Gareth Southgate had the chance to experiment on Friday as England’s World Cup preparation got off to a winning start against an underwhelming Dutch side. England won, but in truth, it was a boring and one-sided contest in the Netherlands. The 1-0 win came thanks to a Jese Lingard strike, but Italy who are also recovering from their failure to make it to the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup should provide a tougher test. Lingard was impressive while Dele Alli’s had a rather poor cameo and that could see the Manchester United man start ahead of him in Russia if he maintains this form, and this game against Italy offers them both another chance to stake their claim. England are unbeaten in their last 7 games, but they have drawn against their biggest opponents at home including the likes of Brazil and Germany, while finding in relatively easy to beat lesser opponents like Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and the very poor Netherlands. Italy would be tougher opponents on Tuesday, even though the Azurri did fail to qualify for the World cup and lost their last friendly game in Manchester against Argentina with Messi remaining on the bench.  

The last time these two countries played each other, it ended in a manner that the Brazilian team and fans would not want to remember. Germany hammered the Brazilian national team 7-1 in the semifinal of the last World Cup in their own backyard in that occasion and the Tite’s men would be looking for revenge when they take to the field in this game. Germany have not done badly for the past 4 years, they went through the qualifiers in spectacular fashion as they won every single one of their qualifying matches, scoring 43 times, however, they would feel this game would be tougher than those matches with Brazil having a point to prove. Brazil also had a good qualifying campaign as the lost just once, collecting 12 wins from 18 matches to become the first country to qualify for the competition. The Selecao were 10 points clear of Uruguay at the end of the South American qualifiers. Brazil’s win over Russia last weekend makes it 8 games without a defeat for them and they have also not lost any of their last 13 away games. The Germans drew their last game against Spain to make it three consecutive draws from their last three friendlies, their fans would be expecting a better performance here on home turf.

Following their disappointing loss to Gillingham a couple of weeks back, Portsmouth needed a win to get their Playoff hopes back on track and that they did with a win away over Oldham the last time out. They are now 5 points behind the 6th position and they need to regularly get the three points if they want to maintain their promotion hopes. Oxford United was another team that would have been thinking of winning promotion or at least finishing the season inside the Playoff spots when the season began, but their form so far means they would not even be able to make it to the Playoffs. They had gone on a run of 5 matches without a win, before the last time out as they secured a win over Peterborough. They have also confirmed Karl Robinson as their new manager, he would be looking to set them up for a good end to the season and potentially push for promotion in the next campaign. These two sides have very little that separates them at the moment and when they are at their best creatively, Oxford is probably the better side among the two, but home advantage and that recent win should give Pompey some edge here.

The Whitecaps saw their unbeaten start to the season end in a cruel manner last weekend as they were outclassed at the Mercedez-Benz Arena by Atlanta United 4-1, however, they should not allow that dampened their spirit after winning their first two games of the season, and they should be targeting another win in this game. Although they beat both Houston Dynamos and Montreal Impact before their loss to Atlanta, there seem to be some defensive issues that need to be sorted out as they have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their games this season, conceding 6 goals in 3 matches, while netting 5. LA Galaxy made a statement with the capture of Zlatan Ibrahimovic this week, while the Swede would not be ready for action yet for this game, that would have boosted their team’s morale. The Galaxies had a shocking season the last time out as they failed to deal with the loss of some key players to injuries and transfers, finishing the season as rock-bottom.  They started the season with a 2-1 win over Portland Timbers but failed to follow that up with another win as they lost to NYCFC. They are faced with yet more injury concerns as they chase their second win of the season, with Alessandrini, Jonathan Dos Santos, and Giovani Dos Santos all out of this game with injuries. LA Galaxy have 1 win, 3 losses and 2 draws from their last six games with the Whitecaps.

Sweden would be appearing at this year’s FIFA World Cup at the expense of Italy who did not show so much desire to beat them in the qualification playoffs. The Swedes finished second behind France and above the Netherlands in their World Cup qualifying group to set up that playoff clash with Italy which they won 1-0 on aggregate. Chile would not be at the next World Cup later this year thanks to a drop in form towards the end of their World Cup qualifying campaign. The South American champions are now looking to get ready for the 2022 edition in Qatar. These sides have met once before in a pre-world Cup game back in 2006 and it ended 1-1 after David Suazo cancelled Henrik Larson’s first half opener for Sweden. Alexis Sanchez was a thorn in the Swedish flesh in that game and could still prove the game changer here again. Sweden have won 3, lost just 1 and drawn 2 of their last six games ahead of this match, while Chile have four losses and two wins from their last 6 games as well.

This year’s world Cup in Russia would be Mexico’s 8th consecutive participation in the global showpiece, while their opponents in this game, Iceland would be competing for only the first time as they continue to show that they can thrive as underdogs. Mexico have been drawn in a tough group at the World Cup, but you can expect them to qualify for the next round just as they have done since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. They are one of the hardest working sides, always willing to make a tackle and filled with flair when on the attack. Iceland have also been drawn in a tough group featuring Nigeria, Argentina and Croatia whom they edged at the qualifying group stage. They showed at the last Euros that team work, hard work and good tactics can take you far and they are well placed to shock the world again at this tournament. These sides have met thrice previously with each of those showing that close to nothing separates them in terms of defensive organization. The first two games in 2003 and 2010 ended in goalless draws, while the last one in 2017 ended in a 1-0 win for Mexico, Gylfi Sigurdson missed that game for the Europeans and that could prove to be a problem here again. Iceland have four wins, 1 draw and 1 loss from their last 6 games, while Mexico have three wins, two draws and one loss from the same amount of games.

These two teams are favourites for the World Cup later this year n Russia and this game gives them an opportunity to test themselves and get a psychological edge over the other. Germany are current world and Confederations Cup champions, and although they fell short at the last Euros, they remain one of the strongest teams in world football at the moment. They won all their World cup qualifying game and have not lost a game since they were knocked out of Euro 2016. Timo Werner would be leading their attack in this game and would be looking to score another goal to add to his 7 in 10 international games. Spain won the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but most of that generation of players have retired and Diego Costa would lead a new generation of players to this year’s competition. They also were unbeaten in their World Cup qualifiers, failing to win just once against Italy. Alvaro Morata would miss this game through injury, but they have enough quality in attack to match Germany’s firepower. Spain have 3 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws from their last seven games with Germany.