Welcome back to World Cup Countdown—The Ringer’s monthly column previewing the 2026 World Cup hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Each month, we’ll be covering everything shaping the tournament, from the U.S. men’s national team to the stars and story lines abroad that will define qualifying and the buildup to the opening match. Here’s where we stand 294 days before kickoff.
The Big Thing: The Five Story Lines to Watch in Europe This Season With One Eye on the World Cup
Over the past weekend, three of Europe’s top five leagues (the Premier League, La Liga, and Ligue 1) kicked off their 2025-26 seasons. Here’s what we have our eyes on as club football returns.
1. Could breakout Premier League seasons vault Rayan Cherki and Hugo Ekitiké into France’s starting XI?
France manager Didier Deschamps often likes to stick with the players he trusts the most. He persisted with Olivier Giroud at striker and N’Golo Kanté as a defensive midfielder even after both were past their primes. He also usually defaults toward more defensive setups at tournaments, limiting the number of attacking personnel on the pitch. The reasoning makes sense: Pragmatism can win you matches in unpredictable tournament play. But the sheer volume of attacking talent in a potential France squad right now is genuinely bonkers.
As if the firepower of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, and Michael Olise wasn’t enough, France has emerging superstars in Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitiké and Manchester City midfielder Rayan Cherki. Both scored in their Premier League debuts last weekend following breakout seasons last year at Eintracht Frankfurt and Lyon, respectively. Then there’s Désiré Doué, who was man of the match in May’s Champions League final. Deschamps’s best talent skews toward the attacking end of the pitch, but his tactics do not. This dichotomy will be fascinating to watch because I’m expecting huge seasons from Cherki and Ekitiké at the club level, yet I’m not confident at all that Deschamps will be willing to turn the keys over to the next generation. The retirement of Antoine Griezmann last fall may end up forcing his hand, though.
2. What version of Cole Palmer will we see this year, and where does he fit in a crowded England midfield?
Cole Palmer has been one of the main story lines for two summers in a row now, for vastly different reasons. At Euro 2024, no one understood why Gareth Southgate couldn’t shoehorn him into the starting lineup despite England’s goal-scoring issues. Palmer didn’t start a single match at that tournament, and many felt his talents were wasted—especially after he scored an equalizing goal in the final, which England went on to lose to Spain. Palmer followed the Euros with a great overall season at Chelsea, but it was an uneven campaign. He scored and assisted at a torrid pace in the first half, then struggled for goal contributions in the second half. Then, this summer, Palmer took off like a rocket and led Chelsea to a Club World Cup title.
The England midfield remains crowded, with Jude Bellingham, Palmer, and Phil Foden all occupying similar spaces on the pitch. Add in how Harry Kane likes to drop deep and contribute to the buildup, and you have a lot of tactical dilemmas for Thomas Tuchel to solve right now. England shouldn’t have issues qualifying, but Palmer’s domestic form feels very important to him cementing his place in England’s starting XI next summer. His lackluster showing in the opening match against Crystal Palace last weekend won’t help his case.
3. Can Francesco Pio Esposito develop into Italy’s next great young attacker?
Since winning the Euros in 2021 and squeezing the last bit of production out of Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne, the Italian national team has really struggled to field consistent goal scorers. The ongoing battle for the starting striker position is between Al Qadsiah’s Mateo Retegui and Fiorentina’s Moise Kean. Based on age profiles (26 and 25, respectively), both should be in their primes right now, but neither has excelled for Italy. That means the door is open, and a 20-year-old could be the one to barge right through it.
Francesco Pio Esposito scored 19 goals on loan at Spezia in Serie B last season. Now he’s rejoined Inter and will compete for minutes with Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martínez. After losing Romelu Lukaku to an injury last week, Napoli offered 45 million euros (roughly $53 million) for the striker, but Inter rejected the bid. It’s clear that Inter believes in him, and he’s a potential star in the making who could just solve the Italian national team’s goal-scoring problem.
4. How does Romelu Lukaku’s and Kevin De Bruyne’s fitness affect Belgium’s World Cup hopes?
Belgium’s plans of qualifying for the World Cup and succeeding in the tournament run through aging stars Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgium national team has talented, young attacking players like Malick Fofana (Lyon), Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta), and Jérémy Doku (Manchester City), but it’s still a Lukaku and De Bruyne operation first. Belgium fans had to be excited to see that the pair were teaming up under Antonio Conte at Napoli, but Lukaku’s quad injury, which will leave him sidelined for three months, now leaves Belgium shorthanded. When you consider that De Bruyne made just 34 starts in the last two Premier League seasons combined, you have to wonder what the odds are that both will be healthy and in form next summer.
Belgium plays Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein in the September qualifying matches and shouldn’t have many issues there, but this injury to Lukaku raises an orange flag for them in the longer term.
5. How will Portugal’s attacking group shape up, and where does 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo fit into the picture?
At the moment, it feels like Portugal is one of the most unsettled attacking groups of the 2026 World Cup favorites due to the inconsistent playing time of Goncalo Ramos at PSG and the age of Cristiano Ronaldo—not to mention the shock of Diogo Jota's tragic and sudden death. Ramos wasn’t a member of PSG’s starting XI for its biggest matches last year once Dembelé became the main striker. Ronaldo started up top in the Nations League semifinal and final in June (which Portugal won), but we’ve also seen Portugal’s overreliance on Ronaldo bite the team at Euro 2024, where he failed to score. Portugal has as much depth as anyone in its midfield and wide forward ranks thanks to Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto, Rafael Leão, Francisco Conceicao, Bernardo Silva, and more, but the striker position remains a big question mark. Roberto Martínez seems to prefer Ronaldo as his main striker, but it’s not clear how many minutes the 40-year-old will have left in his legs next summer.
State of the States
This section focuses on the United States men’s national team as it prepares to host the World Cup.
You can debate the fairness of Christian Pulisic’s and Tim Weah’s recent digs at former U.S. players who’ve been critical of this generation. It’s a familiar sports cycle when ex-players knock the new era to elevate their own accomplishments. But it’s clear the optics are bad.
Just months after skipping this summer’s Gold Cup—the last competitive tournament the U.S. will play in before the World Cup—Pulisic is publicly pushing back. The USMNT star man dismissed the commentary from the likes of Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey as a “cop-out,” while Weah accused former players of “chasing checks.”
The so-called “golden generation” of U.S. talent, once bursting with promise, has felt stale and stagnant since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That stagnation has opened the door for former players to question their passion and motivation. Instead of downplaying that criticism, Pulisic and Weah have only inflamed the tensions.
Pulisic, who spent most of his career shying away from the spotlight, is now in the hot seat. The pressure on “Captain America” has never been higher. Next month’s friendlies against South Korea and Japan won’t make or break anything, but strong performances could go a long way toward steadying the narrative.
In terms of the rest of the USMNT, it’s been a bit of a busy summer in the transfer market:
USMNT Notable Summer Transfers:
Tim Weah from Juventus to Marseille
Matt Turner from Nottingham Forest to Lyon and then loaned to New England Revolution
Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis to Atlético Madrid
Patrick Agyemang from Charlotte to Derby County
Malik Tillman from PSV to Bayer Leverkusen
So far this summer, five players in serious contention to start and play for the USMNT next year have moved clubs. The main notable absence from this list is Dortmund midfielder Giovanni Reyna. He is reportedly closing in on a move to Serie A club Parma, but there’s nothing definitive there yet.
For Cardoso and Tillman, the arrow is pointing directly upward, as both are moving into important roles at bigger clubs. Cardoso is joining a rebuilt Atlético Madrid midfield that is replacing Rodrigo De Paul and likely phasing out 33-year-old Koke. Cardoso’s defensive skills will be required and tested in Diego Simeone’s counterattacking system.
Tillman is stepping into a Leverkusen team with a new manager (Erik ten Hag) and a roster that lost most of its key contributors from last season. Tillman is filling the Florian Wirtz hole in the lineup, and Tillman does bring the pressing ability and out-of-possession energy that ten Hag loves. I’ll be looking to see how his attacking production translates from the Eredivisie to the Bundesliga, as replacing Wirtz—who had 44 goal contributions in two Bundesliga seasons and moved to Liverpool for a record fee this summer—will be a difficult task.
Weah moves from a mess of a Juventus squad to an intriguing Marseille one that has Champions League football on offer. Roberto De Zerbi may be a questionable man manager, but one thing he’s certainly willing to do is play high-octane attacking football. His Brighton finished second in expected goals in 2022-23, and Marseille was second in goals scored last year in Ligue 1.
Turner will finally get to play major minutes again, the lack of which likely contributed to the decline in his shot-stopping ability last year. If Turner wants to be the no. 1 goalkeeper next summer, he has to play, even if it’s at a lower level in MLS. Agyemang is unlikely to be a starter for the USMNT next summer, but he certainly has a chance of making the squad. Making the leap from MLS to Derby County in the Championship will present more of a challenge to his technical abilities this season.
You could argue that the biggest USMNT-related transfer news is actually the departure of Dutch forward Luuk de Jong from PSV, which opens the door for Ricardo Pepi to be the main striker in Eindhoven. And don’t sleep on fellow forward Josh Sargent, who’s started the Championship season with two goals in two matches at Norwich. Will that be enough to get him back into the USMNT mix? We’ll see.
Stock Watch
This section focuses on the shifting fortunes of players, managers, and nations who could play a significant role next summer.
Stock up: Richarlison’s chances of being Brazil’s no. 9
So there’s less than a year until the World Cup, right?
That was Richarlison’s Instagram caption after scoring twice in Tottenham’s Premier League opener, including a scissor kick that will easily be a contender for goal of the season. It was part flex, part cheeky reminder not to forget who carried Brazil’s attack in Qatar.
Richarlison will try for another run as Brazil’s leading man. Carlo Ancelotti has inherited a Brazil side still looking for a dependable striker, and Richarlison remains the best blend of tireless pressing, energetic movement, and the ability to produce a wondergoal. He led Brazil in goals at the last World Cup (three) and, if he can stay fit, may be their best bet to do it again.
His Spurs career has been a roller coaster due to injuries, but when Richarlison is actually on the field, he has been a reliable producer, with 13 goals in his last 16 Premier League starts. With less than 10 months until kickoff in North America, he just might be timing his run to perfection.
Stock down: Vinícius Júnior
It’s only one match into the new season, but Vini Jr.’s muted showing in Real Madrid’s opener against Osasuna felt like a continuation of last spring’s dip. One shot, one successful dribble out of five, and one foul drawn: hardly the numbers of a player who, just a year ago, nearly won the Ballon d’Or.
Back then, Vini Jr. was on the path to becoming maybe the best wide forward in the world. Now? He finished this past season with disappointing Champions League knockout performances, and the questions have only grown since. The most telling sign came not in Madrid but in Brazil, where Ancelotti, who knows him better than anyone, chose not to call him up for September qualifiers. Maybe it’s just for rest. (Vincius is also suspended for the first game against Chile due to accumulating too many yellow cards.) Or maybe it’s a message.
Brazil desperately needs a world-class leader heading into 2026, and the two most obvious candidates are Neymar and Vinícius. At the moment, both feel uncertain. For Brazil, that’s a problem.
Stock up: Spain’s dynamic wide duo
It almost feels unfair to say their stock is still rising, but Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams look determined to push it higher anyway. They reached superstar levels at Euro 2024 when they carried Spain to a continental title, and early investors in both have only seen their returns grow.
Williams was the man of the match in Athletic Club’s 3-2 win over Sevilla this past weekend, with a goal, an assist, and seven successful dribbles. Yamal received the same honor in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Mallorca, racking up four shots on target, six completed dribbles, a goal, and an assist.
Spain already knew it had a superstar duo. Now, it’s just a question of how high their ceiling can go before the World Cup kicks off.
Stock down: Swedish strikers on and off the pitch
The opening weekend of the Premier League featured one Swedish striker who was sorely missed and another who made a bad first impression at his new club.
Newcastle’s attack looked lost without the services of Alexander Isak, who has now publicly declared that he has “lost trust” in Newcastle and that the relationship between them “can’t continue.” Numerous sources are reporting that Isak is desperate for a move to Liverpool. The Magpies, however, don’t want to sell their best player, so the two sides could be entering a game of chicken as the transfer deadline nears. Isak probably won’t feature for Newcastle prior to the international break at the end of August, which could be costly since Sweden faces must-win road games at Kosovo and Slovenia in September, and Isak could be lacking match fitness at that point.
Meanwhile, Viktor Gyokeres’s debut for Arsenal went about as poorly as possible in the Gunners’ 1-0 win against Manchester United. Gyokeres finished with no shots and just three box touches, and he looked ineffective in duels. Drawing conclusions from one match would be silly, but it was a concerning debut. Sweden relies heavily on those two forwards and the currently injured midfielder Dejan Kulusevski for goals. If they aren’t fit and firing, that could make qualifying even more difficult.
Awards Spotlight
Each month, the World Cup Countdown selection committee (me) will highlight some of the best, worst, and strangest moments in the sport.
The “Asking the Right Questions” Award: Mohamed Salah’s tweet
The brevity was the point. In just 10 words and three questions—“Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”—Mo Salah managed to highlight exactly what UEFA’s “tribute” to Palestinian player Suleiman Obeid left unsaid. Salah’s post cut straight through the silence and forced everyone reading it to confront the omissions.
Obeid, nicknamed the “Palestinian Pelé,” was one of the greatest players in his nation’s history. He was reportedly killed in Gaza by munitions dropped from an Israeli quadcopter while he was waiting in line for humanitarian aid. He was a father of five just trying to provide for his family.
UEFA later displayed a banner at the Super Cup between PSG and Spurs that read: “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians.” But it was Salah’s tweet that carried the most weight and reached tens of millions.
The “Fine Wine” Award: Chris Wood
New Zealand is famous for its vibrant wines, but none are aging more gracefully than the national team’s 33-year-old striker.
On our preseason preview podcast, I pointed out how often Nottingham Forest went up 1-0 early in matches last season, how Wood massively overperformed his expected goals, and how both were bound to regress. Naturally, five minutes into the new season, Wood scored to put Forest up 1-0 on Brentford, and they cruised to a 3-1 win.
New Zealand isn’t likely to escape its World Cup group next summer, but Wood’s game still feels tailor-made for the international stage. His holdup play, aerial presence, clever runs in behind, and efficiency in transition are perpetually underrated. He’s enjoying the finest form of his career, and if he can bottle this version of himself, he could be the key to New Zealand pulling off a shock or two in North America.
Extra Time Conclusions
We’re just a few weeks away from the first international break of the new club season, and that means World Cup qualifying will continue across four of the six confederations beginning on September 4. Here are three main storylines I’m following in the upcoming window.
1. Africa’s heavyweights are wobbling.
On paper, Senegal, Nigeria, and Cameroon are three of the best teams in Africa. All three were the top-seeded team in their respective qualifying groups, yet none are currently in first place with four matches to play. In Africa’s unforgiving format, only the nine group winners punch a direct ticket to the World Cup, leaving anyone who slips to second facing a brutal playoff path.
In Group B, Senegal trail DR Congo by a single point ahead of their September 9 road trip. Senegal is currently unbeaten, but with just eight goals—four of which came in a match against South Sudan—in six matches, their attack has sputtered. They managed only a 1-1 draw at home against DR Congo in the first meeting, and the rematch now looms as the group’s inflection point, with the winner heavily favored to finish on top.
Cameroon find themselves in a nearly identical spot, one point back of surprise leaders Cape Verde. Fresh off an AFCON quarterfinal run that included a win over Ghana, Cape Verde now hosts Cameroon on September 9. Whoever comes out on top will seize control of the group.
Nigeria’s path is considerably more precarious. The Super Eagles have just one win in six matches, sit in fourth place, and trail leaders South Africa by six points. Nigeria plays second-place Rwanda on September 6 and then visits South Africa on September 9. Anything less than two wins could leave Nigeria’s World Cup hopes on life support.
2. South American qualifying finishes could be spicy.
CONMEBOL will be the second confederation, after tiny Oceania, to complete its qualifying process next month. Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina have already clinched their spots, and Uruguay and Paraguay are near certain to qualify as they each need just one more point from two matches.
With Chile already eliminated and Peru’s chances at almost zero, three teams are left fighting for the final 1.5 spots. Sixth place qualifies directly, while seventh heads to the intercontinental playoff. Right now, Colombia sits sixth and Venezuela seventh, with Bolivia just behind. And because Colombia plays both of their direct rivals in the final window, there could be plenty of drama on September 4 and September 9.
Here are the remaining fixtures:
Colombia—Bolivia (H), Venezuela (A)
Venezuela—Argentina (A), Colombia (H)
Bolivia—Colombia (A), Brazil (H)
Colombia should be able to take care of business against Bolivia, who struggles away from home. But if the Colombians drop points, their World Cup qualifying status could come down to a difficult away trip to Venezuela on the final day.
3. The European giants are finally joining the qualifying ring.
Because Spain, Germany, France, and Portugal were in the Nations League semifinals and finals in June, none have begun their World Cup qualifying campaigns yet. Europe has a quick qualifying process for these top teams, who will only need to play six total matches across the next three windows.
Here are the highest-profile matches in September to mark your calendars
September 4—Slovakia vs. Germany
September 5—Ukraine vs. France
September 7—Turkey vs. Spain
September 9—Hungary vs. Portugal
September 9—Serbia vs. England
All four of the European giants who start their qualifying campaigns in September begin play with the second-best team in their group away from home. Securing a win in that match would leave them as overwhelming favorites to qualify.
