World Cup co-hosts Mexico and Canada eager to shine as the big kickoff looms

THE Fifa World Cup is just around the corner, with football fans in Singapore and around the world gearing up for six weeks of action starting on the morning of Jun 12. The tournament will feature a record 104 matches involving 48 nations, with the games spread out across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will automatically advance to the knockout stage, along with the eight best third-place finishers. In the first of this four-part series to preview the event, BT Weekend takes a look at the teams in each of the groups, starting with Groups A to C.

Group A: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, Czech Republic

Co-hosts Mexico are staging the World Cup for the first time in 40 years, and they will play in the opening fixture when they face South Africa at the Azteca Stadium. This will be a rematch of the first match of the 2010 tournament, which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

Mexico, which crashed out of the group stage in Qatar four years ago, are the favourites to top this section. They will face a stern challenge from the Czech Republic and South Korea, both of which have world-class players in their squads. All eyes will be on Mexico’s talented teenager Gilberto Mora, who made history last year as the youngest ever to play in the senior team at the age of 16.

South Korea are making their 12th World Cup appearance, the most for any country in Asia. They will again turn to their captain Son Heung-min, the former Tottenham Hotspur star who now plays for Los Angeles FC in the US.

The Koreans memorably finished fourth in 2002 when they co-hosted with Japan, but their recent results have been disappointing after they lost to Ivory Coast and Austria in their warm-up matches.

The Czech Republic were one of the last few teams to book their ticket to the World Cup after they defeated the Republic of Ireland and Denmark via penalty shootouts in the European playoffs in March.

This is the Czechs’ first time back on the big stage since 2006, and they have former captain Vladimir Darida in the squad after the 35-year-old came out of international retirement to help his country in the qualifiers.

The man who will spearhead the Czech attack is Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick, who is his country’s fourth-highest ever goalscorer and famously scored a goal from nearly 50 metres away at the Euro 2020 tournament.

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Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland

This is another group where all four teams harbour realistic ambitions of progressing to the Round of 32. Co-hosts Canada are not the favourites to win the group, but they will bank on strong home support to see them through.

The Canadians have never advanced beyond the group stage, but they might feel more confident of doing so this time under head coach Jesse Marsch, the American who was formerly at RB Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Leeds United before he took up the Canada job in 2024.

Switzerland have been ever-present at the World Cup since 2002, and they qualified for this year’s edition in style by topping their group with no defeats and just two goals conceded in six matches. In fact, they haven’t lost a single competitive game since falling to Spain in November 2024.

The consistent Swiss squad includes the likes of Granit Xhaka, Noah Okafor and Manuel Akanji, all proven winners who will be doing all they can to help their nation advance deep in the tournament.

Qatar didn’t enjoy much success when they hosted the competition in 2022, exiting at the first hurdle. They have former Wolves and West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui at the helm, although the team are not in good form at the moment and have struggled to score goals of late.

As for the Bosnians, they are still on a high after dumping Italy out in the European playoffs and they will want to make the most of their precious spot at the World Cup. They have big names in their line-up such as the veteran striker Edin Dzeko, and few will write off their chances of reaching the next round.

Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland

Brazil are one of the most popular football teams in the world but they didn’t exactly have a smooth qualifying process in South America, losing six of their 18 matches and finishing 10 points behind leaders Argentina.

Of course, one can never count out a squad that has so many talented players like Raphinha, Vinicius Junior and Bruno Guimaraes. It would be a shock if the five-time champions don’t end up top of this group.

Morocco are the favourites to capture second place, and they qualified with a perfect qualifying record of eight wins from eight, scoring 22 goals and only conceding twice. Morocco have won their last 15 games in all competitions, and the last time they experienced defeat was against South Africa in January 2024.

It’s hard to see Haiti – playing in their first World Cup finals since 1974 – getting a single point from their three opponents. The Scots will relish their return to the tournament for the first time since 1998, when they nearly claimed a draw in the opening game against Brazil but eventually lost 2-1.