The 2026 World Cup is now getting closer and after the March International break, we already have seven countries that have qualified for the tournament. After the hosts (United States, Mexico and Canada) automatically clinched their spot, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand and Iran joined them and are now officially part of the competition. The side coached by Lionel Scaloni, which will defend their 2022 Qatar World Cup success, were able to clinch the spot before even winning 4-1 in Buenos Aires against Brazil. While Asia and South America group stages are already well underway, the UEFA European teams have just started their group qualifiers but we can already identify some of the teams we can look out over the next year, when things will get heated as we get the final 48-team list of nations included in the World Cup. The European section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will determine the 16 slots reserved for the 54 UEFA national teams for the upcoming tournament that will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico starting on June 11 next year. Let’s take a look at the winners and losers of the international break that just came to an end.
Winner: Thomas Tuchel
German manager Thomas Tuchel had a solid start to his spell as England national team manager as the Three Lions were able to start off the group stage with two wins against Albania and Latvia at Wembley. Tuchel was able to bring a new and fresh air to a talented team that come from the disappointment of two UEFA Euro finals lost in a row in 2021 and last year under the management of former coach Gareth Southgate. More than the positive performances showed on the pitch, Tuchel can look at the future with some positivity as he can now help the team to win a trophy after becoming the third ever foreign coach to sit on that bench after Sven-Göran Eriksson from 2001 to 2006 and Fabio Capello from 2007 to 2012.
Losers: Brazil
The Brazilian national team were the biggest disappointment of this international window as the team coached by Dorival Junior were defeated 4-1 away against historical rivals Argentina in Buenos Aires. More than the negative result, as Argentina qualified for the World Cup earlier in the day and then beat them convincingly, Brazil were defeated also for the way they played, as the team coached by Lionel Scaloni showed to be much better at this stage. It’s not a coincidence that the second goal of the home team scored by Enzo Fernandez came after a sequence of 37 uninterrupted passes, one of the longest passing sequences leading to a goal in this CONMEBOL qualifying campaign.
Winners: Argentina
Argentina are now the first South American side that officially qualified for the 2026 World Cup, and the team coached by Scaloni will have the chance to defend their historical third World Cup win four years after the final won in penalties in Doha against France. After a moment of instability which is kind of normal after such achievement, Argentina are now again a strong candidate for the win in 2026, and managed to qualify without two key players like Inter Miami star Lionel Messi and Inter striker Lautaro Martinez, who were not included in the roster due to minor injuries. This week gave more confidence to this team and put them back where they belong: Argentina want to win, again.
Losers: Italy
Even if the side coached by Luciano Spalletti are yet to make their debut in the European qualifiers, as the Azzurri lost to Germany in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Nations League, Italy are already in trouble ahead of the games that will be played in June. In fact, after losing the tie against Julian Nagelsmann’s side, Italy are now officially seeded in Group I with Norway but Erling Haaland’s side won the two opening matches against Moldavia and Israel. On June 6, Norway will host Italy for their first game in the World Cup qualifiers, but things can look difficult for them if they don’t immediately score points in Oslo. The historical European giants missed the last two editions of the FIFA World Cup and Italy’s last appearance in a knockout game of the World Cup was in 2006, when they won their last global crown after beating France in penalties.
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