Yes, offensively they are, but their defense should be a thing to worry about for some time now. They barely can keep a clean sheet against anyone and this weakeness is the most obvious when they play another offensivelly gifted team. Norway with their 2nd string players didn't have much troubles to create chances. Senegal besides scoring, had some other great chances against them too. Going back to UEFA Nations League finals a year ago, they were exposed heavily by Spain, then it was a huge miracle they didn't concede against Germans, latter missed some mindblowing opportunities. If France will continue like that and it's very likely that they will, it's really hard to rely on a team with such defensive display in the tournament of such caliber. You might have only one bad night offensively and you might be doomed, cause defense might not be there to save you. It might still be enough to roll over Sweden, which also is poor defensive unit, even should be enough to beat the same Germany in 1/8-finals, cause latter also is fragile at the back and loves to attack, which opens lot of space for rivals, but in later stages... some Spain might look sloppy now, against teams which plays very defensive against them, but you only need to give them space to attack and you are in big trouble and France is the one which is very likely will do exactly that if they'll meet in semis
Tbh that game went exactly as I thought it would. Goalkeeper error aside, the game-plan didn’t change
England not looking good again. Still a goalless draw against Panama in the 2nd half. I feel like the quality of games have decreased significantly. Which is typical as the competition gets into the later stages.
With the group phase wrapping up, I'd say from the aspect of delivering drama, the expansion to 48 teams has been a failure in my view. There is just very few if any real dramatic games with teams trying to clinch a spot in the KO round in Match Day 3.
It should go back to 32 IMO. There talks of going to 64 which would be horrible but makes getting out of conmebol a joke all 10 teams would qualify.
Group phase over. Drama was reserved for the Austria x Algeria match. Both go through. France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Netherlands all end up on the same side of the bracket. France and Argentina probably impressed the most out of the contenders. Argentina however, while they look crisp with their passing and movement, don't seem to have been tested much. And they won't be tested until the QF as predicted (unless there is a big upset). Netherlands has also looked good. Colombia looks solid and I expect them to make the QF. If they do, hopefully them and Argentina can beat each other up. Spain I expected more against Uruguay. I'd say at this point, they are a bit disappointing but Bielsa did implement a good tactic to neutralize them. Not sure other teams will follow suit with the man marking. Portugal and England have not impressed. What can I say ... times agua de salsicha. Japan, USA and to a certain extent Mexico are the other teams that have looked good.
What an insane ending to Austria vs Algeria. Iran out all match, then In on an Algerian goal in added time, then Austria score on the last play of the match and Iran out again. Crazy scenes. I am in shock. This is right up there. There is more to it than what I wrote but too long to write out. Just wow. Austrian in the crowd where just as shocked as they were happy. Crazy.
Austria vs. Algeria was the first game in World Cup history to feature a go-ahead and tying goal by either team in stoppage time 😱 pic.twitter.com/x9VQg5oMtz— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) June 28, 2026
To put this in perspective, Brazil has been awarded 14 penalties since 1930 after playing all World Cup tournaments. 6 PKs in the last 6 matches for the Argies.
They could, it feels like it'll be a close matched game. Erling will probably score one, the question is can Ivory Coast answer if they go down? I can see that game being a 1-0 or 1-1 being decided in PKs.
Possible, but not probable. In offense Ivorians surely can catch Norway sleepy as Norwegians are still quite fragile at the back, but I can hardly picture how Ivory Coast will be able to stop Haaland and co. It can turn out into similar game to Senegal vs Norway, where Senegal had their chances, scored, but defensivelly couldn't handle Norway and lost. To win Ivorians need to be deadly upfront and hope for Norway to have a bit of day off offensively
Usually, I would root for South American teams but Germany is a tougher test for France even in there current form.
The curse of Solano Lopez. He May have lost the war and millions of young males, but every multiple time world champioms shall lose to Paraguay on penalty kicks.
Paraguay through reminds me of the two Copa America lost on pens to them. The officiating and VAR has been shit. Germany got robbed of a goal.