Group H features European Champions Spain , with South American heavyweights Uruguay. The group is completed by Saudi Arabia and first time qualifiers Cape Verde from Africa. SPAIN – Spain qualified as winners of European Group E ahead of Turkey, winning their first 5 games to ensure their final 2-2 draw with Turkey was irrelevant. …
Author Archives: Ian Kelly
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP G
Group G features Belgium alongside African qualifiers Egypt with war-torn Iran and minnows New Zealand. BELGIUM – Belgium qualified winning qualifying Group J holding off a strong finish from Wales. A 4-2 win Cardiff after a thrilling 4-3 comeback win at home to the Welsh being the decisive matches after drawing twice with North Macedonia. …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP F
Group F could be a very interesting group featuring Holland as top seeds with Japan the first qualifiers , Tunisia from African and the European Playoff winners Sweden who have come from a dismal qualifying campaign to impressive playoffs victories. HOLLAND – Holland had a fairly comfortable qualification winning 6 of 8 games and drawing …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP E
Group D sees European giants Germany joined by Ecuador from South America, Ivory Coast from Africa and first time qualifiers Curacao. Germany – Germany qualified in the end with a 6-0 home win over Slovakia after losing to them away earlier in the qualifiers and are now managed by Julian Nagglesmann. Germany goalkeeper is Oliver …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP D
Group D sees hosts USA joined by Paraguay alongside Australia and European Playoff Winner Turkey. This could be the closet fought group of the opening phase. USA – USA have played a series of friendlies, as hosts recently losing 5-2 to Belgium and 2-0 to Portugal. In the Autumn as hosts they played friendlies at …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP C
Group C sees 5 time World Cup winners Brazil joined by Scotland alongside Morocco and Haiti. Brazil – Brazil despite their unconvincing qualifying campaign will go into the tournament as clear favourites to win Group C . Brazil qualified from the South American group in fifth place and claimed an automatic spot. This was however …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP B
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 …
WORLD CUP 2026 – GROUP A
Group A sees Mexico one of the hosts joined by the European Playoff D Winner Czechia alongside South Africa and South Korea. Mexico – Mexico go into the tournament with home advantage and a strong defensive record in recent friendly matches although they have not played a competitive game since they won the Concacaf Gold …
WORLD CUP – WEST GERMANY 74 Second Round – Final
The Second Round comprised two groups of four teams each playing a further three round robin games with the two winners meeting in the final and the runners up playing in the third / fourth place playoff. PART TWO – 26TH JUNE TO 7TH JULY 1974 Wednesday 26th June 1974 Group A – HOLLAND 4 …
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WORLD CUP – WEST GERMANY 74 First Round
The World Cup in West Germany was played just two years after the terrible terrorist attack when 11 Israeli athletes were killed during the Olympic Games in Munich 1972. The Jules Rimet trophy had been awarded to Brazil after their third success in Mexico 1970 so a new trophy was designed and used for the …
Football is Academical 