Group B sees hosts Canada joined by Switzerland alongside Qatar and European Playoff Winner Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Canada –
Canada have played a series of friendlies, as hosts recently drawing 2-2 with Iceland and 0-0 with Tunisia. Last summer they played in the Concacaf Gold Cup beating Honduras 6-0, El Salvador 2-0 and drawing 1-1 with Curacao before losing on penalties to Guatemala after a 1-1 draw.
Canada have lost all 6 games at previous World Cups and will be looking for their first victory.
Canada are managed by former Leeds Utd manager Jesse Marsch.
Canada goalkeeper will likely be Dyane St Clair of Inter Miami with back up from Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau.
In defence Canada will be hoping to see a return to form of their star man Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich but injuries have kept him out of the national team over the past year. The defence will be boosted by return from injury of Celtic’s Alistair Johnston. Marseille’s Derek Cornelius on loan to Rangers and Karmal Miller of Portland Timbers will likely make up the defence.
Tajon Buchanan of Inter Milan on loan to Villareal is joined in midfield by Norwich City’s Ali Ahmed. Jonathan Osorio of Toronto adds experience to the midfield alongside Ismael Kone of Marseille, on loan to Sassauolo and Stephen Eustaquino.
Canada’s star man is striker Jonathon David of Juventus who will be assisted by Cyle Larin of Southampton and Daniel Jebbison of Bournemouth on loan to Preston.
Switzreland –
Switzerland qualified as European Group B winners ahead of Kosovo, Slovenia and Sweden winning 4 games and only dropping points with away draws in Kosovo and Slovenia.
Switzerland are managed by former player Murat Yakin
In goal will be Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel who has taken over from the highly experienced Jann Sommer after his retirement in 2024.
The defence is led by Ricardo Rodriguez of Real Bets , alongside Manchester City;s Manuel Akanji who is currently on loan to Inter Milan. They also have the experience of Nico Alvedi and Silvan Widmer who play their club football in Germany.
Midfield sees highly experienced Granit Xhaka now at Sunderland alongside Remo Freuler of Bolonga and Denis Zakaria of Monaco.
The Swiss attack is led by the experience of Breel Embolo who now plays in France for Rennes and he is partnered in attack by Dan Ndoye of Nottingham Forest and Ruben Vargas of Sevilla. Noah Okafor of Leeds Utd has been in good form late in the season.
Qatar –
Qatar began Asian qualifying winning 5 of their 6 Second Round games to progress with the top 2 from 9 Groups to the Third Round.
In the Third Round they finished 4th in a 6 team Group behind automatic qualifiers Iran and Uzbekistan.
This led Qatar to the Fourth Round where they won a 3 team group which they hosted and after drawing 0-0 with Oman then beat UAE 2-1 to qualify for World Cup 2026.
Qatar’s friendly matches in March 2026 were postponed due to the war in Iran.
They are managed by former Spain coach Julen Lopetegui.
Meshaal Barsham is their goalkeeper, with back up from Mahmud Abunada.
The defence has the experienced Boualem Khoukhi and Pedro Miguel, with left back Homam Ahmed who plays in the Spanish Second Division.
The midfield also has experience with Karim Boudiaf and Abdulaziz Hatem both having over 100 caps each.
Qatar’s attack is led by captain Hassan Al-Haydos. They also have Akram Afif one of the best players in Africa and Almoez Ali with over 100 caps each.
Bosnia –
Bosnia finished second behind Austria in European qualifying and went on to qualify for World Cup 2026 via the playoffs. A late goal in Cardiff to secure a 1-1 draw was followed by a penalty shoot out win and repeated the 1-1 scoreline at home to Italy in the final before again prevailing on penalties.
Bosnia are managed by former player Sergej Barbarez
Nikola Vasilj the Bosnia goalkeeper.
The defence is led by Atalanta’s former Arsenal defender Sead Kolašinac and alongside him are Amar Dedić of Benfica, Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemović and former Rangers player Nikola Katic.
Midfield includes Hull City’s Amir Hadžiahmetović, Benjamin Tahirović of Brondby and Amar Memić of Viktoria Plzeň.
Bosnia’s talismanic striker is 40yo Eden Dzeko formerly of Manchester City and now at Schalke, and Ermedin Demirović of Stuttgart.
Group B Fixtures
12/6/26 8pm Canada v Bosnia
13/6/26 8pm Switzerland v Qatar
18/6/26 8pm Switzerland v Bosnia
18/6/26 11pm Canada v Qatar
24/6/26 8pm Switzerland v Canada
24/6/26 8pm Bosnia v Qatar
PREDICTIONS
I would expect Switzerland to beat Qatar with Canada drawing their opening game with Bosnia.
In the second round of fixtures , Switzerland v Bosnia will be tight and will end up drawn
Canada should keep their hopes alive of a top two finish with a win over Qatar.
The final group games I can see Switzerland topping the group with a win over Canada.
I think Bosnia will beat Qatar and finish on 5points, and claim second place.
Canada will set the target of 4 points as they aim to be one of the top 8 third place teams. This is will the first group to be completed.
Qatar will finish as one of the weaker teams and losing all three games, with an underprepared and ageing squad.
I have seen some pundits rating Canada over Bosnia with home advantage and a couple of star players but Bosnia I feel will have a more balanced squad and could surprise many.
1st Place prediction – Switzerland 7pts
2nd Place prediction – Bosnia 5pts
3rd Place prediction – Canada 4pts GD 0
Football is Academical 