Two defensive line-ups for this World Cup opener with Mexico starting new Wolves signing Raul Jimenez as their lone striker and South Africa going for a back five, aiming to overload the midfield.

It was quite a defensive game to start with both sides sitting deep and looking to hit on the counter. Mexico operated with a pretty flat back four with Erik Lira operating as the single pivot. Alvaro Fidalgo was dropping deeper on the left side of midfield with Bryan Gutierrez pushing right up next to Raul Jimenez to great effect. That allowed Roberto Alvardo to keep his width and stretch that side of the pitch with Junior Quinones tucking inside to pick up the ball in those inside left pockets.

The first Mexico goal came from their high press which was one of four high turnovers in the game.

Lira sprinted from his holding position to press high as Siphephelo Sithole made a horrendous touch having dropped deep to receive the ball. he bundled the ball to

South Africa did have spell of possession and still looked to build through Sithole and down their right hand side but Mexico were excellent defensively South Africa were unable to play through them and a large amount of their passes out to the right had side will be due to the space Quinones left coming inside.

Quinones could have made it 2-0 with Gutierrez again cutting the ball back into a dangerous area and the Saudi League’s second top goalscorer hitting the post.

In terms of chances South Africa were very much limited to the odd set piece and shots from range whilst Mexico created a bunch of good shooting opportunities around the edge of the box.

Having gone 1-0 down South Africa got punished by playing such a high line with Gutierrez being given way too much space to run in behind. Sithole clipped his heels and to make a bad day for him even worse received a straight red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

It was some Jimenez and Quinones interplay that led to the second goal as they exchanged passes again before shifting the ball wide and letting Alvarado swing in a delicious cross for the now Wolves striker to nod in for his first ever World Cup goal.

That move was a route that Mexico attempt to use a couple of times creating dangerous chances with this one being a time when the South African defence simply switched off and let Jimenez get the run on them unopposed.

A second Red Card then followed for South Africa for violent conduct which for me is at the same level as the ridiculous hair pulling reds we see in the Premier League. Yes his hand catches him in the face but he’s competing for the ball and it’s a natural movement of the arm. That was the end of Themba Zwame’s game but it wasn’t long before Mexico skipper Cesar Montes followed him, again for denial of a goalscoring opportunity, again controversially, not just because South Africa looked like they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Yes it was close to the box but Khuliso Mudau was running down a channel that would have only produced the narrowest of angles and their were covering defenders.

It was clearly a dominant performance from Mexico, both offensively with a number of quality chances created from both sides of the pitch and defensively with a compact but reasonably high block. They’ll certainly face sterner test this tournament but it was a very solid start from the joint hosts.

MoTM (Julian Quinones)

The Saudi League’s second highest scorer showed his class in this one, opening the scoring and showing a lovely bit of skill and link up with Jimenez for the second. He completed 5/8 takes ons and was constantly driving his side forward.

South Korea v Czechia

It was a 3-4-2-1 formation match up in this one with South Korea switching to a back three to provide more defensive solidity going into this tournament. That however was where the similarities ended. With an average squad height difference of 4cm this was very much David v Goliath with South Korea opting for intricate passing moves whilst the Czech’s got out the battering ram and went route one.

You can see that difference clearly in both sides pass maps with a network of thick lines swarming the centre of the Korean pitch where Paik Seung Ho and Hwang In-beom provided the midfield metronome that unpicked the Czechs with quick interplay. PSG’s Lee Kang-In also had an important part to play in that dropping deep on a number of occassions and letting the two midfielders make runs in behind whilst Son Heung-Min rolled back the years providing a direct running threat in behind.

The Czech’s gameplan is clearly visible in both the pass maps and the end zones shown here. Jaroslav Zeleny, Pavel Sulc and Lukáš Provod often combining forces in an attempt to win the ball down that side.

It was the direct route that led to the opener with a Vladimir Coufal long throw fizzing through the air like a bullet straight on to Ladislav Krejčí’s head with the 27-year-old getting the better of South Korea’s zonal marking and using his momentum to leap the highest and head home from close range.

The South Korea equaliser came from one of the rotations we just spoke about. Lee Kang-In had taken up a position in central midfield which allowed Hwang In-Beom to drift further forward, collect a lovely chipped ball, chop back onto his right foot and dink the ball over the keeper.

Evidence of those rotations and how effective they were is clear in the above visuals with a number of passes into Zone 14 and the Half Spaces as well as a great variation of progressive passes in all areas of the pitch.

It was another Set Piece that saw the Czech’s take the lead again as Tomas Soucek headed in from a deep free-kick but he was clearly offside.

The second South Korea goal was more excellent interplay. This time it was Paik getting on the ball and chipping it over the top to the roaming In-Beom who had this time popped up on the right-wing. Czech defenders were slow to track back and it was a relatively easy cut back to find substitute Oh Hyeon-Gu who side footed it at the keeper but with enough power that it squirmed into the net.

The South Korean’s weakness was very much Czechia’s strenght with another long throw causing problems right at the death and were it not for a superb stop from Kim Syeung-Gyu this could have ended with a point a piece.

On this showing South Korea look like the best side in Group A. Hwang In-Beom will have raised eyebrows of any scouts watching the Feyenoord man with a supreme midfield performance whilst Kim Min-Jae showed his importance with a number of important defensive interventions. Czechia will hope to play a bit more football against South Africa and with their set piece prowess could also cause Mexico problems, they were outpossessed and cut apart a number of times but still came very close to getting something out of this one.

MoTM (Hwang In Beom)

Such an impressive all round performance. A goal, an assist and lots of clever interplay with Paik Seung-Ho in the middle. His finish for his goal was coolness personified.

Canada v Bosnia and Herzegovina

Another of the home nations who had high hopes coming into this one and despite it being a bit more even of a game it was a similar sort of pattern to with Canada dominating the ball and Bosnia and Herzegovina sitting deep and looking to spring counter attacks.

This can be seen by both the pass map and the defensive block visuals. Despite that though it was the Bosnia’s who made the break through a set piece, the in swinging corner was flicked on by Sead Kolasinac giving Jovo Lukić the easiest of finishes from close range.

Canada created plenty of chances but were often wasteful. Jonathan David had a couple of tame efforts while Tani Oluwaseyi skied a glorious opportunity. Their best chance of the game looked to be a certain goal when some lovely interplay slipped an underlapping Richie Laryea in. The Canadian beat the goalkeeper but somehow Kolasinac was there to make a physics defying clearance onto the bar.

It took a number of substitutions for Canada to really turn the screw with Jacob Shaffelburg and Ali Ahmed providing extra impetus down the wings before Promise David and Cyle Larin combined to finally fine that cutting edge with the latter turning well and flicking an instinctive finish past the keeper.

The early xT (Expected Threat) chart shows the impact of Ahmed and Shaffleburg in particular in different ways. Shaffleburg playing a number of incisive passes and Ahmed driving at defenders with a number of good dribbles.

Again despite Canada being the easiest on the eye Bosnia and Herzegovina defended incredibly well, Tarik Muharemović made 21 clearances which could end up being a tournament high and threatened enough on the counter attack to make sure the result was never a forgone conclusion. They could have even extended their lead when Ermedin Demirović went through one on one only to be denied by Maxime Crépeau.

MoTM (Ali Ahmed)

Lots of good performers in this one but no real stand out. Ahmed gets my MoTM for his impact. He was constantly looking to take players on and create chances as Canada pushed for the equaliser. All of their subs with have staked a claim to start the next game.

USA v Paraguay

Pochettino ball is back and this time it’s on the World Stage with a fervent home crowd now having every reason to get excited. Poch deployed a hybrid 4-2-3-1 system with Antonee Robinson operating as an attacking left wing back in possession but tucking in out of possession, something he’s very familiar with from his time at Fulham whilst Alex Freeman who was one of my picks for wonderkids to watch out for this tournament played in a hybrid right centre-back/ right-back role allowing Sergiño Dest to play a more advance right-wing role.

This is a tactic that will have benefits against stronger teams with the PSV Eindhoven man usually operating as a full-back but that does come with it’s limitations. In this game a lovely worked move fell to him in the second half. A natural right winger would have buried the chance but Dest messed up the first touch and the chance was gone.

Paraguay were set up nominally in a 4-4-2 but as can be seen from the defensive block the gaps between defence and midfield made it far to easy to play through whilst the attacking rotations were not effective. That big gap between the two lines was evident for the first goal with Damian Bobadilla’s desperate attempt to get back and close the distance resulting in him inadvertently turning the ball into his own net.

That lack of discipline was exploited again for Balogun’s offside goal with too many Paraguay defenders covering the box allowing Weston Mckennie to slip into space and play and excellent ball into the box.

Christian Pulisic who was given so much space to operate in the pockets thanks to the USA’s set up was incredibly influential in the first half, driving into the box time and time again and getting his rewards as he slid it back for Balogun to slot in the US’s second from the edge of the box.

The third goal was even easier, this time it was Mallick Tillman with a ball from deep in between the centre back and left back with neither Bobadilla and Andres Cubas providing any defensive cover and Balogun easily outrunning and outmuscling Omar Aldarete.

Paraguay did come into the game a bit more in the second half, generating a number of half chances. There was also the usage of VAR to overturn a yellow card with Tim Ream’s initial yellow being overturned as it was clear Miguel Almiron had dived in an attempt to win the free-kick.

Paraguay got their consolation goal by going route one. Tillman won the intial header but the second ball was snuffled up by Almiron who poked it on to Julio Enciso who took advantage of a brief moment of disorganisation in the US backline to find substitute Mauricio who slid the ball past Matthew Freese.

A lot of USA’s dribbling threat was removed at half time when Pulisic was withdrawn but it was a late sub that had the final say. Some nice interplay down the right hand side resulted in the ball landing with 23-year-old Giovanni Reyna who was given boundless space to just waltz into the box and glide a trivella into the back of the net.

Although the USA will have plenty of positives to take away from this performance, there’s no denying they looked like a well oiled machine, some of that should be tempered by just how poor Paraguay were defensively. 4-4-2 is not the answer with this group of players and Gustavo Alfaro will need to go back to the drawing board if they’re to get anything out of games against Turkey and Australia.

MoTM (Christian Pulisic)

Balogun will get the headlines with two goals and an additional offside attempt but it was Pulisic who was pulling the strings down the left hand side. He completed 4/7 of his take-ons, made three carries into the box and created two chances with pull backs from those areas.

However, the focus of this blog is not on them. The idea here is to give you a run through some of the more unknown players who could have a breakout tournaments.

Sticking with the actual format of the World Cup squads I’ve picked 26 players across all of the positions a World Cup squad will need. Some positions were harder than others. There’s an abundance of Midfielders and Wingers but a lack of Goalkeepers and Strikers to choose from which is an interesting insight in itself. The other thing to note is I’ve tried to focus on the more unknown players who could be having their first breakout tournament as opposed to players like Endrick and Arda Guler who are already bigger names on the world stage.

We’ll start, as is traditional with the Goalkeepers where there is one real stand out player.

Dion Suzuki (Parma and Japan)

Dion Suzuki will be Japan’s starting goalkeeper going into the tournament. Goalkeeper is a position where it takes longer to trust a talent at the top level, particularly on the World Stage so Suzuki really is a rare case. He was born in New Jersey to a American father and Japanese mother but spent all of his adult life in Japan. He signed for Urawa Reds in the J-League at just 16 spending three seasons with them before a loan in Belgium with Sint-Truidense set him on the path to the Serie A.

He’s been Parma number one for two seasons now and kept five clean sheets in 20 games this season. He’s got good reflexes, has a high number of high claims and also rates well compared to other Serie A goalkeepers in terms of ball distribution. Japan are a lot of peoples dark horses and if they do end up going far in this tournament Suzuki will have a big part to play in that.

Owen Goodman (Crystal Palace, on loan at Barnsley and Canada)

Goodman was born in Harold Wood, London but moved to Canada at the age of five and played for some Canadian sides before moving back to join the Crystal Palace academy in 2015. He has had his share of loans away from the club with his time with AFC Wimbledon in the 2024/25 season being his stand out year with 21 clean sheets in League Two. He’s been with Huddersfield and Barnsley this season earning the starting berth there as the latter’s number one having been displaced by Lee Nichols at the Terriers. It’s that regular football that has seen him get his World Cup call up at just 22 years of age.

He has yet to be capped by Canada and will be looking to displace two keepers from the MLS to earn some starting time in the tournament.

Moving on to the right-backs where we have a home nation graduate now playing in Spain and an exciting new attacking Brazilian full-back.

Alex Freeman (USA and Villarreal)

The Baltimore born defender had his breakout season in the MLS in 2025 earning a selection for the All-Star team and winning the leagues young player of the season award. He scored six goals for Orlando City that season which earnt him a January move to Villarreal. He’s a pacy powerful runner who is good at getting to the byline, is very comfortable on both feet and can also be a threat at set pieces. Of his six MLS goals, four were headers.

Wesley (Brazil and Roma)

We go from the USA’s starting right-back to Brazil’s starting right-back. Roma signed the Brazilian at the start of the season from Flamengo for 25 million Euro’s and he is already looking to be an incredibly shrewd bit of business. As you can see from his heatmap he has the ability to play on either side of defence and has very much been Roma’s stand out player this season scoring on his debut and then chipping in with four more throughout the season. He created more big chances than any other Roma player but also excelled defensively as he was able to use his pace to record a high number of ball recoveries and successful tackles. Brazil have arguably been lacking a right-back with his sort of profile since the days of Maicon.

That’s the pacy full-back’s covered, now for a set of versatile centre-backs, all of who would be equally comfortable in a back three or a back four.

Lucas Herrington (Australia and Colorado Rapids)

There won’t be many 18-year-old central defenders at the World Cup which is why Lucas Herrington is so unique. He started playing in his native Australia for Brisbane Roar at the age of 16 before moving to the MLS with Colorado Rapids in January of this year. He made his Australia debut on 26^th March 206 and now has three caps for his country in what has already been a meteoric rise. His height is listed at 6ft 1 but I’m not sure how accurate that is from watching videos, as he feels a lot taller. He reads the game well for someone so young, is constantly scanning which allows him to put in a number of vital interceptions and blocks. With Australia looking to play a back three at the tournament and Herrington having started the last three for his country it’s looking like he’s very much in Popovic’s plans as the right sided centre back.

Marc Pubill (Spain and Atletico Madrid)

After last year it looked certain that Dean Huijsen would be going to the World Cup. The youngster was highly regarded as the best young defender in the Premier League and earned his dream move to Real Madrid. But the form and impact of others, including Pubill has seen him miss out. What makes that even more of a shock is the fact the Pubill is yet to make his debut for the national team. That’s not to say he doesn’t deserve it though. After a breakout season at Almeria he moved to Atletico Madrid in the summer and had to bide his time before properly breaking into the team in December and not looking back.

He offers a physical presence and the ability to cover at right-back if needed which may have given him the edge over Huijsen. In terms of numbers he was the best performing Atletico defender in a number of metrics with the highest clearances per 90. Like the rest of the Spanish contingent he is comfortable on the ball and possess a good amount of pace, something that is becoming more and more important in modern day defending.

Nathan Ngoy (Belgium and Lille)

Ngoy is much like the other two defenders on this list so far. He’s playing well for his club, has yet to majorly feature for his country with just two caps but seems to be trusted by his manager for this tournament. Defence is a problem area that is in need of regeneration for Belgium and Rudi Garcia is now looking to refresh it. Ngoy could be the answer to that problem. The 22-year-old has had a solid season in Ligue 1 having made the step up from the Belgian Jupiler league when he joined Lille in the summer.

Unlike the other two he’s a bit more of a ball playing defender which you can see from the number of progressive passes and progressive carries on his visual. Those line breaking passes and carries are what make him stand out above the other two but he is also capable of doing his share of defensive work as well and is very solid at that side of the game.

Renato Veiga (Portugal and Villarreal)

Veiga is a more established member of his national side than the other three on this list with 11 caps for Portugal. The 22-year-old is one of the many youth prospects that Chelsea were hoarding but he only made seven Premier League and six Europe Conference League appearances for the Blues before being loaned to Juventus and flipped for profit in the summer as they sold him to current club Villarreal.

It’s taken him time to settle in Spain but he’s finished the season strongly and will be pushing for a spot in Portugal’s starting line up at the beginning of the tournament having come off the bench in the Nations League final.

He’s the only left footed option I have included in my squad so provides a bit of balance there and like Ngoy he has a balance of on and off the ball ability which is crucial in the modern game.

Next up, the left-backs. With such an attacking right-back selection there’s a bit more balance here.

Joaquin Seys (Belgium and Club Brugge)

We have another Belgian at left-back in Joaquin Seys who has come through the youth system at Club Brugge. He’s had an excellent season in the Jupiler League with two goals and seven assists, including two in the Champions League at just 21 years old.

Like Wesley he can play on either the left or the right despite being naturally left footed. His two seasons of Champions League football means he will have experience of playing in big games against the World’s best having come up against Barcelona, Arsenal and Atletico in this years competition. Unlike the right-back’s I have in the squad he’s probably slightly more defensive, with his pressing and ability to read when to jump and win the ball back and when to drop and make a block instead, being one of his key attributes. He’ll be competing with Brighton’s Maxim De Cuyper and Fulham’s Timothy Castagne so his minutes will likely come from the bench but he’ll be hoping to make a big impact when he comes on.

Nathaniel Brown (Germany and Eintracht Frankfurt)

Eintracht Frankfurt have had a very good season, finishing eighth in the Bundesliga and have a couple of players who have made it into my squad. Nathaniel Brown is one of them having been selected for Germany. With an American father he could have opted to play for the home nation but having come through the German youth system he has instead managed to break into one of the hardest squads in Europe to get a place in.

His numbers this season in terms of goals and assists are comparable to a lot of attacking left-backs with four each but across his Bundesliga career he has provided assists for Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike. He’s equally comfortable overlapping as he is underlapping and is always up the pitch supporting attacks. His pace and stamina is such that he is able to contribute that well in the attacking third whilst not being left too exposed defensively making him very highly rated in Germany.

We’re now into midfield and to start with we’ll look at the more defensive midfielders.

Samir El Mourabet (Morocco and RC Strasbourg)

Strasbourg’s Samir El Mourabet is definitely that. The 20-year-old Moroccan actually played Futsal for France at youth level before signing for the Strasbourg youth setup. He made his breakthrough into the first team set-up this season starting 22 games. That futsal background is evident in his post ball receive ball retention (a metric the measures how often a player keeps the ball when it is passed to them and does something productive with it rather than getting tackled) which is at 92.3% for the season. He’s often Strasbourg’s out ball for that reason, receiving from defenders and then trying to play through the lines. He does the dirty work too. His 38 tackles won ranks him joint third out of all defensive midfielders in Ligue 1.

Valentin Barco (Argentina and RC Strasbourg)

Next on the list is El Mourabet’s club team mate. Barco joined Strasbourg from Brighton this summer for 10 million Euro’s as a left-back but has been transformed into a defensive midfielder under the stewardship of first Liam Rosenior and then Gary O’Neill. That switch has brought the best out of his passing ability. He has been a creative force, generating 4.86 xT (expected threat) and creating 13 big chances across the course of the season. He’s been tipped for big things for a while now but with Fabrizio Romano recently suggesting he’s on his way to Chelsea, this World Cup could finally be that breakthrough for him.

Nathan Saliba (Canada and RSC Anderlecht)

Next we have our second Canada representative in the squad in Nathan Saliba. In 2024 Saliba made the 22 under 22 MLS list of prodigious talents to come out of the league whilst playing for CF Montreal. Anderlecht took a chance on him at the beginning of the season signing him for 2 million Euros and he’s settled in well, starting 28 games. He’s more of a box to box midfielder than the other two we’ve just talked about and you can see from his heatmap that he has very good pitch coverage. He’s also fond of a shot from range with 29 of his 47 shots this season coming from outside the box. Unlike some on this list who will be more players that make impact off the bench, I expect Saliba to be a regular starter in central midfield for Canada.

Now we move on to the central midfielders, this is a loose grouping as any of the defensive group and the central group could play together in a double pivot or a three in many different roles but these three in my opinion are the slightly more attacking three.

Ardon Jashari (Switzerland and AC Milan)

Perhaps a risky one to include here following an injury hit season with AC Milan but the Swiss midfielder comes with excellent pedigree from his time at Club Brugge before Milan spent 36 million Euro’s on him. He’s the perfect balance between the other midfielders in the squad and a bit of a jack of all trades, he’s able to play the line breaking passes, he’s able to create chances, he’s very good at getting his body in between the attacker and the ball to win back possession and he has very good close ball control.

Ayyoub Bouaddi (Morocco and Lille)

My bonus midfielder. Technically a World Cup squad is required to have three goalkeepers but as I was struggling to find more than one worthy of inclusion so I have cheated a bit and used the extra slot to include another central midfielder. At 16 years and three days old Bouaddi become the youngest ever player to appear in a European Competition when he played for Lille in the Europa Conference League. He was captain of the France under-21 side but switched allegiance to Morocco at the beginning of May right before being selected in their World Cup squad. Profile wise, his languid style of play reminds me of Paul Pogba with his long stride meaning that he’s able to cover the ground quickly when he needs to defend, while he also looks supremely confident on the ball for someone so young.

Johan Manzambi (Switzerland and SC Freiburg)

Onto another Bundesliga talent. Manzambi was part of the Freiburg team that made it to the Europa League final and was the one player who stood out to me when watching them in the showpiece against Aston Villa. I’ve got him as a central midfielder in this but he played in a completely free role in that game popping up all over the pitch. The reason for that is his excellent dribbling skills and quick feet. He completed 33 of 71 take-ons this season and you can see from the take-on map that a lot of those were in dangerous areas all the way across the final third of the pitch. Like Saliba he also enjoy’s a shot from range but his have been far more successful with three of his five goals this season coming from outside the box.

Now we’re on to our number ‘10’s. Again with the fluidity in football these days both options could really play anywhere across the front three but they’re their club’s main creative influence so they’re being grouped together here.

Ibrahim Maza (Algeria and Bayer Leverkusen)

Manazambi has the ability to play in the ‘10’ but now we move on to our more natural selections in that position with Algerian Ibrahim Maza. Maza came through Hertha Berlin’s academy making 51 appearances for them before earning a Bundesliga move to Bayer Leverkusen this summer. He took like a duck to water in his first season of top flight football with five goals and six assists across all competitions. As you can see from his heatmap he’s got a very good all round profile. He’s comfortable receiving the ball and often pops up on both wings to help his team play out of trouble. He’s elite in terms of taking players on with his numbers this season comparable to the worlds best with the 6^th highest successful take-ons in the Bundesliga, whilst his ability to time his runs into the box saw him get on the end of a number of presentable chances even if his finishing wasn’t quite up to scratch.

Can Uzun (Turkey and Eintracht Frankfurt)

Turkey have a number of wonderkids already on the World scene. Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz were the ones to really come to the fore in their successful Euro’s run and Uzun looks to be the latest to come off that conveyor belt of talent. He’s a very different profile to Maza. Where Maza looks to get involved all over the pitch Uzun is very focused on staying in the areas where he can cause damage as you can see from his heatmap being largely focused on the inside ‘10’ space of the right-wing. He’s not as prolific a dribbler but will create chances with good one-two passing and chipped crosses into the box. Where he adds a different element to Maza is his finishing. He’s an unerring finisher with 8 goals this season from just 4.06 xG

These selections are again technically grouped into right-wing and left-wing selection but such is modern day football any of them would be comfortable playing on either side. First we have three right wingers, two right footed and one left footed.

Assane Diao (Senegal and Como)

Starting with Assane Diao, someone who under Cesc Fabregas’ tutalege has taken his game to another level this season, helping Como qualify for the Champions League. He’s had an injury hit season this year but his 2024/25 was seriously impressive with ten goals and four assists in a season where he moved from Real Betis to the gorgeous scenery of Como. As you can see from his carry map his main attribute is his powerful running to drive down the wing and look for crosses into the box something that he can use to great effect on both side of the pitch. Unlike some of the others in this group his main goal is to get in down the sides and create chances for others as opposed to finishing them off himself.

Yan Diomande (Ivory Coast and Red Bull Leipzig)

From Senegal to the Ivory Coast, we move on to Yan Diomande, one of the outstanding talents in the Bundesliga this year. He’s the first player to score 12 goals in a Bundesliga season since Haaland and Sancho at just 19 years of age. His volume of carries and take-ons are just ridiculous. 145 progressive carries, 118 successful take-ons. Like Diao he can play on both sides but his end product this season has been phenomenal. 6 assists, 16 big chances created, 46 carries resulting in a shot. He’ll get less of the ball playing for his country but playing for Red Bull Leipzig has also given him an excellent grounding in pressing. With his pace he is someone that defenders won’t enjoy seeing running at them to try and close them down.

Esmir Bajraktarevic (Bosnia and Herzogovina and PSV Eindhoven)

With two right footed wingers in the squad we need a bit of variety in there. That’s where Esmir Bajraktarevic comes in. The Bosnian is less experienced than a lot in my squad, not playing at quite the same level and still not considered a regular starter by PSV Eindhoven. (Only 8 of his 28 appearances this season were starts) Despite that he posses the raw natural talent that people love to watch. He’s a flicks and tricks winger who loves backheels, step overs and nutmegs. He is also a very good crosser with three of the four assists he got this season coming from a little chop inside and a wicked delivery into the box. He did actually make an appearance for the US national team before switching to play for Bosnia in September 2024 and has now made 14 international appearances for his country.

Onto the left wingers. Not a lot of variation here. Two right-footers who love to cut inside which will create space for our overlapping left-back’s

Relebohile Mofokeng (South Africa and Orlando Pirates)

One of the few members of this squad to not be playing in one of Europes top leagues, Mofokeng still play in his home country for Orlando Pirates but is one of the hottest talents in South Africa. He has a penchant for the audacious with a highlight reel of skill moves but not without end product. 18 goal contributions in 27 games is a good return and helped Orlando Pirates to the league title this season. That form hasn’t quite translated internationally yet with no goal in 12 appearances for his country, but what better place could their be to score your first goal for your country than at the World Cup.

Antonio Nusa (Norway and Red Bull Leipzig)

Nusa is the other side of the Red Bull Leipzig attack. The Norwegian will be looking to use this World Cup to really headline on the main stage. Like his Leipzig team mate Diomande he’s a player that likes to take on his defender with a huge number of take-ons around the edge of the box. He has seven goals in 22 appearances for Norway and a number of assists by isolating his man and delivering excellently weighted back post balls for Haaland to nod in. That’s very much a Norway cheat code to look out for. He’s quick, he’s direct but he has end product and variation too, whether that’s cutting inside to get shots away, delivering crosses or playing through balls in to the striker.

One of my main take-away’s from all of this research is that there are a ton of creative players in midfield and on the wings in world football but a lack of out and out number ‘9’s. Sticking the ball in the back of the onion bag is not in vogue any more so these three picks are a bit more rogue than some of the other sections.

Nestory Irankunda (Australia and Watford)

I’m cheating a little bit by including Irankunda in my strikers section as he does play a lot on the wing. However with Watford this season he has played in a front two and even as a lone striker so I think I can get away with it. Pace is his main attribute and like Nusa and Diomande, who we’ve just talked about he again has a high number of take-ons completed. He had 68 shots this season and only scored four times, with nine big chances missed. Three of the four goals he did score came from outside the box s it’s clear that he’s got a rocket on him but I’m interested to see how his World Cup performance compares to the other two players. The Championship is a very different league to the Bundesliga and I think Irankunda can be every bit as good as the two Leipzig players. He’s maybe lacking a bit of height compared to them but everything else about his game is a match and if Australia need a bit of individual brilliance in this tournament, he’s the man.

Armando Gonzalez (Mexico and Guadalajara)

I included Irankunda in the strikers section because there’s not that many strikers 23 or under bagging goals. The number 9 as a breed seems to be dying out. Gone are the days of 20 goal a season strikers. Only Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago scored more than 20 goals this season. With Raul Jiminez now 34, Mexico are looking to find his successor and Armando Gonzalez is in with a great chance. He’s scored 12 goals in 17 games for Guadalajara so far this season with a number of different finishes. He’s good in the air, composed from the spot, comfortable with his left or his right and has a low centre of gravity that means he’s a great option for holding the ball up. There have been some good talents to come out of Mexican football and he could be the latest.

Yoan Bonny (Ivory Coast and Inter)

We finish with Yoann Bonny, who is in this list based on reputation rather than stats and performance this season. As mentioned it was hard to find high scoring number nines. Bonny was one of many who has a stop start season this season with injuries. Despite that he scored five goals from just 22 shots, add four assists to that combined with the fact that he only managed 1252 minutes and that shows real impact. He’s tall, strong but also good on the ball and as we’ve seen a clinical finisher. He likes to drift out into the left channel for Inter but is also good with his feet for a 6ft 2 striker with 43% of take ons complete being a very good number. With Bonny, Diomande and Bazoumana Toure who was on my shortlist for the squad but didn’t quite make it, the Ivory Coast could be dark horses in this tournament.

So there you have it. A full 26 man squad of the brightest talent at the World Cup that you may or may not have heard of. Only time will tell how many of these players will make an impact, there’s no way of knowing for sure other than watching the tournament. I am certainly no oracle but I have put plenty of research into this piece and hopefully my selections will chime with some of you and I hope you’ve enjoyed this read regardless.

Full squad below:

Group A

Mexico (FIFA Ranking 15)

Mexico enter the World Cup by virtue of being Co-Hosts but have decent pedigree coming into this tournament as the CONCAF Gold Cup winners, where they beat USA 2-1 in the final as well as winning the CONCAF Nations League, beating Panama in the final of that one. They are currently ranked 15^th in the world and will fancy their chances of going far in this tournament on home soil.

They’re managed by Mexican Javier Aguire who has an extensive CV in both club and international management having managed heavily in Spain with Osasuna, Atletico Madrid, Real Zaragoza and Espanyol as well as taking in international jobs at Japan and Egypt. This is his third spell in charge of his nation of birth with stints between 2001-02 and 2009-10 and his third time at a World Cup with neither Japan or Egypt managerial stints lasting long enough for him to take them into the competition

In their recent international friendlies, Mexico have drawn with Belgium and Portugal and beaten Iceland convincingly (4-0) They operated with a 4-1-4-1 / 4-1-2-3 formation in those games.

The most notable name in their World Cup squad for viewers of English football is Fulham striker Raul Jimenez who at 34 years of age is probably featuring in his last World Cup but a lesser known name to keep an eye of for is Junior Quinones who has 26 goals in 26 games in the Saudi Pro League leaving him one shy of Ivan Toney and the Golden Boot for the season.

South Africa (FIFA Ranking 60)

South Africa currently sit 60^th in the world. They topped a qualifying group containing Nigeria, despite suffering defeats to Lesotho and Rwanda. They were less successful in the Africa Cup of Nations, losing to Egypt in their group and then falling to a 2-1 defeat by Cameroon in the round of 16. Their World Cup preparation hasn’t gone too well with back-to-back friendlies against Panama resulting in a draw and a defeat.

They’re managed by Hugo Broos, a Belgian who has been in charge since 2021 having previously managed Cameroon with whom he won the AFCON in 2017. His early management career took in a number of Belgian sides including Club Brugge, Anderlecht and Genk so he’s another manager in Group A who has a vast swathe of experience across club and country roles.

Bafana Bafana have one current Premier League player in their ranks in Lyle Foster whilst captain and Goalkeepr Ronwen Williams is a graduate of the Tottenham youth system who now like the majority of the rest of the squad plays back in his home country.

One player to keep an eye on who you may not know is 21-year-old Relebohile Mofokeng. The talent youngster has excellent close ball control, superb dribbling ability, and loves a shot from outside the box. He has 10 goals and 7 assists in 21 matches this season.

South Korea (FIFA Ranking 25)

South Korea qualified unbeaten across their two Asian qualifying groups with 11 wins and 5 draws and have had notable friendly wins against the USA and Ghana. However, their latest two friendlies against the Ivory Coast and Ghana have both ended in defeat.

Having tried a failed with a foreign coach in Jurgen Klinsmann, South Korea have returned to one of their own in Hong Myung-Bo who like Javier Aguirre has also previously managed his nation. That stint was not a success and ended after a winless 2014 World Cup. He’ll be hoping for better things this time round.

This current squad went viral recently for having a full back five of Kim’s, something that could be repeated in this tournament. This squad contains Championship interest with Birmingham’s Paik Seung-Ho and Swansea’s Ji Sung-Eom in the squad. There’s also European talent with Lee Kang-In and Kim Min-Jae both making it to the latter stages of the Champions League with PSG and Bayern respectively.

This is also probably a last hurrah for former Spurs icon Son Heung-Min with the 33-year-old now plying his trade in the US.

Czechia (FIFA Ranking 41)

This is a Czech team that has done things the hard way, finishing second in their qualifying group before a pair of 2-2 draws, both won on penalties against Ireland and Denmark have seen them through to the main draw.

They replaced their manager after the group stages with 74 year old Miroslav Koubek coming in for those two knockout qualifiers to get his first ever taste of International management. The experienced manager knows the Czech Liga 1 inside out have managed Victoria Plzen on three separate occasions as well as Slavia Prague and a small stint working with the Czech under 19 side.

In terms of names in the current squad to keep an eye out for the most obvious is Patrik Schick who has 100 goals in 207 career appearances for Bayer Leverkusen. There’s Premier League representation from Tomas Soucek and Ladislav Krejci with the majority of the squad still playing their football in Czechia.

Group B

Canada (FIFA Ranking 30)

Another of the hosts head up Group B in Canada, who have slowly been climbing the FIFA rankings of the last five or six years. They’ve not lost many of the Friendlies they’ve played holding Iceland, Tunisia and Colombia to draws but they were knocked out of the CONCAF Gold Cup by Guatemala in the Quarter Final stage.

The man in charge is a man who will be familiar to fans of the English game but not necessarily for the right reasons. Jesse Marsch faired only slightly better in the Premier League as his compatriot Bob Bradley with both men giving off Ted Lasso vibes on occassion. He took over as Canada manager in 2024 after a year out following his sacking by Leeds and this is his first international role.

Alphonso Davies is unquestionably Canada’s star man but has had an injury hit season and hasn’t featured for his country since March 2025 so may take time to get up to speed.

Marsch has some big hitting strikers to call on with Jonathan David (Juventus) and Tani Oluwaseyi (Villareal) available and some top-level Championship depth with Liam Millar, Cyle Larin and Ali Ahmed having good seasons with their club sides.

22-year-old Anderlecht midfielder Nathan Saliba could be one to watch.

Bosnia and Herzegovinia (FIFA Ranking 65)

40-year-old Edin Dzeko is the headline member of a Bosnia and Herzegovina squad who made it here through the European qualifying stage beating first Wales and then Italy on penalties. It is only their second World Cup appearance with the other coming back in 2014. Dzeko and Sead Kolasinac are the only two players left in the squad who featured then.

Dzeko comes into the tournament having helped Schalke to return to the Bundesliga with six goals in ten appearances.

At the other end of his career Esmir Bajrakterevic is one to keep an eye on. The 21-year-old could have been featuring in this tournament for the home nation having represented the USA at under 23 level. He only started eight games for PSV in the Eredivisie but finished the season strongly ending on four goals and four assists whilst also putting in a man of the match performance against Italy in the aforementioned qualifying match creating six chances.

Like Jesse Marsch the Bosnia and Herzegovinia manager has no international management experience, in fact Sergej Barbarez has no management experience at all but did play for his country as well as featuring in the Bundesliga for Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen.

I have them down as dark horses to get out of this group and cause some upsets.

Qatar (FIFA Ranking 55)

The hosts of the last iteration have had to qualify the hard way this time to reach their second World Cup. They won their initial group before finishing fourth in the next round behind Iran, Uzbekistan and UAE which meant they had a third set of fixtures to finally make it through, this time besting the UAE and drawing with Oman to get the four points need.

They’ve gone down the route of trying to bring in the best in the business for the managerial hotseat with Julen Lopetegui. Despite failing in the Premier League with both Wolves and West Ham, the Spaniard has an impressive CV with Porto, Real Madrid and Sevilla. He has unfinished business with the World Cup having been relieved of his post whilst in charge of Spain just days before the 2018 iteration having been announced as Real Madrid Head Coach the day before the tournament was about to start.

In terms of playing talent, the entire squad play in Qatar so it remains to be seen how they’ll fare against the elite talent on show at this level but they’ll take hope from two of their players led the goal and assist charts in Asian qualifiers. Left winger, Akram Afif finished with 11 assists and has 40 goals in 130 appearances for his country whilst Almoez Ali finished on 12 goals and has 57 in 123 for his country.

Switzerland (FIFA Ranking 17)

The top ranked team in this group have decent World Cup history having made the last 16 in their last three appearances in the competition. They breezed through qualification without losing a match in a group containing Kosovo, Slovenia and Sweden and went toe to toe with Germany in a recent friendly, losing 4-3.

Manager Murat Yakin has been in charge since 2021. He was the man in charge at Euro 2024 where his side fell to England on penalties at the Quarter Final stage.

Their squad is one that have been around for a while. There’s not too much young talent around but they have some top level players who have the experience and knowhow in Manuel Akanji, Granit Xhaka, Remo Freuler, Ricardo Rodriguez and Denis Zakaria.

Keep an eye out for Freiburg’s Johan Manzambi who has had a very good season in the Bundesliga with five goals and four assists from midfield.

Group C

Brazil (FIFA Ranking 6)

Brazil are the only team to have featured in every single World Cup tournament but the five time Champions only just made it through qualifying, finishing 5^th in the CONMEBOL qualifiers and losing six times. They have an abundance of attacking talent. So much so that Joao Pedro has not made the squad but their defence is ageing. Alisson, Ederson, Weverton, Danilo, Marquinhos, Alex Sandro and Douglas Santos are all in their 30’s so it will have to be an all out attacking game plan for manager Carlo Ancelloti. This will suit the Italians style as he favours setting teams up to allow for individual brilliance. And brilliant individuals they certainly have in Raphinha and Vinicius Junior as well as one of Europe’s form strikers Igor Thiago who has netted 22 times for Brentford this season.

Morocco (FIFA Ranking 8)

Morocco are technically AFCON champions having been awarded the trophy due to Senegal’s players walking off the pitch in protest at conceding a last minute penalty with the confirmation taking place two months after the completion of the final itself. Their route through qualifying was much simpler as they played eight and won eight. They also won the FIFA Arab cup back in December 2025 and look to be the strongest African team in this tournament.

Walid Regragui stepped down after the AFCON so the Atlas Lions will have a new man in charge in Belgian Mohamed Ouahbi who makes the step up from the under 20s.

Brahim Diaz and Achraf Hakimi are the stand out talent but there are a number of Premier League talents in the squad with Noussair Mazraoui, Issa Diop, Chiadi Riad, Chemsdine Talbi and Amine Adli already plying their trade in England’s top tier.

Someone who could have his international breakthrough in this tournament is Samir El Mourabet who has had an excellent season breaking up play and dominating midfields for RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1.

Haiti (FIFA Ranking 83)

Haiti made it through their CONCACAF qualifying group with just two defeats largely thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Duckens Nazon who scored six times for his country, a far cry from his current club form where he plys his trade for the Persian Gulf League champions Esteghlal. He’ll be a familiar name for both Coventry and Oldham fans with his brief stint in English football resulting in a decent goal return for both of those sides.

Two current Premier League players will carry a lot of the hopes and burdens of the island nation. Wilson Isidor has gone from strength to strength at Sunderland and despite only starting 11 games in the Premier League this season he has six goals to his name whilst Jean Ricner Bellegarde brings versatility to the squad with a profile that is able to slot in anywhere in midfield.

French manager Sébastien Migné has plenty of international management experience having taken charge of Congo and Kenya as well as being assistant manager at Cameroon in his career.

Scotland (FIFA Ranking 43)

Steve Clarke’s Scotland are back on the worlds biggest stage after a 28 year absence topping a group containing two European Championship winners in Denmark and Greece with just one defeat. That qualification was built around a strong midfield unit, with Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour now Serie A winners and playing the best football of their respective careers. John McGinn is another who is having a cracking season with Aston Villa and finishes the season with Champions League football and a European trophy to his name.

The rest of the squad contains talent from the Premier League, Serie A and some top end Championship performers so there’s no reason that the Scots can’t spring a few surprises.

The fact that Clarke has been in charge since 2019 means that he’ll have embedded his values and tactics into every member of the squad and as we’ve seen from league football this season, stability can go a long way.

Group D

USA (FIFA Ranking 16)

The final host on the list we only have friendly results to go by in recent times. They’ve been looking to test themselves against the big guns. A 5-1 victory over Uruguay in November last year was impressive but more recent friendlies against Portugal and Belgium have resulted in defeats. Where they may have an edge over the other two home nations is with the man in charge. Mauricio Pochettino was widely adored during his spells at Southampton and Tottenham but his stints at PSG and Chelsea dented his reputation and he has turned to international management to try and reignite that fire.

He has a decent amount of talent in his squad in the better-known Antonee Robinson, Timothy Weah, and Folarin Balogun as well as a couple of form players in Malik Tilman at Bayer Leverkusen and Ricardo Pepi who has 16 goals in 26 matches for PSV Eindhoven.

Paraguay (FIFA Ranking 40)

Paraguay took the final qualification spot in the CONEMBOL qualifying section in a qualifying campaign that saw them beat both Brazil and Argentina, however their friendly results since then have been less impressive with a defeat to group opponents USA in November 2025 alongside losses to South Korea and Morocco.

Argentine Gustavo Alfaro has World Cup management experience with Ecuador in 2022 before taking charge of Costa Rica and then Paraguay.

If fit, Miguel Almiron will be their talisman but there is some depth in the squad too with Diego Gomez enjoying a breakthrough with Brighton this season, whilst Omar Aldarete has looked every bit a Premier League Centre-Back with Sunderland.

Julio Enciso, now a RC Strasbourg feels like he’s been around for ages but is still just 22 and has a match winning screamer in his locker.

Australia (FIFA Ranking 27)

The Socceroo’s made it to this tournament with just one loss in their AFC qualifying section and despite lacking star names as such, possess a squad full of work ethic and tactical discipline. At the helm is Tony Popovic whose extensive A-League experience is now being put to work at the international level having won coach of the year on three occasions in his nation’s top tier.

Veterans Matt Ryan and Jackson Irvine will be complemented with two top Championship performer’s of recent years in Cameron Burgess and Riley McGree alongside the prodigious talent of Nestory Irankunda who has all of the raw attributes to be a match winner having now got a full season of football with Watford under his belt.

Turkey (FIFA Ranking 22)

Turkey announced themselves in the Euro’s a couple of years ago, reaching the quarter-finals and were unfortunate not to go further. That impressive performance was thanks to a whole host of talented youngsters, the diamond of which is Arda Guler. The 21-year-old has slowly been working his way into the fold at Real Madrid and finished this season with four goals (including one from his own half) and nine assists. Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) and Can Uzun (Eintracht Frankfurt) make up the talented attacking unit but there is also strength elsewhere. Galatasary who have excelled domestically and in Europe provide more talented attackers in Baris Yilmaz and Yunus Akgun alongside Goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir with the Premier League being represented by Altay Bayindir and Ferdi Kadioglu whilst it would be rude not to mention the veteran talisman Hakan Calhanoglu.

The man in charge is Vincenzo Montella a very experienced Italian who has managed some of Italy’s biggest clubs including Roma and Milan and is now cutting his teeth on the international stage.

Group E

Germany (FIFA Ranking 10)

Germany are always a big player at these tournaments but this is not quite the side that won the 2014 iteration of this competition. They topped their qualifying group but the Nations League is perhaps a better measure of this teams merits where they were defeated by Portugal and France. An experienced backline and central midfield that contains veterans Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka will provide a solid base for Julian Nagelsmann’s younger attacking players.

Florian Wirtz and Nick Woltemade will have points to prove after underwhelming seasons for their club sides whilst Kai Havertz with a newly minted Premier League title to his name has a unique profile and looks set to be trusted by Nagelsmann to lead the line.

The German’s will also be hoping that Bayern Munich youngster Lennart Karl is the next wonderkid to announce himself on the world stage.

Curacao (FIFA Ranking 82)

Curacao will become the smallest country to ever participate at World Cup on two fronts this summer. They have a population of just over 158,00 people across a land mass of just 444 square kilometres. Despite that they excelled in CONCAF qualifying, scoring 28 goals under the stewardship of Dick Advocaat.

This is where things get complicated on the managerial front. The Dutchman stepped down briefly due to his daughters ill health, was replaced by Fred Rutter who lost back to back friendlies before Advocaat returned to take his charges into this tournament.

This is not a team of semi-pro’s, the majority of the squad play in the Eredivisie but there is representations from the top divisions in the US, Turkey and Belgium as well as a contingent from the Championship.

Former Manchester United man Tahith Chong is the most notable name in the squad and has two goals in four games for his country but Jurgen Locadia and Kenji Gorre are others to watch out for and both have had brief spells in English football.

Ivory Coast (FIFA Ranking 34)

This is an Ivory Coast side in transition but pack full of talented youngsters. Alban Lafont has switched his allegiance from France to take his place between the sticks, Ousmanne Diomande has been crucial to Sporting Lisbon’s defensive solidity whilst his name sake Yan Diomande has 12 goals and 8 assists in the Bundesliga at just 19 years of age from right-wing, while 20-year-old Bazouma Toure on the other side has also impressed.

Frank Kessie, Nicolas Pepe and Ibrahim Sangare provide top level experience while Amad Diallo is now undroppable by Manchester United and also takes his place in the squad.

Simon Adingra has spent the second half of the season on loan away from Sunderland at Monaco and got himself back into contention whilst up front Yoann Bonny is a striker with a bunch of potential if Football Manager is to be believed.

Ecuador (FIFA Ranking 23)

Two Champions League finalists (Nacho and Hincapie) and the Premier League’s best defensive midfielder (Caicedo) will make up the core of Ecuador’s starting 11 and give them a solid base as they look to make it out of their group. That combined with manager Sebastian Beccacace’s defensive mentality means it’s unsurprising that 9 of their last 11 games have been draws. Five of those were 0-0’s so don’t expect entertainment when the South American’s are playing.

Much of the attacking hopes will be placed on the shoulders of Chelsea’s Kendry Paez who despite high expectations has failed to do much of note in his two loan spells at Strasbourg and River Plate and will be hoping to kickstart his career here, while record goalscorer Enner Valencia looks set to lead the line at yet another World Cup despite now being 36 years of age.

Group F

Netherlands (FIFA Ranking 7)

Having failed to qualify for Russia 2018 this Netherlands team is now climbing it’s way back up the international rankings. Ronald Koeman is back at the helm for a second time. Despite managing his country for a combined seven years across his two spells this will be his first time at a World Cup.

Other than England the Oranje squad contains the most Premier League players. Virgil Van Djik, Jermie Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo from Liverpool. Nathan Ake and Tijani Reijnders from Man City and the fastest centre-back in the country Mickey Van de Ven from Tottneham.

Memphis Depay, now at Corinthians could still be the man trusted to lead the line but Koeman will have a plan B as Wout Weghorst is yet again on the plane, whilst Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey will have done his chances of getting minutes no harm this year.

Japan (FIFA Ranking 18)

If Japan’s friendly results this year are anything to go by then the worlds 11^th most populous country could well be dark horses. They have chalked up victories over Brazil and England having breezed through qualification with just one loss.

Under the stewardship of Hajime Moriyasu, they have won 70 of 101 matches.

Ao Tanaka and Daichi Kamada will be familiar to Premier League fans but it’s the form of Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki that could really make the difference with the 23-year-old in great form coming at the end of the Serie A season.

Sweden (FIFA Ranking 38)

In recent times Sweden have been known for their talismanic striker, Henrik Larsson was quickly follow by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Now they have two of the Premier Leagues best front men in Victor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak. The trick is figuring out how to get the best out of both of them together. After the failed spell of Jon Dahl Tommason the Swedish Football association have turned to their adopted son Graham Potter to take charge at this tournament.

At one point during his Brighton tenure, Potter was a serious contender for the England job but failed spells at Chelsea and West Ham have seen his star wane. It was at Ostersunds FK in Sweden where he made a name for himself so he’ll be back in familiar surroundings.

The balance of his squad will be boosted by some in form players. Yasin Ayari has finally broken through the ranks at Brighton and become one of their most important players whilst Benjamin Nygren has hit 16 goals in a season that saw Celtic win the title on the final day.

Tunisia (FIFA Ranking 44)

Former Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City manager Sabri Lamouchi took charge of Tunisia after a last 16 exit in the Africa Cup of Nations. His squad is one without star players with the most recognisable name being Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri.

Celtic Sebastien Tounetki and Norwich’s Anis Ben Slimane are others that may be familiar but their status as squad players at both of those clubs tells a story.

Although the African Qualifiers aren’t the best yardstick of a teams skill, Tunisian fans will take some hope from the fact that their side were unbeaten, winning nine and drawing one without conceding a single goal in that time.

Group G

Belgium (FIFA Ranking 9)

This will be the last tournament for much of the golden generation that like England’s before them have so far failed to deliver on their promise. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku both get call ups depsite the latter having an injury hit season whilst it could also be the last World Cup for Thibaut Cortois, Thoman Meunier and Axel Witsel.

Manager Rudi Garcia has an extensive club CV taking in Lille, Roma, Marseille and Napoli but this will be his first taste of international management.

Aston Villa pairing Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans will form the base of midfield and allow Belgium’s wing wizards to do the damage. Jeremy Doku has always been a talent but seems to have taken his game to an extra level for Manchester City in the season run in.

Their weakness is their former strength. Where there was once Vincent Kompany, Toby Alderweirald and Jan Vertonghen a lot will now be resting on the heads of young defenders Koni De Winter and Nathan Ngoy.

Egypt (FIFA Ranking 29)

Egypt have failed to win a World Cup game in seven attempts. They were unbeaten in qualifying and have been drawn in a group that gives them a very good chance of ending that record.

Manager Hossan Hassam has been in charge since 2024 but given how the African competitions have fallen it means he has already been in charge for 31 matches of which he’s only lost five.

Eight members of his squad play for Egyptian side Al Ahly including former Aston Villa winger Trezeguet but the real firepower is the two Premier League players up front, Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.

The surprising call up is 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim who is on loan at Barcelona from Al Ahly and has been featuring for their under 19s.

Iran (FIFA Ranking 21)

Iran are another team to qualify top of their group. Amir Ghalenoei has been in charge since 2023 and has a 74% win record across his 39 matches. It is his second spell in charge of his country with he previous stint in charge coming back in 2006.

Mehdi Taremi, who is now at Olympiacos will once again be their talisman whilst Saman Ghoddos who made 108 appearances for Brentford and Alireza Jahanbaksh who appeared 61 time for Brighton will be familiar faces.

Don’t expect attractive, free flowing football as Iran are a very defensive side due to their ageing backline. Shoda Khalilzadeh who plays for Iranian side Tractor in 37 years old and he’s joined by two 36 year olds, three 33 year olds and five 32 year olds in the squad.

New Zealand (FIFA Ranking 85)

New Zealand have been the beneficiaries of there now being an automatic qualification spot for Oceania, with Australia having been moved out into the Asian section.

Their friendlies since going through, however, have not been impressive with losses to Ukraine, Australia (twice), Poland, Colombia, Ecuador and Finland.

They’re managed by Englishman Darren Bazeley who has managed this nation at every single age group level from U-17 to U-23’s at the Olympics.

The team’s highest valued player Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood and lowest valued player Tommy Smith who now turns out for Braintree Town are the only two players in the squad to have featured the last time New Zealand were on the world stage.

Wood’s goals could be a crucial factor to getting the All Whites anywhere in this tournament but there will also be Championship representation from Max Crocombe, Marko Stamenic, Liberato Cacace and Tyler Bindon.

Group H

Spain (FIFA Ranking 2)

The European Champions are looking to once again prove that they can be a dominant force on the World Stage. Star Boy Lamine Yamal will miss the first couple of games due to injury but is still on the plane and there will be plenty of depth in their squad to cover his absence in the first couple of games.

They have strength across the board and lots their star players are still at the beginning of their careers. The Barcelona dominance is still there with eight players from the La Liga Champions but the Madrid youth pipeline has stilled with no Madrid playesr to making the squad.

Another notable change is up front where Mikel Oyarzabel who has spent his entire career at Real Sociadad looks to have replaced Alvaro Morata as the main striker netting a brace in one of the March warm ups against Serbia.

Cape Verde (FIFA Ranking 69)

This is the African archipelego’s first experience of World Cup forward and they made it here by topping a qualifying group containing Cameroon, one of Africa’s most successful countries. Their friendly results have also looked promising, drawing with Iran, Egypt and Finland.

Manager Bubista has been in charge since 2020 and this will be his biggest achievement to date.

Despite being one of the smaller nations they do have a bunch of players playing in some top league’s with Logan Costa at Villareal and Sidny Lopes Cabral at Benfica.

39-year-old Goalkeeper Vozinha could become one of the tournaments oldest players.

Saudi Arabia (FIFA Ranking 61)

Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina with a group stage victory back in 2022 but Spain shouldn’t have anything to fear this time round based on the middle easterners qualifying results where they finished below Japan and Australia and then just about made it through the final round in a group containing Iraq and Indonesia.

The majority of the squad play in the Saudi League with one of the main reasons for investment in that league to boost of the quality of players the home grown talent would face in the hope of improving the base level of the countries national team.

Only one Saudi player made it into EA Sports FIFA Team of the Season and that was Neom SC’s Khalifa Aldawasari who only has two international caps. Interestingly some of the Fotmob highest rated players from the league this season haven’t been included in the squad with up to 50 players joining at an initial training camp before being cut showing the depth that exists but lack of real stand out players in the country.

Uruguay (FIFA Ranking 17)

Bielsa-ball has been back in South America since 2023 now and the former Leeds boss will have been building up to this World Cup as he transitions the team away from a reliance on Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. They qualified in fourth place from the CONMEBOL group but were beaten heavily by the USA at the back end of last year.

Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde is the midfield dynamo that this new team will be built around with Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo another big name.

Veteran keeper Ferando Muslera is now 39 years old and will bring experience alongside Atletico Madrid’s Jose Giminez.

Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez was seen as Suarez and Cavani’s successor but has failed to dominate at Al-Hilal like some of the other players in the Saudi League and has seen Federico Vinas and Rodrigo Aguire start up front ahead of him in recent friendlies.

Group I

France (FIFA Ranking 1)

The highest ranked team in the world, winners of the 2018 World Cup, runners up in an enthralling 3-3 draw with Argentina in 2022 they have the most stacked squad in the competition. Paris Saint Germain’s emergence as one of the super powers in world football sees the trio of Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Demebele competing with Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Rayan Cherki and Marcus Thuram at the top end of the pitch. That’s some talent pool to pick from.

Crystal Palace’s Jean Phillipe Mateta is also on the plane to provide a different option, think Olivier Giroud the last time they won this tournament.

Moving further back, Ngolo Kante is now at Fenerbache, Aurelien Tchoumeni is now a Real Madrid regular and Warren Zaire-Emery is another of PSG’s incredibly talented roster but beyond that there isn’t too much depth making midfield the area to exploit for opposition teams.

In defence there’s more selection issues. Pick from Ibrahim Konate, William Saliba, Dayot Upemencano and Jules Kounde at centre-back to play in front of Mike Maignan in goal.

That’s the headache for Didier Deschamps who has been in charge of his country since 2012 and has managed 19 games at World Cups already, he’ll be looking to beat Helmut Schon’s record of 25.

Senegal (FIFA Ranking 14)

The team that won the AFCON on the pitch, despite all of the drama that then happened off of it. They’ll come into this World Cup with a point to prove and they definitely have the squad to get out of their group despite the tough opposition.

Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly are both now playing in the Saudi Pro League but are both excellent defensive operators. West Ham’s Malick Diouf is a player with a bright future despite his teams struggles in the Premier League and has an excellent engine and cross delivery from left-back while Ismaila Sarr and Iliman N’Diaye have both had solid Premier League seasons and provide the pace and trickery to compete with Sadio Mane who is now at Al Nassr.

Nicolas Jackson has largely been used as a squad player at Bayern Munich but will complete a pacy front line.

There’s more Premier League pedigree in midfield. Idrissa Gana Gueye’s experience will be invaluable even if he’s not fully fit so he can help his understudies Tottenham’s Pape Sarr and Sunderland’s Habib Diarra in that area.

Iraq (FIFA Ranking 57)

The final team to make it to the World Cup having come through the inter-confederation final against Bolivia following a two-legged victory against the UAE in the Asia section. That ended a 40 year absence on the worlds biggest stage.

They’re managed by Graham Arnold, an Australian who managed his country between 2018-2024 before taking the Iraq hotseat in 2025.

There’s not too many well known faces in the squad but Zidane Iqbal may be familiar to some. The former Manchester United youngster and Football Manager wonderkid from a few years ago is now playing at FC Utrecht in the Netherlands while Ipswich striker Ali Al-Hamadi, whose value has plummeted following a couple of seasons of poor form and injury will be hoping to show the characteristics that saw him score 27 goals in 48 appearances for AFC Wimbledon.

Norway (FIFA Ranking 31)

Erling Haaland scored 16 goals in European qualifying as Norway won 8/8 in a group containing Italy. It’s that form that has many putting them down as dark horses but I can’t see them making it out of this group in what is perhaps a controversial opinion.

With Haaland and Martin Odegaard they have two of the most talented players on the planet but Stale Stolebakken will have to get the best out of them. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss has been in charge since 2020 but like a lot of managers this will be his first taste of a World Cup.

Jens Peter Hauge has enjoyed an incredible season with Bodo/Glimt and Oscar Bobb has finished the season strongly for Fulham so there are good options in wide areas.

Further Premier League representation comes from Jorgen Strand Larsen, Sander Berge, David Molle Wolfe and Kristoffer Ajer.

Group J

Argentina (FIFA Ranking 3)

The current World Champions will be looking to defend their title in what is likely Lionel Messi’s last World Cup outing. Their 3-3 penalty victory in the 2022 tournament was largely due to the fact that the squad had balanced itself out a bit more and didn’t solely rely on attacking talent.

The attack is slightly blunter than the Tevez, Aguero, Higuain, Messi days but Julian Alvarez looks like a talent that could be on the level of those just mentioned. Lautauro Martinez has had another excellent goalscoring season while Nico Paz now at Como is finally showing signs of living up to his wonderkid tag.

Further back Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez are top level Premier League players whilst another who has had a good season at Como is Maximo Perrone who joined permanently from Manchester City at the start of the season.

Valentin Barco who has agreed a summer transfer to Chelsea has been converted to a defensive midfielder by RC Strasbourg having left Brighton in the summer so he’s another one to keep an eye on.

In defence Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez provide a combative pairing. Yellow card bets when those two are playing seem safe. They’ll look to protect Emi Martinez who has added a Europa League trophy to his cabinet this season with Aston Villa.

Algeria (FIFA Ranking 28)

Another side whose talisman will be hoping for a big final hurrah. Riyad Mahrez is now 35 and playing for Al Ahli but will be hoping to produce the moments of magic that saw him rip up the Premier League for Leicester and Chelsea. He also has a protegee in the making with Bayer Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza who can play anywhere across the front line.

You also have Rayan Ait-Nouri in the mix and when you also add in Wolfsburg’s Mohamed Amoura and Marseille’s Amine Gouri both capable strikers who offer more than their eight goals apiece scored for their clubs then you have the beginnings of a capable team.

They also have a manager in Vladimir Petkovic who has tasted the last 16 before in his time as Switzerland boss and has only lost four of his 33 matches in charge.

Austria (Fifa Ranking 24)

Ralf Rangnick took over as manager of Austria pretty much immediately after leaving Manchester United and he’s turned Austria around from being a dull low block team to a team that will press opposition to within an inch of their lives.

He has a core of experience players playing at the top level to call upon. David Alaba and Konrad Laimer are at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively. Carney Chukwuemeka who has played regularly at Borussia Dortmund this season has also been included in the squad.

Up front the talismanic Marko Arnautovic is now 37 so will likely be used sparingly despite scoring 8 goals in qualifying.

Jordan (FIFA Ranking 63)

Very much the minnows in this group, Jordan have one player playing in Europe and this is Rennes midfielder Mousa Tamari who finished the season with six goals and six assists in Ligue 1. The rest of the squad are largely based in Jordan with nine of the squad playing for Al-Hussein.

Such is the lack of data in this area of the world some players in the line-up don’t appear to have a club in the existing databases.

Despite that they had a successful Arab Cup claiming victories over Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia all of whom are at the tournament with them.

Group K

Portugal (FIFA Ranking 5)

Nations League champions last summer with a victory over Spain, Portugal will come into this tournament full of confidence. Like the majority of the top seeds they qualified at the top of their group thanks to five goals from Cristiano Ronaldo who at 41 years of age will want to add a World Cup to his list to keep up with long time rival Lionel Messi. He’s scored 28 goals for Al-Nassr but will surely just play a squad role behind others in this one.

Manager Roberto Martinez, who was guilty of wasting Belgium’s golden generation, once again has an incredibly talented squad at his disposal. Bruno Fernandes has broken the Premier League assist record, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Nuno Mendes have all made a Champions League final yet again with Paris Saint Germain whilst Matheus Nunes has been converted into one of the best right-backs in the Premier League by Pep Guardiola and will have a natural relationship with Ruben Dias.

Add to that Pedro Neto, Fransisco Conceicao, Rafael Leao and Joao Cancelo and you have elite depth. For me this is probably the second strongest squad in the tournament.

DR Congo (FIFA Ranking 46)

DR Congo are one of the teams that had to get here the hard way as they finished second in their CAF Qualification group behind Senegal. That led them to African play-offs against Cameroon and Nigeria before an inter-confederation game against Jamaica. That went to extra time before Burnley defender Axel Tuanzebe rose highest to head home the winning goal.

He’s one of a couple Premier League players to switch international allegiances recently. Others include Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Sunderland’s Noah Sadiki who represented Belgium at youth level.

One Premier League player who has represented his country throughout his career is Yoane Wissa who will be looking to use this World Cup to regain his Brentford form following a stop start, injury hit season following his move to Newcastle.

Frenchman Sebastien Desabre has been in charge since 2023 and this is his second international job having been in charge of Uganda between 2017 and 2019.

Uzbekistan (FIFA Ranking 50)

Uzbekistan played their first official football match in 1992 when they gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 34 years later and they’re in their first World Cup.

What do you do to celebrate qualifying for your first ever World Cup? That’s right, you sack your manager. In a move right out of the Watford playbook the man who got his country over the line Timur Kapadze was replaced by World Cup winner as a player and captain Fabio Cannavaro.

That would make sense if Cannavaro had an impressive managerial CV but he rarely lasts long in a job and has now taken in spells at Guangzhou, Al Nassr, Tianjin Tianhai, China, Guangzhou again, Benevento, Udinese and Dinamo Zagreb with those last two spells not even lasting half a year.

When Manchester City signed Abdukodir Khusanov last January they saw him as a player to rebuild their defence around. He has already started to prove that was a good decision become an important player for the Citizens this season. He’ll need to be even more important for his country over the summer.

There’s not much other talent to help him but Eldor Shomurdov will create opportunities to score at the other end. The Roma man who has spent the season on loan at Basaksehir has 23 goals in 44 appearances for them and 29 in 68 for his country.

Colombia (FIFA Ranking 13)

Luis Suarez ripping it up for a South American side at a World Cup, sounds familiar. One Suarez has retired from international duty with Uruguay but his namesake is having a sterling season at Sporting Lisbon having scored 28 goals, more than filling the shoes of the outgoing Victor Gyokeres.

Add to that goalscoring ability of former Liverpool man Luis Diaz who has gone on to even greater level’s at Bayern Munich and one of my favourite right-back’s to watch in the Premier League Daniel Munoz you can see why this Colombia side is ranked as high as 13^th.

Davinson Sanchez who is now at Galatasaray adds to that defensive solidity whilst team mate Yasser Asprilla who seemed destined for big things whilst at Watford could use this tournament as a spring board to restart his career.

Group L

England (FIFA Ranking 4)

Tuchel made an impact in qualifying, leading the Three Lions to 8 out of 8 victories without conceding a single goal. He has made even more of an impact on social media following his team selections. It’s a U-turn from Gareth Southgate’s, bring all of your best players and get them on the pitch strategy and I for one am happy about that. Where it falls down is whether you agree that the players that have been picked are the best for the strategy that Tuchel intends to play with. My one main gripe is with the left-back slot with only one left footer on the plane in that position and one that I don’t overly rate. In my opinion Nico O’Reilly has been a beneficiary of Manchester City’s incredible talents around him rather than his own ability and Lewis Hall would have been my starter instead.

The rest makes sense. Having Kane, Foden and Palmer all trying to occupy the exact same spot on the pitch in the Euro’s was infuriating so Tuchel has solved that by bringing wingers who will stretch defence’s when Kane drops deep instead.

There’s a combative midfield pivot with two tens that make it more of a hybrid three and aren’t afraid to run and press and you have a couple of starting defenders who are supremely confident on the ball with the ability to throw a Dan Burn shaped battering ram and an Ivan Toney shaped sharpshooter on if you need a goal or a penalty taken. Tuchel has taken from the NFL and brought with him his special teams’ players.

Despite all of that I’m still not sure if it’s our time given the rest of the competition. A semi-final would be considered a success for me, so pub owners your outdoor benches may just survive another year.

Croatia (FIFA Ranking 11)

The dark horses of 2018 followed up their incredible final appearance with a third place finish in 2022. It was thought then that midfield maestro Luka Modric and wing wizard Ivan Perisic wouldn’t be around for this one but they’re defying the passage of time and appearing in yet another World Cup.

They’re joined by fellow stalwarts Mateo Kovacic and Andrej Kramaric who has really flourished in the Bundesliga and now has 153 goals in 346 appearances for Hoffenheim.

The next generation is coming through though which should keep them at the top table for now. Josko Gvardiol hasn’t been as influential for Manchester City this season but is still an important player, while Tottenham’s Luka Vuskovic has spent the season on loan at Hamburger SV and really impressed in the Bundesliga and will likely be a first team regular at Spurs next season. Then there’s 22-year-old defensive midfielder Peter Sucic who has had a solid debut season at Inter Milan.

Unsurprisingly Zlatko Dalic is still in charge, as he has been since 2017. Transitioning this squad and getting the right balance of existing heroes and fresh blood will be his biggest challenge of his tenure.

Ghana (FIFA Ranking 74)

Ghana qualified from a pretty favourable AFC qualification group but their friendly form post that will be cause for concern, losing six out of six albeit to fairly strong opposition and all teams they could face if they make it through this group. They also failed to qualify for this years AFCON so are very much a team on the decline.

To make matters worse they’re another country who have parted with their manager very close to the beginning of the tournament. In steps Carlos Queiroz, a former assistant manager of Sir Alex Ferguson who has now made a career of stepping in for short spells. Ghana become the latest on the list of countries he has managed which includes Oman, Qatar, Iran x2, Egypt, Colombia, Portugal x2, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

What they do have in their locker for this tournament is an excess of wingers. Antoine Semenyo has topped off an impressive start to the season with Bournemouth by then becoming an integral part of Manchester City’s team, Mohamed Kudus is a proven Premier League performer, Abdul Fatawu is a talent despite suffering relegation from the Championship with Leicester this season and could jump all the way back up to the Premier League this summer, Kamaldeen Sulemana always looked a pacy threat at Southampton and has now moved to Atalanta and Ibrahim Osman could be Brighton’s latest recruitment success having had a decent second half of the season in the Championship with Birmingham.

The problem is you can’t play five wingers and the lack of balance is likely to be Ghana’s biggest downfall.

Panama (FIFA Ranking 33)

With the USA, Mexico and Canada out of the CONCAF qualifying equation this time round Panama has a pretty straightforward route through qualification finishing with seven wins and three draws. Don’t be fooled by memories of 2018 where England beat a Panama side 6-0. This is a much more competitive side. They have climbed over 20 places in the world rankings since then and have a much more experienced side.

Former Leeds manager Thomas Christiansen has been in charge since 2020 and has formed them into a competitive unit. Norwich City’s Jose Corodoba will be the most recognisable name but 18-year-old Kadir Bara who currently plays for Botafoga is a highly valued prospect and the versatile Amir Murillo has played for a string of top sides and is now at Besiktas.