The World Cup 2026 is drawing ever closer. As most of the domestic competitions in Europe<\/strong> That\u2019s not to say that there won\u2019t be a few shocks in store this summer, however. World Host nations are well-known to overachieve in front of their own fans, with South Korea\u2019s DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CAUGHTOFFSIDE APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES \u2013 STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE<\/u><\/span> & GOOGLE PLAY<\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n This nation hasn\u2019t qualified for a World Cup finals since 1998, but back-to-back appearances Don\u2019t be fooled by T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s need for a playoff victory against Bosnia into thinking that this is a team to disregard this summer. You shouldn\u2019t really take anything from the fact that T\u00fcrkiye have only ever featured at two World Cup finals either, even if the last appearance was in 2002. An exciting young squad, packed with talent, T\u00fcrkiye could go far. It is true that T\u00fcrkiye has been many people\u2019s dark horse at the last two European Championships and has largely disappointed, but a good showing in the group stage could act as a springboard for the rest of the tournament. T\u00fcrkiye doesn\u2019t face the US until the last game of the opening phase and, by then, the likes of Arda G\u00fcler and Kenan Yildiz may have already made an impact.<\/p>\n When it comes to South America, most fans will be expecting to see Argentina and Brazil La Tri has impressed in friendlies since booking a place at the finals as well, including Morocco was the surprise team of the last World Cup, with its deep run only ending at the Egypt will kick off its finals against Belgium, and any kind of result there would set them up Want more CaughtOffside coverage? Add us as a <\/i><\/b>preferred source on Google<\/span><\/i><\/b> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Finally, possibly the quintessential dark horse for this summer\u2019s World Cup. Norway is \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The World Cup 2026 is drawing ever closer. As most of the domestic competitions in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
approach their climax, attention will soon divert to the largest-ever World Cup, with 48<\/strong>
nations battling it out to be crowned champion. There have only ever been eight different<\/strong>
winners of the most prestigious competition in international football, and the likelihood of that<\/strong>
changing this year seems to be remote.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Cups always throw up some surprising games and results. Anyone planning to place World
Cup bets on a winner might want to look at a previous champion, but these extended finals
promise a lot of drama and excitement along the way. MyTopSportsbooks is a great place to find the best place to make your World Cup predictions, but if you need a little more information on some of the less-fancied teams, this article has all you need to know about potential dark horses at World Cup 2026.<\/p>\nMexico<\/h2>\n
march to the semifinal stage in 2002 a good example. There are, of course, three co-hosts of
this summer\u2019s tournament, but it is Mexico that might spring a surprise. Mexico has much more of a World Cup pedigree, having featured at the last eight finals and hosting two before that. El Tri has historically been the powerhouse of North American football and, while that has changed somewhat, there is promise in a squad that has more players from Liga MX than in the past. If all goes well, Mexico will play on home soil until the quarterfinals and is very difficult to score against. In the heat of North America, this is one local team that could do well.<\/p>\nScotland<\/h2>\n
at the European Championship have boosted confidence in a team that is home to a number
of stars of the EPL and Serie A. Topping a qualification group that also included World Cup
regular Denmark was just the latest example of Scotland\u2019s improvement. Steve Clarke\u2019s men will do well to beat the drama of the final qualifying game against Denmark, in which two stoppage-time goals booked a finals berth. But a sense of togetherness among the squad could cause some upsets this summer, with the talismanic Scott McTominay keen to carry on the good form he has shown at Napoli. One thing\u2019s for sure, the Scottish fans will do everything they can to make every game a special occasion.<\/p>\nT\u00fcrkiye<\/h2>\n
Ecuador<\/h2>\n
progressing to the latter stages. But it is Ecuador that took CONMEBOL qualifying by storm,
only finishing second to the current World champion and losing just twice in a marathon 18-
game schedule.<\/p>\n
drawing on the road in Mexico and the Netherlands. Led by Chelsea midfielder Mois\u00e9s
Caceido, Ecuador has a squad full of players plying their trade in Europe and Brazil, but a
tough group draw could be a sticking point. Both Germany and the Ivory Coast will be tough
opponents, but anything could happen if there is progression from the opening phase.<\/p>\nEgypt<\/h2>\n
semifinal stage against France. The Atlas Lions had beaten both Spain and Portugal along
the way, and their great rival, Egypt, will now be looking to emulate that feat this summer.
The Pharaohs may never have won a finals game in three separate attempts, but an
expanded format might suit them this time.<\/p>\n
nicely. Even a battling defeat would spur them on in their remaining two games. This will
surely be the last chance for Mo Salah to shine on the global stage, and his teammates will
be doing everything they can to send him off in a fitting manner.<\/p>\nNorway<\/h2>\n
another nation that hasn\u2019t competed at a finals since 1998, but big things are expected of the
Scandinavians this year. That has a lot to do with the strength of its squad, but mostly because of the presence of Erling Haaland. Haaland has won everything in European club football while at Manchester City, but he has not been able to prove his worth on the international stage as yet. He will face some tough teams in the group stage, with Senegal and France coming up after an opening fixture against Iraq. If Norway can make it out of what many people are calling the \u201cgroup of death\u201d, Haaland and Norway may well make up for lost time.<\/p>\n