Cup is in Europe, expecting France, Germany and Spain to go far, dark horses are Argentina(this is Messi's last chance to overcome Maradona),Belgium, England and Brazil.

No one giving Senegal a chance, but at the end they will end up first of their group. Strongest African team so far...

No it's Nigeria

I feel like people are overestimating CONMEBOL (South American) teams. Historically you can say they always perform well in WC but I dont think this is their year. Except for Brazil, I dont see any of them making it past the Quarter finals or leading their respective groups.

Colombia has a decent team but they are known to choke in important games and are specialist at tying accesible ones. They have a very predictable playing tactic and scheme. Even with Falcao, James and cuadrado somehow they seem to be very limited up front goal-wise.

Peru has nothing, seriously. They are my favorite team in the confederation and I followed them all the way and I can safely say they are not a team to be feared. I dont think they'll even make it past group stage.

Uruguay are a team that plays with their hearts like no other but talent wise they do not compare to previous years and they are going to struggle to go past the first knockout round. Their team is getting old and they rely on what magic Suarez and Cavani can do up front and the leadership of their experienced center-backs.

Argentina, the false promise of a WC contender. They were on the edge of elimination but luckily faced an already eliminated U23 squad of Ecuador in their final game. Argentina are in no shape or form a real contender not even for top 4. You can argue they've done bad in the qualifiers before only to come strong in the WC, but this time they are jut a mess of a team. Very strong individually but that alone usually doesn't make the cut in this instances. I wouldn't be surprised if they come 2nd in their group and get eliminated before reaching the quarter-final stage.

Finally Brazil, strong and solid, play well as a team but I still need to see them perform outside of their confed. to see if they can be contenders amongst the top teams as many claim. One of the biggest favorites to win it all, now they depend on how well the individual players come in form during the tournament. I expect them to finish top 3 at least.

Thoughts? I hope I knocked some people out of their alternate reality bubble of South American supremacy.

@Golazo What about Portugal? Don't you think they also got a shot at this as dark horses?

@tiki Hey mate! Been too long since I saw you on FR. How are ya?

@Pelle Agreed, Nigeria really good right now but its a bit too soon to write Argentina off imo.

@Tuanis Well, to be fair, the only south americain team I'm expecting anything of is pretty much Brazil. I wouldn't be suprised if any other collapsed sadly. :(

I feel like people are overestimating CONMEBOL (South American) teams. Historically you can say they always perform well in WC but I dont think this is their year. Except for Brazil, I dont see any of them making it past the Quarter finals or leading their respective groups.

I don't think any of those teams will win either ( though I hope ) but you should consider those teams leading their groups, at least Uruguay.

Argentina, the false promise of a WC contender. They were on the edge of elimination but luckily faced an already eliminated U23 squad of Ecuador in their final game. Argentina are in no shape or form a real contender not even for top 4. You can argue they've done bad in the qualifiers before only to come strong in the WC, but this time they are jut a mess of a team. Very strong individually but that alone usually doesn't make the cut in this instances. I wouldn't be surprised if they come 2nd in their group and get eliminated before reaching the quarter-final stage.

The team that qualified will not the playing the same way during the World Cup final stage itself, I can guarantee you that.
Argentina at the World Cup should top their group as the minimum they do! Then obviously things need to go their way for the rest of the tournament.

tiki: Senegal stronger than Nigeria?

Who do they have, again?

^Koulibaly, Mane, Gueye, Balde Diao, Salif Sane (Hannover), Niang, Kouyate, Diouf, Babacar, Diedhiou (Getafe), Ismaila Sarr (Rennes), Diousse (Saint-Etienne)...

tbh it seems better than team whose best players are Iwobi/Moses/Ndidi.

Nigeria is also a nice team that topped their group which was probably a harder group, Obi Mikel is their captain and they also got Iheanacho as a big talent, they are the youngest team at the World Cup even with Mikel that is 30 years old.

Otherwise, Serbia has the tallest players and Sweden,Croatia and Island have 100% of their squad playing outside of their own country.

@Emo Paolo Guerrero is the player who scored for Corinthians in that club world cup final against Chelsea :p He's Peru's all-time goalscorer and their most important player during the qualifiers. He's now playing in Brazil, but he had a good career in Germany playing for Hamburg.
Peru has done rather well in the last Copa Americas. In 2011 and 2015 they achieved 3rd places, and in the Copa America Centenario they finished first in their group over Ecuador, Brazil, and Haiti. But then they were eliminated on penalties against Colombia.
They've had discipline problems and lack of commitment by some players in the past, but that has stopped under their current coach Gareca. This is probably one of the contributors to Peru making it to the world cup this time around.
Their squad is mostly made up of players from the Peruvian Primera Division. Others play in Brazil, Mexico, US, and some minor European Leagues.
They don't really have a star player like the other South American teams here do in James Rodriguez, Luis Suarez, Messi, etc But they've built a competitive team with what they have. Also, for all their limitations in terms of individual quality they're a team that primarily thrives when they have possession and pass the ball around the field to break down defenses.
Obviously they are not a team to be feared, but don't get too complacent or they might surprise you like they have done with other teams in the past.

I’m pretty good emo thanks for asking :)
Croatian gave an example of the quality Senegal has when Moussa Sow and Babacar cannot even make it to be rotation player, they have the chemistry and a good leader on fire in Sadio Mane. Plus they looked most powerful team of the CAN 2017 very unlucky vs the winners Cameroun while Nigeria failed to qualify to the competition.
I’m aware of the brilliant Nigérian compain of qualifiers, But their bench is poor and their group is stronger so imo Senegal has the best shot to pass group stage.
Like Tuanis said, I don’t see Colombia going anywhere, nor Uruguay because the dynamic and the level of the squad is decreasing...
What Nigeria did vs Argentina is impressive, but it remains a friendly against a one man team where the man in question was rested.
Well could be wrong African teams and players are unpredictable and could shoke badly, but on paper I still believe Senegal has a shot like in 2002.

Speaking of Paolo Guerrero, he was tested positive on some banned substance so it's maybe not sure if he will be given permission to play for Peru, in case that happens it's going to be underwhelming.

@Tiki Moussa Sow, I really liked that player at one point. :D Anyway, I agree with you and Croatian, they actually does have quite an impressive squad. Mane and Koulilaby are propably their player with the biggest profile. Anyway, hope you'll keep on showing up more often than in recent week, I've been missing you mate. ;)

@Golazo Damn, thats pretty bad, even if it would make it more interesting if he was there, I'm not sure player who get positive results in drug test should be allowed to world cup. Would be bad for the sport and FIFA credibility (which isn't that huge atm imo).

@Croatian Thanks for your work sharing this with the rest of us. :D

@Yvan Yeah, other team should propably take them seriously. Could be a bad suprise if they didn't. :P

@tiki, you think Uruguay's level of squad is decreasing? I don't know man, I think they have good young players. Fede Valverde is great in Deportivo, will be able to replace Kroos/Modric in few years, Saracchi is first team for River at age of 19, Schiappacasse is also regarded as huge talent in Atletico despite not playing in first team yet, and there is Uruguayan in Barca but can't remember his name though.

Of bit older lads, Gimenez is still 22, Pereiro won player of the month in Eredivisie, Torreira is one of best young midfielders in world, Maxi Gomez is doing good in Celta, Bentancur was solid so far in Juve. Along with Cristoforo, Lemos, Nandez and Ricca who I really haven't heard much about lately.

I think they can do well since they have solid balance between defence and rest of team, better than Colombia imo.

@Croatian You know your stuff and its pretty incredible. I don't understand how come you don't make more treat with those info you have. :D

^^ I just follow younger players a lot lately. Once you get into it you'll see that there are players that are barely known and are fantastic, like gems. That's best part for me. And young tournaments seem to be as quality as senior ones, especially in terms of entertainment. U17 World Cup in India was fantastic and full of prospects.

@Croatian I remember watching the highlight for the U17 World Cup final, it was great to see. England really have many promising young player, just like Brazil, Spain, France and Germany. :D Hope some of those lads suceed at becoming key player in some big team in the future. :D

Peru will play without Paolo Guerrero.

@Golazo I personally think its for the best, I think a player which is positive in test like that shouldn't be allowed to play. What do you think though?

I think it's sad, he let his country down there is no other choice but to ban a player I mean he was positive on cocaine...