Iraq feel like a bit of an unknown to me as I don't think I've ever really paid attention to them playing football before! They do have a nightmere of a group but hopefully they can squeeze a point or two out of it. Also surprised to see Uzbekistan so far down the list, one of those teams that could make the Round of 32 for me.

44. Cape Verde

Group H

CAF (10/10)

World Ranking: 69

Best Result: N/A

Fixtures:

Spain (15th June, 5PM)

Uruguay (21st June, 11PM)

Saudi Arabia (27th June, 1AM)

Just like with Curaçao, Cape Verde are a team that rely heavily on their diaspora to make up the numbers of their side. This will be their first appearance at the World Cup after they shocked everyone by topping their group with Africa’s most frequent-qualifiers Cameroon. Their 3-0 win versus Eswatini caused absolute scenes across the ten islands that make up the country and there is a real sense of hopefulness for the team going into this tournament, despite missing out on the recent AFCON. Their ‘international’ side composes of players born in Portugal, Netherlands, France, USA and Republic of Ireland.

The Manager: Bubista

Born in Cape Verde, Bubista played his whole career in the country and made 21-caps for the national side. He is already a hero there for leading them to two AFCONS (and getting out of the group stages on each occasion) and, more importantly, securing their first participation on the world stage. Under him, Cape Verde are a possession-side and I think they will struggle to do this against a higher standard of opposition in Spain and Uruguay.

Key Player: Dailon Livramento (Casa Pia)

Born in the Netherlands, Livramento is a pacy forward with Serie A experience and, at the tender age of 24, has already written himself into Cape Verdean folklore with some important goals (including in the historic 1-0 win versus Cameroon) to book their spot at the World Cup. He first made his debut for the country in 2024 and had a slow start, not scoring in his opening 10 matches. But since then, he’s been prolific with 7 goals in his next 10 games. Currently on loan at Casa Pia in Portugal from Hellas Verona, he has the potential to be one of those players that makes a name for themselves this summer. 

Why they're actually going to win it: Not many other teams show as much togetherness as this Cape Verde side so you know they’re always going to give 100% for each other.

They also still have the old veteran wingers, 36 year old Ryan Mendes (Iğdır - TUR) and 35 year old Garry Rodrigues (Apollon Limassol - CYP) who I remember being young up-and-comers when Cape Verde first starting making waves all the way back at 2013 ACON, when they made their first ever tournament and were quarterfinalist. It's gotta be nice to see the seeds that were planted back then are coming to fruition in 2026. Those two players in particular have to be living a dream they didn't think would be a reality.

I don't have Cape Verde that much higher than this to be fair, but I do think a win against Saudi Arabia isn't out of the question, in fact:

Hazey's Rankings

48) Curacao

47) Qatar

46) New Zealand

45) Haiti

44) Saudi Arabia

43) Cape Verde (might as well reveal this too)

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by DJHazey

43. Bosnia & Herzegovina

Group B

UEFA (16/16)

World Ranking: 65

Best Result: Group Stage (2014)

Fixtures:

Canada (12th June, 8PM)

Switzerland (18th June, 8PM)

Qatar (24th June, 8PM)

Booking their spot at their second World Cup in the most dramatic fashion, Bosnia & Herzegovina have become heroes to many for hilariously making it three in a row that Italy have missed. Their previous experience was in 2014 where a victory against Iran was not enough to see them out the group thanks to odd-goal defeats by Argentina and Nigeria. However, this is no longer the Bosnia & Herzegovina team of yore that reached #13 in the World Rankings in 2013. This is a side that has never made the European Championships, finishing with 8-less points than Luxembourg (including home and away defeats) in their last campaign. There’s no longer Miralem Pjanić or Asmir Begović and while Edin Džeko is still a key figure, he’s now in his 40s and is not operating at the same level. It’s impressive that they’re here after being underdogs against Wales and Italy but there rode their luck with penalties and struggled to break-down a 10-man Italy side.

The Manager: Sergej Barbarez

After a successful career as a striker in Germany, playing for many of the big sides (Dortmund, Leverkusen, Hamburg) and the Bosnia national side, this is the 54-year-old’s first managerial job and he’s settled into it extremely quickly with a strong qualifying campaign that only saw them lose one match. He caused some controversy before the Wales play-off match by claiming that the Welsh Steve Cooper hadn’t been picking Benjamin Tahirović for Brøndby to try and help give Wales the advantage.

Key Player: Kerim Alajbegović (Red Bull Salzberg)

Džeko is the obvious pick as he’s still the man Bosnia rely on the score the goals but I’m going to go with their young teenage winger Alajbegović. He netted penalties in both of the ties verses Wales and Italy and the composure he shown was years above his age. He’s already agreed to move back to Bayer Leverkusen, where he spent most of his youth career following a buy-back clause, in the summer after impressing in his debut season in Austria but Inter are reported to be interested in securing his services long-term.

Why they're actually going to win it: They’ve already defied the odds in the play-offs to get here and proved that they know how to take some penalties if it comes to that.

They've been put into a "Group of Life" so I have them ranked a little higher than this considering they have a decent chance of advancing, but certainly I agree they come in as the lowest European side.

They can beat any of the other teams in their group, including Switzerland who have a history of being a bit overrated once you get in the big tournaments.

Edited 16 minutes ago16 min by DJHazey