World Cup Group E Predictions, Best Odds & Group Winner Betting Pick

Every World Cup contains a so-called ‘Group of Death’ and with two of the last three World Cup winners in Spain and Germany being drawn against each other in this one, Group E certainly looks to be this tournament’s iteration of it.

Which makes World Cup Group E Predictions possibly a bit more straightforward in terms of who will advance from the group…but be wary.

New to soccer betting? Check out WagerTalk’s complete how to bet on soccer article, and our look at win to nil betting.

Spain The Favorites… But Are They Really Better Than Germany?

Spain enters as the -120 favorites to win this group and after a solid Euro campaign last year in which they reached the semifinals. The Spaniards were knocked out of that tournament by eventual winners Italy, a game that Spain was arguably unfortunate not to win.

WIth Spain also finishing top of their group in the recent Nations League competition as well, it’s easy to see why the Spanish are attracting some early money to finish top of this group. However, our World Cup Group E Predictions are not so sold on the Spaniards..

World Cup Group E Predictions: Wait, Don’t the Germans Always Win Their Group?

The Germans occupy second spot at +110, coming off a really tough last couple of tournaments overall, finishing bottom of their group in World Cup 2018 and only reaching the Round of 16 in last summer’s Euro tournament as well.

However, with only one loss on their record since former Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick, with his successful Hansi Flick style, took charge last August, the Germans look like a formidable outfit ahead of this year’s competition.

Costa Rica and Japan.. The Outsiders… But Japan is Really Good..

The two outsiders for the group are Japan and Costa Rica at 12/1 and 50/1 respectively, with not many observers giving either team much of a chance of progressing in this group. But early surprises are what this tournament is known for, as Costa Rica themselves proved back in the 2014 World Cup, knocking out both Italy and England in the group stage and making an unexpected quarterfinal run.

Spain World Cup Preview

With the level of talent at their disposal, it’s really no surprise to see Spain installed as favorites for this group, even ahead of teams like Germany.

Spain’s ‘B-side’ could arguably qualify for this same competition with Manchester United’s David De Gea, Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella, Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara, PSG’s Sergio Ramos, and Barcelona’s Ansu Fati all missing the cut for the contingent of players manager Luis Enrique is bringing to the Middle East, which goes to highlight exactly how deep their overall squad of players is.

However, similar to England’s situation, arguably the weakest link in the Spanish set-up is not on the field but off it, with Luis Enrique drawing criticism for both his tactics and some of his conduct in general. His famous anti-Madrid bias when selecting staff and players has understandably drawn down some heat from fans and media alike over recent years.

An over-reliance on inspired moments of magic on the field too, especially going from Pep Guardiola’s possession-based football at Barcelona to Enrique’s more simple vertical up-and-down style with Ivan Rakitic going straight to the front three of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez back in the day and looking to create some moment of brilliance, something which they often did, has come under criticism also. Despite all of their obvious talent level, just like his days at Barcelona, the more elite operators in Europe were often able to exploit his team’s weaknesses which is something we may well see play out in this tournament as well.

Germany World Cup Preview

A run of just one win over their last seven international games in all doesn’t inspire much confidence in Germany topping this group. However, German coach Hansi Flick has been openly critical of the Nations League in the past, calling the competition out for it’s congested schedule of games and its overall effect on players’ well-being as well. So Germany’s recent third-place finish in the Nations League doesn’t overly concern us as a potential barometer heading into this year’s World Cup, and it certainly doesn’t impact our World Cup Predictions.

One of Flick’s greatest strengths is his ability to draw upon his old Bayern Munich contingent of players, a contingent that won him the ‘Continental Treble’ back in the 2019/20 season (Bundesliga, DFB Pokal & Champions League), a feat only accomplished once before in the club’s history.

Those former Bayern players include the likes of Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, and Leroy Sane for the German champions, as well as more internationally based players such as Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger and Manchester City’s veteran Ilkay Gundogan, with the Germans looking like one of the best-prepared outfits ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Japan World Cup Preview

Japan is a team that we believe can make things interesting in this group in Qatar later this year.

The Japanese went on a seven-game unbeaten run to close out their qualification group, including winning six of those seven games outright as well, and have a vast level of experience in navigating World Cup group stages over their history.

The Japanese have qualified from three of their last six World Cup finals appearances overall, despite facing some quality opposition over that time, and very nearly overturned Belgium in the Round of 16 stage at the 2018 World Cup also.

Japan finished ahead of both Senegal and Poland to qualify for the knockout stages of that tournament four years ago, and when drawn against one of the pre-tournament favorites in Belgium in the knockout Round of 16, few observers gave the Asian nation much of a chance at progressing. However, the Japanese carried a surprise 2-0 lead late into that game before Belgium rallied for three goals over the final 21 minutes of play, with the final one coming deep into injury time as well, to eventually progress in what was a far tougher test than what many people had anticipated.

With Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi, Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Daichi Kamada, the Samurai Blue may well end up being the dark horse to emerge from Group E.

Costa Rica World Cup Preview

With the longest odds out of any team to progress from this year’s group stage, Costa Rica really does look up against it ahead of this year’s tournament.

They have proven themselves before though, most notably back in 2014 when they reached the quarterfinal stage of this competition.

That was a long time ago, however, and with just two wins secured on the road in qualification, along with a slender one-goal victory over New Zealand in their playoff final (a game in which New Zealand had a goal ruled out harshly by VAR along with outshooting Costa Rica 15-4 as well), most people would assume Costa Rica is even fortunate to have reached this stage, nevermind being competitive in it.

With a number of players plying their trade in the MLS, and arguably their best player in Keylor Navas warming the bench at PSG this season, the road ahead looks extremely difficult for Costa Rica to try and qualify from this group.

World Cup Group E Predictions : The Betting Pick – Dude… It’s Germany

The straight +110 on Germany to finish top of this group looks most appealing in this one as Germany’s recent run of sub-par results has added some extra value to this line. We nevertheless expect the Germans to be 100-percent prepared for the finals and produce their A-game by the time November rolls around.

In terms of an outsider play, the Germany-Japan straight forecast at 16/1 looks like really good value also, especially with Japan having previous experience in playing spoiler and also having a very astute manager in Hajime Moriyasu, who has guided the Blue Samurai to an extremely impressive 68.4-percent win rate over his time in charge.

Overall, we like Germany to top the group here with Japan potentially playing spoiler over Spain, and that’s the way we’re going to play this one come November.

More World Cup Groups 2022 Predictions:

Find daily World Cup soccer betting picks from WagerTalk as the World Cup begins, daily league predictions and free picks for matches from the major soccer leagues around the world, as well as a predictions for all the other World Cup groups:

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