The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here. We have 48 teams, 12 groups, 3 host nations and exactly zero guarantees. Seriously, the group stage has shown us anything can happen. Four years ago Saudi Arabia stunned Argentina. Japan toppled Germany and Spain. Every World Cup handles you at least one result that makes you feel like you’ve never watched soccer a day in your life.

As the tournament is getting set to start this week, we’re here to predict every single group stage game. Yeah, we’re being bold. And we’re probably going to be way off about many of them.

What we’re going to do below is give a winner (or a draw) and a quick why. I’m fully aware that most of these picks will come back to haunt me down the road if they go off the rails.

One housekeeping note: the top two teams from each group will automatically advance to the Round of 32, and then the next best eight third-place finishers will also advance. That means surviving the group stage is more achievable than ever.

The Group Stage runs from June 11 through June 27.

(Knockout round predictions will follow in a separate post later 0n)

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Group A: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, Czechia

Match	Prediction	Reasoning
Mexico vs. South Africa	Mexico 2–0	Home crowd, home soil in Mexico City. South Africa showed up to survive, not score.
South Korea vs. Czechia	Draw 1–1	Son's last World Cup hurrah vs. a solid Czechia side. Neither has enough to pull away.
Mexico vs. South Korea	Mexico 1–0	El Tri can't afford to slip at home. Grinding result but they get it done.
South Africa vs. Czechia	Czechia 1–0	Quality wins out. Schick finds a goal.
Mexico vs. Czechia	Mexico 2–1	Mexico clinches the group. Czechia presses but it's too little, too late.
South Korea vs. South Africa	South Korea 2–1	Son shows up when it matters. South Africa's tournament ends here.

Team	W	D	L	Pts	Result
Mexico	3	0	0	9	✅ Advance
South Korea	1	1	1	4	✅ Advance
Czechia	1	0	2	3	🎟️ Advance
South Africa	0	0	3	0	❌ Eliminated

Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Match	Prediction	Reasoning
Canada vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina	Canada 2–1	Home advantage in Toronto is massive. Bosnia is a step up from nothing but Canada has the horses.
Qatar vs. Switzerland	Switzerland 2–0	Qatar has no business being at this tournament. Switzerland takes it professionally.
Canada vs. Qatar	Canada 3–0	Should be a walkover. Davies makes Qatar look like a Thursday night men's league team.
Switzerland vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina	Draw 1–1	Bosnia scraps for a draw they desperately need. Switzerland plays it safe.
Canada vs. Switzerland	Draw 1–1	The group decider. Both advance regardless but neither wants second.
Qatar vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina	Bosnia 2–1	Both going home, but Bosnia has actual quality. Qatar collects their participation trophy.

Team	W	D	L	Pts	Result
Canada	2	1	0	7	✅ Advance
Switzerland	1	2	0	5	✅ Advance
Bosnia-Herzegovina	1	1	1	4	🎟️ Advance
Qatar	0	0	3	0	❌ Eliminated

Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti

Match	Prediction	Reasoning
Brazil vs. Morocco	Brazil 2–1	Morocco is legit and won't roll over. But Brazil at a World Cup in North America, 32 years after '94? They find a way.
Haiti vs. Scotland	Scotland 2–0	Scotland gets to play the one group they can actually win. Haiti is the tournament's sacrificial lamb.
Brazil vs. Scotland	Brazil 3–0	Sorry, lads. This ain't Wembley '67.
Morocco vs. Haiti	Morocco 3–0	Morocco needs the goal difference. Haiti obliges.
Brazil vs. Haiti	Brazil 4–0	Garbage time goals for Vinicius Jr.
Morocco vs. Scotland	Morocco 1–0	The real second-place battle. Morocco's defensive structure beats a Scotland side that needs a miracle.

Team	W	L	Pts	Result
Brazil	3	0	9	✅ Advance
Morocco	2	1	6	✅ Advance
Scotland	1	2	3	❌ Eliminated
Haiti	0	3	0	❌ Eliminated

Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey

Match	Prediction	Reasoning
USA vs. Paraguay	USA 2–1	SoFi Stadium, the opener on American soil. They'd better not screw this up.
Australia vs. Turkey	Draw 1–1	Two dangerous teams who won't give each other anything for free.
USA vs. Australia	USA 2–0	Pulisic starts cooking. The Socceroos' firepower isn't enough on the road.
Paraguay vs. Turkey	Türkiye 1–0	Better squad depth. Paraguay gives a fight but loses the tight one.
USA vs. Turkey	Draw 1–1	Nervy last group game. USA doesn't need to win and plays accordingly.
Paraguay vs. Australia	Paraguay 2–1	South American quality edges out in the match nobody watches. Both need it.

Team	W	D	L	Pts	Result
USA	2	1	0	7	✅ Advance
Turkey	1	2	0	5	✅ Advance
Paraguay	1	0	2	3	🎟️ Advance
Australia	0	1	2	1	❌ Eliminated

Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curaçao

Match	Prediction	Reasoning
Germany vs. Curaçao	Germany 5–1	This could possibly be most lopsided matchup of the entire tournament. Pour one out for Curaçao.
Ecuador vs. Ivory Coast	Draw 1–1	Two evenly-matched teams that will make this legitimately watchable.
Germany vs. Ecuador	Germany 2–1	Ecuador will press and make it...

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