# WORLD CUP 2026: THE CONTENDERS

An episode of [The Game](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/191105605), 5 Jun 2026, 58 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/timesthegame/e/6a21a0c017f169d643ed16fc/media.mp3

If England don't win it who will? France, Spain, Portugal are all among the favourites, but only one European team has ever won in the Americas...can they change that? Lionel Messi will be at his sixth World Cup, can he lead Argentina to defend their crown? Brazil have gone twenty four years without a World Cup, can ageing talisman Neymar and the experience of manager Carlo Ancelotti guide them to the final? Who are the dark horses - Senegal, Japan, Norway, Ecuador... And lastly what of the rest, the first timers, the romantics choice and the rank outsiders. Tom Allnutt, James Gheerbrant and Paul Hirst join Tom Clarke to asses the best of the rest. We're here with our daily update show from Friday 12th June and we'll have a USA and the hosts special next week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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