Ikhtisar Alkhamis

An expanded 48-team World Cup has led to some unbalanced groups. Combining outright dual-forecast bets could be a smart strategy.

The game is rigged against the Black Stars, but the more uncomfortable truth, as the tournament kicks off, is that this team simply isn’t good enough.

Four nations will make debuts at the 2026 World Cup, with Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan set to grace the grandest stage in international football for the first time. It will be the tournament with the most newcomers since 2006 and all will have ambitions of ending a 16-year wait for a debutant to reach the knockout stages.

The 2026 World Cup is set to be a historic tournament, unlike any that have come before it. Expanded to 48 teams for the first time and spread across three countries - the United States, Canada and Mexico - it promises to be the biggest spectacle in the competition’s near-100-year history.