The guest list is finally set. After a qualifying journey that felt longer than a marathon, 48 teams have booked their tickets to Mexico, Canada, and the United States for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While the celebrations are in full swing, we must pause for a moment of silence for the giants who tripped over their own shoelaces at the final hurdle.
Italy would be the biggest name not to make the final cut. Italy has now missed so many World Cups (3 in a row), I’m starting to think they are allergic to the tournament. For a four-time champion ranked No 12 to miss out again is a national disaster. They aren’t alone in the VIP lounge of the uninvited, joined by Denmark, Poland, and Hungary from UEFA (Europe).
They are joined in the “Maybe Next Time” club by Nigeria, Cameroon from CAF (Confederation of African Football), as well as Chile and Peru from CONMEBOL (South America). Right in our backyard, CONCACAF (North/Central America, Caribbean), Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, and, dare I say, Trinidad & Tobago were all left heartbroken. Jamaica’s heartbreak hits a different frequency after blowing a “must-win” finale against Curacao, only to repeat the feat against DR Congo. It was a classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of certainty. As they say, what will be will be, and their fate was not to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA’s new 12-group format is a sprawling beast. For the teams that have qualified, there are 12 groups, A to L, each with four teams. In the “old days” (World Cup 2022), there were eight teams in four groups; therefore, there were always favoured teams meeting each other in the first round, and inevitably a ‘Group of Death’ would emerge. This time around, we have the “Group of Concern”. Can Group C be considered the “Group of Concern” with Brazil, Morocco, Scotland and Haiti? What about Group F with Netherlands, Japan (who just defeated England), Sweden and Tunisia? Maybe it’s Group I with France, Senegal, Norway and Iraq. I find it tough as many of the groups are quite evenly matched.
After the first round in this new world order with 48 teams, 32 teams will then advance to a new knockout round. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups, plus the eight best third-place teams, qualify for the knockout stage before the traditional round of 16 starts. This new format increases the number of matches to 104 and extends the tournament to 39 days, a huge disparity from 2022, when 64 matches were played in 29 days. More football now for the fans to see.
Picking the top two in each group is a bit like picking lottery numbers, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge. Based on pedigree, history, and a touch of gut feeling, here is my prediction as to the teams that will advance:
Group A:
Czech Republic and Mexico
Group B:
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland
Group C:
Brazil and Morocco
Group D:
USA and Turkey
Group E:
Germany and Ivory Coast
Group F:
Netherlands and Japan
Group G:
Belgium and Egypt
Group H:
Spain and Uruguay
Group I:
France and Senegal
Group J:
Argentina and Algeria
Group K:
Colombia and Portugal
Group L:
England and Ghana
The remaining eight teams to fill the spots to make up the 32 is difficult as any number can play. World Cups are always packed with surprises, as history has shown us to expect the unexpected. There will always be a team or two that will come up with a surprise and not only defeat a big name but also squeeze them out from moving forward, as has happened in every single World Cup ever held.
We need only look back at 2022 to see Morocco’s historic semifinal run, Turkey finishing in third place, Saudi Arabia’s ambush of Argentina, or Japan’s “giant-killing” spree against Spain and Germany. Expect a few big names to be unceremoniously evicted early, as I would expect 2026 to have a few upsets. As usual, it should be an exciting FIFA World Cup.
Before closing, let me ask all football fans to come down to the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain on April 17, to support our women’s national football team in their decisive CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador. The women and coach Damian Briggs enter the qualifier knowing only a win will secure progression to the next round. Taking care of business against Barbados with a resounding 5-1 victory, they had to pull out all the stops to come from behind and draw with Honduras in Tegucigalpa.
This time, the team is at home and with thousands of fans in the stadium cheering them on, they can do it. The top four teams in the CONCACAF final round qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027. The losers will enter an intercontinental playoff. Coach Briggs has asked the nation to come out and support the team. As he rightly said, “playing at home, we’d love for everyone to come out and support because we feel it. That energy lifts us and can help get us across the line.”
This is another golden opportunity for our women. Do you remember those painful memories in 2014, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, when the team lost 1-0 to Ecuador in the intercontinental playoff for the final spot in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup? Let us rally behind the women as they go for glory.
