Articles from the author

Denmark made it to the World Cup via the European play-offs and had finished second in their group behind Poland.

After a gap of 36 years Peru ares back in the World Cup with a young brigade. However, their first qualification since 1982 had its share of controversies.

The Socceroos made it to the 2018 World Cup with a bit of a struggle. They finished the Asian qualifiers third behind Japan and Saudi Arabia and so had to fight it out in two more rounds to reach Russia.

France have an incredible pool of talent for this World Cup. National team coach Didier Deschamps in fact is spoiled for choice.

The Super Eagles are crowd favourites as the underdogs who have always impressed with their achievements.

Iceland following their stunning Euro 2016 campaign, which saw them reach the quarter-finals and defeat England along the way, is the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup with population of just 330,000.

Croatia qualified for Russia 2018 via the play-offs, after a tough group campaign saw them win six of their 10 games but draw two and lose two. They lost to Iceland who advanced while Croatia had to beat Greece in a play-off.