2026 World Cup qualifying winners and losers: Argentina's statement win, Italy to miss out again?

In other action, England look pretty sharp under new coach Thomas Tuchel

The 2026 World Cup is now getting closer and after the March International break, we already have seven countries that have qualified for the tournament. After the hosts (United States, Mexico and Canada) automatically clinched their spot, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand and Iran joined them and are now officially part of the competition. The side coached by Lionel Scaloni, which will defend their 2022 Qatar World Cup success, were able to clinch the spot before even winning 4-1 in Buenos Aires against Brazil. While Asia and South America group stages are already well underway, the UEFA European teams have just started their group qualifiers but we can already identify some of the teams we can look out over the next year, when things will get heated as we get the final 48-team list of nations included in the World Cup. The European section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will determine the 16 slots reserved for the 54 UEFA national teams for the upcoming tournament that will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico starting on June 11 next year. Let's take a look at the winners and losers of the international break that just came to an end. 

German manager Thomas Tuchel had a solid start to his spell as England national team manager as the Three Lions were able to start off the group stage with two wins against Albania and Latvia at Wembley. Tuchel was able to bring a new and fresh air to a talented team that come from the disappointment of two UEFA Euro finals lost in a row in 2021 and last year under the management of former coach Gareth Southgate. More than the positive performances showed on the pitch, Tuchel can look at the future with some positivity as he can now help the team to win a trophy after becoming the third ever foreign coach to sit on that bench after Sven-Göran Eriksson from 2001 to 2006 and Fabio Capello from 2007 to 2012.