2026 World Cup Group Stage Predictions:

Hey All! How do you think each World Cup group will play out?

Discuss Predictions here!!

Here are Mine:

Group A:
1. Mexico
2. South Korea
3. Czech Republic
4. South Africa
I’m pretty confident that Mexico tops this and South Africa finishes last. Mexico will be strong at home, and have a pretty good squad. South Africa I think are quite overrated. The real toss up is South Korea vs Czech Republic. Honestly I think South Korea has the better team on paper all around, is a bit underrated, and I fancy them.

Group B:
1. Switzerland
2. Canada
3. Bosnia-Herzegovina
4. Qatar
Switzerland tops this group easily. I really love this Swiss team and I think they’re extremely good right now and the best they’ve been in a long time. Canada and Bosnia battle for second and third, and it’s honestly very close. I slightly fancy Canada as they’re at home and they have some good players like Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David. But it’ll be close. Qatar is probably even weaker than last World Cup.

Group C:
1. Brazil
2. Morocco
3. Scotland
4. Haiti
This will be a fun group. Brazil vs Morocco will be very interesting. To be honest I really believe that the opening game will be quite cautious and both teams might actually play very cautiously to avoid losing the opening match. Could very well end in a draw. However I think Brazil takes top spot as their goal difference will be higher than Morocco’s even if they both end with 7 points. Scotland finishes 3rd and Haiti 4th.

Group D:
1. Turkey
2. Australia
3. Paraguay
4. United States
I’m being a bit bold here. I think many agree that Turkey is the best team on paper. I know that Turkey has had a reputation of inconsistency in the past, but they’ve really improved and been way more consistent ever since Montella took over as coach. I know Montella, he’s very good tactically, and I think Turkey tops this. Australia is one of the most underrated teams in this whole tournament. I really think they’re very well organized, and have a great coach with great structure and tactics. I think they take second place. USA and Paraguay battle it for third and 4th. Now USA is probably superior on paper, but Paraguay maybe has slightly better team chemistry all around. Either way it’s going to be chaotic, and I’ll be bold and say Paraguay edges it out and steals third place, leading to unfortunately a very disappointing World Cup for the United States at home.

Group E:
1. Germany
2. Ecuador
3. Ivory Coast
4. Curacao
Very interesting group, and it’s a bit harder to predict than we think. This German team is not as good as Euro 2024 Germany, but besides that, I do think they’re the best they’ve been since winning in 2014. Nagelsmann has done well with them as coach and they have good players. Mainly just weak in the full backs area, but I think they still top the group and will bag in a lot of goals. Ecuador vs Ivory Coast will be tough as both teams have been improving. I fancy Ecuador to edge it for second, because they’ve been improving a lot and finished second in CONMEBOL qualifying which is not to be underestimated. Curacao is just here for the show.

Group F:
1. Japan
2. Sweden
3. Netherlands
4. Tunisia
I’m being very bold here too. I honestly think this Japanese team is within Top 10 in the world. They’re very smart tactically and have even improved from last World Cup. Extremely physical, fast, and tactical team. And Sweden since Potter took over as coach have really improved. Not to mention, Sweden was missing multiple key players in their playoff route. Pretty decent tactically. Now I say the Netherlands is extremely overrated. They have some talented players, but not all of them are in form, and I have really strong doubts about Koeman as coach. I don’t think he’s great and he’ll get easily outcoached by Japan and Sweden. Not to mention, the Netherlands were not super impressive in their qualifying campaign. Tunisia isn’t to be underestimated either and I think they do get at least a point somewhere, but unfortunately not enough to really do too much.

Group G:
1. Egypt
2. Belgium
3. New Zealand
4. Iran
I’ll be honest, this is one of the hardest groups to predict. First thing I want to say is that Belgium is in severe decline. And their coach Rudi Garcia is really a bad coach. I’ve seen him coach before, and he’s pretty terrible tactically and players often fail to stay fit and intense for the whole game under him. Belgium’s qualification campaign has been extremely questionable. They couldn’t even beat North Macedonia even once. I think Egypt is honestly the most organized and well rounded team on the field in this group and will top it, but not comfortably. Iran has also been in huge decline since Queiroz has left, and Azmoun and Taremi are not in good form at all. Will likely be hard to breakdown, but I have a very hard time seeing where the goals will come from in this Iranian team. Also with the war and everything, they might be mentally affected as well. New Zealand is a very underrated team. The truth is because OFC is so weak, this team hasn’t been properly tested in a long time. They’re organized and hard to breakdown. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they end this group with 3 draws again like in 2010. I fancy New Zealand to get third and maybe even advance as one of the top 3rd place teams.

Group H:
1. Spain
2. Uruguay
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Cape Verde
I think Spain wins this group fairly comfortably. Clearly the strongest team in this one. Uruguay has improved a bit from last World Cup but aren’t as strong as 2018 or 2010. I’d compare this Uruguay to same level as Uruguay of 2014 World Cup with Suarez. Team is still pretty decent and should make second place. Saudi Arabia with Herve Renard as third. Cape Verde last.

Group I:
1. France
2. Senegal
3. Norway
4. Iraq
Oh wow this group will be so fun and interesting to watch. Honestly I have a hard time looking past France. I think they’re the best team in this whole tournament and the depth and bench they have is just enormous. Many of their bench players would start on most others teams in this tournament. Norway vs Senegal will be very interesting. Norway has a really good attack and Senegal has a really good defense so it’ll be interesting to see. I think Senegal slightly edges it as arguably the second best team in Africa, and Norway third. Iraq under Arnold is also organized and structured but very unlucky to be in a tough group like this. Sorry Iraq.

Group J:
1. Argentina
2. Austria
3. Algeria
4. Jordan
Despite Argentina in a bit of decline, they’re still pretty strong and coached well with Scaloni. Therefore, I think they top this. The huge battle is Austria vs Algeria. Both teams are strong and have some good players. I do slightly fancy Austria and it has a lot to do with the order of the matches being played and where the pressure is going to be. However, I also think Austria are coached very well, and are underrated. Both teams likely advance as second and one of the third placed teams. Sorry Jordan, very unlucky group.

Group K:
1. Portugal
2. Colombia
3. DR Congo
4. Uzbekistan
Honestly this is probably the most straightforward group out of all. Portugal is very talented and have improved with organization and tactics since Roberto Martinez took over. Colombia is a great team and should come second. I think DR Congo edges out Uzbekistan in third place. Might be the most straightforward group out of all.

Group L:
1. England
2. Croatia
3. Ghana
4. Panama
This will be interesting. England have really improved on the field since Tuchel took over from Southgate and play more attacking and are scoring more goals. Croatia has really gotten things back together since Euro 2024, although not quite as strong as World Cup 2022 but close. However Croatia has probably the best mental strength and management of any team in this whole tournament. Honestly I can foresee a very cautious tactical opening game between England & Croatia as neither will want to lose the opening match. Very likely ends in a draw. However England tops the group because they will definitely have a larger goal difference than Croatia with the other matches. Ghana third and Panama last.

P.S. Don’t ask me to predict the best third placed teams as it’s almost impossible. The truth is we have no idea which games teams will attack or defend more, which games they’ll slip up, etc. And if the top team in the group is already safely through as winners, they tend to rest players for their last match, which could often give advantages to their opponents in the very last match, and that will really play with the points and mess with the table. Goal difference counts a lot and it’s really hard to predict across groups.

Anyways what do you all think? Curious on your thoughts!

 

Very true, it is for sure a very tough group to predict. My real concerns about the USA is that they’re very disorganized and quite liable defensively. On paper Pochettino was supposed to be an upgrade from Greg Berhalter, but that doesn’t seem to turn out to be the case on the field so far at least. One of their biggest strengths in the last World Cup was fairly solid and organized defensively, and they’ve lost that under Pochettino. While I’m unsure what the problem is, I think Pochettino’s tactics and approach might be too advanced for the national team to grasp very well.

And I think they will get punished by more tactically organized and structured teams. This is why I fancy Turkey and Australia. It’s 50-50 vs Paraguay though, and I think they might be able to get third place if they play hard.

 

Wait what in regards to Australia? In the last World Cup, Australia was the second best AFC team after Japan, and I believe they still are and have even improved from last World Cup.

To be fair in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 world cups, they did have really tough groups, with some very good teams. I wouldn’t underestimate Australia at all. I think they’re second best team in Asia after Japan. South Korea might have a stronger team on paper, but Australia play better and are managed way better right now at least.

 

To be fair Egypt has had some very good results over the past years. They missed 2022 World Cup but only lost to Senegal (a team that performed fairly well in 2022) on penalties to not qualify.

Egypt has had some great AFCON results and I think they’ll do decently.

They’re not that good or amazing, but I also think Belgium is extremely questionable and managed terribly to which is why I fancy Egypt.

 

I honestly don’t think so. If Croatia topped the group, they would have to beat England in the group stage. Considering likely goal difference, a draw probably wouldn’t do it.

Croatia are usually tough to beat once the knockouts happen, but they’re not known for being super convincing in the group stages for the most part, at least most recently. Remember they weren’t super convincing in the group stage in the last 2022 World Cup.