We have witnessed some intense battles and some shocking upsets in this FIFA World Cup already and it promises more action and drama as four Group A and as many Group B teams gear up to lock horns on matchday five of the tournament.
Wales and Iran will kick off things with the first match of the day at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. Qatar will lock horns with Senegal next followed by a battle between Netherlands and Ecuador. And the day will come to an end with an interesting face off between England and the USA.
Wales vs Iran
This is expected to be a pretty tight contest. Both the teams are quite on par in terms of quality and experience at this stage. Wales started off their campaign with a 1-1 draw against the USA while Iran suffered a crushing 6-2 loss to England. But Iran can’t be underestimated at all in this contest and that was evident from their second half performance against England. They will be desperate to deliver a better performance here and keep their chances of qualification to the round of 16 alive. There are no favourites in this contest. This is either going to end in a 1-1 draw or Wales may ease past Iran by a 2-1 scoreline.
Qatar vs Senegal
Both sides have started their campaign with defeats. While Qatar lost their opening match 2-0 to Ecuador, Senegal were beaten 2-0 by Netherlands. But the African nation is much better in terms of attacking quality and so, they can be expected to ace this contest pretty easily. Senegal are expected to win this match by a 2-0 or even a 3-0 scoreline.
Netherlands vs Ecuador
Ecuador started their campaign well with a 2-0 win over hosts Qatar but facing the Dutch here is going to be a completely different proposition. Netherlands are far superior in terms of quality than both Qatar and Ecuador and they will start as the favourites to win this match. They have an experienced backline led by Virgil van Dijk and also have capable forwards and midfielders like Steven Bergwijn and Frenkie de Jong respectively. It won’t be a surprise if Netherlands go on to score three or more goals in this game and also maintain a cleansheet.
England vs USA
The Three Lions got their campaign off to a flying start as they registered a thumping 6-2 win over Iran in their opening encounter. They looked really threatening in attack and the USA defence will have their task cut out to keep them at bay. England’s defence did look a bit rusty, though, and there is definitely some room got improvement there. USA, on the other hand, will look for opportunities to score in counterattacks. But Gareth Southgate’s men still have enough potential to breeze past this talented US side. A 3-1 win looks likely for England in this contest.
