Group B
Spain are the main nation in this group as well as one of the top teams in the tournament. Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta will all be heavily involved. This is a special tournament for Pique and Iniesta, in particular, because it will be their last international tournament and World Cup respectively.
This is a tough group because it also contains Euro 2016 winners Portugal. They have a number of talented stars such as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Andre Silva as well as Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. An exciting Morocco side have the potential to be one of the dark horses for the tournament, while Iran are well organised as well as being tough to break down. However, Spain should come top of this group, with the main battle being for second place.
La Roja are a squad brimming with talent as well as depth in every position. The dominance of La Liga teams in Europe as well as the strong domestic competition has given Julen Lopetegui a wealth of experienced players to choose from. However, Bayern’s Thiago as well as David De Gea and David Silva from the Manchester clubs will play key parts. This tournament could be a way for Thiago to convince the Barcelona board to re-sign him, although his value will go up in the process.
Spain have every right to be confident of a run into the latter stages and should be seen as favourites to win it.
Group C
France could be the most entertaining side at this tournament even with the pragmatic Didier Deschamps holding them back from their full potential. Samuel Umtiti has been excellent for Barcelona over the last two seasons, which has seen him elevated to a starting position for this tournament; although Laurent Koscielny’s injury probably helped as well.
Ousmane Dembele is another Barcelona player who will be involved with the French national team. His role in the starting XI is less secure due to the amount of strong attacking options France have. However, he has the quality to make a difference and should be first-choice as the tournament progresses.
Les Bleus are a young side, so they are only likely to get stronger over time as the players develop such as Dembele, Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba. This means that they stand a much stronger chance of winning the 2022 World Cup. However, they will be determined to avenge the Euros final loss on home soil against Portugal.
Australia, Denmark and Peru make up the rest of this group. They should comfortably finish top of this group, although a Danish side built around Christian Eriksen could give them a few problems. How far France will go is hard to say due to the inexperience as well as the manager. Regardless, they should be good to watch.