5 2026 World Cup group-stage matchups with historical connotations

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has revealed a plethora of new and exciting matchups, with tournament debutants such as Curacao and Uzbekistan set to play their first games on the world’s biggest stage next summer. But the group-stage draw has also turned out a number of high-profile meetings with significant historical context.

The 2026 World Cup has set the scene for a number of unique encounters, setting up a first-time meeting between North American minnows Curacao and European giants Germany. Uzbekistan will also do battle with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal for the first time ever, while Spain and Cape Verde are also set to face off for the first time.

But the draw has also provided a number of eye-watering group-stage games that evoke memories of World Cups past.

Mexico vs South Africa

For the second time in 16 years, Mexico takes on South Africa in the opening game of the World Cup.

On June 11, 2010, host South Africa welcomed Mexico to Johannesburg’s Soccer City for the opening game of the 2010 World Cup as the sides played out a pulsating 1-1 draw.

Bafana Bafana opened the scoring with a thunderbolt from Siphiwe Tshabalala 10 minutes into the second half, as the first World Cup ever hosted in Africa got off to a bang (and a constant drone of the infamous vuvuzela). Mexico’s evergreen defender, Rafael Marquez, leveled the contest 13 minutes from time, with Mexico eventually progressing to the knockout stages behind Uruguay in Group A.

South Africa, meanwhile, became the first host nation to exit the World Cup in the group stages, although they did conclude their campaign with a memorable win over a hapless France outfit.

The sides will meet 16 years to the day since that famous 1-1 draw, with Mexico now playing the role of World Cup host. The two teams will open the 2026 World Cup with a meeting at the legendary Azteca Stadium on June 11 before taking on Korea Republic and the winner of a European play-off set to be determined in March.

France vs Senegal

Another fixture that opened a previous World Cup, France and Senegal have played just one official match against each other – the opening game of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

France, the defending world and European champions, were hotly favored against a relatively unknown Senegalese side.

But the African nation, playing in their first-ever World Cup game, ripped up the script through a scrambled winner from the late Papa Bouba Diop on the half-hour mark, eventually going through to the knockout stages unbeaten.

They became just the second African nation in World Cup history to reach the last eight with a win over Sweden in the last 16, before their journey was ended by Türkiye in the last eight.

France, meanwhile, suffered the embarrassment of a group-stage elimination, taking just one point from their three games.

Their dismal performance was the beginning of a troubling trend for European World Cup winners, with each of the following three defending champions bowing out in the group stages. Italy, champions in 2006, were grouped in 2010 and have not reached the knockout stages since, while the 2010 champions, Spain, suffered the same fate at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Germany, meanwhile, has failed to reach the knockout in the previous two World Cups since winning the competition in 2014.

Senegal’s 1-0 victory also marked the last time that a World Cup holder opened the competition, with host nations assuming that duty ever since.

Austria vs Algeria

Austria and Algeria have only met once in their history – at the 1982 World Cup in Spain – but a number of Algerians still hold resentment toward the European nations, such is the controversy of their previous meeting.

That meeting, which Austria won 2-0, was actually unremarkable, but what came next lives in infamy as one of the most disgraceful incidents in World Cup history.

Going into their final group game against West Germany, Austria knew that a one-goal defeat would send both nations through to a second group stage, with their progress coming at the expense of Algeria.

The West Germans opened the scoring after 10 minutes through Horst Hrubesch and the two sides proceeded to play out a contest where both teams “defended” the 1-0 result.

Since dubbed the Disgrace of Gijon, the game is directly responsible for the final group games of each World Cup group kicking off at the same time to prevent similar acts of collusion.

With Austria and Algeria set to meet in the final game of Group J, the Algerians may finally have the chance to exact sweet revenge 44 years later.

Scotland vs Brazil

Scotland has waited 28 years to compete in a World Cup since last qualifying for France 1998, but things feel eerily similar almost three decades later.

The Scots find themselves in a tricky group with Morocco and Brazil next summer, just as they did in 1998.

Scotland’s group, on that occasion, was rounded out by Norway as the Scots finished bottom of Group A with just one point to their name.

They will be hoping to at least improve on that performance, with a very winnable opening game against Haiti before a huge game against Morocco.

The Scots will finish their group campaign against Brazil in a repeat of the opening game of the 1998 World Cup, where the Scots gave a battling performance against the defending champions before eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat courtesy of a Thomas Boyd own goal 16 minutes from time.

England vs Croatia

A far more frequent game than any other fixture on this list, England’s meeting with Croatia is also the matchup with the most recent history.

Croatia emerged as a surprise package at the 2018 World Cup, taking advantage of a much weaker side of the draw to reach the semi-final via penalty shootout victories over Denmark and hosts Russia.

They next came from behind to beat an English side playing in its first World Cup semi-final since 1990, courtesy of goals from Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic, who gave the Croats the lead in extra time.

It was heartbreak for England, who themselves had taken advantage of a lopsided draw to reach the semi-finals and had taken an early lead through a superb Kieran Trippier free-kick.

England did gain some revenge for that defeat with a group-stage victory over Croatia at Euro 2020, while they also got the better of the Croats with a 2-1 victory at Wembley during the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League.

But this is the World Cup, and that 2018 semi-final was seen as a real opportunity for England to make a first final since 1966.

Croatia is not the same team that reached the last four in Russia, while England has considerably improved in the meantime.

However, Croatia appears to peak during World Cups, placing third in Qatar in 2022.

For a nation with fewer than four million residents, Croatia’s overall record at World Cups has been sublime since splitting from Yugoslavia during the 1990s, qualifying for all but one of the last seven World Cups since 1998, and reaching the last four on three separate occasions.

They will look to pull off yet another underdog story in North America next summer, starting with their group opener against England.

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