Germany

Nine wins in a row, leading to potential tussles in three group matches of the World Cup, should give enormous confidence to Germany, always regarded as a contender for the title. It has had a top podium finish in four FIFA titles, one less than the Samba boys, Brazil.

Unless events go much against the trend and run of play, Germany should be on its way to the second stage - round of 32. Its opponents in the first group stage are Curacao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador, not pushovers, but the European giant with gifted players from the strong Bundesliga, should get through without a fuss.

Germany began the qualification with a messy 0-2 defeat to Slovakia, but sprang back to life when the chips were down. It hammered 16 goals and conceded just one in the matches against Northern Ireland, Luxembourg and closed out the qualies, pounding Slovakia 6-0 in the return match. Nick Woltemade was the highest scorer with four goals. Germany had around half a dozen goal scorers in the qualifiers.

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The most gratifying part of Germany's campaign after the qualifiers has been hitting a winning streak in its preparation. It beat Switzerland, Ghana, Finland and the USA. The Germany- USA match tested its defence with the USA striker Antonee Robinson performing a double-sided somersault after equalising with a volley hit from the edge of the box of a cleared corner. It was the 11th consecutive defeat for the USA against Germany.

In spite of its successful run over a period of nine months, German skipper Joshua Kimmich of Bayern Munich has cautioned his teammates not to be carried away by the on-trot wins and that every team at the competition is there to win.

After its Cup win in 2014, Germany has declined, and its quality of football has been questioned. Manager Julian Nagelsmann has been tasked with rebuilding a team that can be regarded as a potential Cup winner. Kimmich described the 6-0 win against Slovakia as the team's best performance of the year.

Germany will depend on the skill and character of fresh faces like Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz and Denis Undav to get a good start. Defender Nico Schlotterbeck and goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, who was examined in the last warm-up against the USA, have their roles cut out.

It will be a first-time World Cup duty for the German Manager Nagelsmann. He said recently, "The group stage is not the easiest, it's one with lots of possibilities, where we will be going all out and play to our absolute limits. We will not make the mistake of underestimating Curacao. Ivorv Coast are the teams we can beat, though we must not take them lightly. Ecuador won't be easy opponents."

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Sweden

Sweden is plainly lucky to get to the FIFA World Cup finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The Scandinavian country finished last in its qualifying group and yet made it to the final!

Losing matches to Kosovo was viewed as an upheaval in Swedish football; the administration had to sack its homegrown coach and hire an Englishman, Graham Potter, who understands the Swedish football culture, speaks the language and is determined to turn things around after playoff wins against Ukraine and Poland.

After defeats against Kosovo in the home and away matches, Sweden lost to Switzerland two times and smudged its preliminary phase matches against Slovenia against which it drew 2-2 and 1-1, but with the expanded 48 team finals, FIFA created a playoffs route for the losers and Sweden, given a second chance prevailed over Ukraine 3-1 and beat Poland 3-1 to gain a backdoor entry into the finals.

It could take a chance in the playoffs because it had topped its group in the 2024-2025 UEFA Nations League. The winning goal against Poland was scored two minutes from time, in the 88th minute, by Viktor Gyokeres; it turned out to be a hat-trick of goals by the striker. So, without winning a single qualifying match, Sweden was in the World Cup finals. The playoff matches helped Sweden to enter the finals for the thirteenth time.

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Sweden will play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in the World Cup tournament proper, and it will pray for luck to continue. It has a stable midfield and forward line steered by Gyokeres.

Coach Potter, who took charge of the team in October 2025, would have had little time, but he is striving to bring in a solid structure around the 3-4-3 format that won the playoff matches. He has tried the 4-4-2 style too. Potter had been a coach with Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham. The 3-2 moment against Poland, he has said, took his happiness to another level, and he felt an out-of-the-body experience.

Sweden scored 10 and conceded 15 before confirming its entry into the final. Apart from Gyokeres, Sweden sees Yasan Ayari as a player with much promise. With a bit of luck, it can cause an upset should it have its experienced players, fit as a fiddle!