The soccer gods have blessed us with a new and expanded World Cup tournament and a really solid opening group. Hosts Mexico look to restart their knockout stage streak, the Czechs make their first tournament in two decades, South Korea is still looking for their first knockout win since a magical run as hosts, and South Africa is hoping some
Tremendous opening tidbit, this is the second time Mexico and South Africa will kickoff as the first match in a World Cup. The two teams played a 1-1 draw 16 years ago to the day.
Why a primer and not a preview? Because this is more of a handy reference guide than it is expert analysis. I did not watch or scout 32 international teams to prepare for the World Cup let alone 48 of them because I enjoy sleep and I am not apologizing.
TV SCHEDULE (all times are in U.S. Eastern Time)Thursday, June 11
Match 1: Mexico vs. South Africa, 3 p.m. on Fox (Mexico City)
Match 2: South Korea vs. Czech Republic, 10 p.m. on FS1 (Guadalajara, Mexico)
Thursday, June 18
Match 25: Czech Republic vs. South Africa, 12 noon on Fox (Atlanta)
Match 28: Mexico vs. South Korea, 9 p.m. on Fox (Guadalajara, Mexico)
Wednesday, June 24
Match 53: Czech Republic vs. Mexico, 9 p.m. on Fox (Mexico City)
Match 54: South Africa vs. South Korea, 9 p.m. on FS1 (Monterrey, Mexico)
GROUP A TEAM PRIMERS
Author’s notes: FIFA Rankings are from the November 2025 listing at the time of the tournament draw and not the most recent June list. Players international caps / goals are relatively accurate but may not include the recent warm-up friendlies as research for these articles started weeks ago. Abbreviations next to the country names should be their official Olympic code on the TV score bug and the Letter/Number is their draw position for the group schedule not their pot from the initial tournament draw. Warm up friendlies in the USA are noted, otherwise vs/at indicates true home/away matches.
CZECH REPUBLIC (Czechia) [CZE/A4]
Head Coach: Miroslav Koubek (CZE)
FIFA Ranking: 44 Nickname: Narodak (National Team)
Qualification: UEFA (Europe) Group L 2nd Place; Playoff Path D Winners
Appearance: 10th Best Finish: Runners-up* (1934, 1962 *-as Czechoslovakia)
Roster Breakdown: 19 Domestic, 4 Germany, 1 France, 1 Portugal, 1 Netherlands, 1 USA/MLS
Recent Matches: UEFA Playoffs: D vs Ireland 2-2 (4-3PK), D 2-2 vs Denmark (3-1PK); Friendly W vs Kosovo 2-1, Friendly (Harrison, NJ) W vs Guatemala 3-1
Player To Know: MF Tomas Soucek, West Ham United (ENG), 89 Int’l Caps/17 Int’l Goals
Player To Watch: FW Patrik Schick, Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 52 Int’l Caps/25 Int’l Goals
These two netted a combined six goals in their qualifying group action and are the veteran presence in a very domestic-heavy roster. They have 42 combined goals while the rest of the roster has a combined 53 (as of the Kosovo friendly), which might explain why the Czechs haven’t been to the World Cup since Petr Cech was in his 20s.
Tournament Outlook
This is definitely a group Czechia should get out of, but how high they finish in the group could determine how viable they are for a deeper run in the knockouts. They have a blowout loss in Croatia and a stunning loss at the Faroe Islands in the qualifying group on their resume, followed by two home shootout wins in the playoff, including a dramatic late equalizer against Ireland.
The Czechs have a recent Euros quarterfinal appearance from 2020 as well, so even as an underdog in the knockout rounds they’re going to probably give someone a game. Even drawn into a group with one of the host countries and as a Pot 4 team, they have I think a better than outside chance to win this group.
MEXICO [MEX/A1]
Head Coach: Javier Aguirre (MEX)
FIFA Ranking: 15 Nickname: El Tri
Qualification: Hosts, CONCACAF (N. America)
Appearance: 18th Best Finish: Quarterfinals (1970, 1986)
Roster Breakdown: 12 Domestic, 2 Greece, 2 Italy, 2 Spain, 2 Russia, 1 Cyprus, 1 Belgium, 1 Netherlands, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 England, 1 Turkey
Recent Matches: Friendly W vs Ghana 2-0, Friendly (Pasadena, Calif.) vs Australia 1-0, Friendly W vs Serbia 5-1
Player To Know: FW Raul Jimenez, Fulham (ENG), 123 Int’l Caps/44 Int’l Goals – A stalwart presence in the box even at age 35, this might be Jimenez’s last World Cup, where he’s largely been a substitute on the World’s biggest stage and has yet to score in three previous tournaments.
Player To Watch: M/D Edson Alvarez, Fenerbahce (TUR), 97 Int’l Caps/7 Int’l Goals – The reigning Golden Ball winner from the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Alvarez is a tremendous player wherever he is in the defensive half.
Tournament Outlook
Could Mexico win this group? Yes, but that is largely because they’re playing on home soil. I always have questions as to where the goals are coming from and most of the time it doesn’t matter, except it did four years ago when El Tri snapped their 7-tourney run of making the knockouts in Qatar by getting blanked twice and missing out on goal difference despite having four points. So it’s not like they got bounced by playing poorly, but they have to get off to a fast start with three points against South Africa if they want to win the group.
SOUTH AFRICA [RSA/A2]
Head Coach: Hugo Broos (BEL)
FIFA Ranking: 61 Nickname: Bafana Bafana
Qualification: CAF (Africa) Group C Winners
Appearance: 4 Best Finish: Group Stage (1998, 2002, 2010)
Roster Breakdown: 19 Domestic, 2 USA/MLS, 1 Cyprus, 1 England, 1 Germany, 1 Norway, 1 Portugal
Recent Matches: Friendly D vs Nicaragua 0-0, Friendly (Pachuca, MEX) W vs Jamaica 1-0
Player To Know: DF Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Chicago Fire (USA/MLS), 10 Int’l Caps/1 Int’l Goal – 12 starts for the Fire in his debut MLS season, and the 20-year-old, 5’10” centerback looks destined for a Best XI at some point in the near future. A Michael Parkhurst-esque four fouls committed so far in 2026 and a mid-80s passing percentage is really impressive. Got his first international goal against Panama back in March in a 2-1 loss to the Canaleros.
Player To Watch: FW Lyle Foster, Burnley (ENG), 31 Int’l Caps/10 Int’l Goals – So offensive production at Burnley in the EPL is a flawed benchmark, but two goals each during WCQ and the most recent AFCON is more than enough to want to keep an eye on Bafana Bafana’s talented striker.
Tournament Outlook
The lowest-ranked team out of Pot 3, South Africa finds themselves in a recent spot of bother. After topping Nigeria in qualifying, they got bounced in the AFCON Round of 16 and then have gone winless in three friendlies against Panama twice and Nicaragua.
Recent form does not bode well for them, but I can’t rule out the potential of a third-place spot for them because they have a tremendous record at the World Cup despite always getting grouped. In their previous three appearances, they’ve gotten two results in the group stage but lost out on tiebreakers in both 2002 and 2010 despite being on four points.
I think it’s a tougher task for them this time around, especially as the offense has struggled against better competition, but under the current format they’d already have two knockout appearances based on past performance.
SOUTH KOREA [KOR/A3]
Head Coach: Hong Myung-bo (KOR)
FIFA Ranking: 22 Nickname: Taegeuk Warriors
Qualification: AFC (Asia) 3rd Round Group B Winner
Appearance: 12th Best Finish: Fourth Place (2002)
Roster Breakdown: 7 Domestic, 2 Japan, 4 England/Wales, 3 Germany, 2 Denmark, 1 Austria, 1 China, 1 Serbia, 1 Netherlands, 1 Scotland, 1 Turkey, 1 USA/MLS
Recent Matches: Friendly (Provo, Utah) W vs Trinidad and Tobago 5-0, Friendly (Provo, Utah) W vs El Salvador 1-0
Player To Know/Watch: FW Son Heung-min, Los Angeles FC (USA/MLS), 143 Int’l Caps/56 Int’l Goals – He won’t have to do all the scoring for South Korea; it just seems like it because he’s that good. The megastar with LAFC in MLS has doled out nine assists so far and with teammates like Hwang Hee-chan of Wolves, Cho Gue-sung of Midtjylland, and Lee Kang-in of PSG, Son the creator should be more than enough to carry them out of the group. Next time we’re getting the Warriors a better pair of CONCACAF opponents to warm up against though.
Tournament Outlook
South Korea is such an interesting team because they have a legitimate global superstar but also have just two Round of 16 appearances in the two decades since their famous semifinal run as hosts back in 2002. Certainly a team that would be a strong candidate to win a Round of 32 game with their pedigree, but it’s a mixed bag for them against higher competition. Brazil beat them at home 5-0 last fall, and Ivory Coast did the same on neutral ground in England 4-0 in the spring. They did play Mexico to a 2-2 draw in Nashville last September (the same window losing to the USMNT 2-0) so they do have some familiarity with the hosts.
GROUP OVERVIEW
This is a fascinating opening group because I think this could be very tight and could see any combination of three teams advancing in any order. I am going to lean chalk but I’m absolutely not confident in the finishing order.
I do think three teams will make it out of this group. I could absolutely see Mexico finishing on seven points by drawing either Korea or the Czechs, while second and third could be on four points or five points unbeaten with two draws. South Africa is playing spoiler here, which they’re talented enough to do for sure, but recent matches leave a lot to be desired for their knockout chances. I’d be surprised if South Africa got a win, but they’re still talented enough to earn at least one result and drop someone to a likely third-place finish.
Third Place Advancement: Strong (Czech Rep)
PREDICTIONS
- Mexico
- South Korea
- Czech Republic
- South Africa