There are no easy game now, only easier games 'on paper', though I'd rather avoid playing Brazil for as long as possible - which is how it's turned out!
If we go off FIFA World Ranking... <cough> ...
Top Half
[7] France
[5] Argentina
[14] Uruguay
[4] Portugal
[2] Brazil
[15] Mexico
[3] Belgium
[61] Japan
Bottom Half
[10] Spain
[70] Russia
[20] Croatia
[12] Denmark
[24] Sweden
[6] Switzerland
[16] Colombia
[12] England
Top half is pretty stacked!
Surely Spain is artificially low ,ie their quality is a lot better than what it shows in the ranking
I wonder how high Russia would be if they actually had to qualify - high 20's ? Maybe low teen's - they certainly appear to be playing that way (admittedly on home soil, which may well be a factor)
Another way to look at it - from the matches Ive watched, there doesn't appear to be that much between the performance levels of Portugal in 4th and Denmark in 12th maybe even Uruguay (haven't seen too much of them)
Individual players have lit up the World Cup - but not really sure a whole team has as yet (Mbappe yesterday was brilliant, and even France attacking wise was very good, but their defensive unit can be got at quite easily even with the phenomenal Kante in there, and it was Argentina who lacked cohesion for large parts of the match that let themselves down.....as well as Rojo's conceded pen ).
England have a good chance on Tuesday,,,,,but they will make it a lot more difficult than it needs to be (and that's not knocking Colombia either who seem to be a decent side)
