The anticipation is growing and growing, and so is the feeling that the wait is final about to get over for the Fifa World Cup 2018, where the best 32 teams in the globe battle it out to be called the best team on the planet.
This is the be all and end all tournament for all footballers as far as the international stage is concerned, with the 32 teams divided into eight groups of four. Will the final two groups – Group G and Group H – save the best for the last?
Here is a breakdown of the two groups, with the heavyweights and full squads of the eight teams involved in G and H.
Group G:
Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama:
On paper, it should be a straight fight between Belgium and England for the top spot in Group G, with one of the two having to settle for second place and possibly face a really tricky opponent in the last 16 or quarterfinals.
England, however, have been perennial underachievers at the World Cup, while Belgium, despite all that ridiculous talent, led by Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne, have flattered to deceive in major international tournaments.
As a result, Panama and Tunisia will fancy finishing in the top two, but if the two top sides actually perform like top sides, then it will be England and Belgium that go through to the next round.
Squads:
England:
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jack Butland (Stoke), Nick Pope (Burnley).
Defenders: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), John Stones (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United).
Midfielders: Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).
Tunisia
Goalkeepers: Farouk Ben Mustapha (Al Shabab), Mouez Hassen (Nice), Aymen Mathlouthi (Al Baten).
Defenders: Yohan Benalouane (Leicester City), Rami Bedoui (Etoile du Sahel), Syam Ben Youssef (Kasimpasa), Dylan Bronn (Gent), Oussama Haddadi (Dijon), Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly), Yassine Meriah (CS Sfaxien), Hamdi Nagguez (Zamalek).
Midfielders: Wahbi Khazri (Sunderland), Anice Badri (Esperance), Mohamed Ben Amor (Etoile Sportive du Sahel), Ferjani Sassi (Al Nasr), Ellyes Skhiri (Montpellier).
Forwards: Saif-Eddine Khaoui (Marseille), Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (Al Ettifaq), Saber Khalifa (Club Africain), Bassem Srarfi (Nice), Naim Sliti (Lille), Ahmed Khalil (Club Africain), Ghilane Chaalali (Esperance).
Belgium:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Thomas Meunier (PSG), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona).
Midfielders: Mousa Dembele (Tottenham), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian).
Forwards: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Brom), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Panama:
Goalkeepers: Jose Calderon (Chorrillo), Jaime Penedo (Dinamo Bucharest), Alex Rodriguez (San Francisco).
Defenders: Michael Murillo (New York Red Bulls), Felipe Baloy (Municipal CSD), Harold Cummings (San Jose Earthquakes), Erick Davis (Dunajska Streda), Fidel Escobar (San Miguelito), Adolfo Machado (Houston Dynamo), Luis Ovalle (Olimpia), Roman Torres (Seattle Sounders).
Midfielders: Jose Luis Rodriguez (Gent), Yoel Barcenas (Cafetaleros de Tapachula), Armando Cooper (Universidad de Chile), Anibal Godoy (San Jose Earthquakes), Gabriel Gomez (Bucaramanga), Valentin Pimentel (Plaza Amador), Alberto Quintero (Universitario).
Forwards: Abdiel Arroyo (Alajuelense), Ismael Diaz (Deportivo La Coruna), Blas Perez (Municipal), Luis Tejada (Sports Boys), Gabriel Torres (CD Huachipato).
Group H:
Poland, Senegal,Colombia, Japan:
Not exactly the most exciting of groups when you take a first look. However, Colombia have a lot of flair in their team, particularly with James Rodriguez, who always seems to keep his best form for his country.
Poland have a certain great striker in Robert Lewandowski, and much of the goalscoring pressure will be on the man from Bayern Munich.
Much like most African teams, Senegal have the talent – they have a really solid midfield and Sadio Mane to score and create – it will be just about believing that they can really make a fist of it in this World Cup, and the same goes for Japan as well.
Squads:
Colombia:
Goalkeepers: David Ospina (Arsenal), Camilo Vargas (Deportivo Cali), Jose Fernando Cuadrado (Once Caldas).
Defenders: Cristian Zapata (Milan), Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham), Yerry Mina (Barcelona), Santiago Arias (PSV Eindhoven), Oscar Murillo (Pachuca), Frank Fabra (Boca Juniors), Johan Mojica (Girona).
Midfielders: Wílmar Barrios (Boca Juniors), Carlos Sanchez (Espanyol), Jefferson Lerma (Levante), Jose Izquierdo (Brighton), Abel Aguilar (Deportivo Cali), Mateus Uribe (America), Juan Fernando Quintero (River Plate), Juan Cuadrado (Juventus), James Rodriguez (Bayern Munich).
Forwards: Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Miguel Borja (Palmeiras), Carlos Bacca (Villarreal), Luis Muriel (Sevilla).
Poland:
Goalkeepers: Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus), Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich).
Defenders: Kamil Glik (Monaco), Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Thiago Cionek (SPAL), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Michal Pazdan (Legia Warsaw), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund).
Midfielders: Grzegorz Krychowiak (West Brom), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Wolfsburg), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets Razgrad), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria), Slawomir Peszko (Lechnia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli).
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht).
Senegal:
Goalkeepers: Abdoulaye Diallo (Rennes), Khadim N'Diaye (Horoya AC), Alfred Gomis (Torino).
Defenders: Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Kara Mbodji (Anderlecht), Moussa Wague (Eupen), Saliou Ciss (Angers), Youssouf Sabaly (Bordeaux), Lamine Gassama (Alanyaspor).
Midfielders: Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham), Badou Ndiaye (Stoke), Cheikh N'Doye (Birmingham), Salif Sane (Hannover 96), Alfred N'Diaye (Villarreal).
Forwards: Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Keita Balde Diao (Monaco), Moussa Sow (Bursaspor), Moussa Konate (Amiens), Ismaila Sarr (Rennes), Diafra Sakho (Rennes), Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke), M'Baye Niang (AC Milan).
Japan:
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Metz), Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Kosuke Nakamura (Kashiwa Reysol).
Defenders: Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Yuto Nagatomo (Galatasaray), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa Reds), Hiroki Sakai (Marseille), Wataru Endo (Urawa Reds), Gotoku Sakai (Hamburg), Naomichi Ueda (Kashima Antlers).
Midfielders: Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund), Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt), Keisuke Honda (Pachuca), Takashi Inui (Eibar), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Genki Haraguchi (Hertha Berlin), Takashi Usami (Augsburg), Gaku Shibasaki (Getafe), Ryota Oshima (Kawasaki Frontale).
Forwards: Shinji Okazaki (Leicester), Yuya Osako (Werder Bremen), Yoshinori Muto (Mainz).
