It’s this Friday (5), at 2pm. Those who like football will try to follow (and understand) the draw for the 2026 World Cup groups, which will be in Washington, the capital of one of the countries, the USA, that will host the event, along with Mexico and Canada.
When this draw approaches, great expectations are created, and a considerable number of people who enjoy the game become more curious and interested than they usually are.
When it comes to Brazil, we want to know who the opponents will be, in the first phase of the World Cup, of the team that wants to win sixth (the fifth came in 2002).
The media speculates. Which would be the easiest or most difficult group for Brazil? And the “death group”? There’s always one. Commentators give their opinions. It’s always been this way, it always will be.
I will give mine too. But, being pragmatic, in a World Cup swollen with 48 teams (there were 32), with more groups, 12 (there were 8), the draw doesn’t matter much.
What matters most is knowing that 2/3 of the participating countries (32 out of 48) go to the knockout stages (elimination games), which will have an extra stage. Before they were half, 16 out of 32.
The best two in each group will advance, plus the eight best third-placed teams. In the 2022 World Cup, in order not to return home early, a team had to leave two behind in its group. Now, to not qualify, only if you finish last or, finishing second to last, cannot be less bad than the other four second to last.
For Brazil to record a calamitous campaign (it was only in the 1966 World Cup that it fell straight away), it will need to be terrible.
The team isn’t great, but, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, it won’t be bad in the World Cup. In fact, with all the concept that Carleto has, I want convincing football, from great to excellent.
Before I choose Brazil’s toughest and most bitter opponents, it is necessary to remember that half of the 12 groups will be incomplete until March, when six teams (four from Europe and two from other regions) will be defined in repechages.
Brazil is seeded, in pot 1. There are 12 teams in each of the pots. The best placed in the FIFA rankings are in pot 1 and, successively using the same criteria, in pot 2, 3 and 4.
Relevant exception: pot 4 will house the countries that come from the repechages, with forces such as Sweden, Türkiye, Denmark and four-time champion Italy being able to enter it.
For those who want Vini Jr. and company’s team to be able to “train” in the first three games, with minimal difficulty, the fans should go to Australia or Iran (pot 2), South Africa (pot 3) and Haiti, Curaçao or New Zealand (pot 4). No Europeans.
The worst outcome? Croatia (her, our executioner, pot 2), Norway (from superscorer Haaland, pot 3) and Ghana (pot 4). Morocco (pot 2) is not a good deal. If it comes together with Norway and, later, with Italy (pot 4 via repechage), then you can consider it bad luck.
But it is not customary to lose games due to bad luck, nor to win them with luck, regardless of the rival. Competence, teamwork, creativity and category are the path to Canarian victory.
Having these qualities, favorable draw or not, Brazil will head towards the sixth star. Without them, favorable draw or not, the five will last until at least 2030.
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