Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage

Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
Photo = American Fox Sports Capture



Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
Photo = American Fox Sports Capture
Korea is relatively easy. Japan, on the other hand, fell into the worst group.

Fox Sports of the U.S. shed light on the results of the groupings on the 8th (Korea time) 'Ranking the results of the 2026 World Cup draw' based on FIFA's world ranking average, listing the group rankings for the 2026 World Cup from easy to most difficult groups'

The draw ceremony for the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup was held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on the 6th. The North Korea-China World Cup is the first competition since the participating countries were confirmed with 48 countries under the 32-nation system, and four countries form 12 groups. The top eight teams from the first, second and third places in each group will play in the round of 32, the starting point of the tournament.




Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
AFP Yonhap News
Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
AFP Yonhap News
The joys and sorrows of the strongest countries in Asia were also mixed from the draw. Korea was in Group A with Mexico (15th in FIFA ranking), South Africa (61st), and European Playoffs (PO) D winners. Denmark, North Macedonia, Ireland, and the Czech Republic were among the European POD groups. It's hard to say it's the best, but I succeeded in forming a group that's close to the best.

On the other hand, Japan is considered to be close to the worst. It has teamed up with the Netherlands, European PO (B), and Tunisia. In the European PO B Pass, Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, and Albania will compete for one place. Except for Japan, the rest of the countries are outstanding.

Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
AFP Yonhap News
Starting with Virgil van Dijk, the Netherlands, which boasts a brilliant squad of players including Frankie the Younger, Mickey van der Pen, Wiriyen Timber, Cody Hakpo and Xavi Simmons, is a strong team. Tunisia is also the most likely candidate for the first win, but it is also an opponent that cannot be let down. It lost 0-3 to Tunisia in a friendly match in June 2022. The same goes for European PO winners. Ukraine has a strong organizational power, while Sweden and Poland have a great front-line weight. No matter which team comes up, it cannot be seen as a pushover.




Korea's Group A is 8th → Japan is 1st in the Death Group! Media shock assessment reveals difficulty in passing group stage
AFP Yonhap News
Fox Sports ranked Group F, which Japan belongs to, as the most difficult group and 'There are not many strong players, but they are likely to compete the most fiercely because they are ranked similar. Even before the European PO was confirmed, the gap was not large already, and the difference would not be much different due to the large likelihood of Poland or Ukraine stepping up. On the other hand, Korea's Group A ranked eighth in the difficult group. Fox Sports is 'Mexico is ranked high, but it is only seven steps away from South Korea. If Denmark passes the group stage, the gap between the teams could be further narrowed.

It is a World Cup stage full of unexpected variables, but South Korea has every reason to smile more than Japan in the difficulty of the group stage. However, producing a result depends entirely on the actual performance.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.