2018 FIFA World Cup: 5 highly anticipated group matches

#2. England vs Belgium

Hazard and Cahill (far right) will be on opposing sides in this clash

Belgium and England will be expected to blow away Tunisia and FIFA World Cup debutants Panama, meaning that the two European teams will be fighting it out for top spot. The match between England and Belgium will be one of the two final games of the group, taking place in Kaliningrad on the 28th of June. This will be 28 years and a day after both teams last met at the World Cup in 1990 at the last 16 with David Platt’s last-gasp wonder-volley taking England to the quarter-finals.

While England have drawn their last two international fixtures Belgium have won one and drawn one, however, England’s opponents were Germany and Brazil whilst Belgium faced Japan and Mexico.

England will be playing their first major tournament in fourteen years without Wayne Rooney, however, England have some brilliant players in their squad that include the likes of Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Gary Cahill, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge.

Belgium probably have one of the strongest teams in the world right now as they have Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Jan Vertonghen. However, Belgium’s ace in the pack is Romelu Lukaku who has been brilliant for both club and country this season.

Their World Cup clash will be the 22nd encounter between England and Belgium, although England lead the head to head with 15 wins compared to Belgium’s four. They haven’t faced Belgium since 2012 and this was before most of the current generation of Belgium footballers made their international debut.

While Belgium will be considered the favourite, England can never be written off. Either way, this clash will be one of the most anticipated match-ups at the 2018 World Cup.