With Poland. Colombia, Senegal and Asian powerhouse Japan forming Group H, the last group of the competition, seems to be trickiest one of the lot. Though Colombia look to top the group, the second spot will be up for grab for which Poland, Senegal as well Japan can lay equal claim.
James Rodriguez will be the star player for the Colombians. With six goals, he was the Golden Boot winner from the last World Cup in Brazil. Last time around, it was all about James at the World Cup. He took them to the quarters. But with Falcao finding his form back, things look great for the South Americans.
They also have Carlos Sanchez in the midfield. The defense also looks pretty good with young Davinson Sanchez. They also got Yerry Mina in the backline as well.
For Poland Robert Lewandowski will be the main man, who is already country’s top scorer with 51 goals. Lewandowski scored more goals than anyone else during qualification and was alone responsible for bringing Poland to the World Cup. On average, they scored 2.8 goals every match.
The defence may well turn out to be the Achilles heel for Poland. The only sort of defender in that team who’s really got any real presence really is Lukasz Piszczek, who plays right back. Though their midfield looks decent with Kamil Grosicki and Piotr Zielinski.
Senegal, who will be making their second appearance at the world stage, will be in Russia with a good mix of young plus veteran footballers. Apart from Sadio Mane in attack, they have a backline, which includes one of the best centre-backs in Europe, Kalidou Koulibaly. The midfield also looks nice with Kouyate and Sane. Then there is Idrisa Gana Gueye, who has been solid in the central midfield.
With Sadio Mane able to play anywhere up front, the ‘Lions of Teranga’ will look to perform better than what they did 16 years ago in Japan and South Korea when they literally knocked holders France with a 1-0 win in the inaugural match of the competition.
Meanwhile, the fourth team in the group, Japan, are not going to be a pushover. Japan’s attacking trio has more than 100 goals among themselves. They are great attacking team with Shinji Kagawa, Honda, and Okazaki. But, defense-wise, unknown. Maya Yoshida is sort of the only name we know because of his Southampton playing time. The others don’t really have, you know, big international experience.
Squads:
Poland's 23-man preliminary squad: Bartosz Bialkowski, Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny; Jan Bednarek, Bartosz Bereszynski, Thiago Cionek, Kamil Glik, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Michal Pazdan, Lukasz Piszczek; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Jacek Goralski, Kamil Goricki, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Slawomir Peszko, Maciej Rybus, Piotr Zielinski, Rafal Kurzawa, Karol Linetty; Dawid Kownacki, Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, Lukasz Teodorczyk
Senegal's 23-man final squad: Abdoulaye Diallo, Khadim Ndiaye, Alfred Gomis, Lamine Gassama, Moussa Wague, Saliou Ciss, Youssouf Sabaly, Kalidou Koulibaly, Salif Sane, Cheikhou Kouyate, Kara Mbodji, Idrisa Gana Gueye, Cheikh Ndoye, Alfred Ndiaye, Pape Alioune Ndiaye, Moussa Sow, Moussa Konate, Diafra Sakho, Sadio Mane, Ismaila Sarr, Mame Biram Diouf, Mbaye Niang, Diao Keita Balde
Colombia's 23-man preliminary squad: David Ospina, Camilo Vargas, Jose Fernando Cuadrado; Cristian Zapata, Davinson Sanchez, Santiago Arias, Oscar Murillo, Frank Fabra, Johan Mojica, Yerry Mina; Wilmar Barrios, Carlos Sanchez, Jefferson Lerma, Jose Izquierdo, James Rodriguez, Abel Aguilar, Juan Fernando Quintero, Mateus Uribe, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado; Radamel Falcao Garcia, Miguel Borja, Carlos Bacca, Luis Fernando Muriel
Japan's 23-man final squad: Eiji Kawashima, Masaaki Higashiguchi, Kosuke Nakamura, Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Hiroki Sakai, Gotoku Sakai, Gen Shoji, Wataru Endo, Naomichi Ueda, Makoto Hasebe, Keisuke Honda, Takashi Inui, Shinji Kagawa, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Genki Haraguchi, Takashi Usami, Gaku Shibasaki, Ryota Oshima, Shinji Okazaki, Yuya Osako, Yoshinori Muto
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