World Cup 2026 preview: Groups A-D – Football Weekly

This is The Guardian. Hello and welcome to The Guardian football week. Here are your World Cup previews. It's your tournament guide pull out without the hassle of reading. Four groups per pod in alphabetical order. So, Group A, host Mexico alongside South Africa, coach Vincent Son and Powell South Korea, and Czechia, Patrick Schick, Thomas Schuchek, and presumably Carol Paborski. Group B, quite exciting Canadians and Swiss. Question mark, we've never said that before. Ed and Jekyll and Bosnia and Qatar. Group C, you and Murray, in for some optimism as the Scots play Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. And then Group D will get a soccer-ruse perspective as the Aussies line up against host the US, Paraguay, and the dark horses of Turkey. Let's get on with it. This is Today's Guardian football week, Lee. Alongside me for the whole pod, the racing post-marked Langdon, welcome mark. I'm Max. Hello, Lars Yvtsen. Hello, Max. And Barry Glendeng is here. Hello. Yeah, we should probably point out we're recording these a week before they go out. So just in case Harry Kane pulls a hamstring or something, we apologize. But let's get into it then with Group A, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and Czechia. Mexico managed by Javier Aguirre, known as El Vasco, his third time managing L-Tree in the World Cup, the Best Ever, quarterfinals in 1970, and Mexico '86, well, Mexico '70 as well. They lost out in the group stage in Qatar, behind Argentina and Poland. South Africa managed by the Belgian Hugo Bruce. Best ever is the group stages in 2010. Didn't qualify last time out. First World Cup since they were the hosts. South Korea managed by Hongmyeong-Boh, legend of Korean football. He kept it in their side to the semi-finals in 2002. The first former captain to manage South Korea, a World Cup, and that's their best ever in 2002. Last time out they got to the round 16. Czechia managed by Miroslav Kubek, who is 74. And a spring chicken compared to the 78-year-old Dick Advocate, but more of that and Kurosawa, and they've lost the final twice, Czechia, in 1934 and 1962. Obviously, when they were Czechoslovakia, of course. Lars, how do you see this group? When I was doing my sort of brackity thing that we do, I do think this is one of the groups where I am the least confident in picking a top two, to be honest. I think this is kind of an even group. Mexico have this great history of always qualifying from the group stage, which they didn't at Katar, but before that, I think it was like seventh straight World Cup or something crazy that they've gotten out of the group stage. The Czechs are not great, but they've got a good sort of punchy physique about them. They've got good spirits, you know, they're not terrible. And then I'm not entirely sure what to expect from South Korean and South Africa, to be honest, but they're not bad. I don't think they'll be outright bad, any of them. So I do think this is one of those groups where a lot of teams can take points off each other, and I think it's a little bit trickier to predict how it turns out than a lot of the other groups. Mark, what do you think of Mexico? Well, I disagree with Lars early doors and say that I think Mexico here. This is a really good opportunity for them to win the group, to stay at home in Mexico. Lars 32, if they win the group, you then play a third-place team. Lars 16 would potentially be England in the Azteca. I don't think like about 1am on a Monday morning in UK time. And everyone's talking about this being the US World Cup, because that's where the latter stages are. I mean, Mexico can definitely use home advantage, altitude is something that they'll be used to. If you look around, I'm not sure you could say the same. I mean, Thomas Sucek looks like he's played 90 minutes before he starts. So, he's quite tall. So he is that altitude generally? He is, but South Korea have already been moaning about the fact that they've got to play a whole tournament effectively, altitude as well. But yeah, as well as the planning for Mexico, most of their players now play domestically, but I don't see that as a negative. Most of them don't need to leave home because in that part of the world, you get paid really well. So, you know, I don't know. If you're in kind of Brazil or Argentina and South America, you have to make that move early because, you know, you have to do it for the financial gains. But if you're Mexican, you can stay at home as long as you want really, because you can make serious dough. And also, their playoffs this year domestically, the coach pulled basically all of the players out. So they've been in camp since early May, which again, I think is an advantage. When you look at Champions League final, you know, finished, you know, just recently. And Mexican players, the home-based ones have been fully focused. So, it's a big opportunity for Mexico to win the group to stay at home. Interested to see, I think you pronounce it, Kunanas, a forward that's the top score in Saudi Arabia this sort of season. So, we'll see how that form stacks up. Ivan Tony was the second high scorer and Cristiano Ronaldo was third highest. So, you know, I'm not even sure, certain he'll start, but it's really hard to weigh up that league, just in terms of fitness and quality. So, yeah, he's the top scorer in Saudi this season. Bas, presumably you'd like to see England have to play Mexico in the last 16 as we get ahead of ourselves already in Mexico. I don't think that's a fixture England would find easy. Not sure. I don't think Mexico's home advantage can be overstated. You've got Monterey, which is one of the hottest cities, which the World Cup has been played at. Then Mexico City is 2,240 meters above sea level Guadalajara's 1,566 meters above sea level. If you're not used to those conditions, it's got to be hard. Breathing is hard, running is hard. The heat is oppressive. Checks seem to have been sold a real pop in terms of the draw in that they play South Korea at altitude in Guadalajara. Then they have to fly 3,500 kilometers to place South Africa in Atlanta, one of the hottest venues, but I believe the stadium there is there cons, so that might not be too bad. And then they have to fly 3,500 kilometers back to play Mexico in Mexico City. And the Czech team are based in New Jersey as far as I know, which means they don't seem to be making any effort to acclimatize to the conditions they're going to have to play in. So, Mexico by contrast have been, as Mark said, they've been together for ages as a place called the center, the alto randemento. So, the alto there would suggest they will be perfectly well set up to deal with the conditions. So, yeah, the Czech Republic, they're about for the grace of God, go Ireland. That's what we'd have got, and I'd shoulder to think of the T.C. Irish fellows who are the God of the government. But I think Mexico will win the group, I suspect South Africa will probably come last, and then it's take your pick for a second and sorry between South Korean Czechia. Yeah, last on South Korea, obviously, Sonny is 33. Only scored twice for LA this year. I mean, I don't know how much of him you've seen in MLS. They lost 4-0 to every coast recently, and 1-0 to Australia in recent friendly. So, I mean, you sort of always give South Korea a puncture's chance of doing something, but maybe this is a tournament too far for Sonny. It might be, but again, okay, I'm Mark in Barry Rates. This makes the team slightly harder than I do. It's possible that the home advantage will be as pivotal as Barry and Mark have made a very good case for. But I still think the Czechs have issues. I watched both of their games against Ireland and Denmark in the playoffs, and they have a lot of strength, and they're quite spirited, but there's a real lack of skill, I think. They're not the best ball-playing team in the world, so playing in high-heat, potentially, at altitude, seems bad for them. So, I think that'll mitigate some of their strengths, and I'm not familiar enough with South Africa to really make any sweet moves. But my point is, I don't think South Korea have to be brilliant to get out of this group. I think there's something there to be gotten from them. I think Mexico have the advantages that you've all mentioned, but I'm not convinced it's that good a team on paper compared to previous Mexican generations who've made a fist of it at the World Cup. So, I will go along with the idea that Mexico has the most likely group winners, but I do think it's pretty open beyond that. And this is why I think it's entirely possible to South Korea can get out of the group. As long as they bring back the Mexico 86 gold nets, then they can do, frankly, whatever they like. I want to see big, deep gold nets with the stretch for miles from Inguadalara Monterey. At the time of recording, there's squad has just been announced, and whatever about gold nets, they have brought back everyone's favorite Mexican gold keeper, Guillermo Chel, is in the squad, and this will be his sixth world cup. What an achievement that is for him. There are some players that just pop up at World Cup. You've got a char, an avalencia. You kind of don't hear about him for four years. Brilliant ball, although only ever gets free without for a major tournament. he gets put back in the box for another two years. Just on South Africa, Max, I do one little bit on South Africa because the sundowns won the from South Africa won the African Champions League and there's a kind of heavy contingent of sundowns players. But I saw their coach was complaining they've arrived later than they wanted to in the US due to visa issues for some of their players that he was unhappy with and probably not the only country that's kind of going through that at the moment which is suboptimal you would afford for a World Cup. I read somewhere that any South African fans who want to travel to the States have to go to the American Embassy in Pretoria to get their visas. Pretoria is obviously a very, very, very, very long way from a lot of parts of South Africa. Yeah, they're just one of any number of countries whose citizens are going to struggle to get to the World Cup. South Africa is another team that because the domestic league is comparatively solid for the region. Not that many of their players go abroad compared to other nature so that there's a certain comparison to Mexico there. My whole thing is I don't think that's a positive. I think when that happens what you end up with players who don't get matched at the highest level and I'm not convinced there's a strength at all. But it also means we haven't seen them a lot most of us and you should never assume players are not good just because you haven't seen them. So I actually really look forward to watching the team from that perspective. Yeah, absolutely. This gives it a Mexico 86 feel where there are some players in a World Cup that you haven't heard of. Now onto Brilla Bolo, Barry, group B, Canada, Bosnia and Herzgavina, Qatar and Switzerland, Canada managed by Jesse Marsh from a lead's boss, first non-Canadian to take charge of their team, recently signed an extension to 2030. Best ever is in the group stages, which happened last time out. Bosnia Herzgavina managed by Sergei Barbares. Again, best ever is the group stages back in 2014. Qatar managed by Zulan Lopategui, that's where he is. Their first World Cup, I believe, was 2022 when they hosted it and went out in the group stages, qualified by the Asian fourth round playoffs and Switzerland managed by Meret Yakkin. They've got to the quarterfinals in 1934, 1938, 1954 and 2022. Francis says to Canada represent the best chance of the host nations. I thought they were good in the last World Cup, Barry, they excited us without actually doing anything special. So it'd be quite interesting to see how far they've come in for years. If they want to stay in Vancouver, they need to top this group. I'm not going to claim to know a huge amount about Canada. I don't remember them in the last World Cup, so they didn't make that much of an impression on me. Much of their hopes for this World Cup seemed to be hinging on the fitness of Alfonso Davis, whether or not he will be fit. I don't think he'll be fit to play in the opening game, maybe not even their second game. You've got Johnson, David, Juventus, Striker, Boranine, Brooklyn, to the Haitian parents, so he could have played for any number of countries, to Jan Buchanan, Villarreal, Wingard. It doesn't look a massively difficult group. It looks quite open to me, but they will want to top it, stay in Canada. I guess he might be quite a positive person. I think everyone would agree that. He said Lasso vibes, aren't they? There are Lasso vibes, aren't there? There definitely are. It's talking a good game. I think the general view is that this is the best Canadian team ever. Unlike Barry, I thought they did do well four years ago. It just struggled to put the ball in net. I'm not saying they didn't. I'm just saying I just really can't remember. It was a long time. It is crazy because we'd never talk about a kind of, in terms of form, you'd never go back four years to discuss another team that was playing in the Premier League. It's what we do at the World Cup, but they were unfortunate back in Qatar because they played well, but just struggled to make the most of their opportunities. I agree that this is quite a balanced group. I would expect Switzerland to win it, but then that kind of second spot, I think is there for Canada's taking. And then just in terms of the question, I think to all three host nations of, I expect them all to qualify, and I wouldn't be that amazing if they made the last 16 or three of them. And then from there, who knows, maybe even one of them gets to the court finals. I think that home advantage has actually been slightly underrated. I just think it is going to be a very foreign tournament for a lot of teams. Switzerland has granted jacket its fourth World Cup, but no cards of Shakiri. How, you know, they've got some decent names that people know of, no, no, Oka Ford and Joy, Zacchae Amduni as well. What do you reckon to the Swiss? So Switzerland, I mean, you joke about players that you only really see at these big tournaments. There's a few of them in the Swiss team. And the funny thing is that, I mean, the amount of games these guys have played together. Granted Shakira has played 123 games with Ricardo Rodriguez for Switzerland, which is mad. Granted Shakira has played 72 games with Ramo Floreler in the Swiss midfield. So the amount of experience that you've gotten this group is pretty extraordinary, even though Sherdan Shakiri and the goalkeeper on summer and Fabian Shere have retired from international duty. Akungi had played 73 games with Ricardo Rodriguez. So these are guys who know each other really well, who know the way they play really well. There is maybe a lack of spark in the group. There's a reason Sherdan Shakiri kept getting in the team, even as his club career was declining, because that little bit of creativity and something extra, they haven't really found consistently from anyone else in the same way. The aforementioned Braille and Bolo is really important to them upfront. They don't have that many different makers in attack. But I do tend to think these tournaments come down to who can screw up the least defensively and who can then go on and take their chances and in the screwing up the least department, I think the Swiss have got something and they are often a little bit more punctured than we expect at these tournaments and it wouldn't shock me if they did that again. They only conceded two goals in qualifying. I mean that's pretty impressive, isn't it? On to Bosnia, only their second World Cup as an independent nation after defeating Italy and Wales in the playoffs. So the team that denied it's at least three Ellis James voice notes. We are happy to see a 40 year old Ed in Jekko, but beyond that do you have any strong thoughts? Yeah, very surprised that they came through those playoffs. First of all, I expected them to lose to Wales in Cardiff and Italy. Shot themselves in the foot as well with the red car, but actually Bosnia was playing well even before that. There's a teenager who are hoping to pronounce his name correctly, Kerim. Alabegovic plays for Tortsburg, who definitely caught the eye in those playoffs. Matches, there's quite a bit hype around him, somebody that can maybe add that dynamism because when you play somebody like Jekko up front, he's got many qualities, but he's not going to be running in behind and you need other players to do a fair bit of Jekko's running, when you're particularly in the conditions that they're going to face. He might be somebody that kind of emerges out of this tournament and gets that move from Austria. We know that Alabegovic's a bit of a talent farm anyway and kind of a lot of players do start there and then go on and make their market in big leagues. Barry, any thoughts on Qatar? Well, as you mentioned, Julian Lopetig is in charge. I think they went through three cultures and qualifying. He got them through the most win game against the U8, qualify, players of no acrimaphief, Al Assad. He's coming off a title within season in the Qatar Astar's league. They basically want to win a game, first and foremost. Their turret group game is probably the most realistic opportunity, not a particularly big-signed physically and could get bullied. They played Ireland recently in Dublin, in a friendly and last one new and they were playing against 10 men for I think most all the second half. So they weren't impressive in that performance. All right, that'll do for Group B, Group C, and include Scotland and you and Marri will join us in just a second. Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Group C then Brazil, Morocco, Haiti and Scotland, Scotland managed by Steve Clark, Best Ever, the Group Stages, famously never ever got to a knockout game. This could be the year at Brazil, managed by Carlo Antelotti, they've won it five times, 58, 62, 17, 94 and 2002, got the quarterbinals last year. Morocco managed by Mohamed Wabi, got the semi-finals in Qatar, of course, and Haiti, managed by Sebastian Minja, last time they were the World Cup 1974, knocked out in the Group Stages. Let's bring in Scottish Football Correspondent, you and Marri, how you doing? Hello, Max. Daniel says, "Scotland, win the group, then the lot or slow start, then win the lot." Mitch says, "How many goals will Scotland beat Brazil by two offsets at the defeat to Haiti?" How are you feeling about. Scott obviously lost Billy Gilmore in that friendly, which is a real blow, isn't it? It is. Yeah. I mean, this situation, it's hugely exciting. First time since 1998, although we've been in the Euros, obviously the World Cup feels different. It's a bigger deal, so there is great excitement around this. And it's also, I find it strange, because it's so heavily predicated and focused on this first game. Because now, three points and three points with a two-go win, there are three-go win, puts you in such a strong position. If, and I'm saying if, Scotland can do that against Haiti, there are in a very, very strong position. But if we glance towards history and what could go wrong, if that first game goes wrong, not only would I not fancy the chances thereafter, but I would worry for the mood around Steve Clark and the team in that situation. So it's strange, because I just think there's so much emphasis on game one. But they should win that game, shouldn't they? Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, notwithstanding a Curacao Red card, and the fact that Scotland struggled for 40 odd minutes of that game on Saturday, Curacao beat Haiti 5.1 and qualifying. And Scotland, I think, in normal circumstances, are better than Curacao. So yes, I mean, I don't think we should be in a situation where you say, oh, here's why this could go horrible wrong. If it goes wrong, it's a major, major blunder for Scotland. They should beat Haiti. And as I say, given the opportunity in front of them where they know that three points and three points that are decent margin of victory, put some in such a strong position, I think there's no excuses of not to win that game. It obviously is a tough group beyond Haiti. I'm a rock and Brazilian, well, good, and we'll get on to sort of previewing them in just a second. I just suppose the pressure of history, it's the players shouldn't feel that. But you sort of wonder if they might, right? Just because there is just, you know, you mentioned there have been blunders before you think about Costa Rica in what 1990, et cetera. There are just moments where the Scots have shot themselves in the foot. Absolutely. I would only see, I think, no. And this also applies to Morocco, who everyone there recognizes a very good team. And we're in Morocco and Barrett Scotland in 1998 at the World Cup. And it was seen at that time. Certainly in Scotland does a terrible result in a bit of an upset. And I think also Costa Rica, Peru, Iran, previous things. I think there was a, including in the Scotland set up itself, a bit of ignorance about these teams and what they had. And a few things. Absolutely. We are better than them. We'll go out and play our game and beat them. I don't think that exists across football now. So even-- I'm comfortable on confidence saying Scotland have better players and a better team than Haiti. But I don't think there's any sense that those players will underestimate that. I won't be prepared for that. I think that has kind of been removed. And the historical thing's funny, because of course, it's a bare fact. If they come out the group, they will be the first Scottish team to come out of a World Cup group, and they will make history. But I would also regard it as faintly ludicrous to them, regarding as a final Scottish team of all time. Of course. Compare them with the teams that didn't make it out the group and the players they had. So while that, again, undeniable, black and white fact, I think there's probably a bit of nuance to that element as well. What do you make of the squad, you win? Scores fight apart from goalkeeper. Well, that's slightly unfair. They have goalkeepers, one of them Cray Gordon, who's 43, Cray Gordon is still capable of playing. But I hadn't played for heart since January until we played against Curaçao. Angus gun at nothing for us, basically no football either. So goalkeeper is a problem. Their midfield is strong. Centre back, I think, is a bit of a problem. Centre forward, I think, they can get by, including because Lone and Shagland is in a rich way to form. And I think now Steve Clark isn't inclined to turn towards him. So it's centre back, a goalkeeper where I think they may have a problem. And also, this will work both ways. They have quite an experienced squad by way of a lot of players with a lot of caps. And I honestly think it will help that they will be hugely motivated, one, to do well on this tournament because they feel they didn't represent themselves fairly in the last two years. But two, I also think there's a good few players who will believe this is their best or final World Cup chance. And I don't think we should underestimate that this will motivate them hugely going into this tournament. We should talk about the Tartan army. I mean, there's always a cliche about how brilliant they are. And then we're going to England, Scotland, in Euro-Ny-6, and a half-time status quo rocking all the world was over the world was playing. And every Scotland fan was like doing this for the guitars. And all the England fans were sort of standing and going, "I wish we could have fun like them for some reason. We can't do it. We can't bring ourselves to let ourselves go." But obviously, it's one of those World Cups where, if you're a side that goes to lots of World Cups, you might give it a miss because of the cost. And the politics, et cetera. But how many Scotland fans do you think will go? What will their presence be like? And obviously, there's huge Scottish contingents in the States anyway. Absolutely massive. Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned Wembley in '96. In '99, we're Scotland lost the Euro's playoff to England. Although they won that game. They won the second leg. One Nilla Wembley, Don Hutchison's goal. One of my favourite images I've seen of Scotland fans is after that game, rocking over the World was played. And Scotland had just been knocked out and the entire contingent. They weren't celibate and defeat. They were just enjoying themselves. It's a brilliant thing on YouTube. The food is there as great. Yeah, I wasn't the Scotland fans or terrific wherever they go. They were travelling immense numbers. I know I'm slightly surprised at this, given the first game is two o'clock in the morning. But maybe I shouldn't be. But bars across Scotland are having lunch, parties, ticket only. They're all sold out. These events are sold out to watch that game. All right. And I'm not sure-- as a seasoned pub gore, I don't know what time one goes to the pub for a 2am kickoff. That's maybe one for-- I do have a sleep beforehand. What do you do? I would say you go to the pub at your usual time. Go home. What your usual closing time would be. Have a couple of hours sleep and then get up and go back out. You get-- go back. Yeah, because you can't-- you can't be the host that we go at six or seven or eight o'clock, can you? You'd be absolutely-- No, I'm minced. Yeah, anyway, sorry. That's something for other people to worry about. The profile in Scotland and in America will be huge. They're rightly renowned for how well they behave. They don't cause trouble. There won't be any aggravation. And they are the kind of supportive base where there will be thousands of people going there without tickets just to enjoy the experience. And partly, Max, as I said, linked to the fact-- you haven't been there for 28 years. And it is-- For Scottish people, quite an accessible country, there's people just going to be part of the party. And they will bring a great deal to the World Cup scene. Even if the team don't, the fans will bring a great deal to it. Yeah. And they get to play Brazil, right? And it's a great thing if you're in a World Cup and you get to play Brazil. Obviously, we want to them, Barry. And to be honest, we know he's a great manager. So much noise about Namar and people weeping in the streets when he was selected. And his view in Brazil being slightly different to elsewhere. But there might be a car finjury for him. But how do you reckon Brazil will go? I think they'll be all right. I mean, the Namar fitness saga does threaten to overshadow their campaign. But I don't think there's any question that they will get out of the group. They're missing Rodrigo, they're missing Esteveau, they're missing Ederameda, Tau, through injury. Allison has had a rough track this season with injuries. They lost six or 18 qualifiers. Jau Pedro obviously was left out in the squad as well. But when you look at who they have, Vinnie Jr., Bruno Gamera, Hendrick, they have quality rayan, I think, from Bournemouth, he made the cut. So he's an exciting player. I don't think there's any questions that they won't get out of the group. And I think they could go quite far in the competition. And Mark, 24 years have hurt for Brazil. Yeah, and I think when you pick a 26 player squad, it used to be 23, didn't it? Now you're up to 26. I think you can take one or two gambles. And the name are one. I think Angelotti thought, if I don't pick him, every single question the press conference will be, why is name on not there? Why is name on not there? So if you just have him, you know, he doesn't even need to play. And I think you kind of just calm that noise. I think Angelotti's got the potential to be a very clever and perfect international manager because he's not wedded to a system. He doesn't really have like a footballing philosophy or believes nothing that that helps when you're an international manager because you just don't have the players for long enough. So put them in positions where they can succeed and make them feel comfortable. All the things that Angelotti did very well when he's re-armandered and all the other places he's been. When you've got Rafiniar and Vinicius up front or in sort of forward positions, you can just win any game with players like that. So I think they'll leave their qualifying form behind. And I'm not sure that they'll win it, but I definitely think that they're better than some of that qualifying form. And just on Scotland, looking at kind of some modeling been done on what you need to do to kind of be one of the best for place teams. And I do think that Scotland will finish third in this group. If you can get a goal difference of zero with three points, you're almost certainly there. Once it gets to about minus two, that's where they think the cutoff point might be. I would be embarrassed, and anyway, you can't miss you with a minus two goal difference. But that is a really fun way. You take it. The greatest Scotland team of all time. Exactly. But you know, it'll be a really funny, what's the order of you and is it Haiti? What's your second game? Morocco and the middle one in Brazil last. So we're hoping that Brazil will hopefully, home and dry, no interest, nothing to play for. Yeah. One thing, this is a boring point, but I think maybe an important one, climate, like climate is in a team like Brazil's favor. Of course, where it isn't for quite a lot, including England, for example. We can't underestimate, I've had a rough look at the temperatures and the heat and the humidity and some of these stadiums that won't affect Brazil as much as it may well do a lot of the other big nations. And Scotland is not famously that hot, is it? So you know, it could be an issue. And last we haven't talked about Morocco yet. It says here after an eventful Afcon, which is quite the understatement. Yeah, eventful, yeah, yeah. Let's go with that. Let's go with that eventful. We know they're good, don't we? I think they're good. And I think they're good in a way that could be suited for this tournament, because they're defensively quite solid, and they're quite canny. And then they've got a couple of players who can make a difference going forward. I mean, it's really sad for Braim Diaz that it ended up being him missing the Panenka is decided to defining moment of that tournament, because he was very good in the tournament. He was, and he is a very good player. The time, I think, when you, when dropping points against Morocco, we're seeing as a shocker and upset. I mean, we've definitely moved on from there. I mean, they're there, they're there. They would be actually, they're not entirely uninteresting as dark horses in the tournament, I think, actually, depending a little bit about how they got about it, because I think this is a tournament that because the climate conditions you've described will reward patient teams that are quite solid and well-organized and don't, as much as we love the sort of front foot, high pressing teams in club football, I'm not sure that's going to be the best thing this summer for very obvious reasons. And I think Morocco is one of those teams that has a lot of defensive solidity, a lot of cany-ness, and just a couple of potential game changers in attacks that they kind of set up to be an interesting dark horse, I think. I actually think Morocco were too good to fall into the dark horse bracket. The race in the world. And semi-final, last time. So I don't have them in dark horse territory. They're just their horses, they're white horses. We're going to have this discussion later in the episode. Where's the cutoff for dark horses? Where do you have to be? They changed their manager after Afghan obviously. I think they're still the holders are there as good looking back to Senegal again. Find it hard to keep track. But anyway, they were there, they're about a reds they want. I can't keep up. But the new guy in charge, Mohammed al-Abbey, he coached Moroccan under 20 team to the World Cup, won it with them. And he's brought a lot of those youngsters into the senior squad. And he's apparently more adventurous than Wallet Ragouki, his predecessor. And I think there could be a real force to be reckoned with. So that I don't like the adventure. The adventure I think is bad. I'm not sure adventure is going to be what you want to go for in this tournament. I understand like getting rid of a coach who had been very successful, but a little pragmatic in boring because he was pragmatic in boring. Is not a move I like. Yeah, if you can suck the life out of games for us, dictators, not amazing. But I think for your chances in the summer, it might be very good. There's also one thing I wonder about Brazil. Anshallotty has picked a pile of attackers here. Like this is, I mean, he's also he's, they've played some games where they basically played a 424 system with Casamera and Bruno, a game of ice in midfield, and just four attackers in front of them. I understand when the talent available is what it is, but you're going to have to convince those four to all run an awful lot for that to like make any kind of sentence. So that I think the balance issue with Brazil is interesting. Now I think if I'm Scottish, you've got a really good midfield. Like this would be the, I think the sort of, this is where I would have a little bit of a ray of hope when you come up against Brazil is that you're, you're going to be very competitive in that midfield area. If they're playing two midfielders, one of whom is Casamero and potentially high heat. You could have Tyler Fletcher. Tyler Fletcher versus Casamero. What a story Tyler Fletcher is. Have you picked up? We're not. He's in for Billy Gilmore, Darren Fletcher's son. So what happened was because obviously seasons finished a different time. Some players got a break. The Scotland squad to train for the lead up to the Kudosau game was pretty diminished in number. So Steve Clark brought in five young players just to boost those training numbers. Now Tyler Fletcher was one of those. Have he never played for Scotland's full team never been in the squad. But from what I'm told, he was the best player in training all week, which might imply something about the rest of them. However, he was the best, he was the best player in training. And he's on the bench against Kudosau, Billy Gilmore, Horrid, Lock Horrid episode, Hertz's knee, Injus's knee, out the world cup. Now there are others of Steve Clark has had in the squad midfield players who he might assume was ahead of Tyler Fletcher. But instead Fletcher's performance against Kudosau was excellent. As I said, his performances of training seemingly similar. And I wonder if there's a little bit of politics involved because his brother plays for England's youth teams and both brothers can play for England or Scotland. I wonder if they're trying to convince Tyler and maybe Jack to play for Scotland, although that's maybe overly cynical on my part. But low in behold, he's been added to the world cup squad and flew out with the Scotland team. So it's a great story. And he just looks to me straight away, a player who will be so comfortable in any environment that I wouldn't be surprised if he features at some point in the world cup. Well, imagine if Scotland beat Brazil, he'd be unbelievable. We needed you to be over cynical at one point in this. Right here. Just a word on Haiti. First time they've qualified since '74. We covered it with Paul Watson. But incredible they managed to qualify with huge security risks in the state of emergency in the country, played their home games in Kurosau, yes, past. No, it's interesting that the Haiti managers, Sebastian Minan and I think most, if not all of the players, have never actually set foot in Haiti ever. And Jan Rikner Belagard is pretty much my sum total knowledge of Haitian football. He plays with them. And their goalkeeper is a fellow called Johnny Placeet. There's a Sondland player, Barry. Is it up from? Yes. Is it all? Is it all, Belagard? [LAUGHTER] Oh, sack me. Sack me now. No, no. I think that's the reason Barry, why people love you. They also-- That 1974 was when they played italy and Dino Zoff and considered a goal for something like 1,500 minutes. And Haiti went one-down up against Italy and Dino Zoff in this shock moment in the 1974 world cup. So they are capable of upset. They did lose the game, but they ended Dino Zoff's run. Anyway, you went. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate your time, pal. Speak soon, no doubt. Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Let's do group D then, the USA Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey. USA managed by Mauritius Pogetino, of course. I got to the semi-files in 1930 in the first of a world cup last time. I got to the round of 16, Australia, managed by Tony Popovich. Best I've ever done is round of 16 in '06 and last time out. Paraguay managed by Gustavo Alfaro, best ever, the quarter finals in 2010, and the dark horses of Turkey. Managed by Benchenzone Montella came third, of course, in 2002. Guardian Australia's Jack Snape is going over their joins as now. Hey, Jack. Good day, Max. So look, we've done a lot in the US and we'll get to them. But let's start with the Sockaroos then. How do you see them going in this one, Jack? Have this increasing sense of optimism? Would you be allowed? Yeah. It's wild. The Australia traditionally under-performing world cups. We've only made the round of 16 twice. And the last time in Qatar was a team of journeymen who somehow got through. But this team is full of really solid young talent. And all of a sudden, we're wondering, how far can they go, not just get out of the group, but maybe push all the way to the round of 16 again? Yeah, it's an open group, isn't it? Who have they got? They do have some young, sort of quite raw, talented players, don't they? Because there's been a kind of dearth of-- we think of the classic Sockaroos, right? And you think of the Duke or in Cule, et cetera, et cetera. But they haven't had any real stars for quite a while. Well, yeah, I think Ewan's gone. So we can be a little bit more rude about the Scottish Premier League now, but it would have leaned heavily on talent from Scotland. But yeah, now we've got a number of great young players. 23 or under, led by left wingback, Jordy Boss, who's playing at Fine Ward. Could be our best player. And he's really got a future ahead of him. Alessandro Ciercati, who plays in Serie A, he's a central defender, another one to watch. And up front, Motore has been scoring a bunch of goals for Norwich in the championship. And the Wildcard is a guy called Nestery or Encunda. He's a winger, attacker, explosive player. I think he had a bunch of goal of the season, nominees last season for Watford. So yeah, we're feeling pretty good. We're up beat. We're wondering just how far they can go. Yeah, there's this guy, Christian Volpato, who basically said he wanted to play for Italy, and then switched his allegiance. I don't know how do Australian fans feel about someone who turned their back on the flag and hours come back? Or like, beggars can't be choosers. Is that too rude? It's been wild the last few days, because no one saw this change of allegiance coming with Christian Volpato. He believed that he was going to win. was looking to play for Italy, that callup didn't happen. And it's really been in the last few days that he's come and joined the squad. He's never actually played for the Socarus. So a lot of Australian fans haven't really watched him apart from a few nice goals he scored in Serie A. Do they feel aggrieved that it took for him to be rejected by Italy to turn his mind to the Socarus? I think it's mixed. He did post on social media a few years ago when Australia lost a crucial match to Japan with an image of the loss and two emojis. One was the smiley face laughing with tears and one was the upside down smiley face. And that was seen as deeply offensive to the Australian football community. But he was a young guy then and I'm sure he'll add a bit of quality to the squad. Yes, Jack, he's done what we call in the trade a reverse race. Jack Reilly McGree, who is the most Australian sounding Australian, I think I've ever heard of. He's very unlucky to miss out. He hurt themselves in the playoff final which ended up being a complete mess. That whole playoff playing for Middlersburg. Is he a big loss? Yeah, huge loss. He was probably one of the few locks in our starting 11. Right at that right age, 27, we've got a lot of players under 23 and a whole bunch over 30. So he was really going to be a crucial player. Yeah, it was an extraordinary scene or moment of tragedy there for McGree. I think he got through about 70 minutes in that playoff final but had Southampton not cheated, he wouldn't even been playing. So the poor guy has played the match lost. So he didn't go to the premiership and now he's also out of the world cup. So he's probably the unlucky as football going round. Back home actually, some of the games because quite often in Australia games are not on at the perfect time. But I think a couple of the games are on at quite good times sort of midday and ones at 2pm. And there was a decision that they weren't going to put the games at there is a paranoia in Australia that the other codes, rugby league and AFL, like push football down. And when I got here, I didn't believe it at all, but there might be something to it and they said there's no football on big screens at Fed Square in Melbourne which thousands of people go to with ridiculous hours of the day. And I tweeted saying this is a shit decision and other people did. And then the premier of Victoria turned around and changed it. And Jack, you think I was played by politicians? Didn't you? You know, I was just like a stupid sap in a bit of politics here. - Well, I don't know why you're raising this max, but for people who are plugged into the politics of the state of Victoria in the bottom end of Australia, max tweeted some sort of frustration about this decision and was replied by the premier's Twitter account when she reversed the decision. And so Max was the recipient of all this good will. He was the trigger point. He was the reason that the most powerful woman in the state changed her mind. And so I can only imagine Max, that's why you're raising it. You don't really care what I have to say in response. You just want me to talk about your twin. - No, I'm more, I think it's funny that actually I was just part of victim of some real sort of cunning politics and actually they knew what they were doing the whole time. And you know, I'm happy to play the foreign idiot weighing in on things they don't quite understand. We should not talk about the other countries. I mean, you talked about host nations, Mark, and you know, it being a home advantage, being important and the US obviously have that. - They do. And I think could go either way for them. But it's one of, if you start well and you suddenly feel like a country's behind you, it doesn't really matter what you've done before. We've seen that with a lot of host nations. They come, if you go back to Russia, they're going to be the worst sort of team ever and actually when it came to it, but you know, performed above expectations. Katar, not so much. But I was watching the recent friendly they had against Senegal. Policic was just on fire in that game. And so you can, it feels like it could be. It's kind of post-apoi moment. It's been sort of so heavily relied upon, you know, to be this figurehead of a country's football team. And you now get the opportunity to deliver in a home world cup. And it's a very open group. But if you win the group, the path towards say the last 16 and then you're really into the tournament sort of opens up. So I think winning this group will be absolutely key. And pretty close, I'll say, between you, the USA and Turkey for that honor. Just to expand on what Mark was saying there to be clear, if you win group D, you meet one of the third players runners up. But if you get through there, your likely opponent is the winner of Group G, which is Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand. So it is one of those groups where if you win it, suddenly, you know, it opens up for you. And this is why I like Turkey. I know it's become a meme. It's become a joke. But I'm ready to be hurt again. I think the Turkey dark horses, I think it makes total sense. They got to the quarters of the last year. Rose, they've got some absolutely sparkling talent in Art Aguilar in particular, but also can on Yildes. They got some pretty rugged defenders behind them in Tensamontella, appears to have put all this stuff into a little bit of a system that works. They've got absolutely done by Spain in the qualifier. It's lost 6-0 to Spain. That was bad. But apart from that, their results recently have been pretty good. And I think just because they have a slightly fortunate draw, I think this sets up beautifully for Turkey to get something going here. And you can clip this and make fun of me. If yet again, they fail to live up to that billing. But I think it's time for Turkey. Barry on Paraguay, something I've always wanted to say. Can you help a brother out? They'd be Brazil. They'd be Argentina. They'd be Uruguayan qualifying. So they would be hoping for a spot in the knockout. Like hoping they were realistic chance to get in a spot in the knockouts. Managed by Gustava O'Farrer, whose nickname is "delicious." I don't know why. I don't like him. I don't know. There are a counterattack in team. Like to give the opponents the ball, try and strike on the break. Notables include Miggy Almeron, Formerly of Newcastle, Raymond Salsa from Nottingham Forest, plays in the wing for them. They don't score too many goals. That could be a problem for them. And that is about all I know about Paraguay. Well, you've been lighting me. Jack, finally, where do you have us? They probably have six Sonderman players in the squad. I've overlooked it. Yeah, Brian Brodinger. He's the exact one. Exactly. Jack, where do you have the Socarus finishing in this group? Yeah, Socarus, I think they'll probably squeeze into third, struggle against Turkey. It benefit from the imminent United States implosion as hosts, and then probably Jagger, a result against Paraguay. But probably won't go much further than that. Paraguay, do you have one Sonderman player I should stress? I know. I've just checked. It's to full back, isn't it? No, I'll direct it. The center half. I'm so bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get a card. That's all right. The season's end. You get a week off after this, Barry. It's OK. Oh, man. As soon as I said that, I knew that they have the-- I know I was just checking. Jack, I'm trying to say goodbye to him in a polite way, but I can't. I know. We'll catch up with you during the tournament, pal. Bella, thanks. Jack, snake there from Guardian Australia. Before we end this, going to do this with all our panelists. Lars and Mark, who's going to win the tournament? Lars. I've got Spain when I did my bracket. I ended up with Spain winning the tournament. I think-- listen, European teams don't always do as well as expected in World Cup's outside of Europe, but I just think these conditions, the heat, can really suit Spain because they're a team who know how to look after the ball. We know this. They can play patiently. And as we've seen in recent years, they now also have the option of shifting gears, playing slightly more directly when they have to. I think Spain are the complete package. I think they look more like a club team than really any other national team in the tournament. And I think they'll win. I'm going to go for Portugal, nice section of the draw for them. Hopefully, Roberto Martinez doesn't obsess over Cristiano Ronaldo for every minute of this tournament. He did substitute him in both Nations League matches when they won the Nations League, Portugal, beaten Germany and Spain. Ronaldo actually scored in both of those matches as well, but just the quality sort of death throughout the team. And Bruno Fernandez coming off with such a great season in the tournament didn't have Europe either. So he'll be relatively fresh. The PSG continuing, shall never, as Vettinia, Nuno Mendes. They don't have to work that hard in League on every week, as well. So I don't think they've had the kind of season that maybe some others are coming into it. I just, I think they're really well stacked apart from this obsession over Cristiano, which hopefully won't sort of go on for the whole tournament. Well, hopefully it will, if you ask me, but, um, um, um, Gombu quickly last give us a name. I think if I'm right in Spain, get all the way to the final. I think Luminium Al's a good shout here, because, because they don't get maybe that many goals from centre forward. And I think if you're a betting man, you can get him at prices as high as 20 to 1, which I think is a lot for the guy who's probably the most potent attacking threat of a team that I think can go all the way to the final. So let's go with Yamal. Mark Harry Kane. Don't think England will win it, but you should go relatively deep. And he looks, sort of the team would set up to kind of play to his strengths and particularly the group looks fairly soft. How deep do you think England will go, Mark? I've gotten going to the semifinals. I've got them, I've got them winning the last 32 against the third place team. I've got them scraping past Mexico in the Azteca in the last 16, but at altitude, take a lot out of the legs. I've then got them going to Miami to play in the heat against Brazil, where again, they come through that. But I think they'll then be, I've been able to then be absolutely shattered by the semifinals. And that's where Portugal will beat them. There enough. What about you, Lars? Where do you think England is coming up as? Lars, you say you're Lemini Amal, but there is a chance he won't play Spain's two first games, which mean he wouldn't get to pad his stats against Cafferde and Saudi Arabia. That could be a factor. You're, I agree. I'm aware of the injury situation. You're, you're correct. It's probably why his price is that high. Where do you have England going, Lars? Exactly the same path as Lango, I arrived at in my bracket, except I had them lose to Brazil. So, you know, fair enough, fair enough. And some dark, give us some dark horses then or, you know, horses that might be dark horses. You can go first, but I mean, I think me and Lars, we've got the same one, Turkey, for the fear of mockery. I mean, that's the only reason I'm not, was not going to put Turkey up as the dark horse, because, you know, it just become a running gag when they lose their first two matches. But I really, you know, they've got a good coach in Monteller. They've got players in Yildes and Goulet, that are just, you know, players playing at the very highest level now. And I thought they run lucky in the Euros last time around. They lost a very tight court final to Nevelans that might have gone either way. So, soft enough group. And Lars, are you Turkey as well? Yeah, it's a combination of having a draw that opens up okay with them and also having the talent. I think everything is there. I mean, I feel like I'm sort of duty bound to say Norway. Trouble with Norway is, I think we've got two interesting dark horse candidates in the same group and France also in that group. And that's not ideal. Like Senegal are a proper good team. So, I think as much as I Norway have a lot of strength, I think there's a very real risk that we end up having to be one of the best third-place teams because Senegal are good. And then you get into a draw that's unfavorable. So, I think that could be our downfall. We've ended, we're obviously very good Norway in terms of the talent we have, but we've been absolutely done by the draw. It's going to be an adventure, but it's not compared to some of the groups you could end up in. It's not good. Of course, Mickey Gray plays for Turkey. I'd surprise Barry didn't know that. But anyway, I'll do for our first four groups. We'll be back again tomorrow. It's there across all of our content. As we go daily from Friday, find us on TickTack, Instagram, Reddit, Blue Sky, lots of behind the scenes. Did you just say TickTack, old man? He did. Yeah. All right, Daniel. I thought it was an old man. I'm going to call it TickTack. I didn't realize it was a faux pas. It was changed so much. He shoved me. Or as Mike Perry called it a fox pas. But anyway, I'm just trying to, you know, trying to deflect my own mistake. TickTack, of course, although I have never logged on. So why should I know? But look, we'll be putting stuff out on these platforms. We have no idea what happens on them as we descend into madness of me and Barry living together. But that'll do for today. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Lars. Thank you, Max. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, Max. Thanks, Barry. Thank you. A football weekliest produced by Ty, a footballer executive producer is Joel Grove back tomorrow. This is The Guardian.