England's World Cup 2018 group Belgium, Tunisia and Panama

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• published: 02 Dec 2017
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Nothing will ever quite make up for that dastardly act in Mexico in 1986 but the Hand of God did do England something of a favour here.Diego Maradona drew the balls from Pot 2 and put Gareth Southgate's side in Group G, with a relatively modest amount of travelling and a relatively easy task of progressing to the last 16.Belgium remain tough opponents and England will do well to beat Roberto Martinez's side when they are ranked fifth in the world, but Tunisia and Panama should not represent an insurmountable task even if some of Southgate's players did contrive to lose to Iceland.The Three Lions face Roberto Martinez's much-fancied Belgians in Kaliningrad in their final group game, and will begin their tournament against the Tunisians - just as they did at France 98.Belgium have beaten England only once in 21 meetings - back in 1936 - but the side that boasts Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku is a fearsome beast.The middle game comes against debutants Panama - who provide another link to 1998, as they are managed by Hernan Darío Gomez, who coached Colombia against England in France.At one stage there was a 50-50 chance of either Brazil or Germany but host Gary Lineker joked that Maradona was good with his hands and so it proved once more, the Argentina legend only drawing England with two balls to go.When they were then placed in G4, that left them facing a 1,081 mile trip from their training base in Rapino, near Saint Petersburg, to Volgograd for their opening game.They will then go to Nizhny Novgorod - 727 miles - before finally to Kaliningrad - a comparative jaunt at 626 miles.This means total travel distance of 2,434 miles - given it could have been over 6,000 had they been drawn in a different spot, it was another stroke of luck for England.Group B saw neighbours Spain and Portugal paired together - they will face each other in their opening match - as well as Iran and Morocco, while reigning champions Germany were placed in Group F and will begin their defence against Mexico, before facing Sweden then South Korea.Iceland's first ever game at a World Cup finals will be against Argentina, as the side who embarrassed England at Euro 2016 were paired with the two-time winners in Group D.Nigeria were drawn in the same group as Lionel Messi's nation for the fifth time in six tournaments.Croatia rounded off the pool.The opening game of the tournament will be Russia against Saudi Arabia in Moscow, as they were paired in Group A with Egypt and Uruguay.England managed to avoid favourites Brazil, who were placed in Group E with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.They could, however, meet in the quarter-finals, while Germany are also potential last-eight opponents for the Three Lions.Group C contains France, Australia, Peru and Denmark, while Group H has Poland, Senegal, Japan and Colombia.Should England progress, they will play one of the teams from Group H in the round of 16.The draw for the tournament - which will take place between Jun Source; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5136645/World-Cup-draw-England-Belgium-Tunisia-Panama.html