The World Cup draw takes place in Moscow on Friday with each of the 32 teams set to find out their group stage fate.
From the four pots eight groups will be drawn from A-H with the opening clash featuring hosts Russia to be played on June 14.
The allocation of the pots is done by using the FIFA rankings system and of course, have been dissected and debated.
But the rankings don’t necessarily reflect the true position of the 32 sides so we’ve gone ahead and analysed is 1-32 with their actual ranking in brackets.
Next up is teams 17-24…
17. Iran (32)
The next Ali Daei? Step up Sardar Azmoun. The Iran forward is 22 years old and has scored 22 times for his country already drawing comparisons to the international goals legend Daei.
But Azmoun has the potential to be even better than the Iran legend and the 2018 World Cup will be his stage to prove that.
Iran went winless at the 2014 World Cup but will arrive in Russia armed with a lethal striker and the confidence of having gone unbeaten in 18 qualifying games across two rounds.
Carlos Queiroz has rebuilt this squad and in Rubin Kazan’s Azmoun they have their talisman. The target is the knockout stages with Queiroz insistent they won’t go to Russia as “tourists”.
But there will be ample scouts in the stands making an excursion to see Azmoun.
Iran striker Sardar Azmoun
18. Morocco (40)
Marooned in Pot Four, Morocco represent a potential banana skin for any one of the top sides.
A 2-0 victory over bitter rivals Ivory Coast ended a two-decade wait for a World Cup appearance and the North African’s are an exciting proposition.
Medhi Benatia mashalled a defence which didn’t concede a goal in six qualifiers and in Hakim Ziyech they possess a real livewire.
The Ajax forward is back in the national-team fold after making peace with boss Herve Renard and the 24-year-old has added goals to his electric talent this season.
Flair and discipline hallmark a decent outfit which warrants a spot inside the top-20.
Morocco defender Mehdi Benatia
19. Sweden (18)
No Zlatan, no problem but without Ibrahimovic Sweden are shorn of a bonafide world-class star.
They make up for that with a balance approached and they’ve already toppled two of the world’s elite sides after beating France in the group stage before knocking Italy out in a play-off.
Leipzig forward Emil Forsberg has embraced taking up the goalscoring responsibility in Ibrahimovic’s absence and boss Janne Andersson has successfully completed the squad’s transition after Euro 2016.
There’s talk Ibrahimovic could return for the World Cup but the team has more than moved on and will be a solid, if unspectacular, side come 2018.
Sweden’s Emil Forsberg
20. Iceland (22)
Hotly debated whether they should be ranked higher than England following their spectacular knockout stage at last year’s Euros.
Every neutral’s favourite underdog they built on their success by qualifying through a tough group with an away win over Turkey and a home victory against Kosovo.
Oh, and in the process they became the smallest country by population (350,000) to reach a World Cup.
Small in number but not in noise, the Icelandic clap will reverberate around stadiums in Russia and around the world.
The gritty determination of Aron Gunnarsson is offset by the creative magic of Gylfi Sigurdsson and if they can continue to build from an impressive qualification, they will be putting opposition on ice.
Iceland’s Aron Gunnarsson
21. Nigeria (50)
There is argument to be that made that the world will see Nigeria at their best in 2022 as their squad, though the most gifted for quite some time, is still on the raw side.
No World Cup team fielded a side with a younger average age than Nigeria during the qualifiers (24.9) as a squad that needed a good clearout after 2014 – gone are the likes of Joseph Yobo and Peter Odemwingie – have been replaced by genuine talent.
Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Ahmed Musa are all stationed in the Premier League with Leicester and Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi chose Nigeria over England to further strengthen a promising nucleus.
Under German coach Gernot Rohr, the youngsters have developed a fearless streak, first in navigating a ‘group of death’ comprising African champions Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia before coming back from behind to stun Argentina in last month’s glamour friendly.
How they will handle the heat in a World Cup cauldron is a different matter but few of the better-seeded teams will be happy if they see Nigeria’s name come out of Pot Four.
Nigeria forward Alex Iwobi (l)
22. Japan (55)
Curiously Japan waylaid two of their best-known players, Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki, ahead of their crucial World Cup qualifier against Australia – and it worked.
Vahid Halilhodzic’s side is underpinned by a strong work ethic, and just as the Bosnian has said, ‘the names are not relevant when it comes to playing for Japan’.
They overcame a strong qualifying group including Saudi Arabia, Australia and the UAE to qualify automatically and were particularly stingy at the back, conceding just seven goals in 10 games.
Kagawa, Ozakaki and former hero Keisuke Honda were not drafted in for the recent friendlies with Brazil and Belgium but there is one man who may provide a little X-Factor next year.
Gamba Osaka midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi, according to the local press, is one of Japan’s best-kept secrets and must provide the much-needed guile for the Asian underdogs, in Pot Four, to go very far.
Japan’s Yosuke Ideguchi
23. Denmark (12)
With all due respect to the Republic of Ireland, it would have been a terrible shame if Christian Eriksen had not taken to the stage in Russia next year.
Tottenham’s magician pulled off his greatest trick yet in Dublin, conjuring up a hat-trick to take his qualification goal tally into double digits.
Kasper Schmeichel in goal and the pairing of Simon Kjaer and Andreas Christensen in central defence forms a decent spine but simply put, if Eriksen enters the World Cup jaded from his exertions with Spurs, very little inspiration will be arriving from elsewhere.
No other player apart from the much-maligned Nicklas Bentdner from the team that flew to Ireland has scored more than eight goals for their country.
Indeed, it’s difficult to name a team who is more reliant on one player than Denmark – but even if he’s not quite at the level of Michael Laudrup yet, there are worse figures to lean upon.
Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen
24. Egypt (31)
Talking of inspirational figures, how’s Mo Salah for one? Whatever the winger touches turns to goals at the moment, whether in the red of Liverpool or Egypt.
Salah scored all three goals in two crucial wins over Uganda and Congo to send the Pharaohs to the World Cup for the first time since 1990, the last a penalty in the fifth minute of injury time.
While they have one truly proven commodity, much of the rest are unknown to global eyes, with Egyptian heavyweights Al Ahly and Zamalek forming the bulk of the defence.
To date Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny and Stoke’s Ramadan Sobhi have been hit and miss in the Premier League, while after a storming start with West Bromwich Albion, defender Ahmed Hegazi has tailed off somewhat.
Salah may not be able to galvanise the team in the same way that a playmaker in the vein of Eriksen can, but considering the spirit they showed during qualifying, their heart will count for something next year.
Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (l)
