England among favourites to win World Cup
Ghana and Panama are the other two teams in Group L
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England have had to wait nearly a week to start their World Cup campaign but they should finally get lift off against Croatia on Wednesday.
The Three Lions have had to watch their rivals in action in the early days of the tournament but Thomas Tuchel's men will hope to join the teams that have started with a victory by seeing off familiar tournament rivals Croatia in their opener in Dallas.
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Team news
Bukayo Saka is struggling to be fully fit and could lose out to Noni Madueke, who is tipped to start out wide on the right for England.
The rest of the line-up is unlikely to throw up too many surprises, although the apparent omission of Marc Guehi at centre-back for John Stones has caught the eye.
Elsewhere, skipper Harry Kane will lead the line, while Jude Bellingham looks set to get the nod in the No. 10 role, ahead of rival Morgan Rogers.
Croatia are set to start with Petar Musa, who plays in Dallas for MLS side FC Dallas, up front following an impressive haul of 12 goals in 13 MLS games so far this year.
The vastly experienced Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic are likely to be in Croatia's XI, while familiar names like Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol are also set to be included.
The stats
England qualified for the World Cup with a perfect eight from eight winning record, without conceding a goal.
Croatia made it to the tournament after also topping their group, winning seven of their eight games.
The two nations have met four times in the last six years, with England winning in Euro 2020 and the Nations League, but Croatia knocked the Three Lions out in a World Cup semi-final in 2018.
England are ranked fourth in Fifa's world list, seven places above the Croats.
England beat New Zealand and Costa Rica in their two warm-up games.
Croatia lost to Belgium and then beat Slovenia in pre-tournament friendlies.
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Prediction
England are expected to get off to a winning start but this opening Group L fixture looks to be far from straightforward for Tuchel's side.
Croatia are a seasoned tournament outfit and Zlatko Dalic's team will look to deny England time and space, while also offering plenty of threat themselves on the counter-attack.
Even though the Three Lions will probably dominate possession and territory an easy win is not predicted.
Despite high hopes in previous recent major tournaments, England have often underwhelmed in group games and it could be a similar story now.
Overall, a tight clash in Dallas looms, with the scores level at half-time before England's star men — like Declan Rice, Bellingham and Kane — make the difference after the break.
Score prediction: England 2-0 Croatia
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