{"id":4561,"date":"2026-06-11T20:24:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4561"},"modified":"2026-06-11T20:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:24:31","slug":"which-2026-world-cup-group-is-most-exciting-henry-ibrahimovic-lalas-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4561","title":{"rendered":"Which 2026 World Cup Group Is Most Exciting? Henry, Ibrahimovi\u0107, Lalas Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Twelve groups, the most in FIFA World Cup history. But which one is the most exciting?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Thierry Henry has predicted it will be Group I, and not just because <i>Les Bleus <\/i>are in the group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;You have to think about Senegal and Norway, who are my two dark horses in this competition,&#8221; Henry, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, said on &#8220;FIFA World Cup Live&#8221; on Thursday. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be tough for Iraq. I do think that the three teams will go forward, so I&#8217;m looking forward to that one, and there&#8217;s another one: Group C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Obviously, Brazil and Morocco, but, somehow, the first game, Haiti against Scotland, I do somehow think that Haiti can create an upset with that one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by FRANCK FIFE \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and France lost to Lionel Messi and Argentina in penalty kicks in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, but have reloaded with a deep squad that&#8217;s expected to make a deep run. Meanwhile, Senegal made the African Cup of Nations final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>For Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107, Group L is the one to watch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Group L. We have England. We have Croatia \u2026 Then, we have Ghana with big talents. Let&#8217;s see what they bring,&#8221; Ibrahimovi\u0107 said. We have Panama. Unfortunately, in this group, I think they will be a punching bag for England and Croatia, and Ghana might disturb them and take some points.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Harry Kane and England are hoping to avenge a grueling loss to Lamine Yamal and Spain in the Euro 2024 final. England hasn&#8217;t won a major trophy was in 1966, when it won the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Michael Regan &#8211; UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>As for former USA soccer star and FOX Sports Soccer Analyst Alexi Lalas, he has his eyes on Group D, which includes the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"I think for the first time at a World Cup for the U.S. men's team, that [the country] should not settle. [The country] should expect this U.S. team, given the talent, given the depth, given the experience, to win this group,\" Lalas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"We have not said that before. I don't think that's Pollyanna. I think that's realistic. I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe this team was capable of doing that \u2026 I can say it's an \u2018easy\u2019 group, and I know that's a loaded type of word, but if I put it up against any group [they've] had in the past, I will take this all day long.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Paraguay, Australia and T\u00fcrkiye are the three countries in Group D with Team USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Team USA's opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is on Friday night against Paraguay.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Twelve groups, the most in FIFA World Cup history. But which one is the most exciting? Thierry Henry has predicted it will be Group I, and not just because Les Bleus are in the group. &#8220;You have to think about Senegal and Norway, who are my two dark horses in this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}