🔥Argentina, 🤞 Canada and Norway nightmare: Italy’s dream and nightmare groups🇮🇹 | OneFootball

Starting from 6 PM today, Italy will begin to glimpse its possible path to the 2026 World Cup – provided it first overcomes the playoff hurdle, which, given past experiences, cannot be taken for granted.

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At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, the World Cup draw will take place, marking the first in history with the new 48-team format, hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

📊 THE 2026 WORLD CUP POTS

The mechanism is now well-known: four pots of 12 national teams each, for a total of 12 groups of four teams. The top two from each group will advance to the round of 32, along with the 8 best third-placed teams.

The problem – and it's not a minor detail – is that Italy - should it secure a spot in America - will be placed in the fourth pot, the last one. This placement paves the way for a group of death for the team led by Gattuso.

However, there is a small consolation: there can be at most one other European team in the group, thus avoiding the possibility of a monster group with three continental giants.

📉 ITALY IN THE PLAYOFFS AND IN THE FOURTH POT

If only the Azzurri had overcome Haaland's Norway in the match at San Siro a few weeks ago, today we would be talking about a first pot guaranteed by the ranking.

But the past cannot be changed, and now all attention is focused on the playoff semifinal against Northern Ireland and, if successful, the final against either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While waiting for March, however, eyes will be on tonight's draw. And even though making calculations in advance is of little use, imagining the best and worst possible group is almost inevitable.

😱 ITALY'S WORST GROUP AT THE WORLD CUP

🇦🇷 ARGENTINA

🇲🇦 MOROCCO

🇳🇴 NORWAY

From a nightmare perspective, the first pot is chilling: at the top of the list is world champion Argentina, but France, Spain, England, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium are also frightening. From the second pot, a tough and organized Morocco might emerge, while from the third, a shocking – and highly unwelcome – return of Norway cannot be ruled out.

😱 ITALY'S BEST GROUP AT THE WORLD CUP

🇨🇦 CANADA

🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA

🇿🇦 SOUTH AFRICA

And the ideal group? Here we enter the realm of dreams. A “first pot” with Canada, promoted among the big teams as a host country, then perhaps Australia from the second and South Africa from the third. A perfect, almost fairy-tale scenario. Dreaming costs nothing. Reality, as always, will speak at exactly 6 PM.

🏆 WHO WILL WIN? OPTA'S PREDICTION

The groups that will characterize the 2026 World Cup have not yet been defined, but Opta has already spoken: Spain as champion ahead of France and England. And Argentina? The chances of them defending the title won in Qatar are 8.7%.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 STEFANO RELLANDINI - AFP or licensors