We have reached the very end of the presentation of the groups at the World Cup. The last one, and one of the ones that should be among the most interesting, is Group L.
In addition to the two European superpowers, England and Croatia, there are also Ghana and Panama.
ENGLAND
The "Three Lions" selection is always among the favorites, but they have only reached the "golden goddess" once - back in 1966 in front of a home audience.
In fact, they never reached the final before or after that trophy, nor did they win a medal, considering they finished fourth twice.
They cruised through the qualifiers, winning all eight games by an incredible goal difference (22:0). The competition from Albania, Serbia, Latvia and Andorra was simply too weak for the English.
Coach Thomas Tuchel has a very high-quality team at his disposal. However, there was anger in the English media after the German announced the list. It does not include names such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and others.
Tuchel is consistent with his ideas, and even stated at a conference that a place in the starting 11 is not guaranteed even for Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.
We'll see how the German mentality will affect the specific English dressing room, but if you look only at the paper and the roster - the English are in the inner circle of favorites to lift the much-awaited "golden goddess" on July 19th.
They were confident in the June warm-up matches. Wins against New Zealand (1:0) and Costa Rica (3:0). They open the World Cup on June 17 at 22 p.m. with a duel against Croatia, in a rematch of the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
CROATIA
What to expect from the "fiery"? Everyone knows that the World Cup is a special inspiration for the Croatians and that Zlatko Dalić always knows how to get the best out of his players.
This is also evidenced by the results at the previous two World Championships, where they won silver in Russia in 2018 and bronze in Qatar in 2022. At the same time, these are two of the three medals that Croatians have won at the World Championships. Croatia won bronze on its debut in 1998.
They easily won first place in qualifying group L, which also included Montenegro. The "Brave Falcons" were defeated by the Croats both times - 4:0 in Zagreb and 3:2 after a comeback in Podgorica.
Dalić opted for tried and tested forces, the experts from Livno don't experiment too much.
This will be Luka Modrić's last dance at the World Cup, unless he decides to push on until he is 44 and the next World Cup.
Since the end of March, Croatia has had four strong tests in friendly matches. In the first round, they beat Colombia (2:1), and then lost to Brazil (3:1). They also had a half-hearted performance in the June window - a defeat to Belgium (2:0) and a victory over Slovenia (2:1).
Ghana
Since their debut at the 2006 World Cup, the "Black Stars" have only missed one tournament of the world's best football teams, in 2018 in Russia.
Their best performance was in South Africa in 2010, when they reached the quarterfinals, where they were eliminated by Uruguay in an incredible match, after penalties.
Ghana was lucky in the qualifying draw because realistically they had no real competition among Madagascar, Mali, Comoros, Central African Republic and Chad. They won 25 points in 10 matches and took first place in Group I.
The African team at the World Cup will be led by experienced Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.
The experienced Jordan Ayew is back, but the main star is Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo. Also there is Iñaki Williams, whose brother Nico will play for Spain.
If friendly matches are any indication, the "Black Stars" are not in good form. A draw against Wales (1:1) and a defeat to Mexico (2:0), while in March they lost to Germany (2:1) and Austria (5:1).
Ghana will play their first match at the World Cup on June 18th at 1:00 AM against Panama.
PANAMA
This will be Panama's second appearance at the World Cup in history. They made their debut in Russia in 2018 and were eliminated in the group stage, losing all three matches by a goal difference of 2:11.
They started the qualifiers in the second round, where they won first place in Group D. Slightly more serious challenges awaited them in the third round, but they solved that successfully too. Winning first place with 12 points in a group with Suriname, Guatemala and El Salvador.
There are no big names in Thomas Christiansen's team. Only six players on Panama's roster play in Europe.
The rest are mainly distributed on all sides of planet Earth.
This year they played seven friendly matches and apart from a convincing defeat to Brazil (6:2), they were competitive in all other matches, and in the last preparatory match they drew with Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:1).
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