World Cup Group J Preview
Reigning champions Argentina have been handed a very manageable group in Group J, but the fight to get through this group will be close. Austria and Algeria are very well matched, and debutants Jordan are a level below the other two but have the attacking players to cause both Austria and Algeria major problems
Group J fixtures (all kick-off times are in BST)
Argentina vs Algeria 17th June 2am
Austria vs Jordan 17th June 5am
Argentina vs Austria 22nd June 6pm
Jordan vs Algeria 23rd June 4am
Algeria vs Austria 28th June 3am
Jordan vs Argentina 28th June 3am
Argentina
The reigning champions are once again led by the greatest player of all time, and much of the core squad from 4 years ago also returns, with a couple of younger elite players joining the ranks. The only major miss from four years ago is Angel Di Maria, who retired from international football after the tournament. Argentina cruised through qualifying, getting 38 points in 18 games, being 18 points ahead of Bolivia in 7th, and if a South American team is to win the tournament, Argentina look the most likely.
The squad is good but is not as Elite as France and Spain in some areas; one of those areas isnt the attack, which still boasts 38-year-old Lionel Messi, who, despite his age and now playing in the MLS, doesn't appear to have slowed down one bit based on the friendlies, and Argentina's success will still depend on how well Messi plays while losing Di Maria hurts Messi still has Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez alongside him both of whom are coming off of great seasons at club level they main newcomer into the squad is also an attacker in 21 year old Nico Paz who is coming off an amazing club season as he led Como to qualifying for the Champions League for the first time with 18 goal contributions in the league making him one of the highest rated young attackers in the world.
The midfield is still strong without being remarkable, with Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez anchoring a group that still has Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes, as well as Valentin Barco, who can play in midfield or left back and has been superb for Strasbourg this season at only 21 years of age.
Defensively is where I see the biggest issues. The group is almost identical to 4 years ago, but obviously everyone is 4 years older. Can 38-year-old Nicolas Otamendi still keep up with elite attackers? Can Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez put having very disappointing club seasons behind them and still be at the level? Can the group of full-backs step up again like they did four years ago, with at least one of Molina, Montiel or Tagliafico needing to have a great tournament and shut down the elite wingers they're likely to face in the latter stages? In goal is no problem; Emi Martinez has just won the Europa League and finished 4th in the league with Villa and is still one of the best penalty goalkeepers in the world if it comes to that at any point.
This team should walk this group; the question is how far can they go? No team has defended the World Cup since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and I don't quite see Argentina having enough; obviously, they could, but I think they're not strong enough defensively to stop a France or Spain in the latter stages.
Austria
Returning for the first time since 1998, Austria are like most of the nations around them; like Switzerland, they're a very high-floor team but lack the stars to take them further than the early knockout rounds. They will not be blown away by anyone and are not a team anyone wants to draw in the round of 32 or round of 16 if they get there, but it's hard to see them upsetting an England or Portugal to advance deep.
The best part of this team is the midfield, with Xaver Schlager, Nicolas Seiwald, Marcel Sabitzer, Florian Grillitsch and Carney Chukwuemeka all or have been upper-tier Bundesliga players over their careers, meaning whoever plays will be a good pair; plus Konrad Laimer will start somewhere, but I think that's more likely to be right back rather than central midfielder. The X factor in midfield is Paul Wanner, who was one of the most promising players in Europe with Bayern Munich before joining PSV last summer. He's had a decent season in the Netherlands, but at some point he needs to break out and become the player he promised to be in his early days at Bayern, and what better place to do that than at the World Cup by taking Austria to the round of 16 or deeper.
The defence should also be solid if not spectacular, with plenty of experienced players like Kevin Danso, Stefan Posch, and Phillip Lienhart and the aforementioned Laimer, all led by captain and the greatest Austrian player of the modern era, David Alaba at aged 33 will be his first and probably last World Cup this is a group of players who mostly play for good clubs in the Bundesliga or Premier League with Laimer playing for Bayern and Alaba playing for Real Madrid when hes not been injured which has been an issue in the latter stages of his career.
The attack is the obvious weakness in this team, with Marko Arnautovic still likely to start up front. Aged 37, he used to be a great player, but he currently plays for Red Star Belgrade. It remains to be seen if he is still at a level to score 3 or 4 goals, but he is Austria's highest scorer of all time behind Arnautovic; it's likely to be a group of guys like Wanner, Sabitzer, Michael Gregoritsch, Romano Schmid and Alessandro Schopf. Sabitzer is the best of this group, but he is slightly better deeper where he can control the game; Wanner is largely unproven, and the other three are bang-average Bundesliga players, and where the goals come from is the thing that could potentially see Austria grouped.
The floor of this team is finishing last in this group due to lack of goals; they probably have the worst group of attackers in the group. There is also a world where Austria draw with Argentina and finish the group on seven points and then get to the round of 16, but I can't see them going any further because of the lack of goals at the top of the pitch.
Algeria
Another of the very consistent North African countries, but this is their first World Cup since 2014, where they got out of the groups ahead of South Korea and Russia but failed to get to the previous two despite having one of the best wingers over that period in Riyad Mahrez. He is still in the squad and will still be heavily relied on, but at age 35 his best days are behind him, and it's a shame we never got to watch him in his pomp at a World Cup.
Algeria breezed through qualifying in what, before it started, looked like a potential banana skin group as a talented Guinea side capitulated and ended up in fourth behind Uganda and Mozambique. They did ok at AFCON in January, beating a fellow World Cup team in DR Congo before losing to Nigeria in the quarter-finals, but since then they have been in great form in the friendlies, beating the Netherlands 1-0, drawing 0-0 to Uruguay and beating Guatemala and Bolivia comfortably and the squad is in a good spot for this group there are holes but they have fire power going forward which Austria dont have.
The attack is led by Mahrez, but the best attacker they have is Ibrahim Maza of Bayer Leverkusen, who can play off the wing or through the middle, and he is one of the leading candidates to fully announce himself on the world stage at this World Cup at only 20. The attack is rounded out by Mohamed Amoura and Amine Gouiri, both good high-level strikers playing for Wolfsburg and Marseille, so whichever one gets the nod is capable of scoring a few goals in the groups; all four of these guys walk into Austria's team.
Behind them, the midfield is also very experienced and talented; Nabil Bentaleb and Hicham Bouadi are likely to start in a double pivot behind one of Houssem Aouar or Fares Chaibi. Chaibi has emerged as one of Frankfurt's best players over the past couple of seasons, and Aouar is very talented but never quite reached the heights predicted for him when he broke in Lyon's team as a 17-year-old; he has the ability to change a game and create something out of nothing. Bouadoui was once also tipped as a great hope for the French national team but now plays for Algeria and is a very technically sound footballer, and Nabil Bentaleb has been around forever and knows how to break a game up and distribute quickly to get attacks started.
The difference between this Algeria team and the better African teams like Morocco and Senegal is defensively and in goal. Rayan Ait Nouri is a great left back playing for Man City; he isnt a problem, nor is Ramy Bensebaini, who plays very regularly for Borussia Dortmund at centre back or left back the question is the other two positions Aissa Mandi is likely to start next to Bensebaini and he has been one of Morocco's best players over the last decade with 119 caps and he still plays at Lille which is a good level but I just wonder if hes lost a step particularly if he is forced to play right back. The other probable starter is Rafik Belghali, who plays for Hellas Verona, who have just been relegated from Serie A, so he isnt in great form and against the attackers Argentina have, and even Jordan's very talented wingers, he could be a problem. In goal it's probably going to be Luca Zidane (son of a little-known Frenchman called Zinedine), but all three of the goalkeepers going to the tournament have a combined 12 caps, so they lack international experience, which could be an issue.
I think Algeria should be better than Austria, but in a one-off game, who knows who will win, and a draw is very possible depending on how the group stands going into the final game; Algeria could need to win because Jordan are no mugs and will cause Algeria problems, so a potential grouping is definitely on the cards in a group that will feature many draws. This team is also definitely capable of winning a knockout game, but advancing past the round of 16 feels a bridge too far
Jordan
Jordan are maing their debut at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico but dont expect them to be a pushover for a country that has generally avoided the chaos in the middle east through great leadership they adopted the Iceland approach of building loads of pitches and academys all over the country which has led to a steady rise from relative obscurity having not qualified for an asian cup till 2004 and in 2023 they finished 2nd and then subsequently qualified for the World Cup at the first possible stage in Asia with a game to go in a group that had five teams team that all believed they were good enough to qualify in South Korea, Jordan, Iraq, Oman and Palestine and it was Jordan who managed to finish second ahead of fellow world cup team Iraq. Jordan are absolutely no mugs, and going forward they could cause a real headache for Austria and Algeria.
The team is led by Musa Al Taamari, who is the first Jordanian player to play and score in a top 5 league in the world, having slowly risen from the Jordanian league through Cyprus, Belgium and finally to Ligue 1 where he currently plays for Rennes. Initially, he struggled, but since a change of manager in February, he has exploded, scoring 6 goals and assisting 6 since that change happened. There is a very good argument he is the best attacking player in this group that isnt Argentinian. If Jordan are to get a result against Austria or Algeria, it will be because Al Taamari has got the ball and done something magic. But he isnt alone at the top of the pitch, with Ali Olwan also being a very dangerous attacker; he is more of an out-and-out striker compared to Al Taamari, who is a winger primarily, but Olwan scored a hat-trick against Oman in the game that sealed Jordan's place at the World Cup he scored 9 goals total in qualifying meaning Jordan have a dangerous duo of attackers who could make a difference in this group.
The rest of the squad is full of players who play in the Middle East primarily Jordan and Iraq, but this is a group of players who have played together for a long time and know how to beat teams with more talent than them since qualifying for the world cup Jordan have beaten Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia all of whom are at this world cup so if Austria or Algeria take them lightly they could get bitten by the Jordanians.
They are still favourites to finish last in the group, but I'd be surprised if they lost all three games. There is definitely a world where they get 4 points and progress to the knockouts; if that happens, that's as far as they will go, but that doesn't matter. Jordan are a great example of how a government can develop a country and national team despite the difficult geopolitical climate their country is positioned in.
Predictions
In my predictions, Austria fails to progress as one of the 8 best third-place teams
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