World Cup: Who will make their mark at World Cup 2026?

With the Champions League and Premier League now concluded we are all thankful that we will have the summer distraction of a World Cup to look forward to.

The expanded 48 team format will allow us see quite a few more games, whether they will be worth watching is another thing, opening up the opportunity to the delight of watching Ecuador vs Curacao at 1pm in the afternoon, a proposition no normal person would countenance outside of a World Cup but somehow becomes worthy because it in in the World Cup. So, this week we’ll go over the first half of the opening groups, followed next week by the other half and consider who will progress and maybe make history by lifting the golden globe come July 19 in sunny East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Two from each group qualify for the next round along with the eight next best group finishers.

 Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia.

Co-hosts Mexico will have their hands full to advance here. As we know, Czechia are no pushovers, while the Koreans are full of eager and talented player. South Africa will be no slouches either.

Match of the group: Mexico v Czechia.

Key players: Raul Jimenez, Lyle Foster, Son Heung-min, Tomas Soucek.

Two to advance: Mexico and Czechia.

Third place: South Korea.

Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland.

The other co-hosts, Canada are in a group they will be vying with Bosnia and Qatar to advance from along with the Swiss who should be comfortable enough to top this group.

Match of the group: Switzerland v Bosnia.

Key players: Alphonso Davies, Emir Bajraktarevic, Almoez Ali, Manuel Akanji.

Two to advance: Switzerland and Canada.

Third place: Bosnia.

Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland.

The Scots, amazingly in this World Cup, will face Brazil for the fifth time. They have yet to beat the South Americans but have some great memories. Drawing in 1974 only losing by a goal in 1990 and 1998 and then there’s David Narey fantastic opener in a 4-1 defeat to the best Brazilian side ever back in 1982. May be the Scots best chance to finally get it over the line against them. For all that, Morocco as African champions* are favoured to join Brazil in the next round.

Match of the group: Brazil v Scotland.

Key players: Raphina, Brahim Diaz, Johnny Placide, Scott McTominay

Two to advance: Brazil, Morocco.

Third place: Scotland 

Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Türkiye.

The pressure to succeed will be immense on Mauricio Pochettino and his US side as the main co-host of this tournament. The lineup against them in this group could trip them up on any given day, especially the Turks.

Match of the group: US v Australia.

Key players: Weston McKennnie, Miguel Almiron, Jordan Bos, Keenan Yildiz.

Two to advance: Türkiye and the US.

Third place: Australia.

Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador.

The Germans will be eager to make up for their group-stage exit in Qatar by dominating their group this time out. Which they should unless they are really off form.

Match of the group: Germany v Ivory Coast.

Key players: Florian Wirtz, Eloy Room, Franck Kessie, Moises Caicedo.

Two to advance: Germany and Ivory Coast.

Third place: Ecuador.

Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia.

One of the more competitive groups, with the Dutch’s lofty ambitions put to the test by handy Swedish and Japanese sides. The form suggest the Dutch and Japanese advance but if the Swedes find the form they had last year and Alexander Iazk is among the goals, who knows?

Match of the group: Netherlands v Japan.

Key players: Virgil van Dijk, Takefusa Kubo, Viktor Gyokeres, Mohamed Ali Bin Romdhane.

Two to advance: Netherlands and Japan.

Third place: Sweden.