With little over a week remaining until the biggest global sporting spectacle takes centre stage, head coaches and their FAs are making last minute alterations before they step foot in North America to fight for a chance to lift the ultimate prize in football – The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
Keeping that in mind, we at SportsKhabri will be bringing you the complete Group stage preview and analysis of all the teams. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the preview of Group G comprising Belgium, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran and New Zealand. This exciting pool features two former Premier League greats in Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah and will play their group stage games on the West Coast of USA and Canada.
Belgium’s golden generation had superstars like Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois and Vincent Kompany in their prime and were one of the favourites for the World Cup and the Euros Championships between the 2010’s and early 2020’s. However, Belgium never really lived up to the hype and are still chasing an elusive international trophy. Their best finish at the World Cup has been a third-place finish in 2018 in Russia. The ‘Red Devils’ defeated England in the third-place play-off to secure a bronze medal.
Their most recent World Cup outing in 2022 was an underwhelming campaign as they crashed out of the tournament in the group stages. Coming into this World Cup, the Belgians qualified for the tournament without losing a game and topping their qualification group and could certainly be expected to perform much better.
Although, Belgium doesn’t have a star-studded lineup like earlier, they still possess a host of talented players in Jérémy Doku, Youri Tielemans, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne, Charles de Ketalaere, Leandro Trossard, Romelu Lukaku and Axel Witsel – a decent mix of youth and experience.
Belgium can’t be taken lightly as they are still a team to reckon with and after the disappointment of the previous World Cup, they would be looking forward to a much- improved showing.
Iran have failed to get out of their group in all six of their previous appearances at the FIFA World Cup and would be looking to change that record.
Team Melli have landed in Mexico despite VISA and security concerns due to the ongoing war with the USA. At a point of time, there were even concerns regarding their participation in the tournament. However, they will be participating in Group G and have a decent shot of making it through the group stage this time around.
The three-time Asian Champions have a couple of top talents in their team. Captain Mehedi Taremi is their primary goal-scorer, having scored 59 goals in 103 appearances for his country. Midfielder Saman Ghoddos and winger Mehdi Ghaedi is another one to watch out for.
Coming into this tournament, Iran topped their qualification group with only two defeats in 10 games. In their last five encounters, Iran won three, drew one and lost only one game with their only loss coming against Nigeria in an international friendly.
The Pharaohs missed qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but led by the world-class Mohamed Salah, the Egyptians have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Their previous outing in 2022 was a disappointing one as they had qualified for the World Cup after a hiatus of 28 years but failed to get past the group stage. With a semi-fit Mo Salah, the Egyptians couldn’t make much of an impact. However, Salah has been in outstanding form through the qualifications, leading them singlehandedly over the line with more than 10 goals.
With the likes of Omar Marmoush, Mehmoud Trezeguet and Hamza Abdelkarim, the experienced Mo Salah could lead Egypt through the knockout rounds in a relatively easier group.
Egypt topped their qualification group with ease with eight wins and two defeats in 10 games. Egypt has a good balance of youth and experience and possesses a good defensive structure under coach Hossam Hassan. If their forward line gets going at this World Cup, they have a real chance of reaching the quarter-finals stage at the upcoming World Cup this time.
New Zealand is the only team that has qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup from Oceania. After a hiatus of 16 years, New Zealand are heading to the World Cup. They are the lowest-ranked country (85th) to qualify in this 48-nation tournament.
In their previous two campaigns, New Zealand have been knocked out in the first round and haven’t won a single World Cup match. At this edition of the World Cup, the All Whites will be looking to grab their first win of the tournament and try to make it out of the group stages.
New Zealand has a relatively weaker squad as compared to the other three teams in the group who boast of top players plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues. The key players for the All Whites are Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood along with talented winger Elijah Just and midfielder Marko Stameni?.
Their qualification for the World Cup went easy where they won all their games to top the group and was the solitary team to qualify from the Oceania group. Their recent form is concerning though as they have lost four out of their five international fixtures.
Belgium are the outright favourites to top this group as they are a more experienced and superior side to others in their group. Belgium had a fairly easy group in the qualification stages and made an easy job of the qualification, going through without suffering a defeat.
Although Belgium has a top squad, they aren’t exactly considered in the league of France, Argentina, England and Spain who are the major contenders for the title and they would need to punch above their weight big time if they aspire to capture that elusive World Cup title.
The next top-ranked side in this group is the Islamic Republic of Iran who are currently ranked 21st in the world but considering the situation surrounding their country, it’s difficult to see them compete well. Amidst geopolitical tensions involving the host cUSA and their country, it could be a very difficult position for the players. Hence, we believe it could prove to be a hurdle that could see them perform poorly.
Egypt on the other hand will come into this competition with a lot of confidence and not much pressure or expectations as they are not the top African side participating. Although, it would be a great opportunity for Salah and Co. to prove everyone wrong and except for Belgium, they have the team to defeat the other teams in their group.
New Zealand are the lowest-ranked team in this group and the heavy underdogs for the same reason. They could play freely without the burden of expectations and even if they can win or draw even one of their group games and get points on the board, it would be considered a great result for them.
For the reasons mentioned in the above section, we believe Belgium will most likely top this group barring a strange group stage campaign. The Red Devils will be followed in second spot which will be a battle between Iran and Egypt to earn the second automatic qualification spot with New Zealand ending up in the fourth spot.
Belgium (1st)
Egypt (2nd)
Iran (3rd)
New Zealand (4th)
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