Look at this.
June 18: England v Tunisia
June 24: England v Panama
June 28: England v Belgium
Welcome to the World Cup.
It will take 10 days and three games for England to get a test in the 2018 World Cup and, by that stage, they’ll already have qualified for the last 16. They’ll undoubtedly struggle through the first two encounters anyway but they should – they really should – accrue enough points to ensure that second place is sealed no matter what happens against Belgium.
Ideal scenario: Get four points in those first two games and hope Belgium beat both of them. Ideal in an English football reality.
But then it gets tricky. Then it gets… English.
The question then is just who will knock them out.
England have been grouped in with Belgium, Panama and Tunisia in Group G and, in the second round, they will meet either the winners or runners up of Group H as per the World Cup draw.
Group H
- Poland
- Senegal
- Colombia
- Japan
Second Round
If England top their group, they’ll play the runners-up of Group H – Colombia are second seeds.
If England finish second in their group, they’ll play the winners of Group H – Poland are first seeds.
Okay, so… let’s just pretend for a second – just for the craic – that Gareth Southgate’s charges can come through either of those clashes and reach the last eight. Here’s who they can get.
Quarter-finals
If England top their group and win the second round, they’ll play the winners of the game between the Group E toppers and Group F runners-up – probably Brazil.
If England come second in their group and win the second round, they’ll play the winners of the game between Group F toppers and Group E runners-up – probably Germany.
Groups E and F
And that was all she wrote.
