World Cup Group K Preview
A very interesting group with one of the most talented teams in the tournament in Portugal, a Colombia team with one of the best wingers in the world but not a lot else and two teams at the bottom, either returning after decades away or making their debut. A group where many different things could happen
Group K fixtures (all kick-off times are in BST)
Portugal vs DR Congo 17th June 6pm
Uzbekistan vs Colombia 18th June 3am
Portugal vs Uzbekistan 23rd June 6pm
Colombia vs DR Congo 24th June 3am
Colombia vs Portugal 28th June 12.30am
DR Congo vs Uzbekistan 28th June 12.30am
Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo's last ride will be the storyline for this team going into the tournament, but the question should be: are they a better team with or without the 41-year-old forward as Portugal continue their streak of attending every World Cup this century, but this is a national team that has consistently underdelivered never making a final and not only going past the round of 16 once since 2006 their quarter final exit to Morocco in Qatar. This team is too talented to fall short again, surely or are they just cursed to never fully succeed at a World Cup?
The midfield three of Bruno Fernandes, Joao Neves and Vitinha is the best at this tournament and arguably the best three midfielders in the world at the moment, so being able to control a game like Portugal should be able to do with these three gives them a great chance of going very deep and even if one or two of them get injured Bernardo Silva and Ruben Neves are waiting in the wings if called upon. Portugal arguably have the best full-backs of any team as well, with Nuno Mendes at left back and Joao Cancelo at right back; these five guys give Portugal a higher floor than pretty much any team in the tournament the problem is, outside these five guys there are many question marks. Ruben Dias is a good centre back, but his partner will be unproven internationally, whether that is Goncalo Inacio or Renato Veiga. In goal, Diogo Costa is good, so that shouldn't be a problem. The biggest question for this team is going forward.
That question is to start Ronaldo or not. Does Roberto Martinez have the bottle to bench Ronaldo in what I'm fairly certain would make the team happy but would hurt Ronaldo's massive ego to the point where he could blow up the atmosphere in the dressing room? It's a very delicate situation, as Ronaldo doesn't have the legs he once had and he isnt the best player in the Portuguese squad for the first time since the early 2000s it would be an easy decision if there was another striker great enough that it would be a no brainer but Goncalo Ramos isnt that guy he has sat on PSG's bench most of the last two seasons and has been displaced by 18 year old Ibrahim Mbaye in the PSG pecking order and him and Ronaldo are the only two recognised strikers in the squad sure Joao Felix or Raphael Leao could play upfront but are better elsewhere. The other problem Martinez has is that the supporting cast of players around the striker are all very inconsistent. Leao and Pedro Neto are likely to start on the wings, but both, despite showing flashes of brilliance throughout their careers, are not consistent, and the same problem goes for Felix, Francisco Trincao, Goncalo Guedes and Francisco Conceicao; they're all very similar streaky players, so for Portugal to suceed they need to figure out which one is going to be hot during the World Cup.
Portugal are a weird one if you ignore the front three; they're equal with France as the most talented team at the tournament, but the front three plus the Ronaldo questions could derail the whole tournament in a sneaky difficult group. Portugal are the best team I could see getting grouped, but equally they could just win the whole thing. I find them the hardest team to predict how far they will get in the whole tournament.
Colombia
Colombia are back after failing to qualify for Qatar and this is another weird team they've got an ok squad but what they have over most nations of a similar level to them is one of the best players in the world in Luis Diaz who has been nothing short of sensational for Bayern Munich this season with scoring 26 and assisting 19 over all competitions as Bayern did the domestic double and ran PSG close in the Champions League. 2014 breakout player James Rodriguez is still here as well despite his club career having disappeared since 2018. Colombia are still reliant on his creativity in attacking midfield despite him now being 34. These two plus Sporting's Luis Suarez and Palmeiras' Jhon Arias mean Colombia should be pretty good going forward.
But the rest of the squad really isnt that good. Richard Rios and Jefferson Lerma are good midfield options but are by no means amazing players, and the depth behind them, should either of them get injured, is really bad and nowhere near the level required to go deep in a World Cup. At the back, Daniel Munoz is a good right back, and Davinson Sanchez is a serviceable centre back; the rest of the defensive group is full of journeymen like Yerry Mina, Santiago Arias, Jhon Lucumi and Johan Mojica; four of these six guys will start, and the defence will be shaky at best in front of one of the two 37-year-old keepers. Whichever one of David Ospina and Camilo Vargas gets the nod in goal is going to be a problem against the great attacking players later in the tournament, should they get out of this group.
Going forward, Colombia should be good enough to get out of this group, but Uzbekistan and DR Congo will cause problems defensively and could beat them, so like Portugal they could get grouped, but Luis Dias is probably good enough on his own where they could win a knockout game, but I find it hard to see this team win multiple knockout games.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan have been so close for so long to making a World Cup, and they have finally done it this time around finishing just behind Iran in the qualifying 6 points clear of the UAE and 8 points clear of fellow World Cup qualifier Qatar and unlike many of the west Asia nations that have qualified for this tournament Uzbekstan do have a few players who have played at a consistent high European level and are managed by 2006 Ballon d'Or winner Fabio Cannavaro so surely they should be pretty good defensively.
While most of the team play across West Asia in Uzbekistan or Iran primarily, there are three key players to look out for. Abdukodir Khusanov is a centre back who has been immense for Man City in the second half of the season and, at only 22, is on the same level of fame in Uzbekistan that Messi is in Argentina and Ronaldo is in Portugal. Khusanov is part of a very solid defence that should limit chances for the other teams in this group, while going forward they are heavily reliant on Abbosbek Fayzullaev and Eldor Shomurodov, both of whom play for Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey. Eldor Shomurodov is your classic number nine and was the first Uzbek player to ever play for one of Europe's Premier clubs when he joined Roma from Genoa in 2021. That move didn't really work, and he bounced around lower half Serie A teams until he joined Basaksehir this season, where he has been great, scoring 22 and assisting 5 as Basaksehir finished 5th. At 6ft3, he is a classic striker; he will put himself about and create second balls for players like Fayzullaev to feast on. Fayzullaev is very different to most of the Uzbek squad; he isnt a huge guy and very physical; he is a tricky dribbler that can beat a man and create something for Shomurodov to put away like he does at club level in Turkey if Uzbekistan are going to get out of the group. Khusanov, Shomurodov and Fayzullaev are going to have to play out of their skin, but they have three high-level European-based players, which is more than many teams at this tournament can say.
Uzbekistan are favourites to come last in this group, but the game against DR Congo is a coin flip in my mind and they matchup fairly well into Colombia so there is a chance of as many as 6 points if everything goes well and if that happens, who cares what they do in the knockout rounds? Uzbekistan will have finally arrived as a footballing nation.
Dr Congo
DR Congo return to the World Cup for the first time since 1974, when they were known as Zaire, and they had a terrible tournament in 74, losing all three games, scoring 0 and conceding 14, so they are as close to debutants as a team that has been to a World Cup can possibly be. They qualified the hard way, finishing behind Senegal by only 2 points, getting one of the four best-placed 2nd-placed seeds, where they edged past World Cup regulars Cameroon 1-0, then beat another World Cup regular in Nigeria on penalties to qualify for the intercontinental playoffs, where they edged a talented Jamaica team in extra time with a goal from Axel Tuanzebe sealing the 1-0 victory. The scenes in Kinshasa after this game were insane, so just imagine what they'll be like if they win a game.
Don't for one second think this is a team that is just happy to be here; DRC are talented enough to cause all three teams in this group major issues. They have top-level talent all over the pitch, whether that is West Ham's Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right back, Burnley's Tuanzebe at centre back, next to Lille's Chancel Mbemba and Lens' Arthur Masuaku at left back; that is a back four who all played in the Premier League or Ligue 1 last season. Moving further up the pitch, Noah Sadiki has been one of Sunderland's standout players as they finished 7th in the Premier League and up front they have Newcastle's Yoana Wissa 35 year old stallwart Cedric Bakambu of Real Betis and Simon Banza, who has consistently scored goals wherever he has played all over Europe this is a good team who are capable of beating both Uzbekistan and Colombia and could give Portugal a difficult time at points at this tournament. They drew with Senegal at AFCON and drew with Denmark in a warm-up friendly; this team is going to get an easy game against DR Congo in this tournament.
Predictions
In my predictions, Uzbekistan progresses as one of the 8 best third-place teams
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