The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is here starting Monday, November 21st. The RPS squad is ready to go with Playbooks, Core Plays, a Trust the Process video, and the most active Discord community in DFS.
Jaime Durand has been the lead soccer coordinator since RPS started. In this series of articles he will be previewing every team in the tournament, group by group, providing players to watch and of course, his pick to win the group.
England
Is it coming home? It has now been 56 years since the last time the Three Lions lifted up the biggest trophy in sports but if they ever had a chance to bring it home this would be the year to do it. England is loaded with veteran talent as well as some of the best young players in the world. Sharing their group with Wales, Iran and USA, should give them an easy path to the knockout round. The England attack will be led by Harry Kane, who has the best odds to win the golden boot, and he should have plenty of chances to score with guys like Saka and Foden feeding him the ball. Their toughest test in the first round will be the USA but they should get a result in all three games and that will be enough to win the group.
Top Players: Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden
Players to Watch: Jude Bellingham
USA
The Stars and Stripes are back in the World Cup after missing out on 2018 and will need to quickly get a result in their first game against Wales to have any hopes of advancing to the knockout round. The USA does not want to go into the England game with no points and risk having 0 points heading to the last match with Iran. All eyes will be on Christian Pulisic, but he will need help from guys like Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson to get this team through to the next round. With Pepi and Siebatchu at home, the striker position will have to be held down by Jesus Ferreira and Timothy Weah who will need to contribute goals to help the USA stay in the World Cup for more than three games.
Top Players: Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Antonee Robinson
Players to Watch: Brenden Aaronson, Jesus Ferreira, and Haji Wright
Wales
Wales lost their last three games heading into the World Cup and will need Captain Gareth Bale to have a big tournament in order to have a chance at the knockout round. Goals have been hard to come by for the Dragons as of late so guys like Daniel James and Brennan Johnson will need to step up their game for Wales to have any chance in group B. Ultimately I think Wales is the third-best team in the group and just like the USA will need an early result in the first game to have any kind of a shot. The USA is the more talented team and might be the reason that Wales goes home early.
Top Players: Gareth Bale and Neco Williams
Players to Watch: Brennan Johnson
Iran
Iran is doomed to finish dead last in Group B and will be underdogs in all three of their group-stage games. The focus back in Iran has been the protests leading up to the tournament about women’s rights in the country and we could even see some players show support in some way to the women back in Iran. Unfortunately, I do not see Iran winning any games at the cup even though they actually do have some good talent. Mehdi Taremi has been linked with an Arsenal move and has been playing lights out for Porto. Last World Cup we saw the arrival of the Iranian Messi Sardar Azmoun, who is now playing in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen, would be a big help for Iran but he is battling an injury and it has not been said how many games he will be missing. Iran will play tough and will try to make games a defensive struggle for their opponents but ultimately will end up going home after the group stage.
Top Players: Mehdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun
Players to Watch: Mehdi Torabi
Group B Predictions
Jaime: England, USA, Wales, and Iran
Rubio: England, USA, Iran, and Wales
Check out our FREE Video Trust the Process: World Cup DFS Strategy
