Fair to say only one match can be won on paper is Russia, but it would be fair to say they can catch Mexico unaware and scrape a draw or win. Portugal is a mountain they'll find hard to conquer.
So what of Russia's games in past 18 months. 6 games, 2 wins, 2 losses,; and 2 draws. Results on paper:
vs Chile (4th ranked) 1-1
vs Romania (46th ranked) 1-0
vs Qatar (88th ranked) 1-2
vs Costa Rica (19th ranked) 3-4
vs Ghana (49th ranked) 1-0
vs Turkey (25th ranked) 0-0
Russia I feel are very vulnerable and I think the All Whites have the team to continue Russia's misery in internationals though that is tempered with the fact New Zealand football's opposition of late is not quite the quality of Confed Cup teams.
It would be great we get a win over Russia and a draw (or two) from the other teams, meaning we'd be in a good position to advance to the knockout games.
In the past 18 months Portugal has played 15 matches in Internationals, winning 10, 3 draws and 2 losses. The two losses were Sweden and Switzerland with a majority of the wins against very low ranking countries. With that in mind the All Whites do have a bolters chance to draw with them. As Portugal is the top ranked team in our draw they should lead the group.
And in the past 17 matches by Mexico, they have played 17 matches, won 11, Drawn 5 and 1 loss. It should be noted almost all those opponents were countries way down the rankings. One of those wins was against the All Whites on our patch, winning 2-1. So with that Knowledge I am thinking maybe Mexico is either a close win for us or a draw. Either way we could be 2nd on the group ranking.
Bring it On All Whites.
Oh dear!!
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