Just over two months out from England‘s World Cup opener against Croatia in Texas, tournament narratives are already beginning to take shape.
Thomas Tuchel opted for an unprecedented 35-man split squad for England’s friendlies in March and as ever with an England squad, every inclusion and more importantly, non-inclusion, has been dissected heavily.
There will undoubtedly be changes to that group as the World Cup draws nearer and England head across the pond aiming to secure their first major trophy since 1966.
Standing in their way in the group stage are familiar opponents Croatia, Panama and Ghana with the fixtures spread across Texas, Foxborough and New Jersey.
ESPN takes a look at how the three nations that England will face in Group L are shaping up ahead of the showpiece event this summer.
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Croatia Luka Modrić has been Mr, Dependable for Croatia in recent major tournaments. Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images
First up for Tuchel’s side are Croatia, in the top three at the last two World Cups and still spearheaded by the evergreen Luka Modric, they are, on paper, England’s toughest test of the group.
As with many of the bigger nations they breezed through qualifying unbeaten with significant wins over Gibraltar, Montenegro and Czechia. European mainstays Andrej Kramaric and Ivan Perisic were the top goalscorers in their campaign as they finished with the just the one blemish on their record — a 0-0 draw in Czechia.
They’ve played just the one friendly since, a 2-1 win over Colombia where Tottenham Hotspur loanee Luka Vuskovic got on the scoresheet.
Zlatko Dalić remains their head coach and after guiding the side to more than impressive finishes at the last two World Cups he isn’t as confident this time around.
“This is definitely the hardest group,” Dalić said. “England vs Croatia will be the strongest match of the entire first round. We also drew Ghana from the fourth pot, the strongest and most dangerous possible opponent.”
Croatia are now at the end of their “golden generation” that saw them get to the final in Russia in 2018 and finish third last time out in Qatar, but with the likes of Josip Stanisic, Duje Caleta-Car and the exciting Luka Vuskovic now forming the backbone of the team, the 2026 World Cup could serve as the tournament where the torch is handed over within Croatian football.
GhanaDefeat to Germany spelled the end of Otto Addo’s Ghana reign. Getty Images
Ghana’s preparations and World Cup plans in their entirety remain up in the air after they sacked head coach Otto Addo 72 days before their opener against Panama in Toronto.
Addo oversaw their last World Cup campaign in Qatar where Ghana finished bottom of a tough group alongside South Korea, Uruguay and Portugal.
They do have tournament-winning prowess though with four African Cup of Nations trophies, but failing to qualify for the most recent edition, the first time Ghana weren’t at AFCON in 21 years, meant the writing may have been on the wall for a while for Addo.
Their most recent friendly, a 2-1 defeat to Germany, was Otto’s final game in charge and capped off a four-game winless run to end his time in charge of the country.
But with the likes of Jordan Ayew, Antoine Semenyo and Leicester’s Fatawu Issahaku all in the squad, the once-perennial AFCON champions will be no easy task for England in their second game in Foxborough.
PanamaEngland round off their group stage campaign against Panama in New Jersey. APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images
Déjà vu, anyone?
On the way to England’s eventual semifinal heartbreak in the 2018 World Cup to fellow group members Croatia, they swatted aside Panama 6-1 courtesy of a hat trick from now-captain Harry Kane.
Panama went on to finish bottom of the group in Russia, losing to Belgium and Tunisia, but after failing to qualify for the 2022 edition they’ll be hoping to make up for lost time this summer.
They have failed to win any of their three friendlies since finishing top unbeaten of their qualifying group, with draws against Bolivia and South Africa to go with a narrow defeat to Mexico.
Former Barcelona youth product and Spain international (also former Leeds manager) Thomas Christiansen took charge in 2020 and led Panama to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Copa America. That run on top of a commanding qualifying campaign point to this Panama side being a level above the one England were faced with eight years ago.
