World Cup 2026 preview: Groups E-H – Football Weekly

15:43Barry Glendenning:Wilson. I mean, I think this is a genuinely tricky group. I think this might be the best balanced of all the 12 groups. I think Xavi Simmonds is a loss. I think he gave them a lot of guile in midfield. The fact that... I never know. Something like Tajani Rinders is clearly really important for their rhythm and just the way they manipulate the ball. Is it good he's barely played in the last six months? Is he fresh or is he rusty? Very hard to tell. They've got loads of options up front as well. that there's a chance Brian Broby might start. They've got Broby and Veghorse. They've got these sort of alliterative battering rams up front.

16:21Barry Glendenning:That's such a dream team. I'd absolutely love to see that. But they've also got Gapho and Daniel Marlon. Justin Cliver as well. Again, he's only started 10 league games at Bournemouth this season. So is he fresh or is he rusty? So yeah, attacking options, they can go into completely different directions. But if they're up against a team that doesn't like it up them, Brodby and Weghorst. I really hope, I just hope there's a game where with 10 minutes to go they desperately need a goal and they're going long to Brodby and Weghorst. I think that would be the best football we see this year. Who starts a goal for them, Wilson?

16:59Max Rushden:Is it Rufus or Barrett Verbruggen? Or is there another one that I've forgotten? I think Flecken's the other option, isn't it? I think a lot of people are saying Rufus is going to start, but he's not, I don't know how much experience, Has he even been capped for the Netherlands? Like barely, right?

17:15Barry Glendenning:Yeah, he's only 23. And really, this is the first year when he's been even vaguely high profile. And I think he looks very calm, but he's not without a rick when it comes to passing out from the back.

17:27Jonathan Wilson:Yeah. I mean, defensively, they are strong as well, aren't they? But as you say, Wilson, it does look like a really good group. You think Japan are possibly, what did you say? And then what's that group?

17:37Barry Glendenning:I think this Japan might be the best Asian side ever. Now, obviously, Fatma Toma is injured is a big blow because he is a brilliant player. But they've got, I mean, in terms of players that in the Premier League, we know Kamado and Tanaka in midfield. They've got, I mean, you've got Dyson Maida from Celtic, who I think probably will play to the left. I think it'll probably be a 3-4-2-1. I think he'll be the left side of the creators. And I say, I don't know how you say this, Ueda from Feyenoord. But yeah, their record in qualifying was exceptional. Asian qualifying takes forever. It's got all these phases.

18:18Barry Glendenning:There's all kinds of safety nets, which is why Saudi Arabia got through about the eighth safety net. Japan just didn't need it at all. They blasted everybody away. Yeah, the second round of qualifying, I think they won six out of six in the first round of qualifying, but you'd expect that because that's against the minnows. But then they won seven of ten in the second round, which is difficult because huge amounts of travel, very different conditions very different opponents when the draw was made and i realized i was having to make quite an annoying journey to go and see japan v tunisia and we'll come on to my views on tunisia which i would say are not positive although they have changed manager to be fair i was sort of thinking oh god that is just a game that i have no interest in seeing and now i think no i think

18:58Max Rushden:it might be privileged to see this japan like tijani reinders in the dodge squad what to rendo has barely played this season. So is he fresh or rusty? Takumi Minamino, ex-Southampton, was touch and go, ex-Southampton and Liverpool, was touch and go, but I think he's in the squad. But again, he's barely played for six months or more. So that would have to be a concern. But I am intrigued by the fact that Wilson is big on this Japan team's chances. Like, they beat Germany and Spain at the last World Cup, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, they did. But there is really interestingly, this Japanese side's got this massive psychological issue, right?

19:42So they're brilliant side. They look great. Qualification breezing through it. But at a World Cup, they've exited at the last 16 every single time since 2002. So they've been beaten by teams they probably shouldn't have been, Turkey, Paraguay, Belgium, Croatia. And apparently that's one of the biggest issues they've got as a team is they have to get over this psychological hurdle that they've never gone further than that. And it's been really interesting because their coach has been genuinely saying, this is a team that should be aiming to win the World Cup. And, you know, the instinct is to scoff at that, but it's a very, very good team until these string of injuries that have come in and I think probably taken away any chance and going seriously, seriously deep.

20:24But yeah, I think psychologically it's a big one for them.

20:26Jonathan Wilson:Sweden were managed by Jondal Thomason. he was dismissed mid-contract replaced by Graham Potter who's having a lovely time the unshackled unburdened Graham Potter as producer Joel said like a newly divorced dad with a new car they have got a few injuries like they don't have Kulisevsky which is a bit of an issue Isaac is in the squad those scored in their friend against Norway yesterday Jokeres is seemingly different for Sweden or I think he did okay at Arsenal so but as they're you know I don't know if it's as far as Dark Horse but they have some good players

21:01Max Rushden:Yeah, they definitely have good players It'll be interesting to see how Alexander Izak gets on Jokeres has conspicuously improved for Arsenal in recent the last couple of months but the bar was pretty low and he's still not particularly good at holding up the ball I don't know if Sweden will play him and Izak together or just one of them I mean, they stank the place out in qualifying and only snuck in through the back door of Nations League. But they're there now and they've got Graham Potter. He's much loved in Sweden. I would be surprised if they finished in the top two in the group. They may well finish third if that'll be enough.

21:43Max Rushden:I don't know. But I can't really see them doing much damage at this tournament.

21:47Barry Glendenning:The amount of love Sweden has to Graham Potter has to be experienced to be believed. I was in a hotel. I was at the Sweden-Poland for the playoff game, and I was in a hotel actually quite near the ground, so there was lots of Sweden fans there. And going to the game, I got on the lift with about a dozen very pissed Sweden fans, and they were like, oh, you're English. Do you know Graham Potter? And I was like, well, I've been in press conferences with him. It was like I'd been touched by a saint. They wanted to sort of touch my feet. It was extraordinary. And then the press conference afterwards, I've never seen a manager so happy, so relaxed.

22:26Barry Glendenning:And you compare that to what he was like at Chelsea or at West Ham. There's a very special, inexplicable bond there. And I just don't think you can judge anything that Sweden have done in the last two years. Maybe those two playoff games against Ukraine and Poland. Even the Poland game didn't really make much sense. Sweden just kept scoring. Poland were much better. They had all the ball. They kept creating chances. every time they equalized Sweden just went down the other end and scored so I I have no I don't think there's any track record you can judge them on and I think they'd be they're very dangerous because they are such a loose horse.

23:02Jonathan Wilson:Patricia Joel speculating that we think you told that story about being in a lift with some Sweden fans a week ago I do like the idea that you will now tell it to us once a week for the until football weekly is no longer a going concern.

23:16Barry Glendenning:I mean if you like It could become a sort of Barry's goal. Barry's header.

23:21Jonathan Wilson:Barry's header for Gen Z or whatever we've become now. Paul, do you want to start on Tunisia before we let Wilson kick them into the dirt? Yeah, I mean, Tunisia is a really tricky one, isn't it? Because you can look at them in various different ways. I mean, there's this stat, again, they didn't concede a single goal in qualification. And that sounds great until you look at the fact they're in a group with Namibia, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi and Sautomia and Principe. So they just weren't really tested. And I think as Wilson alluded to, this change of manager has been interesting. They had Sami Tribelsi in there.

24:02They didn't do well at AFCON. And then they've brought in Sabri Lamushi, who was Ivory Coast coach in 2014. he got them to 2014 World Cup and then got knocked out of the groups. So again, not a coach you can massively say either way is a good or bad choice. But really, the big thing that stands out to me is the lack of any real forward options, like striking options. There was talk that Louis Ben Fahat, this 19-year-old rising star, was going to be the big hope. and he, well, he's not been selected, but apparently his dad turned down selection for him. I don't know if that's true, but basically he said, don't pick him.

24:42He's not ready. I don't know 100 % if that's true, but it kind of says a lot about how few striking options there are on this team and how little excitement there is to be had from Tunisia. So yeah, I would probably be a lot milder than Wilson, but I do feel like this is not a team you feel particularly excited to watch.

25:01Barry Glendenning:I've been watching them for 24 years. There is no team in world football I like watching less, except sort of come out the other side now. And I quite relish how awful they are. And what's frustrating about them is they have some, and they have had over the past quarter of a century, some extremely technically gifted players, but they play with a greater sense of paranoia than any other country on earth. so the last 16 of the of the cup of nations this year which was uh it was john bruin's first ever cup of nations game and it was it was tunisia versus mali and i think mali have got a bit of a tunisia tendency to play within themselves as well so i said to bruin like this is you're getting the full afghan experience here do not expect anything to happen in this game and tunisia are better than mali player for player they're better and then mali had a man sent off after about half an hour so they've got an hour to score and they didn't attack they sat back they sat back against a 10-man bad side they did finally score immediately conceded with a free kick and they lost on penalties and it was the most obvious foreseeable tunisian exit so to be fair to sammy he was and this happened to a couple of coaches at the at the couple nations he was undermined by by having the Arab Championship sort of like three weeks before the Cup of Nations.

26:25Barry Glendenning:And they hadn't done well there with the B team. So there's pressure on him. That maybe in part explains his paranoia, although it does seem to be a cultural thing running through Tunisian football. So he was on a hiding spot. I think it ends up getting sacked. Sabi Limushi, who knows how he'll do. He has picked a pretty different squad to the Cup of Nations, including calling in Rani Kadira, who's Sami Kadira's brother, who's 32, uncapped previously, a midfielder. He is a footballer, just to confirm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He is a midfielder, yeah. He's an estate agent in Berlin. Paul alludes to the lack of attacking options.

27:05Barry Glendenning:He's brought in Khalil Ayari from PSG, who is a young, very, very inexperienced forward. and it seems essentially a bit of a Hail Mary, just sort of let's hope this kid can do something because they really do lack creative options. Hannibal, he used to be at Manchester United, now at Burnley, everything in that game against Marley went through him and I would say that is a non-ideal situation.

27:30Max Rushden:So you're saying not so much Eagles of Carthage as lame ducks?

27:35Barry Glendenning:They'd be really awkward. They're a difficult team to play against because they do everything not to play football.

27:41Jonathan Wilson:Stubborn ducks.

27:42Barry Glendenning:Yeah, stubborn, quite annoying ducks. It's like a duck who sits in the path. When you go for an early morning run and there's a duck in the path sleeping and will not move. It's not going to come at you, but it will get in your way.

27:56Jonathan Wilson:Got it. That'll do for Group F with G in part two. Hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. Football Weekly is supported by Hotels.com. Now, Barry, question. When you're booking a hotel, do you use Hotels.com? Actually, you're probably just going to say, I don't know. producer Joel does it. I don't know. Producer Joel does it. Well, I think you should give it a try for yourself. Obviously, it's a massive summer of soccer and loads of our listeners will be travelling to watch the tournament and needing to book somewhere great to stay. So it's good to know that when you're a Hotels.com member, you can save up to 20 % on hundreds of thousands of hotels, plus you earn rewards on every stay, so each trip you take helps pay for your future trips.

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29:41Jonathan Wilson:Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Group G, Belgium, Egypt, Iran and New Zealand. Belgium managed by Rudy Garcia, best ever. Third in 2018, went out in the group stages last time. Egypt managed by Hossam Hassan, best ever at the group stages in 2018. Iran managed by Amir Galanoi, best in the group stages. And they did that in Qatar and New Zealand. Best ever group stages in 1982, 2010, where they were famously undefeated and released a DVD called Undefeated, drawing their three games. This, Barry, looks nice for Belgium to me.

30:16Max Rushden:It does. It'll be a huge surprise if they don't top this group. They've got some absolutely terrific players. They've got some very experienced players in Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Axel Witzel. four players with nearly 500 caps between them i think they've got brilliant wingers um jeremy daco charles de catalira among others leandro trossard's there my main concern for belgium would be that they don't really have a decent striker romelu lukaku's getting on he's only played five or six times this season i think or this year no this season can lois Cipenda step up for them I don't know but yeah where are the goals going to come from from Belgium but looking at how much creativity they have if they can get someone banging them in

31:12Jonathan Wilson:they could be real force I mean Di Quetelero can play down the middle as well I mean he's not a goal scorer but he is sort of you know a deft sort of sharing him type player in my mind what do you reckon, Wilson?

31:25Barry Glendenning:Yeah, I mean, they did score 29 goals in eight games in qualifying, which sounds really impressive until you actually look at it. And to be fair, they scored four twice against Wales, but a lot of those goals against Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein. So they're great at scoring goals against quite weak opposition. I think you look at that side and draw the same conclusion Barry has that maybe against better teams, they will struggle. It's one of those things that can work two ways the fact that squad is so familiar um i mean you know the the the four that barry mentioned but i mean uh mernier's been there for forever as well is it good that they know each other so well is it does that just mean they'll settle into a natural rhythm or are they a bit stale and a bit knackered and ancient in the heat they'll they'll wilt so i mean the group is very kind i think um but i can't really see them going much further than that how red-faced will kevin

32:14Jonathan Wilson:De Bruyne be in the heat. It would be fun to see. Paul, so we could have a situation where Belgium win these games, Paul, convincingly, and then everyone starts saying this is the team, and then they struggle in the knockouts. Yeah, I mean, it's nice to sort of see them finally not being called a golden generation, isn't it, Belgium? This is very much not, but it still has traces of it. It's funny, everyone's worried about them going forward. I'm actually a bit worried about them at the back. I'm not massively worried, like I'm not good about worrying about Belgium generally, but But their 5-2 friendly win against the USA kind of showed that.

32:48They were a bit of a mess, really, defensively. And I know it's just a friendly, but I just feel like there was this period where they had the so-called golden generation. You had people like Vincent Kompany and, you know, Vertonghen at the back. This new back line doesn't impress me as much. You've got a lot of potentially good young defenders. I like Artur Teat. I like Brandon Michele. Zona Debas is a good player, but it doesn't feel like defensively they've got the same authority. that said it is great that Thibaut Courtois has come back in he had that feud with the previous boss Domenico Tedesco and like they were basically not playing one of the best goalkeepers in world football for a while which is brilliantly self-sabotaging which I think in a way is perfectly Belgium to self-sabotage in that way but yeah my worry is actually that they could concede a few soft goals at this tournament and I think that will let them down.

33:38Apart from going forward then and offensively we have high hopes for Belgium

33:41Jonathan Wilson:um Egypt Wilson I've heard you be sort of you know Tunisia-like critical of of Egypt in the past

33:49Barry Glendenning:well except they were good at it yeah they they I think Egypt have traditionally played within themselves but been successful in doing so so you always felt there's a bit more there but it's quite hard not that it stopped me criticizing them or Didier Deschamps France it's quite hard to criticize a team that is winning things I have major reservations about Hassan Hassan as a coach and I'm not the only one. Again, he was undermined by the Arab Cup. So Ahmed Hassan, who is, I think he's the most successful footballer in African history. Did he win four Cups of Nations? He was definitely there for the one in 98 and then at least two of the three in a row.

34:30Barry Glendenning:He's sort of just sort of openly laughing at Hossam Hassan as a sort of tactician. Esmail Adari, the ancient goalkeeper, who I think he's the oldest player ever to play in the World Cup at 45. He's been very critical of Ossama San. I did not expect Ossama San to make it to the tournament. I thought that the semi-final exit of the Cup of Nations would see him off. He's somehow still there. They did, after lots of messing around with different formations, they did settle on this 3-4-1-2 formation, which allows them to play both Mohamed Salah and Omar Mamouche. and I think that is probably the way to get the best out of the two of them that you just sort of let them have essentially three roles up front, Salah vaguely to the right, Mamouche vaguely to the left and that's pulled together by Emam Ashour who is a very sort of old-fashioned creative number 10 and so if the platform, if the three, four bits of the three, four, one, two work they could be quite dangerous but I just don't trust Hassan Hassan to make the right calls during games.

35:33Barry Glendenning:I think he's a motivator rather than a tactician and for Salah this is massive because he yeah he did play in the World Cup in 2018 but it was shortly after that shoulder injury he got in the Champions League final he missed their opening game when they lost to Uruguay and he clearly wasn't fully fit for the the last two group games so this is probably his his only shot at doing well at the World Cup so I think Marmusha's presence means a little bit less pressure on him and a little bit less reliant on him for attacking

36:03Jonathan Wilson:flair but it is still really all about him um iran will hope to focus on the football but obviously the political tensions will surround every game they play they are staying in mexico playing their games in the us as we record the usa uh strikes on iran are still happening they're calling them defensive uh trump insists the deal is close so we have no idea what the situation will be like when this episode goes out next week or how the conflict will develop over the six weeks of the tournament we will obviously keep you posted on all sides of this the footballing and the political one and then of course there's the iranian diaspora in the us who are very critical of the regime back in iran as well and they might bury me the usa in the last 32 if they both become runners up in

36:47Max Rushden:their groups which is not an impossibility yeah um that would be interesting to say the least i suppose the thing about the iran squad is they've left out sardar as maun who's their best striker 31 year old who scored 57 goals in 91 appearances but he has he's played for Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and Zenit, St. Petersburg in the past. He has a history of criticizing the Iranian regime on social media where he has six million followers. He's a big supporter of Iranian women and he's not in the squad and I guess we can figure out why. They've got Mehdi Tarimi from Olympiacus, decent player. So I think they were at training camp in Turkey.

37:37Max Rushden:They're going to Tijuana, and it's quite an old squad. I don't know, would them playing the USA be a good thing, a bad? Something we really want to avoid? I don't really know enough about the conflict to offer an opinion. I don't want to be flippant. But they've never got out of a group at a World Cup before. I guess they could get out of this one they could fit yeah they could they could yeah what about New Zealand's chances Paul? New Zealand are actually a pretty interesting team to watch and I think one of the weird things for New Zealand is there's this double-edged sword like qualification was really easy so that's great for them but also qualification didn't push them at all they played five matches in World Cup qualification which I think when you compare it to was it Iraq who played the most games which was something like 21 they played five matches they beat new caledonia 3-0 in the final that was the hardest test um they slashed fiji 7-0 in the semi-finals so they really weren't pushed at all through qualification um the big thing for new zealand has been the the return of chris wood like that's that's enormous for them because without wood i think there was this worry about where the goals were going to come um that said they actually had this friendly against chile where everyone was saying, well, they're not going to score any goals.

38:59And they won 4-1. And it was kind of a chance for a couple of the guys that have been in Woods' shadow to step up. So Costa Barbaroussis, this 36-year-old who missed out on the 2010 squad, he's having this chance to kind of redeem that. He scored. He scores about 100 goals in the A-League every season. Barbaroussis. He's a brilliant player in his own way. He's one of these like legends, kind of veteran players. And he just gives everything. so they had him and Ben Wayne from Port Vale he scored as well against Chile there is more strength in depth than it looks with just relying on Chris Wood but then my favourite player actually is Eli Just from Motherwell he's brilliant and he's almost always there for New Zealand and he's just such a lovely creative figure in the team Sarpreet Singh's been great but he's had injury problems but I think the really the really the thing everyone's talking about is surely Tim Payne right I mean now the most famous man in the world suddenly having previously been well having previously been labeled the least known player in the World Cup right but this is a this is a squad that also has Tommy Smith from Braintree Town so I suspect Tommy Smith's sitting there at home

40:12Jonathan Wilson:thinking that could have been me yeah well the story if you don't know some Argentinian influencer said that Tim Payne and his 4 ,000 Instagram followers was the least known player at the tournament and told everyone to follow him and he now has 4.3 million Instagram followers which is unbelievable when you talk about this poor guy at Braintree if you have 4.3 million Instagram followers financially that's insane like the things that people marketing people will approach you with, like it could be sort of transformational for Tim Payne but he seems to be taking it in his in sort of typical understated Kiwi fashion.

40:48Jonathan Wilson:Good luck to them. And that'll do for part two. Sid Lowell will join us for part three and we will do Group H.

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41:50Jonathan Wilson:welcome to part three of the guardian football weekly so group h then spain cape verde saudi arabia and uruguay spain managed by luis de la fuente uh i've of course won it in 2010 got to the last 16 last time out cape verde managed by pedro britos saudi arabia managed by georgias dorones got to the last 16 in 1994 knocked out in the group stages last time out after beating Argentina in that opening game, of course. And Uruguay, managed by Marcelo Bielsa, won it in 1930, 1950, went out in the group stages last time. Sid Lowe is here with a group of builders behind him. Hey, Sid, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine, apart from the horrendous drilling and the, you know, yeah.

42:30It's the sound of the Spanish summer. You cannot go anywhere in the Spanish summer without hearing drilling.

42:34Jonathan Wilson:Sounds like something someone would say on, you know, KISS FM. This is the sound of the Spanish... Oh, yeah, on Madrid FM, the sound of the Spanish summer. but it's drill music of the highest order. How are Spain going to get on then, Sid? Well, when they went into the European Championships, nobody thought they were good enough and they were very conscious of the fact that nobody thought they were good enough and they've now made the point that everyone now thinks they're favourites and they're going to win it and they don't necessarily want to take that on board either. I think the evolution in particular of Laminya Mahler, of course, was 16 then, is 18 now and I think the evolution of players like that and the confidence that comes from having won the European Championships, It's beating everybody who was good en route, you know, Italy, England, France, Croatia as well, Germany, makes them feel like they are possibly the strongest side.

43:20And you look at the team and you kind of feel like that. But there's one or two doubts, and in particular the doubts are about the fitness of a handful of key players, including Laminya Mar.

43:29Jonathan Wilson:Yeah, because the squad looks, the side looks balanced, doesn't it? Yeah, and it's very stable as well. There's a couple of new faces in from before. Mark Poulbill was the latest arrival. Eric Garcia is back in the team, having not been in the squad for basically four years. But there's a real stability. That said, the idea of stability is undermined a little bit by the fact that Alvaro Morata and Dani Karnvajal aren't there, who were two of what I think you would probably call a three-man leadership team with Rodri from Manchester City. So Rodri's now the only one left, and it'll be interesting to see how much of a role that plays.

44:04But there is a stability. There's a very clear idea. There's a manager who has a very clear kind of authority, not necessarily over his players, but with his players. It's a group he knows very, very well. He talks a lot about the importance of personality and balance. And yeah, you look at that squad and you think there's really not too much wrong with it.

44:21Jonathan Wilson:There are no Real Madrid players in it, which instantly makes you go, what? And then you think, well, actually, there aren't that many Real Madrid players that would qualify to play for Spain. But does that have any impact? Is that a headline in Spain? Does that change how Real fans feel about the international team? I mean, to continue the metaphor, it's a headline, but then you read the article and go, yeah, well, whatever. Because, you know, the fact is there, and it is the first time they've had a squad with no Real Madrid players in it. But you look at the Real Madrid squad, and you look at the way Real Madrid have played this season, you think, well, how could it possibly have had any Real Madrid players in?

44:55Now, there's a couple that might have got in. Danny Carver-Hall's been injured, so he wasn't going to make it and didn't really get the opportunity to play in the final weeks of the season to maybe demonstrate to Luis La Fuente that he was just about fit enough to carry on. But he wasn't available or not properly available. Álvaro Carreras was not likely to get in a left-back. The only player that might have made it was Dean Housen. And he's had a really, really bad season. So, yeah, it's just not a big deal in football in terms. But, of course, in terms of the imagery and also given the nature of the way that Spain's kind of football fandom is split down the middle, it has a significance I think that that kind of isn't really about the team it's more about the noise around it.

45:35Did Rodri and Zubimendi both who's the midfield because you know got Pedri,

45:39Jonathan Wilson:Gabi, Rodri, Zubimendi it's hard to know who starts. Yeah it is I think I think maybe four or five months ago I'd have said Zubimendi actually starts ahead of Rodri I don't think that's true anymore for reasons that that you know better than me because of what's what's happened in the performance level in England and also because I think there's a belief now that Rodri is fully fit and has that kind of authority and leadership. So I think it will be him with two others, which almost certainly I would say would probably be Pedri and maybe Fabian Ruiz. Oh, yeah. It may depend on whether De La Fuente wants to play three in midfield and three up front or three in midfield with one in front of them behind the forward line.

46:19So that then poses a question about whether it's Fabian Ruiz or, for example, Dani Olmo. the other thing in all of this is that De La Frente would have loved to have played Mikel Marina, he's got them in a squad he wants him there, he wants him to play a part but of course because of fitness we don't know how much of a part he'll play

46:36Jonathan Wilson:Wilson, any thoughts on Spain? Yes Good, good, give them to yourself Would you like to share them?

46:45Barry Glendenning:The key thing it seemed to me about Spain at the Euros was that they to the sort of possession football we're very used to they'd added this directness wide through laminio mal and through nico williams nico williams obviously is not there because of injury so who's i mean you suggested that maybe they're not going to play that same shape but who would naturally come in for him well i mean it depends it depends what spain want to do um so i mean lucy lafente i think was very very clear that nico williams is in the squad by the way he we're just not sure if he's gonna he's gonna start But Luis Le Fente is very, very clear that he wanted wingers in a kind of old-fashioned sense.

47:24You know, very quick, very direct, make things happen, to give Spain an edge that they used to have, to maybe be more willing to release the ball early from deeper positions. I think the fitness doubts about those two mean this is one of the reasons why, for example, Victor Muñoz is in the squad, who got his first call-up in the last round of international games. He's a former Real Madrid youth team player who's played at Osasun this year. very, very quick, very direct and very exciting. I think that's one of the reasons why Jeremy Pino's in the squad. I think there was a slight doubt about whether or not he would make it, but that gives you a winger.

47:58And then there is also the alternative, which of course is to have someone who's not necessarily a winger playing in those positions coming inside. So maybe you have Dani Olmo out wide. I think this is one of the reasons why it's a real pity that Ferdinand Lopeth got injured at the end of the season because that was the role that he was starting to play for Barcelona, nominally in the wing, but really and truly kind of a driver midfield all over the place. But I think what we'll probably see happen is I think in the first few games, we might see moments of Laminia Malle. But I think by the time he's fully fit, he starts.

48:29And if they can get Nico fully fit, Nico starts as well.

48:32Jonathan Wilson:Paul, Cape Verde making their debut. What do we need to know? Well, yeah, I mean, it's been sold as a sort of surprise story, which in a way it is. They're the third smallest nation by population to reach a World Cup. They topped a group with Cameroon and Angola in it, which, you know, you wouldn't necessarily expect it. But they've been building this team since about 2023, AFCON, really, where they topped a group with Egypt and Ghana and sort of shocked everyone there. And it's a really strong unit. None of them are domestically based players. They're all coming from Europe, including Roberto Pico Lopez coming from Ireland, who was recruited by LinkedIn, which is one of my favourite stories of the World Cup.

49:08He got a LinkedIn message saying, do you want to come and play for Cape Verde? But it was in Portuguese, so he just ignored it. And then a year later, got the same message in English and said, oh, yeah, I do. And he's become quite integral. And this team's bound by this charismatic coach, Bubista, like a kind of very charismatic, very good man manager, became African coach for the year in 2025. five so for this team it really is a huge tournament for two reasons they've never been in a world cup before but also this team is an aging team so the core of the team are basically getting this one shot at a world cup and then they're going to be gone Vazinha the goalkeeper is 39 Stopira at the back is 37 their top goal scorer and appearance maker is Ryan Mendes he's 36 so you've got quite an old team here but it's a team that have sort of grown to this point where this is their big shot and I think it's all about can they shock Saudi Arabia I think that's the game they'll identify as winnable here and it may be that that would do it beat Saudi Arabia and and who knows they could

50:14Jonathan Wilson:even get through as the third place team uh Wilson Uruguay Bielsa discuss yeah more complicated than

50:23Barry Glendenning:it might be um so i think there's a lot of frustration you're quite happy elsa um it started really well for them they they won two nil away to argentina uh they they beat brazil in qualifying but the last year or so things have gone off the boil a bit i think to an extent it's just this is not a great generation of uruguayan players um and there's a tendency to blame bielsa before that but equally they did win the under 20 world cup in 2023 and none of that squad have been elevated by bielsa so luis suarez who retired 20 months ago has been very critical of bielsa then suddenly said oh actually i am available for this world cup and bielsa hasn't picked him quite understandably but one of the things that suarez said was that he found bielsa's harshness in team talks, you know, very, very difficult to deal with.

51:18Barry Glendenning:And that game where they won 2-0 in Le Bon Bonero against Argentina, supposedly reduced Darwin Nunez to tears at half-time. Now, Darwin Nunez went out, had a great second half and scored. So, you know, if you're from a pro Bielsa body, you'd say, well, it worked. But equally, I'm not really sure reducing players to tears is ever a great idea. And Darwin Nunez hasn't played since February because of the Saudi team he plays for had a reshuffle of their foreign players. And there's, I think, only three foreigners allowed. So again, is he fresh? Is he rusty? I think probably rusty. But equally, he hasn't scored a goal for Uruguay for two years now.

51:51Barry Glendenning:He got banned. Do you remember the semi-final of the Copa America in 2024? There was a Uruguayan player sort of waded into the crowd after they said that their families were being attacked by Colombia fans. Darwin has only got a five-game ban for that. Since he's come back, I think it's 11 or 12 matches for the national team, he hasn't got a goal. and they really need him to start scoring again. So I think a lot of question marks there.

52:17Jonathan Wilson:Baz, a line on Saudi Arabia and then your thoughts on the group as a whole.

52:24Max Rushden:Well, Saudi Arabia, their head coach, Georges Donis, who you mentioned already, he replaced Irv Reynard in April. So it's a new gig for him. How much time will he have to impose his ideas? they famously beat Argentina four years ago most of their players play in the Saudi Pro League I think actually almost all of them play in the Saudi Pro League apart from one exception who's at lawns on loan from Roma, Saud, Abdul Ahmad but the influx of foreigners to the Saudi Pro League on big wedge means that quite a lot. These players don't get much game time anymore and that would have to be a concern. Again, are they fresh?

53:17Max Rushden:Are they rusty and not fit? They'll probably finish third. I mean, winning this group is important because whoever wins the group will miss get an easier route through to the final potentially. If Spain win the group, they'll probably avoid Brazil and Argentina and they'll also avoid a potential matchup against Mexico in Mexico. And we've already discussed how playing in Mexico can be difficult for teams who aren't Mexican.

53:47Jonathan Wilson:Can you imagine Liam McClare will make a loop of people saying, are they fresh or are they rusty? As everyone says that. Well, it's, are they fresh or are they rusty? Yeah, that's it. You're right. Sid, I just wanted one more line from you because the construction in the background is absolutely sensational. the thing is right

54:09Max Rushden:well Sid has to live there exactly what I was going to say you can at least cut me off in a minute and get on with your lives I've got to put up with this probably for the next while certainly until I leave for the US oh you'll be okay thanks for coming on Sid very much a pleasure

54:23Jonathan Wilson:cheerio Sid Lowe there out in drilling country okay then one word answers for these then who's going to win it Paul the tournament or the group the tournament same answer Spain Wilson France who's getting the golden boost uh paul oh god that's a tricky one can you come back to me yeah i can wilson mbappe mbappe okay i mean you can just repeat what wilson said if you want paul no no that would be unoriginal no i i kind of don't think he will either all right interesting producer joel says uh paul doesn't read his emails because it was we didn't put you on the spot but this was part of the preview you get a yellow card there paul that's right a dark horse then japan all right paul have you got one i think my dark horse is senegal if they're allowed to be a dark horse are they too are they too big to be a horsey to be a dark horse um i suppose they win afcon well they did they win afcon i thought that's a good question not at the moment they

55:20Barry Glendenning:didn't but they might and how will england do wilson okay but not win it do you want to run Is that okay? Yeah, yeah. I'd like it.

55:31Jonathan Wilson:No, that's too vague. I'd like a round. Quarters. Quarters, Paul? Semis. Semis, okay. Thanks, chaps. To stay across all our World Cup content as we go daily from Friday, find us on TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and Blue Sky. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. See you in LA. Thank you, Wilson. Cheers, thank you. I'm sure we'll see you somewhere at the World Cup. Thank you, Barry. Thank you. See you every day, soon, every morning. who's showering first can I use your radops every minute of every day exactly Football Weekly is produced by Tai Papula our executive producer is Joel Grove and we'll do the other four groups tomorrow

56:15Max Rushden:this is The Guardian

56:24Hi Pod fans

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58:03You