Anathi Wulushe is an award-winning sports writer for the Daily Dispatch. With more than three years of experience in the job, he specialises in covering rugby, cricket, football, and basketball.
Based on recent form and the Fifa rankings, the Netherlands are heavy favourites to make it out of Group F at the World Cup and likely to do it with ease.
Japan could qualify as second-best, though Sweden are also always a quality outfit. Tunisia are the lowest-ranked in the group but certainly capable of posing problems and turning the bookies’ predictions upside down. Can the Dutch shed the bridesmaid’s tag and finally be the bride? That is one of the questions going into next month’s global showpiece.
Outside their inability to finish finals, the Dutch team have a remarkable record of consistency, reaching the knockout stage of every tournament they have participated in since 1974. In Qatar in 2022, they were knocked out by eventual winners Argentina on penalties in the quarterfinals. This combination is solid offensively and defensively, reflected in qualifying unbeaten to top their Uefa group.
A technical staff of legendary defender Ronald Koeman as coach and former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy as an assistant is expected to take the Dutch far.will be the primary attacking threat, supported by Memphis Depay’s experience. Virgil van Dijk remains the anchor of the defence and a major aerial threat at set pieces. Jeremie Frimpong and Micky van de Ven are expected to play pivotal roles. Japan have a huge reputation for upsetting high-profile countries.
Four years ago they shocked the football fraternity when they beat Spain and Germany to top what was dubbed the “Group of Death” and reached the Round of 16 for the fourth time. Though they have proceeded to the early knockout stages since their debut in 1998, they have yet to advance to a quarterfinal. Can they pull it off this time around? Players based in top European leagues include Kaoru Mitoma and Ayase Ueda .
The duo will be key for the Japanese on attack. They will hopereturn to the big stage. Will it be with a bang, and could they beat their previous best in 2018 when they reached the quarterfinals? This combination has the potential.
Sweden qualified as the Uefa second round Path B winners by beating Ukraine and Poland dramatically. Coached by former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter, the Scandinavians will be looking to match their achievements at the last tournament on American soil, where the side led by Tomas Brolin and Martin Dahlin achieved an incredible third-place finish at USA 1994. If there’s a country capable of pulling a rabbit out of the hat, it’s the Carthage Eagles.
They showed that at the most recent World Cup when they defeated then-defending champions and eventual finalists France 1-0, though that was not enough to get past the group phase. The African continent will hope Tunisia pull off more surprises and proceed to the knockout stages for the first time. Since making their World Cup debut in 1978, the North Africans have battled to make it out of a World Cup group.
The team are undergoing transition heading into this year’s World Cup. They experienced a sudden coaching change in early 2026 after an underwhelming Africa Cup of Nations, where they exited in the last 16 on penalties to Mali in January. Sabri Lamouchi, who replaced Sami Trabelsi, the 1990s France international midfielder of Tunisian descent, led Ivory Coast at the 2014 World Cup and has coached Rennes and Nottingham Forest. The players will have to adapt to a new philosophy quickly.
• TimesLIVE, Sowetan, The Herald, Daily Dispatch and Business Day online are profiling a 2026 WORLD CUP GROUP every Tuesday until the tournament’s June 11 kick-off. Also catch the STAR PLAYER profile every Friday.
2026 WORLD CUP GROUP F Japan Tunisia Sweden Fifa World Cup Profiles Netherlands World Cup Prospects Japan Football Team 2026 Sweden World Cup Return Tunisia World Cup Hopes
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