England and Croatia open the group L with one of the strongest clashes of this phase of the World Cup 2026at 5pm this Wednesday (17).
While England arrives as one of the favorites for the title, Croatia, even with an aging squad, is respected for its good performance in the last two editions: runner-up in 2018, eliminating the English in the semifinals, and the 3rd place in 2022after eliminate Brazil in the quarterfinals.
The English have their biggest star on the rise: the experienced Harry Kane, 32, 2018 World Cup top scorerwith 6 goals, comes from a exceptional season at Bayern Munichscoring 61 times in 51 matches.
The young but already experienced Jude Bellingham, 22, Bukayo Saka, 24, and Declan Rice, 27, complete the team’s list of stars in Thomas Tuchel’s bold composition.
THE German coach left out big names such as Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid) and former team captain Harry Maguire (Manchester United), all from the top echelon of soccer of clubs.
At the same time, he called up players from modest teams, such as Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli), Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins (both from Aston Villa). “I love difficult decisions and I love complicated decisions. They have a certain advantage,” said Tuchel.
“That’s what you need to reach the top. It’s difficult to please everyone. In the end, we have to choose the squad that we, as a coaching staff, are convinced of and really believe in,” said the coach.
Thus, the match against Croatia will be a litmus test for this “trusted” German team.
After all, on the other side there is an aging, but still invaluable Croatian team. Just like in the last editions, it is not one of the favorites.
His big name continues to be the renowned midfielder Luka Modricwho, at 40 years old, must compete in his fifth and final World cup.
In addition to him, other good veterans make up the Croatian midfield, such as Ivan Perisic, 37, Andrej Kramaric, 34, and Mateo Kovacic, 32.
The main clash should take place right there, in midfield, where Croatia has an easy time catching the ball and England has a lot of youth and intensity.
If the controversial call-up wasn’t enough, there is the possibility that Tuchel will select Morgan Rogers as a starter, leaving star Bellingham on the bench.
The result of the match could validate Tuchel’s bold choices or open a crisis for the German coach.
In European World Cup qualifying, the English did not concede a goal in eight games, although their opponents were much weaker teams such as Albania, Latvia, Andorra and Serbia. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to keep the goal so protected in this World Cup, especially in this first match.
The Croatian performance in the clash may indicate how far this squad is capable of going after two exceptional campaigns in World Cups and little renewal of parts.
The confrontation between Ghana and Panama It is one of the most unpredictable in the group stage.
On the one hand, the Ghanaian team has good players, such as Semenyo, from Manchester City and Iñaki Williams, from Athletic Bilbao, but has accumulated poor results in recent years, being the African team with the lowest position in the Ranking. FIFA in this World Cup (73rd).
The fact that they hired the experienced Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz in April this year, just a few months before the World Cup, shows the instability that the team is experiencing.
Furthermore, Ghana is going through a scandal off the field: midfielder Thomas Partey had his visa application to enter Canada refused for being accused of rape and sexual assault in United Kingdom. He denies the accusations.
On the other hand, Panama has no individual highlights, but has a very disciplined team, runner-up in the Concacaf Nations League.
