Group E Preview ~ World Cup 2022
Spain – Germany – Japan – Costa Rica (Rankings As Of Finals Draw, April 1, 2022)
Spain National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 7
Manager: Luis Enrique
World Cup Appearances: 16
Best Finish: Champions 2010
Odds to Win Cup: +850
Odds to Win Group E: -115
Odds to Qualify: -1,000
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 6.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 23 vs. Costa Rica
November 27 vs. Germany
December 1 vs. Japan
Espana and Germany meet again in group play! The 2020-21 UEFA Nations League A A4 Group Stage pitted Germany and Espana together, and the coastal Nation took a 7 – 1 aggregate result. While also plowing through the Swiss and Ukraine, Espana advanced to World Cup Qualifying after reaching the finals against France to wrap up Nations League play.
France and Espana were both pushed directly to the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification process, and La Roja landed in UEFA’s Group B. After outsourcing their opponents in the first stage 13 – 3, Espana scored 15 goals while only allowing 5 en route to taking the top spot in the group. The results provided a direct path into Pot 1 when the balls were drawn for the Finals in Qatar.
Midfielder Ferran Torres was a big part of the process, scoring two big goals against Italia, which knocked them out of the Nations League and eventually led to Italy not even being in this year’s tournament.
Torres will be alongside Captain Sergio Busquets, who just earned the armband in 2021 after a 5-year run for Sergio Ramos. Ramos is the all-time leader in caps having appeared in 180 matches with Espana, having won 131 of them, oh, by the way.
Ramos looks to be shocked that an 18-month hiatus with the National Team still has him on the 23-man roster for Espana. Carlo Ancelotti sees enough left in the tank for the PSG defender, so this could be an interesting late addition we didn’t expect to see.
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Germany National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 11
Manager: Hansi Flick
World Cup Appearances: 20
Best Finish: Champions (1954, ‘74, ‘90, 2014)
Odds to Win Cup: +1.000
Odds to Win Group E: -115
Odds to Qualify: -900
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 5.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 23 vs. Japan
November 27 vs. Spain
December 1 vs. Costa Rica
Germany opens the Finals against Japan, and then we all know who they’ll face on matchday 2 of Group E play. Espana and Germany are the two favorites to come out of this group, and it really isn’t even close.
I already chopped up what Spain had to do to get here with Germany in their Nations League section. While Germany and Spain advanced to the UEFA World Cup qualifying stage, Deutschland rolled into Group J and from their 10 qualifying matches they cleared 27 points and the top spot to directly advance to the Finals.
Deutschland had three different players tally 5 goals apiece in the final group stage qualifying round, as they and North Macedonia pretty much outscored everyone. Serge Gnabry, İlkay Gündoğan, and Timo Werner accomplished the feat, and not far behind them were Leroy Sané with 4 goals of his own.
I am certainly keen on how Espana dismissed Deutschland in Nations League play, and that matters here. The fact that Germany was completely shut out against Spain in the second of the two-legged affair is outrageous if you think about that. Their first encounter was a 1 – 1 draw and then Spain dumped a 6 – 0 effort on the Germans.
I can’t get past that, so I am going to be expecting Espana to take this group as you’ll see below. Now, I have to wonder if there will be any major upsets for this team against japan or Costa Rica.
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Japan National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 24
Manager: Hajime Moriyasu
World Cup Appearances: 7
Best Finish: Round of 16 (2002, ‘10, ‘18)
Odds to Win Cup: +30,000
Odds to Win Group E: +1,400
Odds to Qualify: +375
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 2.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 23 vs. Germany
November 27 vs. Costa Rica
December 1 vs. Spain
Ranked 24th in the World, Japan knows that this group has a pair of European sides sitting among the Top-10 football teams on planet Earth. No one has Japan or Costa Rica stealing a Round of 16 bid from either Germany or Spain, right?
Well, we can’t say anyone, because I can think of a pretty big population of football fans that think otherwise. We can’t? No chance? Should we just stay home and not bother to make the 9+ hour plane ride over to Qatar?
You know, it’s ironic that Japan and Qatar are both members of the AFC, and the last time Qatar hosted a Major event Japan lifted a trophy! In 2011, Qatar hosted the Asian Cup finals which Japan went on to win, and Japan and Qatar just recently met in the 2019 Asian Cup finale which Qatar won, 3 – 1.
Qatar is not in Japan’s group here, but they are no strangers to being here and we know Japan will have a ton of fan support. One thing they get is support from the traveling Nation that always shows up in droves for Major football events.
Will strong crowd support be enough to get any results, this is the question we need to ask ourselves. The line setters are putting both Costa Rica and Japan at 3.5 points for Group E play, so two results will be needed to topple that number.
Did you see the ridiculousness that Japan pulled off in the AFC second-round World Cup qualifying? Hi, how about 46 goals scored and only 2 allowed before advancing to the final third-round stage? Easily advancing to Qatar with second place in hand, Japan outscored their opponents 12 – 4, with Saudi Arabia taking top honors.
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Costa Rica National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 31
Manager: Luis Fernando Suárez
World Cup Appearances: 6
Best Finish: Quarterfinals (2014)
Odds to Win Cup: +40,000
Odds to Win Group E: +3,500
Odds to Qualify: +700
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 2.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 23 vs. Spain
November 27 vs. Japan
December 1 vs. Germany
If anyone thinks Japan should stay home, they must think that Costa Rica should not leave the comforts of home for a trip to Qatar either.
Where do we even start with CONCACAF qualifying for World Cup 2022? So many people still don’t even know the Nations that exist in this Federation, and there are only 4.5 bids available from CONCACAF.
Here, let me make it a quick lesson, Caribbean, Central American, and North American Nations make up CONCACAF, and my goodness, is there some poor quality football happening in this Federation? We can almost give Mexico and the United States entry to this thing for years to come with the quality of football being played there. That also leads to the question of why we are moving to a 48-Nation Finals for 2026.
I honestly can’t even begin to think that Spain and Germany are going to leave points on the board against Costa Rica. And for me, Japan will be comfortably taking 3 points against Costa Rica too, so why are they coming this far to play football?
I am trying to find the 2.5 points here, but we know they will be so tough to find, and Costa Rica will be heavy underdogs for all three Group E affairs. I see no less than a +385 on a 3-point win for this Nation in Qatar, but unfortunately, the price is too stiff for a play. Betonline is offering -150 on the Under 2.5 points in Group E play, and that’s a far stretch for me.
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World Cup 2022 Group E Predictions and Bets: (Bookmaker BetOnline)
Japan Over 2.5 Group Points @ -110 1U
Espana to Win Group E @ -115 1U
Group E Total Goals Scored Over 16.5 @ +105 1U
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