World Cup preview: 14 Barcelona players included in national team squads
Group H
This is the most open group out of them all because each side has a realistic chance of finishing top. Colombia are deserved favourites, but they can’t afford to underestimate any opponent. Yerry Mina could be partnering Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez at the heart of La Tricolor‘s defence.
His spell with Barcelona hasn’t been the best so far due to difficulties adjusting to the style. The loss to Levante was the best example of this. However, he has a lot of potential and is a lot more comfortable in the national team set-up. Colombia are an exciting side with a heavy creative reliance on James Rodriguez. Radamel Falcao will be aiming to make an impact in his first World Cup after cruelly missing out on 2014 due to injury.
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Rodriguez used the last World Cup as a platform to showcase his talent as they reached the quarter-finals. They could very easily do the same again, but Brazil or Germany are likely to be waiting for them at that stage.
Senegal, Poland and Japan are the other teams in the group. Poland are the team most likely to finish in second, with Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski being key to that. However, Senegal have talent throughout such as Sadio Mane, Keita Balde and Kalidou Koulibaly. Japan have a number of exciting attacking options as well such as Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki and Takashi Inui.