2026 World Cup: Groups G and H previews and predictions

We're into the second half of our World Cup group previews and there's now just 4 days to go until kick-off.

Today's focus is on Groups G and H at the tournament. You can check out the previous previews below.

> Groups A and B preview

> Groups C and D preview

> Groups E and F preview

If you're enjoying these and find them helpful ahead of playing our World Cup Predictor game, consider upgrading to Premium so that you also have individual match previews throughout the tournament.

Group G

Belgium enter this group as firm favourites, but with a clear underdog also in the group, there's a fair chance we'll see three teams progress from Group G.

🇧🇪 Belgium

Much was made of Belgium's 'golden generation' that reached the quarter-finals in the 2014 World Cup before finishing 3rd in 2018 in Russia, and people then had plenty to say about the 'fall off' when they failed to make it through the group in 2022 once plenty of that generation had moved on. So where are Belgium now? Well, they aren't quite of the level of said 'golden generation', but there has been time for everyone to move on a bit from that label and they head into this World Cup as a reasonably strong side with the individual star quality to threaten the top sides on their day.

Rudi Garcia has been in charge since January 2025 and has lost just 1 of his 13 games at the helm thus far (his first match). Belgium got the better of Wales and North Macedonia in their qualification group to reach this World Cup and recent friendlies in preparation for the tournament have been very encouraging. In March/April, Belgium beat the USA 2-5 and drew 1-1 with Mexico, while in the past week they've beaten Croatia 0-2 and Tunisia 5-0.



Looking at the squad in full, I'd say the defence is where Belgium aren't quite what they were, but you've still got a world class goalkeeper behind them in Thibaut Courtois and his back-ups aren't bad either. In attack, Jeremy Doku has made himself the main man after a great season with Manchester City and Belgium will look to have their wingers attack 1v1 as often as possible. In midfield, there's a lot of experience, with Kevin De Bruyne still influential as the centre piece in the attacking '3' within a 4-2-3-1 and a solid Aston Villa partnership of Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana behind him.

Garcia has the personnel to switch to a 3-back formation if required in the latter stages, but this is a group that Belgium should dominate. Their supporters will be encouraged by the number of goals they've been scoring in the build-up to this tournament having only scored 1 all tournament in Qatar.

🇪🇬 Egypt

This is only the fourth time that Egypt have qualified for the World Cup with their most recent appearance coming in 2018 where they lost all 3 of their group matches against Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia. This time around, Egypt will hope for some points and they stand a good chance of progressing to the knockout stage. 29th on the FIFA rankings, they were semi-finalists at this year's AFCON, narrowly losing 1-0 to Senegal.

Mohamed Salah is of course the star man and he'll be desperate to give his country some moments to remember on the biggest stage. He'll be joined in attack by a high quality partner in Manchester City's Omar Marmoush, so there's an unusual dynamic to Egypt in that they aren't always great at attacking and creating chances, but when they do, they have two excellent forwards to convert them.

For instance, in the knockout stages at AFCON, Egypt managed just 1.19 and 0.78 xG against Benin and the Ivory Coast respectively, yet won those matches 3-1 and 3-2. They're usually fairly solid defensively, and then once they have the ball, they aren't going to hang about and will look to get the ball to their difference makers up front as efficiently as possible.

I'd be surprised to see Egypt threaten Belgium too much in their opener - though they should keep things reasonably tight at the back - but with New Zealand and Iran also drawn in this group, there is real opportunity for Hossam Hassan and his team. They should beat NZ and will hope to pick up at least a point elsewhere.

🇮🇷 Iran

Iran's participation at this World Cup has of course largely been discussed from an off-field perspective due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and that will likely continue to be the case throughout. There were severe doubts over whether they would compete in the US considering the war, but it seems as if they will be, albeit with reports this weekend suggesting that there continues to be tension over issuing the necessary visas for many of their staff.

The off-field side of things are impossible to ignore when analysing Iran, but on the pitch, they should be reasonably competitive in Group G. This is the fourth consecutive World Cup that Iran will be appearing at and though they are yet to make it past the group stage in their history, this is a great opportunity to change that. They topped their AFC qualification group ahead of Uzbekistan, the UAE and Qatar with just 1 defeat from their 10 matches, but it's been quite some time since they've faced a top level opponent meaning it's hard to gauge exactly where they're at.

In Qatar in 2022, Iran were coached by Carlos Queiroz and after being hammered by England in their opener, beat Wales 0-2 before a narrow 0-1 defeat to the USA. Amir Ghalenoei replaced Queiroz in 2023 and has won 31 of his 41 matches in charge.

Crucially, a bit like Egypt, Iran have a top forward that can be relied upon for a goal or two. Mehdi Taremi, now at Olympiacos but best known for his long spell with Porto before a shorter stint at Inter, is a quality striker who has a great goal record for his country and can hold the ball up well. It's very hard to tell how Iran will fare, not least because they're likely to feel unwelcome in the US and obviously won't have any travelling support, but on paper they should be competing with Egypt for 2nd in the group.

🇳🇿 New Zealand

New Zealand are one of the teams I've had down as being unlikely to get a single point in this World Cup, alongside Curaçao, Qatar, and probably Iraq because of their group. With that in mind, watching England struggle to score against them yesterday wasn't ideal as an Englishman, but I still don't fancy the All Whites' chances in Group G.

New Zealand are always hard to judge based on qualification performances because they face such weak opposition in OFC, but alongside Egypt and Iran they complete the theme of having a very good striker that they're going to struggle to supply. Chris Wood is a Premier League forward who had a particularly good 2024-25 season for Nottingham Forest, but he's going to spend much of this tournament very isolated as New Zealand defend deep and aren't great at keeping the ball.

A 4-0 friendly defeat to Haiti last week is a huge red flag but in fairness to NZ, their other recent friendly results have been far more respectable including yesterday's 1-0 defeat to England. An opening game against Iran who are unlikely to have had smooth preparation could prove to be an opportunity for Darren Bazeley's side to spring a surprise, but I'm sticking with my prediction of 0 points just because there's a very obvious ceiling in terms of squad quality.

My predicted Group G standings:

• Belgium
• Egypt
• Iran
• New Zealand

Hutch's predicted Group G standings:

• Belgium
• Egypt
• Iran
• New Zealand

Group H

Many expect Spain to go all the way, will they be challenged much in this group?

🇪🇸 Spain

The current European champions, Spain enter this World Cup as either the favourite or second favourite in most people's eyes. Head coach Luis de la Fuente has overseen an incredible period for La Roja with just 3 defeats in his 40 matches in charge so far. Spain haven't progressed beyond the Round of 16 at a World Cup since winning it in 2010, but it would be a huge surprise if that doesn't change this summer.

As you can see on the graphic below, Spain have a stacked squad across the board, but particularly in midfield where they're able to control matches regardless of the opponent. Rodri (Manchester City) and Pedri (Barcelona) are nailed starters, while Dani Olmo (also Barca) is perhaps the most likely to play in a more advanced role in front of them due to Fermin Lopez being out with injury, but there are able replacements for all 3 when needed. The likes of Martin Zubimendi, Fabian Ruiz and Gavi would start for almost all other nations at the tournament.



If there are concerns for Spain, it's that in attack, there are question marks over the fitness of both first-choice wingers. Barca wonderkid Lamine Yamal, who was so impressive at Euro 2024 at the age of 16, missed the end of the season with injury and remains a slight doubt for the opening group match, while Nico Williams (Athletic Club) has struggled for fitness all season. The 1v1 threat both players showed at the Euros will be hard for other players to replicate.

If they are forced into changes on the flanks, Spain do at least have a dependable and versatile centre forward in Mikel Oyarzabal. Though he hasn't always been - and arguably still isn't - a traditional 9, Oyarzabal's link-up play and positional sense is elite and he's become a very dependable goalscorer for Spain. It was Oyarzabal that scored the winning goal in the Euros final against England and he enters this tournament off the back of a very successful domestic campaign for his beloved Real Sociedad, winning the Copa del Rey.

Pre-tournament friendlies haven't been overly encouraging, but expect Spain to dominate Group H once the competitive action begins.

🇨🇻 Cape Verde

Having just gone through that Spain team, Cape Verde clearly begin this tournament with an incredibly tough fixture that is unlikely to go well, but I'm interested to see how they get on in their other group matches. This is Cape Verde's World Cup debut and up until Curaçao qualified, they were set to break the record for the smallest nation ever to qualify. There's plenty to love about a small island making their first ever World Cup appearance, particularly when they're coached by someone who has spent their entire coaching career in Cape Verde - Bubista.

Cape Verde qualified by topping their CAF qualifier group ahead of Cameroon. If it was Cameroon that had made this group, I'd be giving them a chance, so it feels reasonable to suggest Cape Verde can compete too. Bubista's side were beaten 4-1 in Cameroon in that qualifying group but that proved to be their only defeat in 10 games and they won the reverse match 1-0 thanks to a goal from striker Dailon Livramento who was their top scorer in qualifying.

We can expect to see a 4-3-3 with plenty of pace on the counter and it's not always easy for bigger nations to beat a side that has absolutely nothing to lose, especially when this entire tournament will feel like a celebration just by qualifying. However, Cape Verde are of course expected to lose against both Spain and Uruguay, so their final group game against Saudi Arabia is huge. If, by then, both nations have two defeats to their name, there may still be a chance of the winner of that final match progressing as a third-placed team so long as they've kept their goal difference respectable against the big two.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

This will be Saudi Arabia's 7th appearance at a World Cup. In the previous six, they've only made it past the group stage once, which was when they made the Round of 16 in 1994. That tournament was also hosted by the United States, so perhaps that's a good omen as all 3 of Saudi's group games are being played in the USA.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia have made a very clear effort to improve their football. A knock-on effect of their huge investment in the Saudi Pro League is supposed to be improved domestic players and they will want a strong side by 2034 when they'll be hosting this tournament. Last time out in 2022 they made headlines with a shock 2-1 win over Argentina in their opening match, but defeats to Poland and Mexico after that saw them fail to progress to the knockout stage.

Herve Renard was in charge for that tournament and has been off and on since along with Roberto Mancini, but just 59 days in advance of this tournament, Saudi Arabia decided to move away from Renard following a 0-4 defeat to Egypt. Georgios Donis is now in charge. It's an interesting move, Donis has plenty of recent coaching experience within the Saudi Pro League so is very familiar with the squad, and it's now harder to forecast how Saudi Arabia will set up given he's had just a couple of friendlies in charge.

In qualifying, Saudi Arabia finished third in their group behind Japan and Australia, eventually qualifying via a play-off system. Their result against Argentina in Qatar shows that anything is possible, but their results over the last couple of years would suggest they're competing with Cape Verde for 3rd in this group. Squad wise, Salem Al-Dawsari remains the standout attacker to watch, even at the age of 34, after another decent season for Al Hilal. Musab Al Juwayr (Al Qadsiah) is a promising player to look out for though and it will be interesting to see if he can support Al-Dawsari and make a mark on the global stage.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

Completing Group H, we have Uruguay. Since mid-2023 Uruguay have been coached by Marcelo Bielsa, which means they're worth watching. As with all Bielsa teams, Uruguay will look to be aggressive and counter-press which can leave them exposed to transitions defensively when the ball doesn't fall their way. It's great to watch, though, and star midfielder Federico Valverde (Real Madrid) is perhaps the most well-rounded player in world football and will lead the tireless approach that Bielsa always looks to implement.

Looking at the Uruguay squad, there are plenty of things that are in keeping with previous World Cups such as a hugely experienced centre back pairing of Ronald Araujo and Jose Gimenez, and tenacious ball-winning midfielders such as Manuel Ugarte, Rodrigo Bentancur and of course Valverde, but creativity might be more of a problem if teams like Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia sit back.

Uruguay will always fancy their chances of disrupting teams that look to dominate - just as they have with 1-1 draws against both Brazil and England in the past 18 months - so their clash with Spain will be interesting, but they may well still come up short and the onus is then on Bielsa and his team to get the better of the other teams in the group.

In 2022, Uruguay were eliminated in the group stage on goal difference, ultimately because they failed to score enough goals. Bielsa has made the decision to move on from iconic striker Luis Suarez (39) in order to prioritise younger forwards, but that means there's pressure on the likes of Darwin Nunez to deliver. Nunez, who joined Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia from Liverpool last August, has the talent to do some damage in this tournament but it remains to be seen if he'll have the consistency and composure to score the goals when it really matters this summer.

My predicted Group H standings:

• Spain
• Uruguay
• Cape Verde
• Saudi Arabia

Hutch's predicted Group H standings:

• Spain
• Uruguay
• Saudi Arabia
• Cape Verde

What are your predictions for these groups?