Who are England’s 2018 World Cup qualifying Group F opponents?
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Most England fans will be pleased and confident following their 2018 World Cup qualifying draw for the Russia finals, after being placed in a relatively favourable Group F.
Of their five opponents in that pool, The Three Lions have a 100 per cent record against four of them (Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta), with the other being Auld Enemy Scotland.
Coral go through each nation that England (odds-on favourites at 2/5 to finish first) will have to face, with only one of the nations automatically qualifying at the end of the campaign.
Slovakia – world ranked 15th
Based on their world ranking, Repre will likely provide England’s toughest test of the group. Since becoming their own nation, splitting from Czechoslovakia, they have qualified for one World Cup finals, in South Africa 2010, where they got through to the round of 16.
Slovakia are currently sitting pretty in their Euro 2016 pool, having won all six of their matches to date, including a famous 2-1 victory over Spain, and are 4/1 to top this World Cup group. They have lost all three encounters with England, though.
Scotland – 29th
Being the joint oldest national football team in the world, along with England, this clash will be huge for both sets of fans. They have faced each other a whopping 113 times before, with the Three Lions only six wins ahead on 47.
Scotland will be hoping for their ninth World Cup finals, and first since 1998. They have a good chance of finishing second, which would possibly put them in the play-offs. Back them at 3/1 to qualify for Russia, or 9/1 if you fancy them to top the group.
Slovenia – 49th
Currently in England’s Euro qualifying Group E, Slovenia have lost both clashes with The Three Lions this campaign, as well as two others in history, and are yet to score against them.
Slovenia were formerly apart of Yugoslavia but have qualified for two World Cups as an independent nation, in 2002 and 2010.
Lithuania – 110th
Former Soviet Union nation Lithuania are yet to reach a major tournament finals, but have the ability to cause a couple of shocks in this group.
They have faced England once before, which resulted in a 4-0 loss.
Malta – 158th
Footballing minnows Malta may be formerly apart of the United Kingdom, but they represent the furthest place in terms of distance for England to travel to, totalling 1,299 miles.
Island nation Malta, situated south of Sicily, have lost all three matches against England, but have managed to score once and conceded just eight, and have never qualified for a major tournament finals.
England’s fixtures:
Sunday, September 4th 2016
Slovakia v England
Saturday, October 8th 2016
England v Malta
Tuesday, October 11th 2016
Slovenia v England
Friday, November 11th 2016
England v Scotland
Sunday, March 26th 2017
England v Lithuania
Saturday, June 10th 2017
Scotland v England
Friday, September 1st 2017
Malta v England
Monday, September 4th 2017
England v Slovakia
Thursday, October 5th 2017
England v Slovenia
Sunday, October 8th 2017
Lithuania v England
