World Cup Group E Predictions & Picks: Spain, Germany, Japan and Costa Rica

The 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Qatar later this month and Dimers.com soccer writer and former professional Vincenzo Pugliese breaks down each of the groups, starting with predictions and best bets for Group E featuring Spain, Germany, Japan and Costa Rica. As a wise-man once said, "without data, you're just another person with an opinion", so naturally we've let DimersBOT loose on the World Cup draw and the world's best predictive analytics model has simulated the entire 2022 World Cup over 10,000 times to identify which nations can win the tournament and which nations are just making up the numbers. Using the world-renowned Monte Carlo Simulations method, Dimers gives you the most wholistic view of the tournament and which teams are most likely to progress from their group and reach the knockout stages.

Download your complete guide to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar below.

Group E Prediction: Spain

The Spaniards will enter Football's showpiece event and give the rest of the world a reminder of what this playing group is truly capable of.

A full decade has now passed since La Roja dominated International Football after winning the Euros, World Cup and the Euros again - all in succession - between the years of 2008-2012.

Since then Spain has subsequently struggled to maintain that same level of competitiveness while also trying to replace some of the names that were in that squad.

Luis Enrique, who was appointed as manager in November 2019, will enter in his first FIFA World Cup on the touchline for Spain. Since Enrique’s arrival, the team has undergone a rebuilding phase and having to cope without some of their icons who retired from International football.

Spain has done well recently, making a run to the Semi-Finals of Euro 2020 were they were beaten on penalties by eventual winners, Italy. Just a few months later Spain got their revenge on the Italians, beating them out for a place in the 2021 Nations League Finals. Nonetheless, a rebuilding phase quickly established a title contending group and this time around, Enrique’s men will look to go the distance in Qatar.

Through their qualification campaign, La Roja were dominant to say the least, topping their group with a 6-1-1 record and registering an impressive 15-5 goal difference. Being so midfield focused, and given the way this team traditionally likes to play, Spain has never really relied on one single player to take on the goal-scoring responsibilities.

With no real superstar as an attacking threat, it will be tough for Spain as they enter football's showpiece event with odds of -105 to win Group E and +850 of lifting the World Cup, a feat which Dimers has rated as an 8.7% probability.

MORE: World Cup Match Predictions

Group E Prediction: Germany

The Germans will enter Qatar 2022 looking for a shot at redemption after a shocking early group stage exit four years ago as defending champion.

Former Bayern Munich Manager, Hans-Dieter Flick will be on the touchline for his first major-international tournament since replacing the outgoing Joachim Low, who managed Germany since 2006 and led the nation to a 4th World Cup triumph in 2014.

Since taking over in July 2021, Flick has immediately impressed, guiding Die Mannschaft to seven consecutive wins and topping their WC qualification group to book their tickets to Qatar. With only one loss to his name so far, the 57-year old will seek to continue that form when Germany opens their 2022 World Cup account against Japan on November 23.

Heading into the tournament this squad looks to solid on paper, but question marks in both full-back areas could be the weak spot for the Germans, who has recently converted to a 4-2-3-1 system. This team's weakest link is in defense and as a result is perhaps why this side, in contrast to usual German teams, does not have that traditional well-oiled-machine look that most German teams typically do.

Despite that, and apart from their match with Spain which should be a classic, expect Germany to cruise past the group stage, however it looks unlikely they will reach the later stages of this competition.

Without a "true" striker and with unsolved issues in the back, the Germans are +115 odds to win Group E and +1000 of winning it all with a probability of just 7.2%.

RELATED: Every Nations' Chances and Odds of Winning the World Cup

Group E Prediction: Japan

Reason number 26,937 why people across the globe are infatuated with the World Cup is because of countries like Japan, for example, who obviously aren’t your typical European or South American force, but have the capabilities to dismantle big teams on the world stage.

Hajime Moriyasu’s men will enter Qatar 2022 respecting their opponents but, simultaneously, will be also fearless and give both Spain and Germany a run for their money in Group E.

Japan made history at the 2018 FIFA World Cup by defeating Colombia 2-1, the first ever victory by any AFC team against a CONMEBOL team at an official tournament. It was also Japan’s first FIFA World Cup finals victory in a European country.

In that same tournament, Japan became the first nation to ever advance to the knock-out stage through the Fair Play Points tiebreaker. The Blue Samurai will hope to build on that in Qatar this time, with a young and exciting group of players that have emerged at some of Europe’s most elite clubs.

As talented as this Japan group looks, it would be foolish to say they’ll definitely get out of their group, considering the other teams present, but that is why we love this great game, because in football you truly never know.

The Blue Samurai will enter the 2022 World Cup at +325 odds of making out of Group E but, regardless of that, they will give Spain and Germany some headaches. Dimers has Japan as 25.2% chance of progressing to the Round of 16.

RELATED: Betting Previews for every World Cup matchup

Group E Prediction: Costa Rica

For Costa Rica, a group of this strength isn’t anything new. In the last two tournaments they have been placed in extremely difficult groups also, but back in Brazil 2014 they completed the improbable, beating out the likes of Uruguay and Italy to advance to the knock-out stages. Not bas for a country with a smaller population than New York City.

From there they defeated Greece on penalties before ultimately being halted by the Netherlands in the quarter finals. Nonetheless, Costa Rica has done it before and it would be utterly foolish to count them out at a FIFA World Cup.

Throughout their qualification campaign, Los Ticos had a steady run which saw them grab the fourth and final Concacaf spot. This ultimately meant that Luis Suarez's men had to battle it out in an all-or-nothing playoff match against New Zealand where veteran attacker, Joel Campbell, found the net early to secure a 1-0 win.

We’ve seen in the past that nothing's impossible when it comes to this Costa Rica playing group, one that plays with such heart and energy on the field.

Despite all of that, however, it will be difficult to progress from this group with likes of Germany, Spain and Japan all in their way. Los Ticos will enter the 2022 FIFA World at +1400 odds of making out past Group E, with just a 12% probability of doing so.

Did you know that you can simulate the World Cup bracket here and see how far your team can go at Qatar 2022?

World Cup Group E: Best Players

Kai Havertz (Germany)

Takefusa Kubo (Japan)

Pedri Gonzalez (Spain)

Anthony Contreras (Costa Rica)

Pablo Gavira (Gavi) (Spain)

Takumi Minamino (Japan)

Joel Campbell (Costa Rica)

Joshua Kimmich (Germany)

Serge Gnabry (Germany)

Where To Bet On World Cup Group E?

All of the major US sportsbook will take bets on Group E at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Operators such as FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, PointsBet, Caesars and Bet365 will all be after your business during the soccer World Cup, so you will have access to a number of different welcome offers and sportsbook promo codes to get you off to a winning start. The best of these offers is the Bet $5, Win $150 from DraftKings Sportsbook. You can claim it here.

Betting on the World Cup is simple. All you have to do is create an account with any of the sportsbooks listed on Dimers, make an initial deposit, and then start betting. Think carefully about that first deposit though, as a lot of the offers allow you to leverage the amount you throw down for your first bet. A $100 first bet is going to get you more value than a first bet of $10, for instance.

World Cup Group E: Picks

Matchday 1 Predictions

Germany 2, Japan 1

Spain 2, Costa Rica 0

Matchday 2 Predictions

Japan 3, Costa Rica 0

Spain 1, Germany 0

Matchday 3 Predictions

Japan 1, Spain 1

Costa Rica 0, Germany 2

World Cup Group E: Predicted Standings

Country	Points
Spain	7
Germany	6
Japan	4
Costa Rica	0

Download your complete guide to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar below.

Where To Watch World Cup Group E?

You can watch these Group E matches and every match of the 2022 World Cup on the FOX Sports family of networks. Fox Sports is the tournament's official English-language broadcast partner in the United States. You can also stream full World Cup match replays for free on the Fox Sports app.

Wednesday, November 23

Germany vs. Japan, 8AM ET on FS1

Spain vs. Costa Rica, 11AM ET on FOX

Sunday, November 27

Japan vs. Costa Rica, 5AM ET on FS1

Spain vs. Germany, 2PM ET on FOX

Thursday, Dec. 1

Japan vs. Spain, 2PM ET on *FOX

Costa Rica vs. Germany, 2PM ET on *FS1