Belgium, England strong favourites for World Cup Group G

Touted as the “golden generation”, Belgium’s collection of stars, including Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku have so far failed to deliver on their potential.

Reaching the quarter-finals four years ago was seen as an acceptable stepping stone.

But a last-eight exit to Wales at Euro 2016 saw coach Marc Wilmots sacked with former Everton boss Roberto Martinez the surprise choice to take over.

Martinez’s men cruised through qualifying, but doubts remain over the Spaniard’s ability to get the best out of a supremely talented squad and his decision to leave out Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan was a deeply unpopular one with fans.

The Red Devils’ best ever showing in a World Cup was reaching the semi-finals in 1986.

England have more humble expectations after failing to make the last eight in their last two major tournaments.

How far Gareth Southgate’s men go will depend a lot on captain Harry Kane finally taking his club form for Tottenham Hotspur onto the tournament stage.

A youthful squad is filled with attacking talent, but there are questions over Southgate’s lack of options in midfield.

Tunisia’s hopes of winning a first game at the World Cup since 1978 have suffered a huge blow with star player Youssef Msakni ruled out due to a knee ligament injury, described by coach Nabil Maloul as like Argentina going to Russia without Lionel Messi.

Panama are the tournament’s rank outsiders at 1000/1 having produced miracles just to make it to Russia by eliminating the United States in qualifying.

A 6-0 friendly thrashing at the hands of Switzerland in March showed the step up from CONCACAF to facing some of the world’s best may be a jump too far though.