---

GROUP A

 FRANCE
 SOUTH KOREA
 NORWAY
 NIGERIA

GROUP B

 GERMANY
 CHINA PR
 SPAIN
 SOUTH AFRICA

GROUP C

 AUSTRALIA
 ITALY
 BRAZIL
 JAMAICA

GROUP D

 ENGLAND
 SCOTLAND
 ARGENTINA
 JAPAN

GROUP E

 CANADA
 CAMEROON
 NEW ZEALAND
 NETHERLANDS

GROUP F

 UNITED STATES
 THAILAND
 CHILE
 SWEDEN
---
The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advance to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

---

GROUP A
 RUSSIA
 SAUDI ARABIA
 EGYPT
 URUGUAY
GROUP B
 PORTUGAL
 SPAIN
 MOROCCO
 IRAN
GROUP C
 FRANCE
 AUSTRALIA
 PERU
 DENMARK
GROUP D
 ARGENTINA
 ICELAND
 CROATIA
 NIGERIA
GROUP E
 BRAZIL
 SWITZERLAND
 COSTA RICA
 SERBIA
GROUP F
 GERMANY
 MEXICO
 SWEDEN
 SOUTH KOREA
GROUP G
 BELGIUM
 PANAMA
 TUNISIA
 ENGLAND
GROUP H
 POLAND
 SENEGAL
 COLOMBIA
 JAPAN
---
---
SQUADS
The Guardian's complete guide to all 736 players at the 2018 World Cup
The complete guide to all the stadiums

We've got a month until the World Cup! So exciting!

Anyway for some reason the BBC suddenly posted news about Japan's squad because Shunsuke Nakamura (the ex-Celtic player) has been recalled.
However the best news is that Kawaguchi is back in the squad as third choice goalie! He's a total legend. A chirpy little Japanese shot stopping legend:


My local team is Nagoya Grampus and we've got two players in the squad but one is Tulio who hasn't had the best couple of years.


Is Jesus (Kennedy) in the Australian squad? He's Nagoya's big lanky striker who looks useless for 89 minutes and then bundles in a header in the last minute pretty much every game.

Anyway, Japan are annoying me because their style at ANY kind of football is to try to dribble the ball into the net (a bit like Arsenal but less successful) instead of one person just deciding to let rip from around the box. If they actually shot from 16-25 yards from time to time they'd actually be pretty decent.

We have an England thread, but not a general one, so here it is.

Norn Iron are 1-0 down against Russia with around 25mins to play.

Wales vs. Belgium is on Sky Sports later, and Holland-Turkey can be watched on ESPN.

Fully expecting a comfortable Belgium win this evening. Can't see Wales handling them.

Scotland play Serbia, and Rep Ire vs. Kazakhstan is currently goal-less.