We're three-quarters of the way through our World Cup group previews, with just a few days to go before the tournament kicks off! Up today is Group H, featuring a Spain side who look like the favorites to win it all, a Uruguay team who are always a factor, and a Cinderella story in Cape Verde.
As a reminder, you can read our previews for every World Cup group here:
SixOneFive Soccer Staff
TEAMS: Spain 🇪🇸 | Cape Verde 🇨🇻 | Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 | Uruguay 🇺🇾
Spain 🇪🇸
FIFA World Ranking: 1
Spoiler alert: Spain are good. Really good.
The Euro 2024 winners head to America (Chattanooga, more specifically) with the number one spot in FIFA's World Rankings and tied with France for the best odds to win the trophy. This team is loaded, with three world-class players at virtually every position. The players Spain left off their roster are good enough to make a run in this tournament.
Under 64-year-old head coach Luis de la Fuente, the former manager of Spain at the U19, U21, and U23 levels, this is still a side that emphasizes possession, but they're much more direct and look to get the ball into the box as quickly as possible.
The spine of this team is unreal. Former Manchester City defender Eymerick Laporte is still a top-level center back, even after a stint in the Saudi Leagues. In midfield, Balon D'Or winner Rodri will partner Barcelona star Pedri, forming a duo that can absolutely take over a match and set the tempo on their own terms.
Spain have two elite goalkeepers in David Raya and Joan Garcia, but neither are likely to play. Instead, it's the mercurial Unai Simón who looks set to man the pipes. The Atletic Bilbao man has 57 caps (more than four times the combined total of Raya and Garcia) but can be error-prone and erratic. This is also the first Spain squad in history to feature zero Real Madrid players, with Dani Carvajal's injury forcing him out.
Up front is where the main questions lie. Lamine Yamal, one of the very best players in the world at just 18 years old, is coming off an injury and it's a guarantee to be fit during the group stage. On the opposite flank, Nico Williams has his own set of health question marks. Yamal's status, especially, will be one of the primary deciders of just how far Spain go.
If he's fit and can continue his elite production, it's hard to see anyone stopping this Spanish juggernaut.
How they qualified: Group E winners in UEFA qualifying, scoring 21 goals and conceding just two.
Best-ever finish: Winners (2010)
Odds to win World Cup: +450
Key player: Just 18 years old, Lamine Yamal is one of the very best players in the world. He took Euro 2024 by storm and is ready for a bigger impact on a bigger stage.
X-factor: Barcelona midfielder Pedri has struggled with injuries in recent years, but can dominate a match when healthy. He'll be key to driving the game forward for Spain.
What's their ceiling? This is one of the two or three best teams at the tournament. Their ceiling is winning it all.
Projection: Spain win the group and make a run to the semifinals.
Fun fact: Spain has four official languages — Castilian (Spanish), Catalan, Basque, and Galician — as well as several other co-official regional languages. Basque is one of the few living languages in Europe with no known linguistic relatives anywhere on earth, and it predates the arrival of Indo-European languages by thousands of years.
Cape Verde 🇨🇻
FIFA World Ranking: 68
Cape Verde (or Cabo Verde) are at the World Cup for the first time, and they're one of the great stories heading into the tournament. A small island nation with a population of 525,000, they topped their group in African qualifying, finishing with 23 points from 10 games and nabbing the top spot ahead of Cameroon, historically one of the African high performers.
Under head coach Bubista, who captained the team as a player, they're a really well-balanced side, who can absorb pressure for long stretches of play, but are also capable of playing with the ball, with smart rotations in attack and pace to cause real problems in transition.
With a host of foreign-born players in the squad, they've received their footballing educations at some top teams in the Netherlands, France, and Portugal. They won't be favorites in many – or any – matches they play, but they're certainly not just participants. A win against a struggling Saudi Arabia side would give them a real path towards advancing, and with a 3-0 win over Serbia in their final pre-tournament friendly, they're heading into things in good form.
Their biggest question is the health of defender Logan Costa. The Villareal center back is one of the top defenders in La Liga and their best player, but just returned from a torn ACL at the end of May. If he's healthy, he'll be in the lineup, but that's not a sure thing.
How they qualified: Group D winners in African qualifying.
Best-ever finish: N/A
Odds to win World Cup: +100000
Key player: Forward Dailon Livramento was their top scorer in qualifying and has five goals in 11 matches in 2026. Against Spain and Uruguay, chances will be at a premium. He'll need to finish efficiently for them to have a shot.
X-factor: San Diego FC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos filed a late one-time switch to represent Cabo Verde (he was born in Philadelphia, but qualifies through his father). Incumbent 'keeper Vozinha has 86 caps, the second-most in the squad, but he's 40 years old. Could Dos Santos make a push for starting minutes?
What's their ceiling? Don't forget, this team qualified ahead of Cameroon, who have been one of Africa's better sides historically. A Round of 16 spot would be one of the all-time World Cup Cinderella stories, but they're not here just to make up numbers – they would have qualified even without the expanded format.
Projection: Cape Verde will get a win over Saudi Arabia and a shock point against Uruguay to advance to the Round of 32.
Fun fact: More Cape Verdeans live abroad than on the 10 volcanic islands that make up the country. The diaspora is concentrated in Portugal, the United States (particularly the Boston area), the Netherlands, and France.
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Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
FIFA World Ranking: 61
Saudi Arabia are scheduled to host the 2034 World Cup, and they've been pushing to become more of a force on the global stage. The Saudi Pro League has utilized the full force of the country's Sovereign Wealth Fund to lure elite talent to the Middle East for generational paychecks.
On the international stage, they haven't lived up to the promise they showed in 2022. Despite failing to advance from the group stage, they pulled off a historic upset win over eventual champions Argentina. That, so far, has been the peak.
Legendary manager Roberto Mancini was brought in to help them take the next step forward, but was sacked during the qualifying process as they finished behind Jordan in the second round. World Cup coach Hervé Renard was brought back to try and get them back on track, but he was fired at the end of the qualifying campaign, finishing behind Japan and Australia in the third round and sneaking into the World Cup with a rather embarrassing appearance in the fourth round.
Current coach, former Greek international Georgios Donis, selected his World Cup roster without having coached a match. This team struggles to defend, and can't consistently score at the other end to make up for it. Only one player on the roster – right back Saud Abdulhamid – plays outside the Saudi league, and while there are a few attackers in the squad, this feels like a side in trouble. They're heavily outmatched here.
How they qualified: AFC (Asia) Fourth Round winners
Best-ever finish: Round of 16 (1994)
Odds to win World Cup: +100000
Key player: Captain Salem Al-Dawsari is a menace cutting in from the left wing, with 27 goals from 109 caps. With concerns about their chance creation, he'll need to step up.
X-factor: Midfielder Musab Al-Juwayr is just 22, but already has six goals and 34 caps. Playing as the No. 10 in their 4-2-3-1, he's under a lot of pressure to get the attack firing.
What's their ceiling? The Round of 32 feels like the goal for this team. Anything else is a bonus.
Projection: They'll exit the group without a win.
Fun fact: The Rub' al Khali ("empty quarter") in southern Saudi Arabia is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world. It's roughly the size of France, with dunes reaching 820 feet tall.
Uruguay 🇺🇾
FIFA World Ranking: 16
Legendary Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa has taken charge of Uruguay, and his high-intensity, ultra-direct style feels made in a lab for this squad and this nation's identity.
Uruguay are tiny. Their population of 3.4 million is just slightly larger than that of the Middle Tennessee area, yet they've historically been one of the major players in World Cups and continue to produce genuinely elite footballers.
Their backline is solid, their midfield is elite, and they have an incredibly dynamic winger in Maxi Araújo, but with Edinson Cavani retired internationally and Luis Suárez publicly falling out with Bielsa and essentially removing himself from selection, they're left with Darwin Núñez up front, who wasn't spectacular in the Saudi Pro League this year.
Uruguay should have more than enough gas to get through the group. How they do in the knockout rounds depends on their defense and if Núñez can find a pocket of form.
How they qualified: Fourth in CONMEBOL qualifying (seven wins, seven draws, four losses)
Best-ever finish: Winners (1930, 1950)
Odds to win World Cup: +5000
Key player: Federico Valverde isn't just the best player on the team, but one of the best midfielders in the world. The Real Madrid vice captain could genuinely walk into any team in the world and make them better. While he moves around positionally for his club, for Uruguay, he's the key driving force in the center.
X-factor: Winger Maxi Araújo had four assists during qualifying and is a creative 1v1 dribbler. Uruguay often look to break lines and find him in the final third, allowing him to drive at a defender before playing into the box.
What's their ceiling? Uruguay look capable of a run to the Quarterfinals or even beyond. While the old guard is gone, there's elite talent in this team and they have a clear identity.
Projection: They'll finish second in the group, but lose to Argentina in a tight Round of 32 contest.
Fun fact: Uruguay has the smallest population of any two-time World Cup winner (1930, 1950) at roughly 3.4 million people. By comparison, the second-smallest two-time winner, Argentina (1978, 1986, 2022), has 46 million.
Group H wrap
Predicted final standings:
| Pos | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇪🇸 Spain | Advances to Round of 32 |
| 2 | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | Advances to Round of 32 |
| 3 | 🇨🇻 Cape Verde | Best-third-place contender |
| 4 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | Eliminated |
The match that decides it: Cape Verde will take on Saudi Arabia with their final match in the group stage. With Spain and Uruguay the heavy favorites to finish first and second, this could end up as essentially a knockout match between the two teams.
Best third-place watch: Cape Verde, again, are a huge underdog story, but they showed more than enough in qualifying to be a factor here.
