World Cup 2018: Tuesday's Match Odds and Updated Group Predictions

The first round of group fixtures at the 2018 FIFA World Cup comes to a close on Tuesday, when the Group H quartet of Colombia, Poland, Senegal and Japan make their tournament debuts.

Colombia will take on Japan before Pot 1 entrants Poland look to back up their status as pool favourites against Senegal. Hosts Russia will then hope to make it two wins from two when they face Egypt to get the second round of group games under way in Group A.

Group H could well be considered this World Cup's Group of Death judging by the closeness in quality of all four teams, with favourites Colombia and Poland facing Japan and Senegal in their respective first matches.

That's before Russia attempt to build on their 5-0 hammering of Saudi Arabia, this time against Egypt, who fell 1-0 to Uruguay in their first outing of the competition.

Read on for a preview of Tuesday's action, a breakdown of the latest match odds and prediction of how the standings will look when the dust has settled.

Tuesday's Schedule/Predictions

Colombia 2-0 Japan, 1 p.m. BST/8 a.m. ET

Poland 3-2 Senegal, 4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET

Russia 2-2 Egypt, 7 p.m. BST/2 p.m. ET

Tuesday's Match Odds

Colombia (-141), Draw (+270), Japan (+410)

Poland (+118), Draw (+230), Senegal (+240)

Russia (-200), Draw (+290), Egypt (+575)

Odds courtesy of OddsShark

Projected Group Standings (Goal Difference)

Group A

1. Russia: 4 (+5)

2. Uruguay: 3 (+1)

3. Egypt: 1 (-1)

4. Saudi Arabia: 0 (-5)

Group H

1. Colombia: 3 (+2)

2. Poland: 3 (+1)

3. Senegal: 0 (-1)

4. Japan: 0 (-2)

Colombia On the Climb, Reality to Hit Russia

As far as pre-tournament predictions go, Japan look to be the obvious underdogs in Group H and open their sixth successive World Cup against Colombia on Tuesday.

The South Americans are far ahead of their Asian opponents in renown and individual talent, and Japan manager Akira Nishino acknowledged James Rodriguez as one player who will need to be watched by his team, per Goal's Chris Wheatley:

Japan sit 61st in the FIFA rankings, 34 places lower than their nearest Group H opponents, Senegal (27th), and 45 places lower than Colombia (16th). The rankings aren't always a reliable indication of who's the strongest team, but the writing looks to be on the wall when the gulf is this significant.

Radamel Falcao returned to some of his finer form at AS Monaco this season and is a player who can do damage for Colombia up front, although their last eight goals have come from a crop of eight different players.

That spread of talent across the squad is what should see them to victory over Japan, and their defence has also shown its class of late, keeping clean sheets in recent friendly stalemates against Australia and Egypt.

Poland are the other favourites to top Group H and have in-form Robert Lewandowski hoping to give them the edge over Senegal, but Mark Farrelly of Balls.ie recently noted the Lions of Teranga as a surprise package in Russia:

The African side have the ability to beat anyone in this pool on their day. Liverpool's Sadio Mane is a slick figure in attack and can cause any defence problems, while Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly is a talisman at centre-back.

It's easy to see this game turning into a fight over finishing, though, particularly when the only clean sheet this Poland team has kept in its last five games came in a recent friendly win over Lithuania.

Elsewhere, the story goes that Egypt need Mohamed Salah back from his shoulder injury if they are to have a hope of beating Russia, and the BBC Sport's John Bennett delivered a promising update on Monday:

His absence in the 1-0 defeat to Uruguay was all too noticeable as they managed just three shots on target, two of which came from Arsenal defensive midfielder Mohamed Elneny, per WhoScored.com.

Squawka noted Saudi Arabia (six) were the only team to register fewer shots at goal after the first batch of fixtures in Russia, but Salah's return could be a tide-turning event.

Much of Tuesday's meeting will depend on how Russia respond to their one-sided battering of Saudi Arabia, and a Salah-led Egypt will be enough to clinch one point at least, bringing the hosts back down to Earth.