2026 World Cup Predictor: Day 14
Day 13 of the World Cup wasn't a classic, but there were still some standout performances as Portugal bounced back in style and Ghana put in a fantastic defensive display against England.
Now, we're into the final group stage round. As it stands, only 4 of the Round of 32 spots have been confirmed with group winners, so there's a lot to be decided.
Here's your overview of yesterday, and a look ahead to today's Day 14 action. For detail on the all-important permutations in each group for this final round, upgrade to Superbru Premium to gain access to our match previews which are visible on the predictions pages.
This was the response that Portugal needed after such a poor display in Round 1. Uzbekistan offered little, but they were blown away pretty early on in this game as Portugal's difference makers at the top end of the pitch turned up.
Credit to Ronaldo for getting his goals having been absolutely pelted by everyone for his display against DRC - criticism that clearly got to him as I'm not sure why else you'd shout 'I'm back' down a camera after a brace against Uzbekistan. But he's certainly a player that thrives when he feels the world is against him and I'm fascinated to see how he and Portugal go against Colombia in the Round 3 match that will determine who wins Group K.
A huge upset and a fantastic defensive performance from Ghana. Questions will be asked of England, and Harry Kane obviously should have scored that glorious chance late on, but Ghana were absolutely exceptional in terms of their discipline and the sheer desire to throw themselves in front of so many shots.
Like most, I'm also puzzled as to why Ghana weren't given a penalty for that bizarre challenge by Ezri Konsa. It's very odd that the referee and VAR seemed to spend no real time on the incident whatsoever and England can count themselves lucky to have even managed a point in that respect. As it is, they remain in control of Group L and will progress as winners should they beat Panama.
We did at least end up with 1 goal in Group L yesterday thanks to Ante Budimir, but this was a pretty poor game that went about as expected with Croatia finding a goal (admittedly I predicted they'd get 2) while largely keeping Panama at arm's length.
It means Panama are now out of the World Cup, while Croatia are on track to progress but face a final match against Ghana which now looks more difficult than it did a couple of days ago. Though it'll likely be low scoring again, we could have a pretty tense conclusion to Group L.
First of all, this just looked and felt like a proper World Cup game. The crowd packed out in yellow with so much Colombia support was awesome. DRC fought hard once again, but Colombia ultimately deserved the win they gained through a rather fortunate winner.
Daniel Munoz was again on the scoresheet but his effort was deflected to completely wrong-foot goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi-Nzau. Munoz was excellent throughout the game though and will continue to be a real problem for opponents overlapping James Rodriguez down that right side. Another player Crystal Palace may struggle to hold on to this summer?
With matches being played simultaneously in each group, we're up to 6 games a day rather than 4 so points will be going up quickly in Predictor leagues!
Today's schedule:
Personally, I think Canada will have enough to win Group B, though I'm torn between a draw and a win for them. Brazil and Morocco should win, but I really hope Scotland at least give Brazil a game in such a standout fixture for their supporters, and then it's hard to see upsets in Group A.
Group A probably is the one with the most room for some jeopardy though, as if one of Czechia or South Africa can get themselves in front, the table in that group could be moving around a fair bit.
For match previews for each game (and all others in the tournament), upgrade to Superbru Premium.
Best of luck to you all in this final group stage round. Make sure you remind the rest of your leagues to make their Round 3 predictions too!
Now, we're into the final group stage round. As it stands, only 4 of the Round of 32 spots have been confirmed with group winners, so there's a lot to be decided.
Here's your overview of yesterday, and a look ahead to today's Day 14 action. For detail on the all-important permutations in each group for this final round, upgrade to Superbru Premium to gain access to our match previews which are visible on the predictions pages.
🇵🇹 Portugal 5-0 Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
Outcome predicted by 98% of users | Scoreline predicted by 1.8% of usersThis was the response that Portugal needed after such a poor display in Round 1. Uzbekistan offered little, but they were blown away pretty early on in this game as Portugal's difference makers at the top end of the pitch turned up.
Credit to Ronaldo for getting his goals having been absolutely pelted by everyone for his display against DRC - criticism that clearly got to him as I'm not sure why else you'd shout 'I'm back' down a camera after a brace against Uzbekistan. But he's certainly a player that thrives when he feels the world is against him and I'm fascinated to see how he and Portugal go against Colombia in the Round 3 match that will determine who wins Group K.
🏴 England 0-0 Ghana 🇬🇭
Outcome predicted by 4% of users | Scoreline predicted by 0.1% of usersA huge upset and a fantastic defensive performance from Ghana. Questions will be asked of England, and Harry Kane obviously should have scored that glorious chance late on, but Ghana were absolutely exceptional in terms of their discipline and the sheer desire to throw themselves in front of so many shots.
Like most, I'm also puzzled as to why Ghana weren't given a penalty for that bizarre challenge by Ezri Konsa. It's very odd that the referee and VAR seemed to spend no real time on the incident whatsoever and England can count themselves lucky to have even managed a point in that respect. As it is, they remain in control of Group L and will progress as winners should they beat Panama.
🇵🇦 Panama 0-1 Croatia 🇭🇷
Outcome predicted by 91% of users | Scoreline predicted by 8.2% of usersWe did at least end up with 1 goal in Group L yesterday thanks to Ante Budimir, but this was a pretty poor game that went about as expected with Croatia finding a goal (admittedly I predicted they'd get 2) while largely keeping Panama at arm's length.
It means Panama are now out of the World Cup, while Croatia are on track to progress but face a final match against Ghana which now looks more difficult than it did a couple of days ago. Though it'll likely be low scoring again, we could have a pretty tense conclusion to Group L.
🇨🇴 Colombia 1-0 Congo DR 🇨🇩
Outcome predicted by 78% of users | Scoreline predicted by 8.3% of usersFirst of all, this just looked and felt like a proper World Cup game. The crowd packed out in yellow with so much Colombia support was awesome. DRC fought hard once again, but Colombia ultimately deserved the win they gained through a rather fortunate winner.
Daniel Munoz was again on the scoresheet but his effort was deflected to completely wrong-foot goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi-Nzau. Munoz was excellent throughout the game though and will continue to be a real problem for opponents overlapping James Rodriguez down that right side. Another player Crystal Palace may struggle to hold on to this summer?
Today
The final group stage round begins. There's always drama, though it has been somewhat reduced this year by FIFA making the poor decision to have head-to-head as the initial tie-breaker rather than goal difference.With matches being played simultaneously in each group, we're up to 6 games a day rather than 4 so points will be going up quickly in Predictor leagues!
Today's schedule:
- 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Qatar 🇶🇦 (Group B) | Kick-off 12:00 local, 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET/CAT
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland vs. Canada 🇨🇦 (Group B) | Kick-off 12:00 local, 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET/CAT
- 🇲🇦 Morocco vs. Haiti 🇭🇹 (Group C) | Kick-off 18:00 local, 23:00 UK, 00:00 CET/CAT
- 🏴 Scotland vs. Brazil 🇧🇷 (Group C) | Kick-off 18:00 local, 23:00 UK, 00:00 CET/CAT
- 🇨🇿 Czechia vs. Mexico 🇲🇽 (Group A) | Kick-off 19:00 local, 02:00 UK, 03:00 CET/CAT
- 🇿🇦 South Africa vs. South Korea 🇰🇷 (Group A) | Kick-off 19:00 local, 02:00 UK, 03:00 CET/CAT
Personally, I think Canada will have enough to win Group B, though I'm torn between a draw and a win for them. Brazil and Morocco should win, but I really hope Scotland at least give Brazil a game in such a standout fixture for their supporters, and then it's hard to see upsets in Group A.
Group A probably is the one with the most room for some jeopardy though, as if one of Czechia or South Africa can get themselves in front, the table in that group could be moving around a fair bit.
For match previews for each game (and all others in the tournament), upgrade to Superbru Premium.
Best of luck to you all in this final group stage round. Make sure you remind the rest of your leagues to make their Round 3 predictions too!
Superbru on X
As for the games to watch, I think I will choose Czechia - Mexico myself in that group. If I am still awake at 2am.
Here's my predictions. Admittedly they're similar to the insights, but I picked most before reading insights. The previews are logical which is likely why I seem to have similar picks sometimes.
Bosnia 2-0 Qatar
Switzerland 2-1 Canada
Morocco 3-0 Haiti
Scotland 0-3 Brazil
Czechia 0-2 Mexico
South Africa 0-2 South Korea
Maybe I have given Brazil and Morocco too many goals. Morocco aren't always a high-scoring team. But I have been deeply unimpressed with Scotland in this tournament and think Brazil will easily beat us, even if not a vintage Brazil side. Ironically 3 points and -3 GD might still be enough to make the round of 32 as a top 8 third place team.
I think the Koreans and Mexicans will do the business, though there is the wrinkle of Mexico already being top and maybe resting players. I think they'll wanna maintain momentum, t
As I say, I think Mexico will want to keep momentum going rather than go into round of 32 game with a loss. |But we'll see. I agree the Czechs could score, especially with set piece quality. 24 Jun 09:38
This will likely be a highly volatile round with the simultaneous kick-offs and compressed schedule and third place permutations. Probably like how the final round of the Premier League results in lower Superbru scores as all games take place at once. 24 Jun 09:58
The really interesting one is Swiss v Canadians - Canada will want to top the group so they stay in Canada for next two rounds til QF (when the tournament moves fully to USA) if they get through the round of 32 to the round of 16. I don't think Canada are really a bus parking team, certainly not on home soil v Switzerland, but they only need a draw to top the group. Will they play more conservatively? And, equally, given the goal difference (and identical H2H over Qatar and superior over Bosnia), even if Qatar win, the Swiss won't finish third. So they might as well go for it and try to take first rather than second. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now though I am unsure about going against Canada in Canada.
Best of luck to everybody.
Yeah I don't think many predicted South Africa to win, On the other hand, it is a South African site, so there will likely be more backing of them here than anywhere else due to patriotic bias. I wil have to look at the pick stats. 25 Jun 11:16
The rest of them were poor too and the mistakes for the goals were unforgivable. But McTominay gets talked up so much (unjustifiably in my view) and was dreadful in all three games.
We don't deserve it anyway 25 Jun 08:09
For the best anyway rather than get a hammering against Germany or Mexico 25 Jun 09:55
Top 3 now on my debut tournament need to keep grounded though as it can all change.
South Africa winning that was a surprise 😮
Love football ⚽️
I assume you are ahead of me then as it's Thursday here and by Friday you mean tonight into Friday UK time. Here's what I have mate. I am not sure on some of them (for example Germany are dodgy defensively and I think Ecuador can score, but then Ecuador don't score many either and were profligate v Curacao) but I am not gonna change as sticking to scores yesterday served me well.
Curacao 0-2 Ivory Coast
Ecuador 0-2 Germany
Japan 2-1 Sweden
Tunisia 0-4 Netherlands
Paraguay 1-1 Australia
Turkey 0-2 USA
25 Jun 10:20
Because of left-right bias for most people, even in a neutral tournament like this, predicting 0-2 rather than 2-0 feels unnatural, even when the team on the right is much stronger and - as I say - it's on neutral ground anyway. It almost feels like a league competition where you are backing the away team,
It even amusingly works when the designated 'away team' is one of the hosts. For example, the top seeds are all designated away teams in this round, so Mexico last night and USA (both of who I backed; I went for Swiss v Canada) have a massive crowd behind them, but it still feels weird writing '0-2' rather than '2-0'.
Just curious if anyone else notices this?
Yeah me too. I wouldn't be that surprised if Sweden got something. But the odds are backing Japan and I thought before the tournament they're a better team than Sweden too. It might blow up in our faces but that's tournament football. 25 Jun 10:50