I know I haven’t focused too much on the controversies with this World Cup. My biggest focus is on the teams and the play happening. Nevertheless they are hard to ignore.

More controversies? First, the war in Iran proved difficult for the players of Iraq to play their intercontinental playoff game against Bolivia. Political tension was so tight, FIFA sent the players a chartered jet to bring them into Mexico. Second, FIFA decided to declare one match as a ‘Pride Match’ It was to be decided by draw and it ended up being Iran vs. Egypt: two nations with a terrible record of LGBT rights (if any). Third, there’s talk of a halftime show right in the middle of the Final. That goes against game protocol for most FIFA members.

I’m sure if you go to Wikipedia, you will see all of the controversies about this year’s World Cup. I won’t talk about them anymore. Let’s get back to focusing on the groups of the Group Stage. Like here’s my look at Group I:

-France (3): These last thirty years has been about the meteoric rise of Les Bleus. No other nation has been in four World Cup finals nor has won twice. They’ve had rough spots back in 2002 and 2010, but they would come back. They even proved the ‘curse of the defending World Cup champions wrong by making it to the final in the last World Cup. Although their success at the Euro isn’t as big, it’s still consistent, like semifinalists in the most recent tournament in 2024.

The team’s coaching staff is completely French and the head coach is Didier Deschamps who has coached the team since 2012. The players part of the World Cup roster play for teams all over Europe. Top stars include goalkeeper Mike Maignan who plays for AC Milan, defender Lucas Digne who plays for Aston Villa, midfielder N’Golo Kante who plays for Turkey’s Fenerbahce, and striker and captain Kylian Mbappe who plays for Real Madrid. France’s play in the last twelve months has been strong. France has had notable wins including against Brazil, Germany and twice to Ukraine, a draw against Iceland and their only loss being to Spain this past June. Chances are France can rise to the occasion again and win the world over in 2026.

-Senegal (15): Many people would describe either Cameroon or Nigeria as the best African team in history. Neither qualified for this World Cup. One team to look out for is Les Lions de la Teranga. They made the quarterfinals in their first World Cup in 2002 where they defeated defending champions France in the opening game. They qualified again in 2018 and they made the Round Of 16 back in 2022. Adding to their glory, they won the African Cup Of Nations in 2021 and could have won again in 2025, but their walkout in the final caused the AFC to overturn their win.

Senegal’s coaching staff is completely of Senegalese coaches and head coach Pape Thiaw was part of Senegal’s first-ever team at the World Cup back in 2002. The players play for various teams in Europe but most of them in France’s Ligue 1. Top players include goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who plays for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli, defender Kalidou Koulibaly who plays for Saudi team Al-Hilal, midfielder Idrissa Gueye who plays for England’s Everton and striker Sadio Mane who plays for Saudi team Al-Nassr. Senegal’s play in the last twelve months has been a mixed showing. Notable wins include against England, Sudan and Egypt. They had a win and a draw against DR Congo and they’ve had losses to the United States and Brazil. If Senegal is all there in North America, they could deliver another shocker result.

-Iraq (56): The last time the Lions Of Mesopotamia played in the World Cup was their debut tournament in 1986. Since then, the nation of Iraq has gone through a lot of turmoil with the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, two American-led wars, Saddam’s overthrow and retaliation from his supporters. This has affected their football as well. In recent years, they made progress. They were AFC Champions in 2007 and runners-up in 2015. For qualification to the World Cup, they played well enough to be relegated to an intercontinental playoff berths. Training and preparing was difficult as Iraq was in the crossfire of the War In Iran. The team had to train in the United Arab Emirates for safety reasons and had to fly in a jet chartered by FIFA to get them to play the match. In that match, they faced Bolivia and won 2-1!

Iraq’s coaches are a mix of Iraqi coaches and coaches from other nations and head coach Graham Arnold is from Australia and is Australia’s coach from 2022. Most of Iraq’s team plays for teams in the Iraq Stars League and European teams. Top players include goalkeeper Jalal Hassan, defender Rebin Salaka, midfielder Ibrahim Bayesh and striker Aymen Hussein. All of their wins have been against Asian teams except for Bolivia and Andorra both this year. They had two draws, against the UAE and Saudi Arabia and their losses have been against Algeria, Jordan and South Korea. It’s very possible Iraq could defy people’s expectations and become one of the tournament’s biggest surprises.

-Norway (31): Norway is a nation not entirely known for its football. More often, Norway is known for winter sports athletes. The best Norway ever did at the World Cup was the Round Of 16 in 1998. Very rarely do their footballers deliver big on the world stage, but things are changing for the Rode Hvite Bla. They qualified for their fourth World Cup by topping their UEFA group (and beating out favorites Italy) and Erling Haaland was the top scorer of the World Cup qualifiers! Haaland is also UEFA’s 2022-23 Men’s Player Of The Year.

Norway’s team is coached by coaches from around the world but most are from Norway and head coach Stale Solbakken is from Norway’s 1998 World Cup team. The team plays for various clubs from around Europe. Stars include goalkeeper Orjan Nyland who plays for Sevilla, defender Kristoffer Vassbakk Ajer who plays for England’s Brentford, midfielder and captain Martin Odegaard who plays for Arsenal and striker Erling Haaland who plays for Manchester City. Norway’s play in the last twelve months has been mostly strong. Notable wins include Sweden, Israel and twice against both Estonia and Italy. They’ve also had draws against Switzerland and New Zealand and their only loss was against the Netherlands back in March this year. The stage is ready in North America and Norway can prove itself to be a delightful upsetter at this World Cup.

My Qualifier Predictions: Many of the teams are tough rivals and this is one of the groups many are labelling the ‘Group Of Death.’ I predict France to top with Senegal second. Norway will be third and they will play well enough to qualify for the knockout round.

And there you have it! That’s my look at World Cup Group I. Isn’t it something about World Cup group play? You have the favorites and can make all these predictions but it’s their three games that will decide if they’re worth advancing or not!

WORK CITED:
“Concerns: 2026 FIFA World Cup.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup#Concerns>