FIFA world cup team preview: England, Nigeria, Iran & Sweden

The countdown to the most popular sports event across the World, the FIFA World Cup has reached in its last phase. With less than a week to go for hosts Russia to take on Saudi Arabia on June 14, marking the beginning of the tournament which will have the world glued to their television screens for the next one month.

Over the next few days, National Herald is going to introduce the key teams, their strengths and weaknesses and will analyse their prospects at the World Cup. We begin with the teams that may have been written off by the pundits even before the tournament has started, but have the capabilities to turn the table around and cause major shock.

England

For those who have not been following much of football, England’s name under the ‘dark-horse’ column may raise eyebrows. But with the English team, after getting out in 2014 in the group stage itself, also got humiliated at Euro 2016 after a shock defeat at the hands of Iceland at to get eliminated in the last 16.

But placed in a comparatively easier group, alongside Tunisia, Panama and Belgium, the road looks easier for the 12th ranked team to make it to the second stage.

Their best player, Harry Kane is in tremendous form and has the capability to destroy any defence on his day and coach Gareth Southgate will expect his ace player to put up a commendable show. Kane has a formidable support in Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, who scored 23 goals this past season for Manchester City. If Kane and Sterling gel well together and work some combinations to find some attempts in space, England will be in good shape.

England squad:

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gary Cahill, Fabian Delph, Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, Ashley Young.

Midfielders: Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Forwards: Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Jamie Vardy, Danny Welbeck.

Nigeria

The team known as the ‘Super Eagles’ is a bunch of young, exciting players. Ranked 48th in the FIFA ranking, Nigeria will start their world cup campaign on 17th of June against 20th ranked Croatia. They are in Group B of the 2018 World Cup where they will play against Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.

Nigeria, who will play at the world cup for the fifth time, has a bunch of young players. Kelechi Iheanacho, Alex Iwobi, Henry Onyekuru and Moses Simon represent a new generation that has emerged since the 2014 finals as Nigeria surprisingly qualified from a tough group and reached the second round of the last World Cup. Though Nigeria remained undefeated in the qualifying matches and won all their home matches, still their defence is considered their Achilles heel due to lack of experienced senior players.

There will be concerns about Nigeria’s dependency on Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel as well, with the level of performances over the last year falling dramatically when they were absent. Obi Mikel now plays his club football in China while his old Chelsea team mate Moses is the biggest name in Nigeria’s team.

Nigeria squad:

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi.

Defenders: William Troost-Ekong, Abdullahi Shehu, Tyronne Ebuehi, Elderson Echiejile, Bryan Idowu, Chidozie Awaziem, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo.

Midfielders: Mikel John Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu, Joel Obi.

Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Moses, Odion Ighalo, Alex Iwobi, Simeon Nwankwo.

Iran

Iran enters the tournament with hopes of giving a scare or two to their high-quality group mates, Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

With viable attacking options in Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sardar Azmoun, Iranians have a rock-solid defence that made headlines during the qualifications round.

Coach Queiroz Alireza will be banking on his winger Jahanbakhsh, who won the Golden Boot in the Dutch league in the 2017-18 season. With 18 goals and a host of assists, the 24-year-old has been one of the top performers in Europe this season.

While the team has both match-winners and match-savers and have been a team to defeat in Asia, it lacks games against top-class international opposition. Iran were simply not stretched enough by their continental counterparts in the qualifiers. Still, the team does have the capability to upset their experienced counter-parts, if taken for granted.

Iran squad:

Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand, Rashid Mazaheri, Amir Abedzadeh.

Defenders: Majid Hosseini, Ramin Rezaeian, Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh, Morteza Pouraliganji, Pejman Montazeri, Milad Mohammadi, Roozbeh Cheshmi.

Midfielders: Saeid Ezatolahi, Masoud Shojaei, Mehdi Torabi, Omid Ebrahimi, Ehsan Haji Safi, Karim Ansarifard, Vahid Amiri.

Forwards: Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun, Reza Ghoochannejhad, Saman Ghoddos, Ashkan Dejagah.

Sweden

Not only placed in one of the toughest groups with both Germany and Mexico, Sweden will also miss the expertise of its star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Overall expectations aren't high as the squad lacks real quality.

But missing Ibra is also a blessing in disguise for the Swedish team as without him, claim pundits, the team is more capable of putting up a united show. Their biggest strength is their non-dependence on a star player but a motivated team willing to pull strings for their victory.

The Janne Andresson-coached team is ambitious, and their self-confidence is sky-high. More importantly, Emil Forsberg is both a leader and a major source of improvisation for Sweden. The RB Leipzig playmaker provided 22 assists in the Bundesliga in 2015-16 and possesses brilliant technical skills making him a joy to watch. In addition, key players Andreas Granqvist and Viktor Claesson ply their trade in Russia for Krasnodar, ensuring they will feel at home during the tournament.

The lack of top quality, nonetheless, will be something that will concern the management. This is evident from the fact that the squad is not deep enough to go far in the tournament. Apart from Forsberg, no player can be considered a real star. First-choice goalkeeper Robin Olsen suffered a very untimely injury. Even Victor Lindelof, the most promising centre-back, had a nightmare debut season at Manchester United.

Sweden squad:

Goalkeepers: Robin Olsen, Karl-Johan Johnsson, Kristoffer Nordfeldt.

Defenders: Mikael Lustig, Victor Lindelof, Andreas Granqvist, Martin Olsson, Ludwig Augustinsson, Filip Helander, Emil Krafth, Pontus Jansson.

Midfielders: Sebastian Larsson, Albin Ekdal, Emil Forsberg, Gustav Svensson, Oscar Hiljemark, Viktor Claesson, Marcus Rohden, Jimmy Durmaz.

Forwards: Marcus Berg, John Guidetti, Ola Toivonen, Isaac Kiese Thelin.

With inputs from Shubang Gautam