The northeastern USA is getting a prime group of matches with three world class attacking groups leading the way.
Kylian Mbappe and France are tournament favorites but must get past world superstars like Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane. And let's not discount the currently unbeaten continent of Asia and an Iraqi side that was probably better during the Asia Cup winning run back in '07 and semifinal trip back in '15, are still very worthy of making the expanded tournament regularly.
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
Tuesday, June 16
Match 17: France vs. Senegal, 3 p.m. on Fox (East Rutherford, N.J.)
Match 18: Iraq vs. Norway, 6 p.m. on Fox (Boston)
Monday, June 22
Match 42: France vs. Iraq, 5 p.m. on Fox (Philadelphia)
Match 43: Norway vs. Senegal, 8 p.m. on Fox (East Rutherford, N.J.)
Friday, June 26
Match 61: Norway vs. France, 3 p.m. on Fox (Boston)
Match 62: Senegal vs. Iraq, 3 p.m. on FS1 (Toronto)
GROUP I TEAM PRIMERS
Author's Notes: FIFA Rankings are from the November 2025 listing at the time of the tournament draw. 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 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.
Jake Catanese
FRANCE [FRA/I1]
Head Coach: Didier Deschamps
FIFA Ranking: 3
Nickname: Les Bleus
Qualification: UEFA (Europe) Group D Winners
Appearance: 17th
Best Finish: Champions (1998, 2018)
Roster Breakdown: 8 Domestic, 7 England, 4 Italy, 3 Spain, 2 Germany, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Turkey
Recent Matches: Friendly L vs Ivory Coast 1-2, Friendly W vs Northern Ireland 3-1
Player To Know: Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid (ESP), 98 Int’l Caps/56 Int’l Goals – It's hard not to put Mbappe here because...obviously, just note that yes he is one of the best players in the world but it’s his attack partner Michael Olise from Bayern Munich that could be the breakout star of the tournament.
Player To Watch: Warren Zaire-Emery, Paris St Germain (FRA), 11 Int’l Caps / 1 Int’l Goal – PSG's wonderkid do-it-all midfielder is turning his impressive youth resume into senior national team appearances. Already with over 100 Ligue 1 games with PSG, the future could be now.
Tournament Outlook
Considering they’ve been in the last two World Cup finals, France not getting back for a third consecutive one would feel somewhat surprising, as absurd as that is. This is a dynastic run for France, who just need to win a Euros to complete their climb up the mountain. Spain knocked them off in 2024 in the semis; that’s the level of team that would have to do the same in a World Cup. This group should pose that many problems for them, maybe a draw with either Senegal or Norway, but seven points will probably be enough top this group.
Jake Catanese
IRAQ [IRQ/I3]
Head Coach: Graham Arnold (AUS)
FIFA Ranking: 58
Nickname: Lions of Mesopotamia
Qualification: AFC (Asia) Fifth Round Winners; FIFA Playoff Path 2 Winners
Appearance: 2nd
one-timeBest Finish: Group Stage (1986)
Roster Breakdown: 10 Domestic, 2 Poland, 2 UAE, 1 Cyprus, 1 Czechia, 1 Denmark, 1 Indonesia, 1 Thailand, 1 Italy, 1 Norway, 1 Netherlands, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 England, 1 USA/MLS, 1 Uzbekistan
Recent Matches: Friendly (Girona, ESP) W vs Andorra 1-0, Friendly D at Spain 1-1, Friendly (Bridgeview, IL) L vs Venezuela 0-2
Player To Know: MF Ahmed Qasem, Nashville SC (USA/MLS), 3 Int’l Caps/0 Int’l Goals – The former Swedish youth international made the one-time switch right before the tournament and featured in all three warm-up friendlies. He has 42 appearances (21 starts) in MLS over the last year and a half.
Player To Watch: FW Aymen Hussein, Al-Karma (IRQ), 95 Int’l Caps/33 Int’l Goals – Iraq's target man up top gets to do more of the physical heavy lifting against backlines, allowing Mohanad Ali space to use his more versatile skill set and Ali Al-Hamadi to use his pace to create.
Tournament Outlook
It was Al-Hamadi and Hussein’s goals against Bolivia that sent Iraq through to the World Cup after beating UAE in an aggregate playoff to claim Asia’s inter-confederation playoff spot. Finished one point behind Jordan in their main qualifying group and struggled for goals, netting only 9 times in 10 group matches in that round. They were always going to be long shots, but drawing the best Pot 3 team in Norway did not help their chances. If I wasn’t so worried about where the goals are coming from, I would give them more of a fighting chance to get a result off someone.
Sam Lattof
NORWAY [NOR/I4]
Head Coach: Stale Solbakken (NOR)
FIFA Ranking: 29
Nickname: Landslaget (National Team)
Qualification: UEFA (Europe) Group I Winners
Appearance: 4th
IBest Finish: Round of 16 (1998)
Roster Breakdown: 4 Domestic, 9 England, 5 Italy, 3 Germany, 2 Portugal, 2 Spain, 1 Scotland
Recent Matches: Friendly W vs Sweden 3-1, Friendly (Harrison, NJ) D vs Morocco 1-1
Player To Know: FW Erling Haaland, Manchester City (ENG), 50 Int’l Caps/55 Int’l Goals – I don’t think I need to introduce one of the best goal scorers of his generation...16 goals in 8 qualifying matches as Norway went undefeated and sent Italy back to playoff hell.
Player To Watch: MF Patrick Berg, Bodo/Glimt (NOR), 43 Int’l Caps/0 Int’l Goals – You will put some respect on the Arctic Circle and the homegrown legend that can topple Inter Milan in the Champions League. Also part of the Europa League semifinalist a year prior, earning him team of the tournament honors.
Tournament Outlook
Okay, so we haven’t seen Norway at the World Cup since the 90s when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was their global star. Well, as long as they’ve got Haaland and Martin Odegaard, they can win games at this tournament. How far they can go will depend on how much magic their two superstars can conjure up but their supporting cast is pretty solid. This team can definitely win a knockout game and maybe even two depending on how the bracket lines up.
Jake Catanese
SENEGAL [SEN/I2]
Head Coach: Pape Thiaw (SEN)
FIFA Ranking: 19
Nickname: Lions of Teranga
Qualification: CAF (Africa) Group B Winners
Appearance: 4th
;Best Finish: Quarterfinals (2002)
Roster Breakdown: 8 France, 7 England, 3 Saudi Arabia, 2 Germany, 2 Spain, 2 Turkey, 1 Italy, 1 Israel
Recent Matches: Friendly L at United States 2-3, Friendly (San Antonio, TX) D vs Saudi Arabia 0-0
Player To Know: FW Sadio Mane, Al-Nassr (KSA), 128 Int’l Caps/55 Int’l Goals – You might remember the Liverpool man putting two past the USMNT a week or so ago; the 34-year-old striker still has it and scores about every three games in the Saudi league and had five goals in qualifying.
Players To Watch: The Sarrs (Pape Matar, Ismaila, Mamadou) - They are not related; Sarr is apparently a very common last name in Senegal. But all three play in England and are all very good so don’t confuse the midfielder Pape Matar from Spurs with winger Ismalia from Crystal Palace or defender Mamadou from Chelsea (whose dad is the famous Pape Sarr of Ligue 1 fame who was part of that quarterfinal run in 2002).
Tournament Outlook
The USMNT saw just how dangerous Senegal can be up close; that attacking group in particular can be a handful. They weren’t overwhelming in qualifying; nine of their 22 goals were against last-place South Sudan, and with scoreless draws away at Sudan and Togo as well as being held at home 1-1 by runners-up DR Congo, I’m not sure they’re the darkhorse candidate Norway can be. That being said, I fully expect to see them in the Round of 32 and whichever team is opposite them is not going to be happy.
Jake Catanese
GROUP OVERVIEW
So the winner of Group I gets one of the third-place teams, but the second-place finisher is opposite one of my other favorite and deep groups: Group E (Germany, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Curacao). If we assume the potential exists for France to drop points here, they could end up against either Germany or Ivory Coast in the next round...and the Elephants just beat Les Bleus in a friendly.
The wildcard here is Norway, which has no recent World Cup experience to go but maybe has the best #9 in the world. I know beating Italy twice isn't the same feat it was a decade or so ago, but this is a team that can make a deep knockout run.
Likewise, Senegal won two group games last time around and are fully capable of a repeat performance and getting into the Round of 16. This is a potentially loaded group, but I'm going to lean more towards the Europeans because I think the U.S. might've given teams the game play for Senegal.
In a different group, I'd give Iraq an outside chance at third, but I have a hard time seeing them keeping up with the attacking power in the group.
Third Place Advancement: High (Senegal)
GROUP PREDICTIONS
- France 2. Norway 3. Senegal 4. Iraq
