Hot Takes

Mohamed Salah enters the 2026 FIFA World Cup with two goals from Egyptian football history. The record he’s chasing, 69 international goals, belongs to his head coach, Hossam Hassan, the man who selected him for this squad and sent him out onto the pitch. Hassan built it over 21 years and 177 appearances. Salah has reached 67 in 115 caps. The arithmetic is simple. Breaking a national record held by your own manager, at a World Cup, has no parallel in international football history.

Tunisia arrives at the 2026 FIFA World Cup having never conceded a single qualifying goal, a record no nation has ever produced in a World Cup qualifying campaign. Every preview has treated this as evidence of readiness. The harder argument is the reverse: the tactical identity that produced that record was built against opponents ranked outside the global top 90, and Group F contains the Netherlands, Japan, and Sweden. The perfect qualifying record isn’t proof that Tunisia is ready. It may be proof of how untested they actually are.

Sweden should not be at this tournament. They finished bottom of their qualifying group with two points and no wins, then relied on Viktor Gyokeres scoring four goals across two playoff matches to reach North America. Graham Potter’s side enters Group F ranked 43rd in the world, seeded third behind the Netherlands and Japan. None of that matters if both strikers are fit and firing. Having Gyokeres and Isak available, two strikers who led Premier League scoring charts in 2025/26, makes Sweden a more dangerous side than their ranking or their qualifying record would ever suggest.

Morocco arrives at the 2026 World Cup having dropped the two players who defined their 2022 semi-final run. Youssef En-Nesyri and Hakim Ziyech are out. The combined exit accounts for 50 international goals and 156 caps, and coach Mohamed Ouahbi has chosen not to replace their profiles but to build around something different. Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz now carry Morocco’s attacking ambitions against Brazil, Scotland, and Haiti. The question is whether two players can fill the space that two others left.

Iran announced their 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in late May and left out their third-highest scorer in history. Sardar Azmoun, 57 goals in 91 caps, a goals-per-game ratio of 0.63, was absent from the preliminary 30-man list and confirmed out of the final squad. This was not a fitness call or a form decision. It was a political exclusion, driven by a social media post, that removed Iran’s most versatile attacker before a ball had been kicked in Group G.

Forty years is a long time to wait. When Ali Al-Hamadi headed in on the 10th minute against Bolivia in Monterrey on 31 March 2026, he didn’t just put Iraq ahead in a play-off; he started the process of ending a four-decade absence from the World Cup. Iraq is back, in Group I, against France, Norway, and Senegal. Al-Hamadi is their only Premier League player, their most recognisable attacker, and the forward on whom Graham Arnold’s system is built. This is why he matters.

Davies isn’t fit enough to start on June 12, and Canada’s Group B opponents are already adjusting their plans around him anyway. That’s the measure of his influence. A hamstring strain suffered in Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final against PSG in early May 2026 has complicated his tournament preparation, but Jesse Marsch has confirmed he’s targeting availability by the second or third group match. Canada can progress without him. With him, even from the bench, every opponent’s defensive shape changes before kick-off.

Every Group B preview leads with Embolo and Ndoye. Neither of them decides whether Switzerland wins the group. Xhaka does. At 33, Switzerland’s record appearance holder arrives at his fourth consecutive World Cup as the player every teammate depends on, the distributor who converts defensive sequences into attacking momentum, controls tempo when Switzerland needs to suffocate opponents, and accelerates play when Embolo and Ndoye are already moving. His 2025–26 season at Sunderland, 34 appearances, 6 assists, joint-ninth in the Premier League, confirms age hasn’t reduced his output.

Salem Al-Dawsari scored the goal that beat Argentina in 2022. Saud Abdulhamid is the only Saudi player in a top-five European league. Musab Al-Juwayr is 22, and the most creative midfielder Saudi Arabia has fielded in years. Three players, one counter-attacking blueprint, and a Group H draw that puts them against Spain and Uruguay. Saudi Arabia isn’t a favourite in any of those matches. They don’t need to be. They’ve been here before and know exactly how this works.

Tony Popovic’s Australia is compact, hard to beat, and dangerous in transition. That identity earned them 19 points across 10 qualifying matches, a 2-1 win away in Saudi Arabia on the final matchday, and a second-place finish in AFC Group C. But a World Cup group containing the USA, Turkey, and Paraguay demands more than defensive solidity. It demands someone who can unlock defences when Australia has the ball. With Riley McGree gone, hamstring tear in Middlesbrough’s playoff final, that responsibility falls entirely on a 20-year-old Watford winger.

Ecuador finished second in CONMEBOL qualifying, conceding just five goals across 18 matches, the fewest of any qualifier. Their defensive record is not the concern heading into Group E. The concern is goals, specifically what happens when Enner Valencia is 36 years old, no second striker has stepped up, and the group’s defining fixture is against Germany. One player determines whether Ecuador answers that question correctly. Everything runs through Caicedo.

Paraguay is back at a World Cup for the first time since 2010, and they didn’t get there by outscoring anyone. Across 18 CONMEBOL qualifying matches, they conceded just 10 goals, the fewest of any South American side, finishing with 28 points and sixth place. Gustavo Alfaro didn’t inherit a talented squad and unleash it. He took a team with an identity crisis and built a system so disciplined that Argentina and Brazil both lost to it at home.