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So, if for the sake of argument we had been Denmark in the draw, I wouldn't have fancied the travel to Samara and Saransk but the final game against France in Moscow would have been nice. Tough group though along with D, E and F. England always seem to land on their feet in the group stages of tournaments.
And yet they always find a way to beautifully screw it up, their "easy" draw makes it a much more watchable World Cup for me, can't wait to see how they contrive to mess this one up. Hotel based bantz (tm) that are labelled a massive distraction by the press? Rooney getting a late call-up based on his improving Everton form and upsetting the balance of a youthful pacy England team but Southgate doesn't have the stones to drop him? A flawless group stage display, easily topping the group with 9 points only to go out in extra time against Japan in the second round? The possibilities are endless!
I see one of England's games is in Stalingrad (Volgograd) and another in Konigsberg (Kaliningrad), once the capital of East Prussia and now a Russian enclave. Both were sites of huge battles in WW2 but will they match the ferocity of the engagements when the English fans come to town?
And the one before that...
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Squads starting to be announced around now, no gigantic shocks from what I can see. Argentina have some hard choices to make with attacking players that are causing some disquiet, they've only set a provisional squad for now. Joe Hart not being part of the England squad made headlines for some reason.