Good Morning ☀️,

It’s Lucas here, your Chief Predictions Officer at What Are the Odds?

As most of you already know, today marks the official 2026 FIFA World Cup kickoff. And with it, a change to our usual scheduling.

From today forward, expect a daily email from us. Each one will contain the full match schedule for that day, along with our top picks.

So with that out of the way, let’s get straight into it.

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The basic details are:

• 48 teams split into 12 groups, with 4 teams in each group.

• Each team to play 3 group-stage matches.

• 32 teams will advance to the knockout stage rounds.

• The top two teams in each group will advance automatically.

• The eight best 3rd-placed teams will also advance.

• Tiebreakers (in order) are: goal difference, goals scored, head-to-head play, fair play record, and finally… drawing lots. (Because a game of random chance makes perfect sense at a tournament made to find the best…)

And as for what those groups look like, here are the details:

Group A

• Mexico

• South Africa

• Korea Republic

• Czechia

Group B

• Canada

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Qatar

• Switzerland

Group C

• Brazil

• Morocco

• Haiti

• Scotland

Group D

• USA

• Paraguay

• Australia

• Türkiye

Group E

• Germany

• Curaçao

• Ivory Coast

• Ecuador

Group F

• Netherlands

• Japan

• Sweden

• Tunisia

Group G

• Belgium

• Egypt

• Iran

• New Zealand

Group H

• Spain

• Cape Verde

• Saudi Arabia

• Uruguay

Group I

• France

• Senegal

• Iraq

• Norway

Group J

• Argentina

• Algeria

• Austria

• Jordan

Group K

• Portugal

• DR Congo

• Uzbekistan

• Colombia

Group L

• England

• Croatia

• Ghana

• Panama

Want to get the best odds at this year’s FIFA World Cup?

Today, we’ve got two Group A matches coming up. (Note: all dates and times are in Eastern Time)

Mexico vs. South Africa

• Time: 15:00 ET

• Venue: Estadio Azteca

Location: Mexico City

South Korea vs. Czechia

• Time: 22:00 ET

• Venue: Estadio Akron

Location: Zapopan

⚽ Mexico vs South Africa
🏟️ 2026 FIFA World Cup
📅 Thursday 11 June; 21:00 (Europe/Paris)

• Why we’re watching: It’s the first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, so of course we’re watching this one. And besides, there’s also two great options to play this one, both of which have a high probability relative to the odds.

• Top 3 Stats:

  • Mexico is currently #14 in the FIFA World Rankings

  • South Africa is currently #60 in the FIFA World Rankings.

  • The last time these two met was 16 years ago in 2010. That match ended in a draw.

• CXSports says: Mexico’s had a pretty clean run into this year’s World Cup — they’re undefeated in 8 matches (6W/2D), with plenty of big wins, including 5 of those matches ending in clean sheet victories. South Africa, on the other hand, has had a much rougher run in. While they’ve managed to not get completely destroyed in their international friendlies after managing 3 draws and just a single loss, that sort of form doesn’t exactly scream “this team’s in match-winning form”.
  
  What’s most notable here is that South Africa clearly has a finishing problem. In their last 5 matches, they’ve only produced 4 goals. And against a Mexican side that’s been keeping clean sheets in the majority of its recent matches, that’s a problem that’s likely to prove deadly here. Their match against Nicaragua was a particularly clear illustration of this point. While South Africa did manage to draw, they also held a ridiculous 86% possession. They also took 22 shots and made 616 passes. And, despite all that, they still ended up with 0 goals. And it’s not like Nicaragua has the greatest defense out there. Besides being a 131st-ranked FIFA side, Nicaragua’s also conceded like crazy against other sides, with 13 goals conceded in their last 5 games against other sides.
  
  As such, we more or less have a pretty clear picture: the chances of South Africa scoring anything are slim-to-none. That’s not to say it won’t happen — miracles do happen from time to time. But it is to say that the possibility is so remote it’s not even worth entertaining. And while Mexico isn’t exactly an attacking powerhouse, they have scored consistently in most of their games. That dynamic sets this one up as a near-certain victory for Mexico. And, more likely than not, yet another clean sheet for their already impressive tally.

• Score prediction: 2-0 for Mexico

Bet Option #1

• Bet: Mexico Victory

• Odds Range: 1.26-1.50

Bet Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.37-1.55

Make your sportsbook work for you!

Tomorrow, there’s a couple of great matches coming up, with Canada vs Bosnia to kick things off, shortly followed by the big one — USA vs Paraguay. (Well, maybe that’s not a big one — no one’s taking either side seriously as a contender for the cup. But we’re definitely waiting to see whether the USA manages to make it out of the group stage.)

Until then, keep your eyes peeled. Tomorrow’s edition will be landing at about the same time with more great picks.