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2026 FIFA World Cup – Group I Focus

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

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. I’d rather focus on the teams about to play rather than the controversies.

Group I is a unique set of four. Two teams competed last Cup and both made the Round Of 16. One team is in their first World Cup in 28 years and another their first in 40 years and their second only! Also the first match of France vs. Senegal should be interesting because it was the very first match of World Cup 2002 and France was shocked by Senegal with a 1-0 loss! Should be interesting. Anyways enough with the trivia. 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 the Ivory Coast earlier this 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, Egypt and the United States. They had a win and a draw against DR Congo, a draw against Saudi Arabia, 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 three draws, against the UAE, Spain and Saudi Arabia and had losses against Algeria, Jordan and Venezuela. 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, New Zealand and Morocco 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>

World Cup 2022 Preview: Group A

Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

For those wondering with the World Cup happening, will I be doing reviews of the groups as I normally do? Yes, I will. Will I be doing reviews of the stadiums and issues involving Qatar as the host? No I won’t. I mostly want to stick to reviewing the groups. Escpe4cially since that’s what mostly gets attention to my group blogs.

I will only talk a limited amount about Qatar hosting. I know it’s a surprise selection and that a lot of people have opinions about it. Many people are crying foul about it. The most I will say is it is a surprise to see a nation of just over 4,000 square miles (just slightly bigger than the island of Jamaica) and not even 3,000,000 people hosting. I would have figured is there would be one country in the Arabic world that would host the World Cup, it would be either Morocco or Algeria. Plus a nation that small having eight stadiums. I hope most of those stadiums have temporary seating because Qatar can’t afford to have the stadiums as white elephants. Only the future will tell of the after-use.

In the meantime, I will begin my World Cup focus on Group A. Group A is always the group with the host nation and it’s in the hopes that the host nation qualifies to the knockout stage. So far only once — South Africa back in 2010 — has the host nation not advanced past the opening stage of a World Cup. So let’s get to it! Also a reminder that FIFA ranking for October 2022 is in brackets:

GROUP A

-Qatar (50): Isn’t it something that there’s only a single nation making its World Cup debut and it’s the host nation? Qatar is considered to be an underdog by many. However the team called ‘The Maroon’ know with them hosting the World Cup this year, they will want to put on a good show and have the home country proud of them. They hired a Spanish coach named Felix Sanchez to coach the national team starting with the under-20 team in 2013, then the under-23 team in 2017 and then the main national team in 2020. They have delivered surprise results in the last four years like winning the 2019 Asian Cup and finishing third as a guest nation at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Interesting to note that all members of Qatar’s team play for clubs inside Qatar. Qatar has attempted to prove its mettle in the last year and a half against both national teams and renowned clubs. They’ve had victories over Ghana, United Arab Emirates and Italian team Udinese. They’ve had recent draws against Jamaica, Morocco and Chile. They’ve also had notable defeats to Serbia, Canada and Algeria. For their Group A opponents, the only team they ever played against was Ecuador and their record against them is a win, a loss and a draw. This World Cup is the scene for Qatar to prove itself to the world and they might just pull a surprise or two.

-Ecuador(44): This will be Ecuador’s fourth World Cup. Ecuador is a team looking for it’s first major break. At the World Cup, the best they ever did was the Round of 16. At the Copa America, the most they ever got was fourth. Le Tricolor is coach by a full team of Argentinean coaches in hopes of making their dent on the world football field. The Ecuadorean under-20 team finished third in the 2019 U20 World Cup.

The team has players that play in a wide variety of clubs in Europe, the US’s MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. The goalkeepers all play for teams with Ecuador’s Serie A. They’ve had recent noteworthy wins against Mexico, Chile and Nigeria. They’ve had notable draws against Argentina, Japan and Brazil. They’ve also had losses to Venezuela and Paraguay. 2022 is another chance for Ecuador to prove itself on the World Cup stage and anything can happen.

-Senegal (18): The 2018 World Cup was the first World Cup since 1982 that an African team didn’t qualify for the knockout phase. Of the five teams, Senegal appeared to be the team most likely to. However at the end of their group, they had a win, a loss and a draw, just like Japan. They had the same goal differential as Japan, but what made the difference was Japan had less yellow cards than Senegal. That made all the difference between qualifying or not. The Lions of Teranga are back this year with the highest rank of all the African teams.

The national team has players that play in various European clubs; most play for either English or French teams. Coach Allou Cisse is the same coach they had since 2015. The team has had recent notable wins against Bolivia and Egypt, notable draws against Iran and Togo, and only two losses in the last year and a half. Senegal looks to improve as a team in 2022 and the stadiums of Qatar are another chance for them to move forward.

-Netherlands (8): The excitement of the Oranje almost always seems to be a given during a World Cup or a Euro. But after the 2014 World Cup where they finished third, they ran into trouble. They failed to qualify for the 2016 Euro and the 2018 World Cup. Turns out after they dropped Louis van Gaal as head coach just after World Cup 2014, they dealt with seven head coaches since. Van Gaal has returned as head coach after their Round of 16 elimination at Euro 2020.

For the national team for this World Cup, most of the players either play for German leagues or Netherlands’ Eridivisie. The team features a wide variety of veterans and young players. Since Euro 2020, the Netherlands team has not had a single loss. They’ve scored big wins against Belgium, Wales and Denmark. They’ve also had noteworthy draws against Germany and Poland. 2022 looks to be a big year of redemption for the Netherlands and I’m sure they’ll prove a lot here in Qatar.

MY PREDICTION: And now for my thoughts on Group A. It’s hard to predict as some teams have proved a lot while others have more to prove. I predict the two teams to qualify to the knockout phase will be the Netherlands and Senegal.

And there you have it! The first of my reviews of the groups for the 2022 World Cup. As we get closer and closer to the start, you will be seeing more reviews and more predictions.

World Cup 2018 Preview: Group H

Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

Hard to believe it’s finally about to start. The very first World Cup game starts at 8:00 on Thursday June 14th in Luzhniki Stadium and it ends there too on Sunday July 15th. And at the end of it all, only one country is left smiling! Anyways on with my last group review: Group H. How do they stack up?

Poland fixed-Poland (10)- Poland has a football success that usually is strong one quadrennial, weak another. This time around, it looks like Poland has its strongest team in decades. They topped their World Cup qualification en route to Russia. They’ve even produced a superstar in Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski.

Poland is not just Lewandowski. There’s also midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski and defender Lukasz Piszczek. The team features a good mix of young and older talent. They were very impressive in World Cup qualifying. The team has had some notable wins in the past year against Lithuania and South Korea, but they’ve also had 1-0 losses to Nigeria and Mexico. Russia 2018 is yet another chance for Poland to seize the moment.

Senegal flag-Senegal (28)- 2002 seems like a memory. It was Senegal’s first World Cup and they surprised defending champions France in the opening game of that World Cup and en route to going to the quarterfinals. They’ve failed to return to the World Cup scene until now. They hope to show the world they still have what it takes.

After 16 long years, The Lions Of Teranga come back via coach Aliou Cisse who played for that Senegalese team in the World Cup. Most of the players play for teams with the Premier League or France’s Ligue 1 or Ligue 2. Senegal have had some noteworthy wins in the last year such as to South Africa and South Korea. However they’ve also lost recently to Croatia 2-1 and also had a scoreless draw against Bosnia. Senegal returns to the World Cup stage here in Russia with lots to prove.

Colombia-Colombia (16)- This appears to be a new era in Colombian football. They first had a chance in the 90’s to make a name for themselves at the World Cup, but poor performances marred by political strife in their country prevented that from happening. Then they made a return to the World Cup scene in 2014. There they made it to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. On top of that, striker James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for scoring six goals.

Rodriguez is back, along with midfielder Carlos Sanchez, striker Radamel Falcao and Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina. Colombia has had some recent noteworthy wins such as 3-2 against France and 4-0 against China. However they’ve also lost 2-1 against Paraguay and 2-1 against South Korea. Chances are Colombia can go further than they ever have here in Russia 2018.

Japan-Japan (60)- Japan is one Asian country that has been struggling to show how talented their team is. The Samurai Blue have made it to the Round of 16 in 2002 (which they co-hosted) and 2010, but that’s as far as they’ve ever gotten. Japan has produced a boom in football back with the boost of the J-League in the 90’s but they’re still waiting for their big moment. Sure, they’ve won many AFC Asian Cups in the past, but they feel they have more to prove internationally.

This past year has had its ups and downs for Japan. They recently won against Paraguay 4-2 and won against Australia 2-0. However they’ve had some notable losses to Brazil 3-1, Switzerland 2-0 and Belgium 1-0. Remember anything can happen in World Cup play and Japan could just surprise everybody during Russia 2018.

So that’s my summary of the Group H teams. As for the two I feel will advance, I will have to go with Poland and Colombia.

STADIUM SPOTLIGHT

ST. PETERSBURG: Krestovsky Stadium (Saint-Petersburg Stadium)Krestovsky

Year Opened: 2017

Capacity: 67,000

World Cup Groups Hosting: A, B, D, E,

Additional World Cup Matches Contested: Round of 16, Semi-final, bronze-medal match

Situated on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, this stadium is not just known for its design, but its enormous cost to construct: an estimated $1.1 billion! It is considered one of the most expensive stadiums ever built. The high cost had a lot to do with a delayed civic loan, wind damage and flooding to materials and a withdrawal of a major corporate funder. Its opening in 2017 is nine years later than expected. The design of the stadium is based on Japanese designer Kisho Kurokawa’s ‘ Spaceship’ design. The stadium is situated where the old Kirov Stadium used to be. After the World Cup, the stadium will be the host venue for FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

MOSCOW: Luzhniki Stadium Luzhniki

Year Opened: 1956

Capacity: 80,000

World Cup Groups Hosting: A, B, C, F

Additional World Cup Matches Contested: Round of 16, Semi-final, Final match

This stadium has an immense amount of history with it. Actually during the days of the USSR, it used to be known as Central Lenin Stadium. After the collapse of the USSR and the doing away of Communism, the stadium has been named after the Luzhniki district it’s situated in. During the days of the USSR, the stadium was the centrepoint of the national Spartakiad sports celebrations. It was also the host venue for the 1980 Summer Olympics, 1973 Summer Universiade and 1986 Goodwill Games. Since the fall of Communism and the emergence of the Russian Federation, the stadium has hosted the 1999 UEFA Cup Final, 2008 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2013 World Championships In Athletics.

RUSSIA-LANDSCAPE-ARCHITECTUREThe stadium has had three renovations in the past. The most recent being before the Confederations Cup in preparation for the World Cup. World Cup renovations include a demolishing of the old stadium to have a new stadium with enclosure. The self-supported wall and facade of Lenin Stadium was maintained. New construction allowed the stadium to be connected to a main building. After the World Cup, the stadium will be the host venue for the Russian national team.

And that does it! This is the last of my group previews for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Hard to believe the opening ceremonies are 24 hours away, give or take. One thing for sure is that it will deliver a full month of excitement and surprises.