Reacting to My 2026 FIFA World Cup Predictions
- Linus O'Howell
- 11 minutes ago
- 11 min read
Over 6 weeks ago, I released an article where I made my complete predictions for the 2026 FIFA World Cup! With 48 teams, 12 groups, and 8 third-place finishers to try and get right, the odds of me making any decent predictions felt even lower than usual! However, considering I started doing my research for this tournament at the very end of March, let’s hope I at least got some things right!
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia
In Group A, I predicted Mexico to win the group with 3 wins out of 3, South Korea to finish second with 6 points, whilst both Czechia and South Africa would go out with just 1 point each! In fairness, I got Mexico spot on, whilst Czechia also only scored 1 point, although they finished bottom in the real thing! The two I really got wrong were South Korea and South Africa, with South Korea being dumped out in third place (with 3 points), whilst 4 points was enough for South Africa to progress! I didn’t expect that one!
Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland
In Group B, I predicted Switzerland to top the group with 3 wins out of 3, both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada to get through on 4 points (with Bosnia finishing second based on goal difference), whilst Qatar would lose all 3 games! I was actually pretty close to getting this group spot on, as a 94th-minute equaliser was all that stood between me and getting Switzerland and Qatar spot on! Funnily enough, Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina did both end up earning 4 points, but their positions were in reverse to mine!
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
In Group C, I predicted Morocco to top the group with 3 wins out of 3, both Brazil and Scotland to get through on 4 points, whilst Haiti would finish bottom after losing all 3 games! I got Brazil and Morocco the wrong way round in this group, with Brazil actually getting better results against both Morocco and Scotland than I expected! Scotland did finish third, although 3 points wasn’t enough for them to get through, whilst Haiti actually impressed me more than I thought they would, even if I was correct in that they’d lose every game!
Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Turkiye
In Group D, I predicted Turkiye to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, the United States to finish second with 4 points, Paraguay to sneak through as a third-place team, whilst Australia would finish bottom with just 1 point! We’ll start with the positive; Paraguay did progress as one of the 8-best third-place teams, so I got that part correct (although they actually got 4 points in comparison to my 3)! However, the US won the group, Australia managed to advance in second, whilst Turkiye finished bottom of Group D! Now that is a shocker!
Group E: Germany, Curacao, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador
In Group E, I predicted Ecuador to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, Germany to finish second with 6 points, Cote d’Ivoire to progress on 4 points, whilst Curacao would finish bottom after losing all 3 games! Ecuador are where I’ve gone wrong in this group, as they only finished third with 4 points! This then bumps up both Germany and the Ivory Coast, with me correctly stating that the Germans would get 6 points, whilst I actually slightly underestimated Curacao as the World Cup debutants managed to earn themselves a point! Fair play!
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
In Group F, I predicted the Netherlands to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, Japan to finish second with 7 points, Tunisia to go out on 3 points, whilst Sweden would lose all 3 games! Now, I was correct when it came to backing the Netherlands to beat Japan to top spot, although Japan drew one more game than I expected them to! On the other hand, I got Tunisia and Sweden completely wrong, as Sweden managed to progress on 3 points, whilst Tunisia lost all 3 games by an aggregate score of 2-12! They were horrendous!
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, IR Iran, New Zealand
In Group G, I predicted Belgium to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, IR Iran to finish second with 5 points, Egypt to progress on 4 points, whilst New Zealand would lose all 3 games! Firstly, Belgium did win Group G, but only with 5 points! Secondly, New Zealand did finish bottom, but they actually managed to earn a point! Egypt were actually the ones who finished second on 5 points, whilst 3 draws somehow wasn’t enough for Iran to progress! I’ll be honest, I never expected that heading into the tournament!
Group H: Spain, Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
In Group H, I predicted Spain to top the group with 3 wins out of 3, Uruguay to finish second with 6 points, whilst both Saudi Arabia and Cabo Verde would go out on 1 point each! The only thing I got right in this group was Spain, but even then, they didn’t win every game! Amazingly, Cabo Verde managed to finish second, drawing all 3 games, whilst Saudi Arabia would finish bottom, despite the fact that they got more points than I expected them to! And then there’s Uruguay, who were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament without winning a single game, finishing third on 2 points! I’m planning to do a World Cup ranking list on next week’s Podcast; trust me when I say that Uruguay will be incredibly low on that list!
Group I: France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway
In Group I, I predicted France to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, Senegal to finish second with 5 points, Norway to get through on 4 points, whilst Iraq would finish bottom after losing all 3 games! France actually did slightly better than this, getting a perfect 9 points, whilst I was correct when it came to Iraq losing all 3 games! However, Senegal were actually slightly disappointing, losing 2 of their 3 games (although they did manage to sneak through as the 8th-best third-place team), whilst Norway were the ones who finished second on a positive 6 points! Still, this was a very high-quality group!
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
In Group J, I predicted Argentina to top the group with 3 wins out of 3, Austria and Algeria to both get through on 4 points (finishing second and third respectively), whilst I had Jordan losing all 3 games! Rather incredibly, this is spot on, like all of these things happened! The only thing that perhaps surprised me was Jordan, as despite losing every game, I did feel like they did a decent job considering that this was their World Cup debut!
Group K: Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia
In Group K, I predicted Portugal to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, Colombia to finish second on 7 points, whilst both Uzbekistan and DR Congo would go out with 1 point each! I was correct on Colombia getting 7 points, but unlike for me, 7 points was enough for the Copa America runners-up to win this group! Portugal’s 5 points meant they only finished second, whilst DR Congo stunned me by getting 4 points, enough to get them through to their first-ever World Cup Knockout game! Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with Uzbekistan’s performance; I expected more!
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
In Group L, I predicted England to top the group with 2 wins and a draw, Croatia to finish second on 7 points, Panama to sneak through on 3 points, whilst I had Ghana to lose all 3 games! I got England spot on, was one point off doing the same with Croatia, but Ghana were another team who exceeded my expectations, finishing third with 4 points! Panama were actually the team in Group L who lost all 3 of their games, with them not even scoring a goal! Despite that fact, I think Panama gave a good account of themselves against all three teams in this group!
Second Round:
Ecuador 1-0 Scotland – The game that actually took place here was Germany-Paraguay, with Scotland not even making it to the Knockout stages! Also, Ecuador lost in the Round of 32, so having them win in this round was also wrong!
France 2-0 Paraguay – Funnily enough, this game actually took place in the Last 16, with this game seeing France beat Sweden 3-0! At least I had France winning!
South Korea 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina – Well, the fact that this game was actually competed in by South Africa and Canada tells you that I got something very wrong! South Korea didn’t even make the Knockout phase, but at least Bosnia did exit at the Round of 32!
Netherlands 2-2 Brazil (Netherlands Win on Penalties) – Due to Brazil topping their group in real life, the game that actually took place in Monterrey was Netherlands VS Morocco! That game did finish 2-2, but it was the Dutch who lost on penalties!
Colombia 0-0 Croatia (Colombia Win on Penalties) – In a similar style to the game above, Colombia topped their group, meaning Croatia had to play Portugal instead! Croatia did lose that game, however, so I at least got that part right!
Spain 2-0 Austria – This game very much took place, with Spain winning 3-0! I’ll take that!
Turkiye 2-1 Canada – I can tell you that neither of these teams played in this spot, with the actual clash at Levi Stadium being between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina! Now, Canada actually won their Round of 32 match, whilst Turkiye didn’t even make it this far, so that doesn’t bode well for later!
Belgium 1-0 Algeria – So Belgium did actually win in this slot; however, they played a different African side in the form of Senegal! Algeria lost in their Round of 32 clash, so we got that part right too!
Morocco 2-2 Japan (Morocco Win on Penalties) – The game that took place here saw Brazil score late to beat Japan 2-1, so I can at least say that I was correct about Japan going out this early! However, the irony comes with my Morocco prediction, as they did actually win on penalties after drawing 2-2 at this stage of the competition, just against the Netherlands instead!
Germany 1-2 Senegal – Due to me incorrectly predicting what would happen in both Groups E and I, I completely missed the mark as this game actually took place between Norway and Cote d’Ivoire! Senegal also fell apart at this stage of the competition, so that isn’t good, but at least I can say that I was correct with having Germany exit rather early!
Mexico 1-0 Cote d’Ivoire – Mexico would win in this slot, keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory against Group I’s third-place finisher! However, it wasn’t against Cote d’Ivoire, but Ecuador instead!
England 3-2 Norway – England were victorious in this spot, edging out DR Congo (who I had going out in the Group Stage)! The ironic thing about this prediction is England would go on to knock Norway out of the tournament, but that wouldn’t be until the Quarter-Final stage!
Argentina 2-0 Uruguay – I definitely would never have expected that Cabo Verde would take Argentina into Extra Time, with the 2022 Champions barely beating the debutants! On the flip side, Uruguay didn’t even make it this far!
United States 1-1 IR Iran (United States Win on Penalties) – I had completely the wrong game predicted here, with the actual match taking place between Australia and Egypt! That game would also go to penalties, with the Group G team edging out the side from Group D! In fairness, the US would advance to the Last 16, but Iran weren’t even able to make it this far!
Switzerland 2-0 Egypt – Whilst it was Algeria instead of Egypt in this spot, Switzerland did beat an African side 2-0 in the Round of 32, so we take that! Of course, Egypt also got to the Last 16, however!
Portugal 3-0 Panama – Portugal definitely didn’t beat Panama at this round, with Panama not even making it this far! Instead, the actual final Round of 32 game saw Colombia beat Ghana 1-0, so I was well off!
Last 16:
Ecuador 0-1 France – Starting with the positives, France did actually win this exact fixture 1-0, except it was against Paraguay! On top of this, Ecuador went out in the Round of 32, so I “overhyped” them!
South Korea 1-3 Netherlands – This is a horrendous prediction! Neither of these teams even made it this far in the tournament, with South Korea going out in the group stage! In fact, this game actually saw Morocco beat Canada 3-0, and we know for a fact that I didn’t have Canada going this far!
Colombia 1-1 Spain (Spain Win on Penalties) – So Spain were victorious in this game, beating Portugal 1-0, whilst Colombia would go out in this round on penalties! This prediction is just hurt by the fact that Colombia actually managed to win their group, meaning Portugal were the ones who fell into this spot instead!
Turkiye 2-1 Belgium – Firstly, Turkiye finished bottom of their group, so they definitely didn’t win a Last 16 game! Secondly, Belgium thrashed the United States 4-1 in this spot, so they also definitely didn’t lose!
Morocco 1-2 Senegal – Nothing about this prediction is correct, with Morocco winning their Last 16 game, whilst Senegal didn’t even make it this far! To top it off, the game that actually took place (in this slot) at MetLife Stadium was Norway beating Brazil 2-1; two teams I’d already eliminated!
Mexico 2-1 England – What’s frustrating about this prediction is this game did happen; it was Mexico VS England in Mexico City for a spot in the Quarter-Final! Unfortunately for my prediction, the result went the other way, with England picking up a rather superb 3-2 victory!
Argentina 3-0 United States – So, Argentina did win this game, whilst the United States also got thrashed in the Last 16! However, the US lost their game to Belgium, whilst Argentina actually “beat” Egypt!
Switzerland 2-3 Portugal – Just like I mentioned earlier, Colombia beating Portugal to top spot in Group K really messed up a ton of these predictions, with this game actually taking place between Switzerland and Colombia! Switzerland actually managed to win that tie on penalties, whilst Portugal failed to progress over Spain!
Quarter-Finals:
France 2-2 Netherlands (France Win on Penalties) – So, the positive part of this prediction is France were victorious in this exact slot; it was just in a much more convincing way with a 2-0 win over Morocco! As we discussed before, the Netherlands were eliminated in the Round of 32 (by Morocco, funnily enough), but at least I was correct in that the Dutch would only exit via a penalty shootout!
Spain 2-1 Turkiye – Spain did beat a group winner 2-1 in the Quarter-Finals, but that loss fell on the shoulders of Belgium! Thankfully, my journey with Turkiye is over, but they have to go down as one of my worst-predicted teams of the entire tournament (if not, the worst)!
Senegal 2-0 Mexico – Great! Neither of these teams made it this far, so that’s wonderful! The actual game that took place here was England defeating Norway 2-1, so I was quite a bit off!
Argentina 2-3 Portugal – We already know that Portugal didn’t make it this far at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Switzerland actually being the ones who faced Argentina at this stage of the tournament! Argentina also won that game, so I wrongly predicted them to suffer an “earlier than planned” exit!
Semi-Finals:
France 2-1 Spain – If I was going to get one thing right this summer, it would be to acknowledge the fact that France and Spain were on a collision course for a Semi-Final game where only one team would find themselves in the Final! I thought it would be France, but it turned out to be Spain!
Senegal 1-2 Portugal – So, Senegal were eliminated in the Round of 32, whilst Portugal lost in the Last 16! And yet, I had them both to play each other for a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final! Wonderful set of predictions there! Now, the actual game that took place in Atlanta was Argentina beating England 2-1, so at least I got the score right!
Third Place Playoff: Spain 2-0 Senegal – We already know how wrong I was with Senegal, whilst Spain actually did (a lot) better than finishing third! Credit to them, as this game actually saw England defeat France 6-4!
2026 FIFA World Cup Final: France 0-1 Portugal
So back in June, I predicted that the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final would be contested between France and Portugal! It was not, as France finished 4th, whilst Portugal couldn’t even make it to the Quarter-Finals! The actual Final saw Spain beat Argentina, something that felt very manageable at the time, and yet I never predicted it! You can add Portugal to the list of Champions curses I’ve made over the years!
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