World Cup 2026 Preview (Groups G,H,I) (Opinion)

Group G

1. Belgium. This World Cup could be the last World Cup for stalwarts GK Thibault Courtois, midfielders Kevin De Bruyne and Axel Witsel, and striker Romelu Lukaku. However, they will have plenty of support to make one final run with midfielder Youri Tielemans and forwards Jeremy Doku and Leandro Trossard. We saw what Belgium did to the USA last month in a friendly match.

2. Egypt. The Egyptians have two world-class scorers in Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush. The entire fate of this team is dependent upon these two scoring plenty of goals.

3. Iran. The Iranians are led by forward Mehdi Taremi and midfielders Saman Ghoddos and Alireza Jahanbakhsh. The team could be propelled by emotion as the team will be playing all 3 games in the US and finish higher than my prediction. Unless you are living under a rock, then you know that the US and Iran are currently in a battle that has lasted over 100 days over the Strait of Hormuz.

4. New Zealand. The New Zealanders will have to make sure that the ball goes to forward James Wood at all times because he is their only hope for New Zealand to pull off any upsets in this group.

Group H

1. Spain. Talk about loaded. Spain won the Euro 2024 two years ago against England. The only concern for Spain is the health of forward Lamine Yamal, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. If he is ready to go, then Spain remains a World Cup favorite. Although he is 18 years old, he is considered to already be one of the best players in the world.

2. Uruguay. The Uruguayans play with a physical style led by midfielder Fedrico Valverde and forward Darwin Nunez. Their defense is shaky though after they lost 5-1 to the US in a friendly last year.

3. Cape Verde. Congratulations to Cape Verde for reaching their first-ever World Cup! The team is led by forwards Ryan Mendes and Nuno de Costa. The team is solid with every player on the roster plays professionally in Europe even though Cape Verde is one of the smallest islands in the world. They have the capability of surprising someone in this group.

4. Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia will not surprise anyone this time around after upsetting Argentina in the Group Stage of the last World Cup. The team is led by winger Salem Al Dawsari. After watching more Saudi League games since Cristiano Ronaldo started playing for Al Nassr, Al Dawsari is the only player on this squad that is above average.

Group I

1. France. France won the World Cup in 2018 and finished second in 2022 due to the play of forward Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe is arguably the best player in the world at this current time. He scored 42 goals in 44 games this past season for Real Madrid. Real Madrid fans considered it a down year because he scored 59 goals two seasons ago. His combination of speed and power makes him a mismatch against any defender. He is only three goals away from securing the all-time World Cup leader in goals scored. Add to the fact that France is two-deep at every position means that they are once again one of the favorites to win this World Cup. Then to make matters even worse for opposing defenders, forward Michael Olise scored a hat trick a couple of days ago.

2. Norway. For Norway, forward Erling Haaland is already one of the most prolific scorers in soccer history. He was the quickest in soccer history to score 50 international goals. Six years ago, he scored nine goals in an U-20 World Cup match against Honduras, which is the most goals ever in a FIFA match. However, Norway is not a one-man team. Norway is loaded with midfielders Martin Odegaard, Andreas Schjelderup, and Antonio Nusa along with forwards Alexander Sorloth and Jorgen Strand Larsen.

3. Senegal. Senegal has a strong defense along with a strong offense led by Sadio Mane, Ismaila Sarr, and Iliman Ndiaye. I was thinking about picking Senegal second because most of the Sengalese players live in France and were snubbed by the French National Team in the past. Emotions will be high for the France/Senegal match. However, Senegal lost a friendly to the US a couple of weeks ago. Thus, my decision was made after this match.

4. Iraq. Congratulations to Iraq for qualifying to the World Cup for the first time! The Iraqi team is led by midfielder Zidane Iqbal and forward Ali Jasim. Unfortunately, Iraq is in a group where they will be clobbered in all three games.