The 2018 World Cup finals draw featured some fantastic folk dancing, two
musical interludes of dubious quality and some incident-free
ball-pulling.
World Cup Draw 2018
England
have been drawn with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama in World Cup Group G
and will surely be confident – if they can ever be confident – of making
it through to the last-16.
Seeded second England will kick off against Tunisia in Volgograd on
Monday June 18 and then face Panama – at their first ever World Cup – in
Novgorod on June 24 and then they will play their final group match
against top seeds Belgium in Kaliningrad on June 28.
That final fixture will have a
very Premier League feel to it given the large number of Belgians – from
Kevin de Bruyne to Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku in the Red Devils team
who are coached by former Everton manager Roberto Martinez.
The Belgians, too, will be pleased with the draw, and did not want to
face England in the group stages, and although the make-up of the groups
was designed to avoid so-called Groups of Death then there are some
which are tougher than others.
Group B
has Spain and Portugal along with Morocco and Iran while in Group D
there is Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria. England will have been
pleased to have avoided those.
It could have been far tougher for England but they will be wary
given their previous failings not least against smaller, unfancied
nations. The fact they play Belgium in their final tie may also be to
their advantage and despite the strength of their opponents England have
lost just one of their 21 previous international matches against
Belgium (2-3 in 1936).
If England win their group – a huge if - the likely route would be
Colombia in Rostov, Brazil in Kazan, France in St Petersburg and then
the final in Moscow… but let us not get carried away.
We run down the planned schedule for the 2018 World Cup in Russia,
kicking off in Moscow on 14 June and finishing back at the Luzhniki on
15 July.
Group Stage
14 June: Russia v Saudi Arabia (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 7.45pm, Group A)15 June: Egypt v Uruguay (Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg, 1pm, Group A)
15 June: Morocco v Iran (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 4pm, Group B)
15 June: Portugal v Spain (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 7pm, Group B)
16 June: France v Australia (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 11am, Group C)
16 June: Argentina v Iceland (Otkrytie Arena, Moscow, 2pm, Group D)
16 June: Peru v Denmark (Mordovia Arena, Saransk, 5pm, Group C)
16 June: Croatia v Nigeria (Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad, 8pm, Group D)
17 June: Costa Rica v Serbia (Samara Arena, Samara, 1pm, Group E)
17 June: Germany v Mexico (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 4pm, Group F)
17 June: Brazil v Switzerland (Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, 7pm, Group E)
18 June: Sweden v South Korea (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 1pm, Group F)
18 June: Belgium v Panama (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 4pm, Group G)
18 June: Tunisia v England (Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, 7pm, Group G)
19 June: Poland v Senegal (Otkrytie Arena, Moscow, 1pm, Group H)
19 June: Colombia v Japan (Mordovia Arena, Saransk, 4pm, Group H)
19 June: Russia v Egypt (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 7pm, Group A)
20 June: Portugal v Morocco (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 1pm, Group B)
20 June: Uruguay v Saudi Arabia (Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, 4pm, Group A)
20 June: Iran v Spain (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 7pm, Group B)
21 June: France v Peru (Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg, 1pm, Group C)
21 June: Denmark v Australia (Samara Arena, Samara, 4pm, Group C)
21 June: Argentina v Croatia (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 7pm, Group D)
22 June: Brazil v Costa Rica (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 1pm, Group E)
22 June: Nigeria v Iceland (Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, 4pm, Group D)
22 June: Serbia v Switzerland (Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad, 7pm, Group E)
23 June: Belgium v Tunisia (Otkrytie Arena, Moscow, 1pm, Group G)
23 June: Germany v Sweden (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 4pm, Group F)
23 June: South Korea v Mexico (Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, 7pm, Group F)
24 June: England v Panama (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 1pm, Group G)
24 June: Japan v Senegal (Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg, 4pm, Group H)
24 June: Poland v Colombia (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 7pm, Group H)
25 June: Saudi Arabia v Egypt (Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, 3pm, Group A)
25 June: Uruguay v Russia (Samara Arena, Samara, 3pm, Group A)
25 June: Iran v Portugal (Mordovia Arena, Saransk, 7pm, Group B)
25 June: Spain v Morocco (Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad, 7pm, Group B)
26 June: Australia v Peru (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 3pm, Group C)
26 June: Denmark v France (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 3pm, Group C)
26 June: Iceland v Croatia (Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, 7pm, Group D)
26 June: Nigeria v Argentina (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 7pm, Group D)
27 June: South Korea v Germany (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 3pm, Group F)
27 June: Mexico v Sweden (Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg, 3pm, Group F)
27 June: Serbia v Brazil (Otkrytie Arena, Moscow, 7pm, Group E)
27 June: Switzerland v Costa Rica (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 7pm, Group E)
28 June: Japan v Poland (Volgograd Arena, Volgograd, 3pm, Group H)
28 June: Senegal v Colombia (Samara Arena, Samara, 3pm, Group H)
28 June: England v Belgium (Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad, 7pm, Group G)
28 June: Panama v Tunisia (Mordovia Arena, Saransk, 7pm. Group G)
Round of 16
30 June: Winner Group C v Runner-up Group D (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 3pm, R16 1)30 June: A1 v B2 (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 7pm, R16 2)
1 July: B1 v A2 (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 3pm, R16 3)
1 July: D1 v C2 (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 7pm, R16 4)
2 July: E1 v F2 (Samara Arena, Samara, 3pm, R16 5)
2 July: G1 v H2 (Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, 7pm, R16 6)
3 July: F1 v E2 (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 3pm, R16 7)
3 July: H1 v G2 (Otkrytie Arena, Moscow, 7pm, R16 8)
Quarter-Finals
6 July: Winner R16 1 v Winner R16 2 (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, 3pm)6 July: Winner R16 5 v Winner R16 6 (Kazan Arena, Kazan, 7pm)
7 July: Winner R16 7 v Winner R16 8 (Samara Arena, Samara, 1pm)
7 July: Winner R16 3 v Winner R16 4 (Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 7pm)
Semi-Finals
10 July: Winner QF1 v Winner QF 2 (Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, 7pm)11 July: Winner QF3 v Winner QF 4 (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 7pm)
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