Teams : France,Australia,Peru,Denmark
France are the favorites in this group.Peru and Denmark are both good and one of them will have to out do the other to make it to the next round.Peru has a slight advantage over Denmark.For Australia it may not be this time though it would be interesting to see what ideas their coach has up his sleeves.A loss or draw for france can change the equations wide open.
France
France is coached by Didier Deschamps who had captained them in their only World cup truimph in 1998.As a coach,he was able to take them to the Euro finals.As such france can beat,lose to or draw with any team.It is this unpredictability of the team which makes the group interesting.They are led by their goal keeper Lloris.Their frontline is quite a pack with Griezmann,Mbappe,Dembele and Giroud.Then they have Pogba,Lemar,Kante and Matuidi in the midfield.Benjamin Mendy is the star in defence which also includes Varane & Umtiti.Defence could be their weak link while the strength of the forward line and the midfield may help them in their progress.This is the fifteenth World Cup of the two time finalists.
Peru
Peru has come through the toughest qualifying group of the World cup and naturally they play the beautiful latin american football.This is their fifth world cup appearance and their best was the quarter-finals in 1970.Most of their players play in the south american leagues.Their star striker and biggest inspiration is their captain Paolo Guerrero who comes after serving the ban. Jefferson Farfan is the player with domestic league experience in Russia which may come handy.Also forward Ruidiaz and midfielder Cueva are the names to be watched out for.Their Argentinian coach Ricardo Gareca has been instrumental in their turn around and World cup qualification
This is Australia’s 4th successive(5 in total) world cup appearance and their best was pre-quarters in 2006.Their star player is Tim Cahill,but at 38 may not be effective as before.Their captain Jedinak and striker Juric are interesting prospects.They are coached by Bert van Marwjik who had successfully took Netherlands to the 2010 world cup.Since defensive game had back fired for him in 2010 final,he might prefer an attacking style.
Denmark
Another team appearing for their 5th world cup with a best of quarter-finals in the 1998 world cup.Their star players are Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen and Werder Bremen’s Delaney who shared 12 goals between themselves in the qualifiers.They had also thrashed Poland 4-1 in one of the qualifiers.Other players to be watched out for are their captain Kjaer & Chelsea’s Christensen in defence and forwards Jorgensen & Cornelius.Denmark is coached by former Norwegian player Age Hareide.
France : 7
Peru : 11
Denmark : 12
Australia : 36