This Summer on Group G: Four Teams Enter. Watch Who Survives.
Belgium brought veterans on injury gambles and a goalkeeper who boycotted his own team. Egypt's Salah is six goals from surpassing his own coach as all-time record scorer. Iran is basing their squad in Mexico because their fans can't get US visas — and they've been scheduled to play the 'Pride Match' in Seattle. New Zealand beat Fiji 7-0 to qualify and somehow went unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup. Group G kicks off June 15. Season premiere. Don't miss it. #MatchRewritten
A FIFA 2026 World Cup Group G Preview — as narrated by a reality TV season trailer
NARRATOR VOICE: DEEP, GRAVELLY, SUSPENSEFUL
Cue the dramatic string swell.
They were promised glory. They were promised legacy. They were promised that this time would be different.
They were wrong.
Welcome to Group G.
Four teams. Six matches. One group that contains an entire prestige cable drama's worth of baggage, geopolitical chaos, and one man who is physically running out of World Cups to redeem himself.
This is not just football.
This is The Group G Experience. Coming to Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver this June.
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Cast profiles
Belgium: The Comeback Story Nobody Asked For
Tagline: "They peaked in 2018. They peaked again in 2022. Only one of those was on purpose."
Belgium arrived at this tournament ranked 8th in the world, carrying a fresh coach, a 26-man squad, and approximately forty years of accumulated "why didn't they win anything" energy. 1
The golden generation is mostly retired or injured or both. Eden Hazard: gone. Vincent Kompany: managing Bayern Munich, probably. Jan Vertonghen: also somehow still playing at 39, but not here. Kevin De Bruyne is technically present — he was named in the squad despite a serious hamstring injury he picked up in October and will turn 35 during the tournament. 2
Romelu Lukaku was included, according to Reuters, "on the basis of reputation and a gamble on a return to fitness." He's been injured all season. So they brought him anyway. Incredible casting decision.
Meanwhile, Thibaut Courtois is back in goal after refusing to play under the previous coach for over a year. He held out. The coach eventually got fired. Courtois returned. The goalkeeper won. 3
The actual main character is Jeremy Doku — 23, Manchester City, scored five goals in qualifying while the veterans were busy being injured or controversial. He started all eight qualifying games. Doku is the franchise player this show has been quietly building toward for three seasons. 3
New coach Rudi Garcia previously managed Lyon, Roma, Napoli, and Al Nassr. His time at Al Nassr ended amid reports of "an uneasy relationship" with Cristiano Ronaldo. He came to Belgium and immediately installed a 4-3-3 and told everyone to press. Fine.
Belgium's narrative arc: The favorite who has definitely learned from past failures and won't collapse in the quarterfinals this time. Probably.
Egypt: The One with Unfinished Business (Season 4)
Tagline: "He missed the 2022 qualifier on penalties. He was injured in 2018. He wasn't even born in 1990. This is his last shot."
Egypt is making their fourth World Cup appearance and has never — not once — won a World Cup match. Their debut was 1934. Then they didn't come back until 1990. Then 2018, where Mohamed Salah entered the tournament with a shoulder injury from the Champions League final and Egypt lost all three group games. 3
In 2022, they didn't even qualify. Salah missed a penalty in a shootout against Senegal. He watched the World Cup from his couch. Again.
This time he got them there — nine qualifying goals, finished top of CAF Group A without losing a match, and he's currently sitting on 63 career international goals. 4 Egypt's all-time record is 69 goals, held by their actual head coach, Hossam Hassan. The man Salah is trying to surpass is literally the guy drawing up the tactics board. That is a reality TV storyline that writes itself.
Hassan played in the 1990 World Cup. He won the African Champions League. He is a three-time AFCON champion. He is also managing a team ranked 34th in the world in a group with Belgium at 8th. The vibes are immaculate and the margin for error is nonexistent.
Egypt's setup puts Salah and Manchester City's Omar Marmoush on either flank of a 4-3-3. They are very fast on the outside and very anxious about what happens when they don't score first.
Egypt's narrative arc: The protagonist who has been denied justice for his entire career finally gets one last redemption arc. Or he exits in the group stage again. No in-between.
Iran: The Wildcard Nobody Knows How to Handle
Tagline: "They made it to the tournament. Whether their fans can make it to the stadium is still being litigated."
Iran is on their seventh World Cup — more consecutive appearances (2014, 2018, 2022, 2026) than in their entire history before 2014. They have never made it past the group stage. 1
Their best result remains 2018: beat Morocco, drew with Portugal, lost narrowly to Spain, went home. Their last tournament saw them beat a Wales team reduced to ten men with goals in the 98th and 101st minute, then get comfortably beaten by England and the United States. The pattern is consistent.
Off the pitch, Iran's situation is genuinely unprecedented at this tournament. Under US travel restrictions, Iran's fans, media, and team staff have faced significant visa uncertainty for months. 5 FIFA approved Iran's request to base their squad in Mexico rather than the United States. Their fans still largely cannot attend. 6
And then the scheduling committee, in an act of chaos nobody seems to have thought through, designated Egypt vs. Iran — two countries where homosexuality is punishable by law — as Seattle's designated "Pride Match." Both the Iranian Football Federation and the Egyptian Football Association sent formal letters to FIFA rejecting the branding. FIFA did not move the match. 1
Meanwhile, head coach Amir Ghalenoei is still picking players in their thirties. Mehdi Taremi, now scoring goals for Olympiacos, remains their best player. There's young midfielder Mohammad Hosseinnejad and striker Kasra Taheri to watch, but the system hasn't changed much.
At the 2022 World Cup, Iran's players visibly refused to sing the national anthem before their first match in protest against repression back home. Whether similar expressions of dissent appear this summer, against a backdrop of US soil and heightened visibility, remains one of the tournament's most charged open questions.
Iran's narrative arc: The contestant who arrived with the most luggage, and most of it was at customs.
New Zealand: The Wholesome One Who Might Shock Everyone
Tagline: "Ranked 86th. Went unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup. Technically better at this than Belgium."
New Zealand qualified by beating Tahiti, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji (7-0), and New Caledonia (3-0). The OFC qualifying path was, to put it gently, not the hardest road taken by anyone at this tournament. 3
And yet: New Zealand is the only team that went unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup. They drew with Slovakia, drew with Italy (who won the tournament four years earlier), drew with Paraguay. Three games, three draws, zero losses. The eventual champions Spain lost their opening group game against Switzerland. New Zealand did not lose at all.
This is New Zealand's third World Cup. Captain Chris Wood, 33, is the all-time leading scorer with 45 goals and ties the all-time appearance record at 88 caps. He plays for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. He has never scored at a World Cup. 3
Coach Darren Bazeley — former Watford full-back — has them playing possession football in a 4-2-3-1, building from the back, not hoofing it to Wood. In October friendlies they held Poland to a 1-0 defeat and drew 1-1 with Norway (without Haaland). Legitimately not embarrassing. Chris Wood and Tommy Smith are set to become the first New Zealanders to appear at two World Cups. 7
New Zealand's narrative arc: The contestant who seems like cannon fodder but quietly might win a challenge episode.
Drama breakdown
Here is every matchup, ranked by vibes:
Belgium vs Egypt (June 15, Seattle): Ranked 8 vs Ranked 34. Belgium's new generation vs Salah's redemption arc. Egypt beat Belgium 2-1 in a 2022 friendly, which Belgium fans have definitely not been thinking about. 1
Iran vs New Zealand (June 15, Los Angeles): Ranked 20 vs Ranked 86. Iran's most straightforward fixture. Last meeting: Iran 3-0 New Zealand, 2003. Chris Wood would very much like to score his first World Cup goal.
Belgium vs Iran (June 21, Los Angeles): These two have never met. Belgium is favored. Iran's off-field situation adds an element of unpredictability that tactical analysis cannot fully capture.
New Zealand vs Egypt (June 21, Vancouver): Salah vs Wood. The face of Premier League Liverpool vs the face of Premier League Forest. Egypt won their last meeting 1-0 in 2024.
Egypt vs Iran (June 26, Seattle): The designated "Pride Match." Objected to by both nations. FIFA kept it on the schedule. It will be one of the most politically charged football matches of the year, regardless of the scoreline.
New Zealand vs Belgium (June 26, Vancouver): The group finale that might not matter — or might, if New Zealand has somehow stolen points and Belgium need the win. Belgium have never played New Zealand.
The verdict
Belgium is the clear favorite and has the squad, the ranking, and a genuinely easy draw to confirm it. The real question is whether Doku, Onana, Tielemans, and a returning Courtois can get them past the quarterfinals, which is the stage where Belgium have historically dissolved.
Egypt gets one World Cup win or we riot on Mo Salah's behalf.
Iran arrives carrying the whole weight of a nation's politics, a fractured team dynamic, and the knowledge that their fans couldn't make the trip. However they play, they will not be invisible.
New Zealand beat Fiji 7-0 to get here and they're still going to earn at least one point against someone. Possibly Belgium. You heard it here.
Group G kicks off June 15. Season premiere. Don't miss it.
#MatchRewritten
Sources: Wikipedia · The Athletic · Reuters · FIFA · NPR · Olympics.com
References
- 12026 FIFA World Cup Group G — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
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