ISRAEL - PARAGUAY

Israel is a weak team who had a poor preparation for this tournament, and also are lacking quality. They started the tournament with a draw against Mali in a game where they were totally outplayed and deserved to lose, conceding more than double expected goals than generated, and making just two shots on target. However they managed to score the first goal (and own goal), although they were able to hold the draw for just 7 minutes.

They lack quality and experience, and their best player in Mali’s game was goalkeeper Nir On, which isn’t a good signal. They will approach a defensive style one more time, and their key players will be midfielder Omri Gandelman, who is playing in the Belgian league (and had 11 goals + 5 assists last season) and Maccabi Haifa’s defender Sean Goldberg. Oscar Gloukh could be another interesting player for the counters.

On the other hand, I expected Paraguay to qualify in this group. They made a good preparation for this tournament, as they were leaders in the CONMEBOL qualifiers, beating Brazil and achieving a draw (two times) against Argentina, both strong teams.

They are a very intense and defensive team, with some interesting players such as veteran defender Fabian Balbuena, Julio Enciso or Enso Gonzalez upfront (playing in Wolverhampton). Furthermore, I expect them to be motivated and react here, after suffering a huge loss 5:0 over Japan in the first round. It’s true that they received a red card at 25’, but they were 1:0 down already.

I still want to see the real level of Paraguay, which is a strong and dangerous team, difficult to beat, and was my favorite to qualify as second in this group, behind Japan.

They’ll need to improve in defense, something I think they’ll do given the poor level of Israel. What I’m afraid of is that in this fixture they’ll be forced to dominate, as Israel will approach a defensive style. However, I expect Paraguay to find the spaces with their pace and intensity.

Israel was very lucky against Mali and for me has clearly much less quality here. We are yet to see the real level of Paraguay, who has more potential and for them this fixture is an absolute must win if they want to qualify.

UZBEKISTAN - EGYPT

Uzbekistan was really impressive in the AFC U23 Asian Cup last year, reaching the finals and losing 1:0 against Japan conceding in the last minutes. They have quality and a lot of individual talents, including a new addition to this tournament - striker Eldor Shomurodov, who missed the Asian Cup due to an injury and is a big boost for Uzbekistan. Jasurbek Jaloliddinov also made an excellent tournament in the Asian Cup and will be important here.

They lost 1:2 against Spain but made a poor performance, and Spain also missed a penalty. I can’t remember any player making a good performance there, and that’s worrying for Uzbekistan.

However, they have one of the worst squads and teams in this tournament, and I don’t expect them to qualify in the group stage. They are making their debut in the Olympic Games, so are lacking experience as well.

Egypt is coming from a crazy and unexpected draw against the Dominican Republic, probably the worst team in the tournament. However, they were very unlucky and deserved to win. But their chances weren’t good enough and they didn't convert them.

They need to improve here, and I believe they’ll do it. Have a lot of quality and experience, is a very strong team physically who reached the semi-finals in the WAFF U23 and have potential to reach the latter stages of this tournament. In the CAF U23 they beat Guinea in semifinals and lost the final against Morocco in extra-time.

Some important players for Egypt will be Arsenal’s midfielder Mohamed Elneny, and also I was impressed with RB Ahmed Eid in the first round against Dominican Republic.

Both teams will try to control the possession here, but I believe that Egypt possess more weapons and arguments to win this fixture, as well as experience. The midfield battle will be the key in a game where both teams want to dominate, and Egypt has much more quality with Elneny.

For Uzbekistan a draw won’t be a bad deal, because their last round should be easy against Dominican Republic, whilst Egypt has a very difficult game against Spain. However, Egypt needs to win here so I expect them to play with a bit more motivation. I believe they should be favorites in this fixture.

以色列-巴拉圭

以色列是一支弱队，他们在这次比赛中准备得很差，而且也缺乏实力。在这场比赛中，他们完全处于劣势，理应输掉比赛，丢球数是预期进球数的两倍多，而且只有两次射门射正。然而，他们设法打进了第一个进球(也是乌龙球)，尽管他们只把平局保持了7分钟。

他们缺乏实力和经验，在马里的比赛中，他们最好的球员是门将Nir On，这不是一个好的信号。他们将再次采取防守风格，他们的核心球员将是效力于比利时联赛的中场奥姆里·甘德尔曼(上赛季有11个进球+ 5次助攻)和海法马卡比的后卫肖恩·戈德堡。Oscar Gloukh可能是另一个有趣的对手。

另一方面，我希望巴拉圭能从这个小组出线。他们为这次比赛做了很好的准备，因为他们是美洲杯预选赛的领头羊，击败了巴西，并两次与阿根廷平局，这两支球队都是强队。

他们是一支非常激烈和防守的球队，有一些有趣的球员，如老将后卫法比安·巴尔布埃纳，胡里奥·恩西索或恩索·冈萨雷斯(在狼队效力)。此外，我希望他们在首轮0比5惨败日本之后，在这里能有动力和反应。他们确实在第25分钟领到了一张红牌，但他们已经1:0落后了。

我仍然希望看到巴拉圭的真正水平，这是一支强大而危险的球队，很难被击败，是我最看好的以小组第二的身份出线的球队，仅次于日本。

他们需要提高防御能力，鉴于以色列的水平很低，我认为他们会这样做。我担心的是，在这场比赛中，他们将被迫占据主导地位，因为以色列将采取防守风格。然而，我希望巴拉圭能以他们的速度和强度找到空间。

以色列在对阵马里的比赛中非常幸运，但在我看来，他们的实力显然要弱得多。我们还没有看到巴拉圭的真正水平，他们有更多的潜力，对他们来说，如果他们想要出线，这场比赛是绝对必须赢的。

乌兹别克斯坦-埃及

乌兹别克斯坦队在去年U23亚洲杯上的表现令人印象深刻，他们打进了决赛，但在最后几分钟以1:0输给了日本队。他们有实力，有很多个人天赋，包括这次比赛的新成员——因伤错过亚洲杯的前锋肖姆罗多夫，他对乌兹别克斯坦来说是一个很大的鼓舞。贾罗里季诺夫在亚洲杯上也有出色的表现，他将在这里发挥重要作用。

他们以1:2输给了西班牙，但表现不佳，西班牙也错失了一个点球。我不记得有任何球员在那里有好的表现，这让乌兹别克斯坦很担心。

然而，他们是本届杯赛中阵容最差的球队之一，我不指望他们能在小组赛中出线。他们是第一次参加奥运会，所以也缺乏经验。

埃及刚刚经历了一场疯狂而意外的平局，对手是多米尼加共和国，这支球队可能是本届杯赛中表现最差的球队。然而，他们很不幸，应该获胜。但是他们的机会不够好，他们也没有改变他们。

他们需要改进，我相信他们会做到的。有很多的素质和经验，是一个非常强大的团队在WAFF U23进入半决赛，并有潜力进入比赛的后期阶段。在非洲足球联合会U23世界杯上，他们在半决赛中击败几内亚，在决赛中在加时赛中输给摩洛哥。

埃及的一些重要球员将是阿森纳的中场球员穆罕默德·埃尔内尼，我也对第一轮对阵多米尼加共和国的中场球员艾哈迈德·伊德印象深刻。

两支球队都试图控制控球权，但我相信埃及拥有更多的武器和论据来赢得这场比赛，以及经验。中场的争夺将是这场比赛的关键，两支球队都想占据主导地位，而埃尔内尼让埃及的实力更强。

对于乌兹别克斯坦来说，一场平局并不是一件坏事，因为他们最后一轮对阵多米尼加共和国会很轻松，而埃及对阵西班牙会很艰难。然而，埃及需要在这里取胜，所以我希望他们踢得更有动力。我相信他们应该是这场比赛的热门。