Club soccer returns this weekend, but with more spots at the 2026 FIFA World Cup being locked up, it’s a good chance to take a look back at the break in its entirety. More than half of the 48 spots are now known, and three first-time participants will be at the tournament in Uzbekistan, Jordan, and Cape Verde. More could join them, but expansion is already providing opportunities for nations around the world.
Some, like Nigeria, haven’t been able to take advantage of expanded qualification and find themselves in sticky situations, while the United States are beginning to turn around their own form despite only playing friendlies because of automatically qualifying as a host nation. Let’s take a look at some winners and losers from the October break:
Winner: USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino
The experimentation with the United States men’s national team is coming to a close, and improved results are following. With a win over Australia, the USMNT are now unbeaten in three matches and can look to refine their setup during a November international window, which will see them face Paraguay and Uruguay. Pochettino’s shift to a back three has brought results, and he’s been able to still integrate players deeper down the depth chart, like Tanner Tessemann and Cristian Roldan. The challenge will be to keep this going against tougher opposition, but when it was hard to see the plan of Pochettino’s vision, this is a welcome shift. There’s still plenty that needs to be done before the World Cup, such as ironing out defensive mistakes and figuring out the next center back up if a 38-year-old Tim Ream has any issues, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Losers: Panama and El Salvador
With the big three not taking part in Concacaf World Cup qualification due to hosting duties, it was an opportunity for some of the nations further down the rankings to take advantage and make the expanded World Cup, but as things stand, Panama wouldn’t even qualify for a spot in the intercontinental playoffs. One of the biggest risers in Concacaf after getting out of their group during the CONMEBOL Copa America and making it to the Concacaf Nations League final, the wheels have fallen off lately. Panama have only won one World Cup qualifying match, drawing three and losing one, and they now see themselves second to Suriname in their group on goal difference. In that same group, El Salvador missed a golden chance to create more chaos, losing to Guatemala while being led by Panama’s former coach, Hernán Darío Gómez. Concacaf qualifying has always been a grind, but a bigger side seems set to miss out on the 48-team World Cup.
Winners: Cape Verde
Making the World Cup for the first time in their history, Cape Verde became the second smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup, tapping into players with eligibility in Portugal, France, and the Netherlands to make the improbable happen. Winning a group with Cameroon in it is no small feat, and Columbus Crew defender Steven Moreira put it well following the win over Eswatini that people will now know the Blue Sharks.
“We’re a very small country. It’s for all the people here. People don’t know too much about their country, and I really wish they will now know it,” Moreira said to FIFA following the match. “They will come here and really enjoy themselves because we’re just happy people who try to enjoy life. It doesn’t matter what happened; it’s just an amazing country.”
Just because they’re qualifying for the first time doesn’t mean that they won’t pose issues for teams in their group. The World Cup can be the great equalizer because teams that play as one can defeat sides that may have more talent on paper, and this is a close-knit bunch. Even when they brought on long-term player Stopira, a 37-year-old defender who plays in the Portuguese second division, he scored a goal to keep the party going.
“You can see when we score goals, everyone is running to support each other and just enjoy real family. So when we scored the goal, we knew it honestly,” Moreira said. “For me, it’s something amazing because before I went to Columbus, in my mind, I was not in the national team for the moment, so I decided to go for the African Cup of Nations, and everything worked out well for me in the end.”
Losers: Nigeria and the African gauntlet
Only one of these four teams will have a chance at making the World Cup.
- DR Congo
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
That’s quite a run just to have a chance at the World Cup, but it’s also one that saw Nigeria and Cameroon pay for losing winnable matches in qualifying to get to this point. Talent isn’t everything, and World Cup qualifying in Africa has always been among the hardest in the world. Nigeria needing help from South Africa to win their group isn’t what was expected, and Cameroon’s disappointment is what the flip side of Cape Verde’s elation looks like. Someone has to spend these tournaments on the sidelines, and even with the expansion, top 50 sides could miss out.
Winners: England
The first World Cup qualifiers from UEFA, the Three Lions are loving life under Thomas Tuchel. They bounced back from dropping a friendly to Senegal over the summer by scoring 15 goals while allowing none in their next four matches. Harry Kane continues to show that he’s one of the best strikers in the world, and his Bayern Munich form has translated to England. It looks like 2026 could be the year for England to break the drought, not having won this tournament or any other major senior men’s tournament since the World Cup of 1966, when they hosted it. Of course, getting to the World Cup has never been the issue for England (aside from, in terms of recent history, needing that David Beckham free kick vs. Greece); it has been showing that they can perform in the biggest moments to win silverware. But this is one of the top five teams in the world, and they’re performing like it. Next is keeping it going all the way to the final.
Losers: Brazil
It’s tough to judge a team on one game, especially when it’s a friendly, but when you’re Brazil and you drop a two-goal lead to Japan, it has to be noted. Carlo Ancelotti is still looking to figure out how to get the best out of this squad, and it’s clear that is still a work in progress. Brazil have already qualified for the World Cup, but the goal is to get back to their best. Brazil have only made it past the quarterfinals once since winning the tournament in 2002, while watching rivals Argentina rise to replace them as the best South American nation at the World Cup. Ancelotti is supposed to get them over the hump and back into the World Cup final, but if he can’t figure out their defensive setup, that may not happen.
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