2026 World Cup Group Stage Predictions:

Every Four Years · Jun 14, 2026

vancity eagle said: ↑

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

I don't mean to be demeaning of course, at least they showed some capability in the attack and created multiple good chances and didn't just look to play some anti-football to keep the score down.

r0adrunner · Jun 14, 2026

Yes, Curacao approach was commendable.

Mean Machine · Jun 15, 2026

Today’s Games predictions:

Spain 7-0 Cape Verde

Belgium 3-2 Egypt

Saudi Arabia 0-1 Uruguay

Iran 0-0 New Zealand

Mean Machine · Jun 16, 2026

Predictions for today:

France 3-0 Senegal

Iraq 2-6 Norway

Argentina 2-2 Algeria

Austria 5-1 Jordan

persianfootball · Jun 16, 2026

I am surprised so few teams are parking the bus considering most 3rd place teams can qualify. Must be the gen z effect.

Viking lord · Jun 20, 2026

I knew Turkey would have trouble with Australia and Paraguay, called it:

Viking lord said: ↑

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
Click to expand...

Although I don't predict Turkey to beat USA anymore

Mean Machine · Jun 20, 2026

Viking lord said: ↑

I knew Turkey would have trouble with Australia and Paraguay, called it:

Although I don't predict Turkey to beat USA anymore
Click to expand...

Well to be honest, USA might rest all their players as they don’t really need a result so there could be a higher chance.

This has been the biggest World Cup disappointment so far. Like Denmark of 2022 World Cup. I expected them to struggle and not be easy, but thought they’d win narrowly in the end. But this Turkish team was absolutely shambolic. If you can’t even break down a 10 men Paraguay with players like Guler and Yildiz, something is seriously wrong.

grandinquisitor28 · Jun 28, 2026

grandinquisitor28 said: ↑

I think I'm going w/this as my final predictions pending this weekends friendlies (which might cause me to tweak things):

A:
Mexico
South Korea
Czech-Advance as 3rd place team.
South Africa

B:
Switzerland
Canada
Bosnia
Qatar

C:
Brazil
Morocco
Scotland-Advance as 3rd place team.
Haiti

D:
USA
Turkey
Australia-Advance as 3rd place team
Paraguay

E:
Germany
Ivory Coast
Ecuador-Advance as third place team
Curacao

F:
Netherlands
Japan
Sweden-Advance as third place team
Tunisia

G:
Belgium
Egypt
Iran
New Zealand

H:
Spain
Uruguay
Cape Verde
S. Arabia

I:
France
Norway
Senegal-Advance as third place team
Iraq

J:
Argentina
Algeria
Austria-Advance as a third place team
Jordan

K:
Colombia
Portugal
DR Congo-Advance as a third place team
Uzbekistan

L:
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama

The hardest things for me to figure? Who will win A (I really am not buying Mexico, but they drew pretty nice options from Pot 2, 3 and 4, so maybe they win anyway?), I can't decide if Bosnia is gonna tie Canada on points, or just flame out ugly. My Group D is a mess, I have consistently picked Turkey but my US homerism and hopium has me taking the US, who finishes third is difficult but Australia's record of punching above their way for 20 years just has me erring towards them. Ivory Coast vs Ecuador feels wrong, just like Group D, I consistently have put Ecuador at 2nd over Ivory Coast, mostly because I think their D, plus the fact that they get Germany w/Germany having potentially won the group is better than Ivory Coast getting them in the 2nd match when they will need something from it, but I also think Ivory Coast is more likely to win if either side ends up winning their opening matchup because of the issues Ecuador has at striker and scoring goals in general, so I ended up flipping them. Group F it's more of the same: who to take between Japan and Sweden for 2nd? I am erring towards Japan in part due to better ability to handle the weather, but also because of their history of maxing their potential and the fact that Sweden was straight up horse ---- in WCQ. In I, it's yet another group where figuring out 2nd place is pretty difficult. Senegal in my book has been immense the past 9 years, Norway suddenly erupted out of nowhere over the past two years to dominate their group, eviscerating Italy along the way. Norway looks better currently, but man, if that June 22nd is hot and humid, I'm going with Senegal. For now, Norway, weather permitting.I actually put Algeria ahead of Austria last week after going b ack and forth on it quite a bit, so interesting that Algeria beat the Dutch today. I can't decide if that match will be a draw, or an Algeria win. but the fact that it's being played in KC near July makes me think Algeria will just handle the weather better, KC can reach the mid 90's in June, and while it's a night game, it should still be pretty hot and muggy.

Wrapping up with K and L, those groups seem pretty straight forward, In K, the decisive feature for me is the ultimate match between Portugal and Colombia to wrap the group will be played in Miami, so yeah, I am 1000% giving that to Colombia, a ton of fans in Florida from Colombia AND Miami is insanely hot and miserable in general in June and July, so while its warm in Portugal, I'm giving the advantage to Colombia, group winners. DRC has a hot at shocking the world and taking second, but they are already going to be up against it with this ebola nightmare happening, how many fans even make it to the US? I'll be cheering them on, but I think everything will hinge on them putting together enough goals to grab the last of the 3rd place tickets. I'm betting on it for now. It will be quite difficult though, and would be made far easier if they can steal a point when playing Colombia or Portugal in their opening 2 matches. As for England's group, I've got England winning and Croatia in 2nd. Ghana just hasn't been impressive in a good 12 years at this point, AFCON or WC, while Panama is just not a very good team, and now they're old. The only hope they have is they'll be playing England and Croatia in hot and humid northeast which they'll be fine with but even that isn't enough.
Click to expand...

Not that far off. Messed up my 3rd place advancers, only 4 of 8 right, but not too bad, I think 20 out of 24 correct in terms of the top 2. 98.9% percentile with the ESPN Group Stage Challenge, not too bad.

vancity eagle · Jun 28, 2026

Just to recap, I think people need to give my ranking system some serious credit.

Analysis of My Rankings compared to FIFA

World Cup Edition (only world cup teams)

UNDERATED BY FIFA

1. Jordan +22
2. Cape Verde +22
3. Paraguay +17
4. Norway +15
5. South Africa +14
6. DR Congo +12
7. Japan +11
8. Austria +11
9. Canada +9
10. New Zealand +8

OVERRATED BY FIFA

1. Curacao -45
2. Haiti -27
3. Qatar -26
4. South Korea -26
5. Panama -19
6. Iran -19
7. Saudi Arabia -17
8. Iraq -16
9. Belgium -15
10. Czechia -13
Tools
Quote

Of my 10 most over ranked teams, 9 of them crashed out in the first round. Only Belgium qualified and they seriously underwhelmed by only managing to beat New Zealand and drawing against both Iran and Egypt who are ranked well below them in both FIFA and my rankings.

Of my 10 most underrated teams 8 of them qualified for the knockouts. 3 of those underrated teams qualified directly above teams in my overrated list.

Canada over Qatar
Cape Verde over Saudi Arabia
South Africa over South Korea and Czechia

One of my underrated New Zealand drew with one of my overrated Iran, while 2 overrated teams in Iran and Belgium drew each other.

grandinquisitor28 · Jun 28, 2026

Got Canada to win today, 2-0 or 3-0.