FOOTBALL VIEWS

Preivew to Group J ARGENTINA MANAGER: Lionel Scaloni FIFA RANKING: 3 WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 18 BEST WORLD CUP FINISH: Winners x3 - 1978, 1986 and 2022 Argentina are in the middle of arguably the greatest period in their history after winning their last three tournaments in the 2021 and 2024 Copa America's and the 2022 World Cup. By winning those tournaments, you have to say that they're the dominant force in international football but they're probably not getting as much reco

FRANCE MANAGER: Didier Deschamps FIFA RANKING: 1 WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 16 BEST WORLD CUP FINISH: Winners x2 - 1998 and 2018 This will be France's final tournament with Didier Deschamps as their manager and the players will be determined for him to go out on a high. He's guided them to the final at the last two World Cup's, winning the first and losing the second, and he'll want to go one better than they did four years ago so he can end his successful reign on a high. The Fr

Preview to Group H SPAIN MANAGER: Luis De La Fuente FIFA RANKING: 2 WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 16 BEST WORLD CUP FINISH: Winners - 2010 Spain will be right among the favourites to win this World Cup and a lot of people even have them to be the favourites. They won every game at the Euros two years ago and winning that tournament the way they did may have set them up for another period of dominance. They have an exciting young squad with the potential to achieve to repeat what the

Preview to Group G BELGIUM MANAGER: Rudi Garcia FIFA RANKING: 9 WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 14 BEST WORLD CUP FINISH: 3rd Place - 2018 Belgium are a team at a crossroads coming into this tournament because they're not the team they used to be and no one knows what to expect from them. Their golden generation era is over and has been since Qatar with their group stage exit marking the end of it. Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku are the only players from that sid

Preview to Group F HOLLAND MANAGER: Ronald Koeman FIFA RANKING: 7 WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 11 BEST WORLD CUP FINISH: Runners Up x3 - 1974, 1978 and 2010 Holland are arguably the unluckiest team in World Cup history as they've been beaten in three finals. They've had some incredible talents over the years with Johan Cruyff of course being their main stand out, but they just haven't been able to win a World Cup. They have a strong squad on paper heading into this tournament with