Of this and that

The greatest sporting event on the planet kicks off in a week. For all the effort that goes in for each country (other than the host) to qualify, they could find themselves out of the competition after just 3 matches, such being the format of the tournament. Which also means that one result could mean a favourite getting knocked out or a relatively unknown team make it to the knock-out rounds. This also means that predicting results can get very tricky. So with that disclaimer, here are my predictions for the group and knock-out stages. Group A: It’s hard to look beyond Uruguay as toppers of this relatively weaker group. On paper, Egypt should be second, but I am not sure how Mo Salah’s injury might impact then. That, and given that Russia are playing on home soil, I am going to call them as the second qualifier. A-1 - Uruguay A-2 - Russia Group B: Spain and Portugal look obvious favourites to go through and the first match in this group could well decide who is first