World Cup: Group A Preview

MATCHES (EDT)

Thursday, June 14 - 11:00 a.m: Russia v. Saudi Arabia
Friday, June 15 - 8:00 a.m: Egypt v. Uruguay
Tuesday, June 19 - 2:00 p.m: Russia v. Egypt
Wednesday, June 20 - 11:00 a.m: Uruguay v. Saudi Arabia
Monday, June 25 - 10:00 a.m: Saudi Arabia v. Egypt
Monday, June 25 - 10:00 a.m: Uruguay v. Russia

Uruguay are the heavy favorites to win Group A, with Russia also expected to advance to the knockout rounds. However, the Russians have been awful leading up to the tournament, one in which they automatically qualified because they are the host nation. As a result, they've spent the past two years playing international friendlies, which was preceded by a rough showing at the Confederations Cup in June 2016 (which was also at home). Russia won their first friendly after that tournament, a 4-2 win over South Korea, but they are winless since, drawing 1-1 to Iran (Oct. 10) and 3-3 to Spain (Nov. 14) while losing to Argentina (1-0), Brazil (3-0), France (3-1) and Austria (1-0). That set of teams is mostly better than what they'll face in Group A, aside from Uruguay, but it tough to be too optimistic given their struggles.

Egypt looked to be the spoiler for Russia, but Mohamed Salah appears likely to miss the entire group stage because of a shoulder injury suffered during the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Salah's importance to Egypt cannot be understated, particularly coming off a record-breaking season at Liverpool when he scored 32 goals and picked up 10 assists. Egypt have players who can move into his position, but no one comes close to being able to fill the production void. Already expected to play fairly defensively, if Salah is held out completely then Egypt will try and lock it down even more, with their games likely to be very low scoring while they try to nip goals against Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Back in the World Cup for the first time since 2006, Saudi Arabia earned their ticket to Russia by finishing behind Japan in their qualification group. However, a managerial change after qualifying has left a few questions as to how the team will play, though there's little doubt that if they make any noise in the tournament it'll be because of Mohammed Al-Sahlawi, whose 16 goals during World Cup qualifying was more than any other player in any region. That being said, half of those goals came against Timor-Leste, a place I didn't know existed until last week. While the record looks impressive, it's important to not overlook the fact that Saudi Arabia is arguably the worst team at the World Cup, have the lowest odds to qualify for the knockout round and could end up with the fewest goals scored.

As mentioned, Uruguay are the dominant favorites to win the group, with their blistering attack spearheaded by Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani, whose 28 goals this year led Ligue 1, and Barcelona's Luis Suarez, who bagged 25 goals (third-best in La Liga, trailing only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) and registered 12 assists, co-leading the Spanish top flight. But this isn't just a team that can score, as they boast two center-backs, Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez, who happen to also be teammates at Atletico Madrid, one of the best defensive teams in the world over the past few years (they allowed a league-low 22 goals this past season and a league-low 27 the season prior). Given the competition in the group, Uruguay should have no problem finishing on top and facing off against the second-place team in Group B in the round of 16.

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PLAYERS TO WATCH

Egypt: Mohamed Salah would be the easy one here, but with his shoulder injury likely to hold him out for the entirety of the group stage (which could be the entirety of Egypt's World Cup run), we'll turn our attention to Abdallah El Said, who lined up as Egypt's no. 10 during qualifying. For those looking for similar production from the wing, Trezeguet (Mahmoud Ibrahim Hassan) has similar crossing numbers during qualifying and actually drew more fouls, though he failed to score in their last nine (seven starts). With Salah sidelined, Trezeguet is likely to take on more of the scoring load, with Ramadan Sobhi likely to get more minutes as well.

Russia: Finishing second in the Russian Premier League Golden Boot race, Fyodor Smolov will have the burden of scoring goals for the Russians as they try to avoid becoming just the second host nation to fail to reach the knockout rounds. Smolov averaged 4.5 shots, including 1.6 shots on goal, per 90 minutes during Russian Premier League play, which would give him a nice fantasy floor if he can keep that rate going during the two matches Russia are favored in. We can add Aleksandr Samedov too, as he could be on a majority of corners for the Russians now that Konstantin Rausch was left off the final 23-man squad, though I wouldn't rule out Aleksandr Golovin and/or Alan Dzagoev poaching a few.

Saudi Arabia:Mohammed Al-Sahlawi will get some attention because of all the goals he scored during qualifying, but fantasy players will probably want to focus more on Salman Al-Faraj and Taisir Al-Jassim thanks to their work all over the pitch. The biggest issue with Saudi Arabia is that they don't have any players who play in a top league, so we're left with seeing how well their Saudi Premier League stats translate against teams that are led by La Liga, English Premier League and Russian Premier League stars. Al-Faraj and Al-Jassim are expected to take most of Saudi Arabia's set pieces, but given how they are overwhelming underdogs in all three games, it's tough to see many of those opportunities presenting themselves.

Uruguay: Suarez and Cavani will get all the attention because everyone loves goals, but we can't overlook Giorgian De Arrascaeta, who is a bit of an unknown for many because he plays professionally for Cruzeiro in Brazil. However, he took a majority of the team's corners during World Cup qualifying, and with Uruguay heavily favored to win the group and score the most goals, De Arrascaeta could be the one helping Suarez and Cavani find the back of the net.

EXPECTED CORNER TAKERS

Russia: Aleksandr Samedov, Yuri Zhirkov, Aleksandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev
Egypt: Mohamed Salah, Abdallah El Said, Shikbala, Ramadan Sobhi
Saudi Arabia: Salman Al-Faraj, Taiseer Al-Jassam
Uruguay: Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Carlos Sanchez

EXPECTED PENALTY TAKERS

Egypt: Mohamed Salah, Abdallah El Said
Russia: Fyodor Smolov, Aleksandr Samedov
Saudi Arabia: Mohammad Al-Sahlawi, Salman Al-Faraj
Uruguay: Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez

ROUND OF 16 OPPONENTS

• Winner of Group A plays runner-up in Group B (Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Iran)
• Runner-up of Group A players winner of Group B