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Group E of the World Cup, where France and Switzerland are favored to advance over Ecuador and Honduras, might not see any surprises.
France barely qualified to Brazil 2014 after a dramatic playoff series against Ukraine, and Les Bleus suffered a blow when Franck Ribery was ruled out of the competition with just one week to go until the start of the World Cup. Despite this, France is looking stronger than ever in the last months: their last 6 games saw 4 wins by handicap and at nil against very strong opponents and a 1-1 draw with Paraguay. Ukraine, Netherlands, Norway and Jamaica (8-0!!) all fell to France in the recent friendlies. France does not seem like the inconsistent team they were in the last few years and they are set to have a successful campaign in Brazil.
- Key players: Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba
- Strong spots: Overall quality, Chemistry, Defense, Depth, Form
- Weak spots: Coaching staff inexperience, Poor results on the big stage lately
- Odds to qualify: 1.24 @ Betfair
Switzerland might not have the stature and history of the top European teams but make no mistake, Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team can mix it up against the best at any time. The swiss side easily won its qualifying group and went on to play good football in the pre – World Cup friendlies as well. We are talking about a team that lost just once in the last 18 outings but, while they are very hard to defeat, the Swiss do lack that killer instinct to finish off games from time to time. The fact that their midfield line will see 3 Napoli players should help them a lot with playing relations, but their strikers have been in abysmal form recently with the exception of Josip Drmic. France might be too strong for them (not a sure thing though), but the second place should be a lock for Switzerland and could make for a very solid bet.
- Key players: Xherdan Shaqiri, Gokhan Inler
- Strong spots: Midfield chemistry, Manager, Keeper position
- Weak spots: Strikers’ form, Ability to finish off games
- Odds to qualify: 1.67 @ Bet365
Ecuador was the surprise package of the South American qualifiers, finishing 4th over Uruguay and being on track to end up 2nd until the last match of the group. However, their result was mainly due to early form, as the Ecuadorians are now on a run of 14 matches in which they won just twice, and did not look able to challenge the top sides in the pre – World Cup friendlies. Unlike other South American teams they do not have a special generation of players and will need to replicate the early form from the qualies if they are to at least be in a position to challenge for the 2ns place.
- Key players: Antonio Valencia, Felipe Caicedo
- Strong spots: Midfield
- Weak spots: Individual quality, Form, Depth, Offense
- Odds to qualify: 1.57 @ Betfair
It was a shock that Honduras finished 3rd ahead of Mexico in the World Cup qualifying group, but that was mainly Mexico’s fault. Honduras does not have any real weapons to compete at this level and might well end up being one of the weakest teams in the competition. The Hondurians are in dreadful form with a single win in the last 7 games, while meeting mistly B-class opposition. Their best result was a 0-0 against England in the last pre – World Cup friendly but the manner in which it was obtained was shameful, as they were wasting time and fragmented the game since early in the first half. Honduras’ biggest problems is up front, where they do not have a single decent scoring option, so expect their only form of threat in this group to be goalless draws.
- Key players: Wilson Palacios, Maynor Figueroa
- Strong spots: Pragmatism
- Weak spots: Individual quality, Offense, Defense, Depth, Keeper position
- Odds to qualify: 8.60 @ Betfair
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