England will face Belgium, Tunisia and Panama at the World Cup in 2018, in Russia. They got drawn in the Kremlin on Friday evening by Diego Maradona, who pulled them out of a hat.
England’s toughest game will be against Belgium on the 28th June with the Three Lions having to face fellow club compatriots such as Vincent Kompany, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Kevin Mirallas, Moussa Dembele and Jan Vertonghen. And for the Evertonian Englishmen, there could be a reunion with former manager Roberto Martinez, now boss of Belgium.
Another team England will play will be Panama who are playing in their first World Cup ever – something which meant so much to them that the president gave the nation a one day holiday.
Lastly, England face Tunisia who they have been drawn against before- in the 1998 World Cup.
England will have to try to prove themselves in this tournament having been knocked out in a group consisting of Costa Rica, Italy and Uruguay, poor for the expectation which surrounded the tournament, not forgetting that they got knocked out by Iceland in the Euros at just the Round of 16 stage.
In other fixtures, Portugal will play Spain in a tense and high-profiled game in what is commonly being called the group of death; Brazil will play Switzerland in another tough group also consisting of Serbia and Costa Rica and finally Nigeria will clash with Argentina for the fifth time in all of Nigeria’s six World Cup appearances.
So my overall view of this draw is that England will be pleased because they have avoided any big teams and there are lots of extremely strong groups and there will be incredibly exciting action happening in Russia.