THE ALS WORLD CUP TEAM GUIDE (PART 2)

The 23rd edition of the World Cup is almost upon us, with 48 teams, three host nations, 16 stadiums and 104 matches, it’s the biggest ever. Here’s a brief(ish) overview of every country in Groups D,E and F (here's a link to the first part) at the upcoming tournament and how I think they’ll get on:

USA

RANKED: 16TH

MY PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE

Hosts usually, but not always, overperform in World Cups, however I think the United States will crash out relatively early. Saying that, their group (featuring the next three teams) is rather hard to predict and any one of the four teams in it could easily advance. I think they’ll come third, just missing out on one of those extra spots for the round of 32. Their squad features Sunderland-born Giovanni Reyna, as well as captain Tim Ream who now plays in the MLS but previously made over 300 appearances for Fulham. Other key players include Tyler Adams of Bournemouth, Christian Pulisic of Milan and Weston McKennie of Juventus. Managed by former Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino, I’m anticipating them to fail to reach the knockouts due to the aforementioned tight group, I can see them losing one and drawing the other two in tight affairs. 21-year-old Alex Freeman is their youngest player.

PARAGUAY

RANKED: 40TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 32

Flip a coin for this group, anyone of them could finish anywhere but I’ll predict Paraguay to come second, they’re capable of picking up four points. On paper, they’re not as good as the USA but they had some big wins over the likes of Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina in the qualifiers. Omar Alderete will feature for them in this summer’s tournament and they can also call upon midfielder Diego Gomez of Brighton and Hove Albion. Another Gomez, Gustavo, a centre back who plays for Palmeiras, is their captain. Left back Alexandro Maidana is their youngest squad member. Journeyman 63-year-old Gustavo Alfaro, from Argentina, is their manager. He’s previously been in charge of Ecuador and Costa Rica.

AUSTRALIA

RANKED: 27TH

MY PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE

I think Australia will miss out on the knockouts this time around, which is a shame because they gave a good account of themselves and shocked a lot of people. Harry Souttar (centre back, Leicester City) is the most recognisable name from the English leagues in the squad. Goalkeeper Matthew Ryan (Levante) leads them on the pitch. Jackson Irvine (midfielder, St Pauli) is another standout player and the youngest is centre back Lucas Herrington (Colorado Rapids). Tony Popovic manages The Socceroos, bonus points if you recognise his name from being one of the Crystal Palace players who scored in the penalty shootout against us in the 2004 play-offs.

TURKEY

RANKED: 22ND

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 16

Turkey might not be everyone’s choice to do well at this World Cup but since a 6-0 battering at the hands of Spain, they’ve been very good. Winning six and drawing one, scoring 18 and conceding just four. A credible draw against Spain is the highlight. Admittedly, other than Spain, they’ve not played anyone very good but they’ve swept their easier opponents aside and have been keeping a lot of clean sheets. Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir plays for Manchester United and they can count on Hakan Calhanoglu (captain), Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz as important talents. Attacking midfielder Can Uzun of Eintracht Frankfurt will be their youngest representative and former Italy international Vincenzo Montella will be in the dugout. I think they’ll get a relatively favourable round of 32 tie, which has probably been intended for hosts America.

GERMANY

RANKED: 10TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 16

They’ve gone out in the group stage at the last two World Cups but I think they’ll escape it this time, win their first knockout match and then go out to one of the elite teams. You’ll be familiar with Premier League winner Kai Havertz in the team, alongside other PL players such as Florian Wirtz and own goal extraordinaire Nick Woltemade. Other than that, they have a now 40-year-old Manuel Neuer, their captain Joshua Kimmich as well as Jamal Musiala (who could have played for England) and their youngest man, Lennart Karl who’s an attacker with Bayern Munich. Former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann has been managing them for just under three years now.

ECUADOR

RANKED: 24TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 32

They’re very hard to beat, in fact the last team to beat them was Brazil in September 2024 (and that was narrow, 1-0), so I think they’ll get out of their group successfully. Notably, they have Sunderland winger Nilson Angulo in their squad and you’ll be aware of Moises Caicedo (Chelsea) and Pierro Hincapie (who was on loan at Arsenal last season). 36-year-old Enner Valencia (remember him) is their captain and their youngest player is River Plate attacker Kendry Paez. Managed by 45-year-old Argentine Sebastian Beccacece, they haven’t got the best players on paper but they clearly work well as a unit.

IVORY COAST

RANKED: 34TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 32

I think they’ll just about advance in third place, if they can put a few past Curacao to get a decent goal difference. Current Sunderland player Simon Adingra has made the team and so has former Sunderland man Amad Diallo. Former Milan and Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie will wear the armband and 19-year-old Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig holds the accolade for their youngest player. Manager Emerse Fae was appointed to the job halfway through the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which he then subsequently won. This is The Elephants' first World Cup since Brazil 2014 and only their fourth finals appearance ever (the other two being in 2006 and 2010).

CURACAO

RANKED: 83RD

MY PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE

World Cup debutants and the smallest nation to ever qualify, Curacao are pushing well above their weight here. If you thought Iceland qualifying back in 2018 was impressive, Curacao has a population roughly 40% of them. Sunderland has more people. Although it is worth noting that most of their squad were born in the Netherlands but not every single one of them like some media outlets have reported. Sheffield United’s midfielder, Tahith Chong, was born in Curacao. Their captain, Leandro Bacuna, enjoyed a spell in England/Wales, turning out for Aston Villa, Reading, Cardiff City and Watford. The person you’ll be most familiar with ,though, is their 78-year-old manager Dick Advocaat, still going strong in his 60th year of either playing or coaching. 56 years younger is right back Livano Comenencia, the youngest amongst them. I can’t foresee them getting past the initial three games but they did give Scotland a decent match before going down to ten men in a recent friendly.

NETHERLANDS

RANKED: 7TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 32

A bit of a weird prediction to make but I think they’ll end up playing Morocco in the first knockout round and that’ll be when their World Cup ends. A huge chunk of their squad play in the Premier League, obviously Sunderland are represented by Robin Roefs and Brian Brobbey. Captain Virgil van Dijk, defender Jurrien Timber and midfielder Justin Kluivert are other examples of Prem players they have available. Lutsharel Geertruida isn't in the squad, although he's on the "standby list" in case Timber isn't deemed fit. Staying on the England theme, defender Jorrel Hato (Chelsea) is their youngest player. Attackers Memphis Depay and Wout Weghorst (Corinthians and Ajax) are two of them who aren’t getting their wages from an English club. Ronald Koeman, who won the European Championship with the Netherlands in 1988 as a player, will lead them.

JAPAN

RANKED: 18TH

MY PREDICTION: ROUND OF 32

Japan has never advanced past the first knockout round of the World Cup and I don’t think this will be any exception. Captain Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Ao Tanaka (Leeds United) and Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace) are their Premier League representatives (all midfielders) but the likes of Daizen Maeda of Celtic, Takefusa Kubo of Real Sociedad and Ritsu Doan of Eintracht Frankfurt show that this squad has quality in multiple leagues. Managed by Hajime Moriyasu for the last eight years, he has led them to success in two EAFF Championships (2022 and 2025). Striker Keisuke Goto is their youngest, recently turning 20. When ALS recently interviewed Chris Waddle, he named Japan as his surprise package of the tournament.

TUNISIA

RANKED: 45TH

MY PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE

This is Tunisia’s third World Cup in a row and they made headlines last time by beating France. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to get them out of the group stage and I think they’ll fall at the first hurdle again, like they have done in their previous six of these tournaments. Captained by defensive midfielder Ellyes Skhiri (Eintracht Frankfurt), they have some more familiar names to English audiences in Hannibal Mejbri (Burnley), Anis Ben Slimane (Norwich City) and Yan Valery (Sheffield Wednesday). Their youngest player, 18-year-old forward Rayan Elloumi, plays for Canadian MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps and was in fact born in Canada, actually holding one cap for Canada B. Ex-France international Sabri Lamouchi is in charge, he’s managed in England before with Nottingham Forest and also in Wales with Cardiff City.

SWEDEN

RANKED: 38TH

MY PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE

They’ve not been great the last few months and new manager Graham Potter has had a very mixed start results wise, at least he did manage to bail out a horrid qualification campaign via the play-offs though. Notably, Seb Larsson will be part of the nation's coaching staff for this tournament. Potter (formerly of Swansea City, Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham United) will be banking on one of those third place spots to advance, I think Japan and the Netherlands have the top two spots on lock. They have got some good talent though, forward Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal) and captain Victor Lindelof (Aston Villa) are two notable examples, plus their youngest player is Lucas Bergvall of Tottenham. One of their biggest problems is that attackers Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United) and Alexander Isak (Liverpool) have both had difficult seasons and haven’t been performing as well as Sweden will need them to.