World Cup Group F Preview

Group F

Netherlands → Qualified as UEFA group winner, ranked 7th in the FIFA rankings

Japan → Qualified as AFC group winner, ranked 18th in the FIFA rankings

Sweden → Qualified through UEFA playoff, ranked 38th in the FIFA rankings

Tunisia → Qualified as AFC group winner, ranked 45th in the FIFA rankings


Netherlands Team Preview

The Dutch have qualified for the second straight World Cup, winning their qualifying group with their only blemishes in the form of two draws. They had a tough draw with Poland and Finland, but beyond that faced little trouble. They haven’t lost a game in regular time since 2024, with the other loss coming against Spain in a shootout. They haven’t been many other qualified teams, but their strength as a team speaks for itself. The worst the Dutch have ever done in a tournament is a round of 16 exit and I expect the trend of advancing to the knockout stage to continue.


Japan Team Preview

One of the world’s most relentless and patient teams is ready to make some noise at the World Cup this year. The Japanese have qualified for every Cup since 1998 and have always been a difficult team to beat. They only lost once in their qualifying group and had a goal difference of +27 and have only dropped two games since the beginning of 2024. Currently on a six game winning streak where only two of their opponents didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Five of these games have been shutouts and three have been 1-0 wins. This is a team that punishes your mistakes and doesn’t let you breathe on the field. I see them doing very well this year. 


Sweden Team Preview

Sweden is a team that I truly do not know how they are going to do at the World Cup. The last time they qualified was in 2018 where they finished seventh with a quarter-finals appearance. There is no other way around it, the qualifying round for Sweden was awful. They tied twice, lost four times, and had a goal difference of -8 but advanced because of their UEFA Nations League performance. They won their playoff games against Poland and Ukraine to advance, but then lost to Norway in their friendly match on June 1st. I can’t see Sweden doing well this year with maybe a result against Tunisia at best. 


Tunisia Team Preview

The Tunisians are coming back for their third straight World Cup and are looking to advance out of their group for the first time in their history. They comfortably advanced in their group with a goal difference +22 and 13 points ahead of 2nd and 3rd place Namibia and Liberia. Led by Ellyes Skhiri and Hannibal Mejbri, Tunisia is looking to bounce back from a disappointing AFCON and run of friendly games. I see Tunisia picking up a win here but not advancing from the group.


Ben’s Predictions


Best Game: Japan vs Netherlands

This game is going to be a tactical dream for fans who want to watch two contrasting but great styles of soccer. The positionless Total Football of the Dutch against the relentless structure of the Japanese is going to be very fun to watch. On top of this, they are the two best teams in the group so this could also determine the winner and where they place in the knockout round. 


Underrated Game: Japan vs Sweden

This is a game that intrigues me quite a lot as Sweden seems to be an unknown team coming into the tournament. Japan doesn’t give up many goals and while Sweden has struggled to score, doubting players like Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak will lead to getting your team picked apart. I think this could end up being another really fun game that could end in a lot of goals.


Dark Horse: Sweden

Sweden is the biggest “who knows” team in arguably the entire World Cup. They have some great players like Gyökeres, Isak, and Lindelof, but they also were downright awful in their qualifying round. Then, in the UEFA Playoffs, they turned everything around and won two important games while scoring a lot of goals. I truly do not know which team is going to show up and this could be a scary thing for the rest of the group. 


Let Down Team: None

I went back and forth on this one trying to scrape through picking Japan or Netherlands and I ended on there will be no let down team in Group F. I think that Japan and the Netherlands are too strong of sides to falter enough to where they let fans down. Tunisia and Sweden have very little to no expectations so they are either going to exceed expectations or be right where everyone thinks. It’ll be a fun and unpredictable group and I am excited for it!


Final Group Stage Results

  1. Netherlands

  2. Japan

  3. Sweden

  4. Tunisia

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