In World Cup swansong, Argentina’s Messi to go full throttle to retain crown

FOUR years ago, Argentina won perhaps one of the greatest and most entertaining World Cup finals of all time, finally fending off France’s challenge in a nail-biting penalty shootout after the two teams were inseparable at the end of extra time.

The defending champions are in no mood to relinquish their title so easily, and they are one of the teams favoured to go deep in the 2026 edition that kicks off on Jun 11. This will be the final World Cup for captain Lionel Messi, who will turn 39 in a few weeks’ time and is facing a race against time to recover from a hamstring injury.

In this fourth and final part of BT Weekend’s preview of the 2026 World Cup, we look at the prospects of the teams competing in Groups J, K and L.

Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni could hardly have asked for an easier assignment in the first round, and it would be a big surprise if La Albiceleste did not finish top and win all three group games with some ease.

Then again, the World Cup always delivers some shock results, and Argentina know better than to underestimate any of their opponents. At the 2022 tournament, they found this out the hard way when they lost to Saudi Arabia in their opening fixture.

Scaloni has named top stars such as Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Emiliano Martinez and Rodrigo De Paul in his final roster.

Austria topped their European qualifying group and they are back at the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. Manager Ralf Rangnick has instilled confidence and discipline in this experienced squad that includes David Alaba, Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer.

Algeria also finished top of their section in African qualifying by winning eight of 10 matches. Algeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 and their squad is packed with players from France’s Ligue 1 and other top leagues.

World Cup debutants Jordan are probably going to go home after the group stage, and it’s hard to see them putting up much of a fight. Their best hope is to try and somehow snatch a win against either Austria or Algeria and hope to squeak through to the next round as one of the best third-placed teams.

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Group K: Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia, Congo

Portugal have long been regarded as a dark horse to win many international tournaments, and they have gone all the way thrice in the last decade – winning the European Championships in 2016 and the Uefa Nations League in 2019 and 2025.

It is the World Cup that Portugal and their captain Cristiano Ronaldo crave the most, however. They are expected to breeze their way into the Round of 32, with only Colombia expected to give them a tough time in the group stage.

Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has some of the world’s best players at his disposal, including Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes.

Colombia are no pushovers and manager Nestor Lorenzo has retained the bulk of the squad that put together a record 28-match unbeaten streak that lasted for over two years and ended at the 2024 Copa America final.

Uzbekistan are out to enjoy their World Cup debut, and them making it this far is all the more impressive given that the landlocked Central Asian nation only played their first-ever match in 1992.

Their manager is well known to many football fans, Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro. Other than him, most of the squad are quite unfamiliar outside of Uzbekistan except for a handful of names like Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov.

Congo celebrated their return to the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. The current team will certainly hope to do better than their predecessors in 1974. Then known as Zaire, they went to West Germany and conceded 14 goals and scored none before going home.

Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama

Still smarting from their Euro 2024 final loss to Spain, England fans are wondering how much longer they will have to wait to win a second World Cup trophy. The Three Lions enjoyed a perfect qualifying campaign with eight wins from eight, 22 goals scored and not a single one conceded.

Manager Thomas Tuchel has named a 26-man squad that’s led by the in-form Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, who netted 58 times in all competitions for the German club this season.

Croatia, the 2018 finalists and third-place finishers in 2022, have an ageing squad but manager Zlatko Dalic has brought in a new core of younger players such as Josko Gvardiol, Petar Sucic and Martin Baturina, who are blending in with the “golden generation” led by captain Luka Modric.

Ghana sacked manager Otto Addo three months ago and their preparations for the tournament have been less than ideal, although they now have the experienced Carlos Queiroz at the helm.

Panama are the weakest team in this group, but they can take heart from their undefeated qualifying campaign. They will aim to build on some decent results earlier this year, when they drew with Bolivia and lost narrowly to Mexico.

Check out the previews for the other nine groups at our World Cup section.