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Jedinak, Elmohamady and Bjarnason Await World Cup Draw

By Jonathan Northall

BRUGGE, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 14: A detailed view of the match ball from the World Cup in Russia 2018 during the international friendly match between Belgium and Japan held at Jan Breydel Stadium on November 14, 2017 in Brugge, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
BRUGGE, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 14: A detailed view of the match ball from the World Cup in Russia 2018 during the international friendly match between Belgium and Japan held at Jan Breydel Stadium on November 14, 2017 in Brugge, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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The draw for the 2018 World Cup will be held on Friday 1st December at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.  Three members of the Villa squad will have a particular interest to see which groups their nations find themselves placed in.  Mile Jedinak (Australia), Birkir Bjarnason (Iceland) and Ahmed Elmohamedy (Egypt) should all make their squads for Russia 2018.  Iceland and Egypt are in Pot 3 whilst Australia will be drawn from Pot 4.

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The draw will be presided over by Gary Lineker and will be riddled with FIFA delegates.  Undoubtedly, there will be several stars of past and present that will be involved in the draw process.  The draw itself is simple in principle but will get convoluted if teams are drawn in a group from the same federation.  The UEFA teams confuse matters further, due to the number of teams qualified, and may have two in a group.  FIFA have produced a video, on their website, that may help if you have a Masters degree in Statistics….

The squad representatives from Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Ivory Coast all failed to reach the World Cup.  Also, Villa do not currently have players in the England setup. Therefore, it is down to Jedinak, Elmohamedy and Bjarnason to represent Villa in Russia.  All three are in the lower pots and will have to face tough draws to progress from the group stage.

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Australia

It is the fifth time that the Socceroos have played at a World Cup.  They progressed past the group stages in Germany in 2006 but haven’t bettered that result.  Their participation was guaranteed by Jedinak’s gargantuan performance against Honduras in the home leg of their playoff.

Egypt

Having not qualified since Italia ’90, the Pharoahs will need skill and judgement to avoid another exit at the group stage.  Their qualification in Group E of the CAF Third Round was secured with four wins from 6 games.

Iceland

As a country of circa 330,000 people, Iceland have become the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup.  They won Group I outright and will be looking to repeat their success of Euro 2016. Perhaps the surprise factor isn’t there but ability and determination will be. Along with the Viking clap…..

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