Two weeks ago, we named 10 dark-horse nations capable of crashing the party at the 2026 World Cup. The group stage has now returned its verdict, and it wasn't kind to everyone on that list. Uruguay are out, beaten 1-0 by Spain in their final group game and unable to climb out of the third-place reckoning. Türkiye are out too, sunk by defeats to Australia and Paraguay before a meaningless 3-2 win over an already-qualified USMNT. Croatia survived, but barely, and now meet Portugal in a Round of 32 tie few expect them to win.
The other seven dark horses are alive. One of them, in particular, looks less like a surprise package now and more like a genuine threat to win the whole thing.
