Rowan DuBois | staff writer

The World Cup is coming to North America this summer, and all competing countries will be looking for a piece of glory. With a record-high 48 teams and 104 matches, here’s how the world’s biggest teams can expect to fare.

France

France is first in FIFA’s world rankings, and it’s no secret why.

The Blues have an unprecedented amount of talent up top led by Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé, who scored a hat trick in the final loss to Argentina in 2022, and Ousmane Dembélé, who won the Ballon D’or in 2025.

And although French coach Didier Deschamps’ defensive play style has been criticized in the past, it seems to work in tournaments. In 2024, France reached the semifinals of the UEFA European Championship despite only finding the back of the net four times in six matches.

Any loss for The Blues would be considered an upset, and they’ll have to avoid them right away, as they’ve been dealt the most difficult group in the tournament in Iraq, Norway and Senegal.

Spain

Having won the 2024 Euros, Spain comes into the World Cup as the odds-on favorite to bring home the trophy and sit second in FIFA’s world rankings.

Led by Manchester City’s 2024 Ballon D’or winner Rodri and Barcelona’s 18-year old prodigy Lamine Yamal, Spain’s young squad went undefeated in World Cup Qualification.

The tournament will be Yamal’s first World Cup in what he expects to be a successful career. In a 2024 interview with Tuttosport, Yamal demonstrated his confidence by revealing his aspirations.

“Before I turn 21, my goal is to win the World Cup with Spain, the Champions League, and two more La Ligas,” Yamal said.

Argentina and Portugal

This summer’s tournament could be a last dance for two of the greatest players the game has ever seen in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Despite club dominance, Ronaldo’s Portugal and Messi’s Argentina found little success during the early phases of their international careers. But in 2022, Messi led Argentina to their second-ever World Cup, scoring seven times and picking up the tournament’s Golden Ball on his way to the pinnacle of soccer achievement.

Argentina hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, winning the Copa América and finishing first in CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifications, but Messi will turn 39 during the tournament, and a lot has changed for the eight-time Ballon D’or winner since making the club move from Paris Saint Germain to less competitive MLS Inter Miami.

Ronaldo, 41, is in a similar boat, playing his club matches in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for Al Nassr, and well behind his years of dominating European club soccer.

However, an injection of youth into Portugal’s side with the likes of Nuno Mendes and Vitinha, two of the world’s best in their positions, propelled Portugal to a UEFA Nations League victory last summer, providing hope that Portugal could contend in this summer’s tournament.

United States

The United States Men’s Soccer program possesses more talent than it ever has before.

However, the squad who has been referred to as the “golden generation” of American soccer has rarely matched the expectations that come with the label. The stars and stripes infamously failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and haven’t been able to make it past the round of 16 since 2002.

Coaches have taken the bulk of the public’s blame for recent struggles, but in 2024 the USMNT handed Mauricio Pochettino, a manager with top-level club experience, a two-year, $6 million annual contract which will run just through the World Cup.

In an interview with Reuters, USMNT captain Christian Pulisic said that this is the strongest U.S. squad he’s been a part of.

“I ​know the energy in the stadiums is going to be great,” Pulisic said. “We want to take as much of that as we can, take that motivation and push ​to make the American people proud.”

Everyone Else

There are plenty of other teams who are setting their sights on the trophy, such as Brazil, who lead the world with five World Cup trophies and who has a new manager in Carlo Ancelotti.

Ancelotti has success coaching at the club level, winning five UEFA Champions Leagues, but now he takes on his first international challenge: revive a Brazil team that hasn’t reached the final since 2002.

England, too, has gone deep in the tournament recently. After reaching the semifinals in 2018 and the quarterfinals in 2022, England appointed new manager Thomas Tuchel, who looks to lead the Three Lions to glory despite a slight regression in the squad.

The dark horses, too, are plentiful.

In 2022, Morocco became the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal. Meanwhile, Croatia finished second in 2018 and third in 2022 whilst being led by Luka Modrić.

Germany, Senegal and Japan all have exciting accumulations of talent too, making the largest ever rendition of the World Cup one of the hardest to predict.

Rowan DuBois can be reached at duboisr1@duq.edu