England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama: World Cup Group Preview
Seventeen World Cups in, England arrive with a familiar weight on their shoulders and a very different man in the dugout. Gareth Southgate nudged them closer to glory than any manager since 1966. Thomas Tuchel has been hired to finish the job. No emotional baggage, no nostalgia. Just a Champions League winner brought in to turn “nearly” into “finally”.
This is a squad built for balance. Declan Rice embodies it. He screens, he passes, he presses, he knits the whole thing together. Around him, England can morph – front-foot and aggressive, or measured and controlled – but the warning is clear: if Tuchel’s side freeze into caution, the chance for a second star on the shirt will drift away again.
At the tip of it all stands Harry Kane. Season after season, the numbers keep coming, and this year he has a strong claim to being the most complete centre-forward in the game. For Bayern Munich he has been ruthless; for England he is already the country’s record scorer with eight World Cup goals behind him. He drops deep, he links, he finishes. In tournaments like this, he doesn’t just decide matches – he can decide eras.
Croatia: One More Run for a Golden Core
Croatia know this terrain. This will be their seventh World Cup, and in two of the last three they have ripped up the script: finalists in 2018, semi-finalists in 2022, a small nation with a giant tournament habit.
Zlatko Dalić is still on the touchline. Luka Modrić is still pulling the strings. They go again, aware that this might be the last big dance for some of their icons. The legs are older, the margins slimmer. To repeat those deep runs now would be an even greater shock than before.
Their style, though, still travels well. Croatia slow games down, take the sting out of them, and suffocate opponents with possession. In searing heat, that kind of control can be a weapon.
At the back, Joško Gvardiol remains the cornerstone. He was arguably the standout defender at the last World Cup and has since become a key figure at Manchester City. The only concern is his recent return from a broken shin, but if he reaches full stride, he gives Croatia the platform to lean on their old strengths: calm under pressure, ruthless in moments.
Ghana: Talent, Turbulence, and Queiroz’s Iron Grip
Ghana arrive at their fifth World Cup with memories of 2010 still lingering – a quarter-final run, a nation living every kick. Since then, the story has been more fractured. The talent is there, scattered across major European leagues, but the performances have rarely matched the promise.
Five straight friendly defeats underlined the problem. A draw with Wales finally stopped the slide, but it didn’t erase the doubts. To restore order, the federation turned to Carlos Queiroz, a veteran of international football and a coach who builds from the back. Expect structure. Expect discipline. Expect games that are tight and tense rather than wild and open.
The loss of Mohammed Kudus to injury strips away a layer of creativity and unpredictability. Without him, Ghana risk looking blunt in the final third. That puts even more pressure on Antoine Semenyo. Fresh from a 17-goal Premier League season and an FA Cup final winner for Manchester City, he has proved he can deliver on the biggest domestic stages. For Ghana, though, the numbers tell a harsher story: three goals in 34 games.
If he can finally translate club form to country, Queiroz’s defensive blueprint might suddenly have a cutting edge. If not, Ghana could once again feel like a team permanently stuck in second gear.
Panama: Chasing Respect, Not Revenge
For Panama, this is only their second World Cup, and the scars of the first are still vivid. In 2018, England tore through them 6-1, with Kane scoring twice and the gulf in class brutally exposed. That kind of defeat lingers in a footballing psyche.
This time, Thomas Christiansen brings a side that has grown more streetwise. Recent results have been respectable enough to lift them to 33rd in the Fifa rankings, a position that raised eyebrows but reflects a team that has learned how to compete. Then came a 6-2 friendly loss to Brazil – a jolt back to reality and a reminder of what happens when concentration slips against the elite.
Panama are not here to trade blows with the heavyweights over seven games. They are here for something simpler, but no less meaningful: a first World Cup point. One hard-earned draw, one stubborn defensive stand, one moment that rewrites the way the world talks about them.
In a group stacked with pedigree, pressure and history, that single point could feel like a trophy.
