Russia

FIFA Ranking: 66

Player to watch: Fedor Smolov

Tournament Preview: The hosts will look to bounce back from a couple of disappointing tournaments in recent history. They will be underdogs in the World Cup, but not necessarily in Group A, one of the weakest groups this summer.

Score Predictions: 2 – 2 Draw vs Saudi Arabia / 0 – 2 Loss vs Egypt / 1 – 4 Loss vs Uruguay

Saudi Arabia

FIFA Ranking: 67

Player to watch: Osama Hawsawi

Tournament Preview: Saudi Arabia is another team that has a big hill to climb, but anyone could realistic come out of this group. Osama Hawsawi figures to be the best defender for Saudi Arabia, and they’ll need him to come up big in a team that lacks in talent.

Score Predictions: 2 – 2 Draw vs Russia / 0 – 1 Loss vs Egypt / 0 – 5 Loss vs Uruguay

Egypt

FIFA Ranking: 46

Player to watch: Mohamed Salah

Tournament Preview: Can one man lead an entire nation to glory? In this situation, glory would be making it out of the group stage for Egypt and that one man would be Mohamed Salah. Coming off a stellar season for Liverpool, Salah is arguably the best player in this group.

Score Predictions: 2 – 0 Win vs Russia / 1 – 0 Win vs Saudi Arabia / 1 – 2 Loss vs Uruguay

Uruguay

FIFA Ranking: 17

Player to watch: Luis Suarez

Tournament Preview: Anything less than a first place finish in this group would be a huge disappointment for the Uruguayans. It will be interesting to see if Luis Suarez can stay on the field after receiving bans in the two previous World Cups, one for a deliberate handball saving a goal, and one for biting an opponent during a match. If Suarez keeps his head, Uruguay has a shot to make so noise in the later stages.

Score Predictions: 4 – 1 Win vs Russia / 5 – 0 Win vs Saudi Arabia / 2 – 1 Win vs Egypt

Final Standing Prediction

Uruguay (9 pts)

Egypt (6 pts)

Russia (1 pts)

Saudi Arabia (1 pts)