2026 World Cup Group Stage Predictions:

They are good. They were an entertaining attacking team in Euro 24. Their manager Montella is doing a good job with them.

That said, there are way too many people jumping on their bandwagon.

Mexico is playing better than a couple years ago and they should win at altitude in their house.

 

Paraguay are not that good. Like they are fine, but they don't have anyone on the roster who is lighting it up in big leagues in Europe. A few players in the Premier league but the bulk of the roster is playing in South America/MLS.

Australia is in the same boat, they lack players playing in big leagues.

On paper Turkey and the USA are leaps and bounds better than Paraguay and Australia. Obviously anything can happen, but talent level they aren't even.

 

It's a terrible thing to be ashamed of one's country, and yet, here I am, quite ashamed. Needless to say, these deranged idiots did not receive my vote, or any of my family members votes in '16, '20 or '24*

*Maybe a technicality as my in laws are all republicans save my wife.

 

I'll post the rest of the groups later because I'm a little busy at the moment but to post them before any match of the group is actually played:

Group A
1 - Mexico
2 - South Korea
3 - Czequia
4 - South Africa

 

Group A
1-Mexico
2-Czechia
3-South Africa
4-South Korea

 

From Brasil 14... I feel Americas' teams do better in the Americas. Europe I feel does worse, not a lot worse but worse than in Europe.

European team # in parentheses

Semifinals:
USA 1994 (3)
Brazil Sweden
Bulgaria Italy

France 1998 (3)
Brazil Netherlands
France Croatia

Japan-South Korea 2002 (2)
Germany South Korea
Brazil Turkey

Germany 2006 (4)
Germany Italy
Portugal France

South Africa 2010 (3)
Netherlands Uruguay
Spain Germany

Brazil 2014 (2)
Brazil Germany
Argentina Netherlands

Russia 2018 (4)
France Belgium
England Croatia

Qatar 2022 (2)
Argentina Croatia
France Morocco

Sorry if it's stating the obvious I'm bored during halftime

 

No worries. For me, I call that a correlation more than a causation because C'BOL was just exceptionally deep and strong in 2010-2014 period. If you remove 2014 from yoru post, then you don't even see a correlation IMO (UEFA still sent 3 teams to the SFs in both 1994 and 2010)

 

I predict that most of the games at altitude in Mexico are going to be horrible.

 

The rest of my groups:

Group B
1 - Switzerland
2 - Canada
3 - Bosnia
4 - Qatar

I favor Canada over Bosnia because they will play in Canada, and I think Bosnia is the weakest European team at the World Cup. Yes, they went through over Italy, but they didn’t win in the 90 minutes (heck, Italy had more big chances even with one man less than Bosnia). Props to Bosnia for taking advantage of the UEFA format, where the final match hosting was decided by a draw. I don’t see Qatar getting any points, while Switzerland is simply the best team in the group.

Group C
1 - Brazil
2 - Morocco
3 - Scotland
4 - Haiti

There may be a chance of Morocco winning against Brazil, but I will give the latter the edge. Plus, I think Scotland is the exact kind of team that gives troubles to Morocco. Brazil has been getting better and better with Ancelotti, you can clearly see their improvements in the last friendlies. Haiti is not as bad as I thought; I still think they will finish last in this group, but as opposed to Curaçao, I think they won’t go down without a fight

Group D
1 - USA
2 - Paraguay
3 - Australia
4 - Turkey

My first big surprise: it gets boring if everyone just puts the teams in the same order in these predictions. I think Paraguay and Australia are going to frustrate Turkey a lot; they are better versions of Kosovo, where Turkey had lots of trouble. On the other hand, I think the Americans are going to beat both Paraguay and Australia but lose to Turkey in the process

Group E
1 - Germany
2 - Ecuador
3 - Ivory Coast
4 - Curaçao

I think there is a high chance Ecuador and Ivory Coast tie in the first match of this group. I have Ecuador in 2nd because they are most likely to get a result against Germany imo. I rate Curaçao as the worst team in the tournament; it will be a miracle if they even manage to score one goal

Group F
1 - Netherlands
2 - Japan
3 - Tunisia
4 - Sweden

Japan recently lost 3 of its best players, and due to that, I now predict them to get eliminated in the R32. They should still get past Tunisia and Sweden, but I don’t think they have a high ceiling now. Netherlands has been anemic in friendlies, but their main problem was that they simply were not putting the ball in the net after generating dozens of chances. I think they will put them in the net here. Sweden looked absolutely horrible in their friendly against Norway. Tunisia should be more acclimated to Monterrey’s weather, and I think they will get a result over Sweden.

Group G
1 - Belgica
2 - Egypt
3 - Iran
4 - New Zealand

It is hard to gauge how Iran will look. Under normal conditions, I would put them in second place, but due to political circumstances, I also think there is a chance that they crash and burn. Belgium should top the group, and I think there is a high chance that New Zealand ties or wins against one of Egypt or Iran (but I don’t think they will get results against both).

Group H
1 - Spain
2 - Uruguay
3 - Cape Verde
4 - Saudi Arabia

No comments here, the delusional in me hopes we beat Spain and send them to an R32 match vs Argentina

Group I
1 - France
2 - Senegal
3 - Norway
4 - Iraq

I came to like Graham Arnold a lot recently, since I saw an interview about how he decided to live in Iraq to feel more in sync with the country in order to manage them. Sadly for them, they are in an absolute murderous group, and it will be a miracle if they even manage to get one point. Norway, I think, will be really affected by the weather after seeing photos of them absolutely melting in their training sessions. Whoever comes from this group as the third place is going to be bad news for the group winner who has to face them.

Group J
1 - Argentina
2 - Austria
3 - Algeria
4 - Jordan

Argentina doesn’t have that kind of invincible aura that I feel they had 4 years ago (and they even lost against Saudi that time). I still think they are topping the group. Austria vs Algeria, I think it is closer to 50/50 than people realize.

Jordan has simply been terrible against non AFC opposition:
* Colombia 2-0 Jordan
* Switzerland 4-1 Jordan
* Jordan 2-2 Nigeria
* Jordan 2-2 Costa Rica
* Jordan 0-0 Mali
* Tunisia 3-2 Jordan
* Albania 4-2 Jordan
* Bolivia 1-0 Jordan

Don't think they will get any point in the tournament.

Group K
1 - Colombia
2 - Portugal
3 - DR Congo
4 - Uzbekistan

I know Colombia has been trending down after Copa America, but I rate Colombia over Portugal because the match is in Miami and it will definitely be a home match for Colombia. DR Congo has a slightly better chance than Uzbekistan of getting a draw against the first two, but I don’t see it happening tbh. I think Colombia and Portugal will have 6 points by the last matchday.

DR Congo vs Uzbekistan I rate as one of the most likely matches to end 0-0 and get both eliminated

Group L
1 - England
2 - Croatia
3 - Panama
4 - Ghana

Ghana has been abysmal lately; I certainly don’t think that Queiroz is going to revive them. Panama managed to beat USA twice and South Africa at home, which is better than Ghana in the entire cycle, who only has a Mali win as their standout victory. Still, I don’t see any third place advancing from this group because I think both Panama and Ghana will get pumped by England.

Croatia may draw Ghana, but in all likelihood I think they will get second place in this group

 

I agree with the DR Congo vs Uzbekistan stalemate possibility. It is the 2nd to last group to finish so they will both have a great idea of what they need from the game to progress. Everyone assumes they will both be on 0 points and needing a win of some kind. If a 1-0 win is all that is needed by either, that game will be cagey AF and miserable to watch until like the 80th minute.

On the other hand, an early goal in that scenario could create the most fun game of the tournament.


My vote for most likely 0-0 match is Austria vs Algeria. Last match of the group stage, I expect both to be on 3 points and since 4 points is almost always enough to progress among 3rd place teams, both will be more than happy to do nothing.

 

I expect 3/3 wins for UEFA teams today!

 

Um, I don't think so …

 

Germany v Curacao tomorrow, probably the biggest chance in this tournament for a "Hungary 10 El Salvador 1"-like hammering.

 

That didn't work out did it
Scotland is the only Euro team out of 5 so far to get a win.
Meanwhile AFC are on 2 wins and a draw.
C-Caf - 2 Wins a draw and a loss

 

I would have said the same about Switzerland v Qatar.

I believe today's game will be hot as well, might make the match much closer.

 

Based on the games so far it seems like we can expect more upsets. I have noticed a few things. Whereas in the past 4-5-1 was a popular formation especially among weaker teams we are now seeing more attacking formations. Also how teams are having their entire team on the halfway line at the beginning of the match waiting to run into the opponent's half. It seems like we are slowly returning to 1950s and such formations.

The other is that the vast majority of players are gen z. So out go tactics and discipline. It seems more like a free for all. Also with social media and gen z effect, there is less respecting the other side. That is, everyone genuinely thinks they can win the whole thing, so they don't care who their opponent is.

Players are also faster and defensive players are less careful, which makes for more goals after marauding runs.

I think all this makes it more likely to for there to be random scorelines.

 

Well, it wasn't 10, but looks like I was essentially correct about Curacao.

 

At least they did better than Brazil against Germany if you consider they didnt have home advantage.