Welcome to The Athletic’s 2026 World Cup tactical group guides, walking you through the key battles on the pitch, the players to look out for, and the fun facts to impress your friends ahead of the tournament.In this article, we will break down Group L, containing England, Croatia, Ghana, and Panama. It is a group that, statistically speaking, is the second-strongest among the 12 competing this summer, based on the average FIFA rating of the four teams.England will be the favourites to top the group, but none of the nations were accustomed to tasting competitive defeat in the build-up to this tournament.Only Ghana suffered a single loss (vs Comoros) across their qualifying games, while the remaining three teams reached the World Cup undefeated in their respective confederation groups.So, will England be more tactically astute under Thomas Tuchel? Can Croatia continue to punch above their weight? And will Ghana experience an international new manager bounce?The gamesMatchday one
Wednesday, June 17: England vs Croatia (4pm ET, 1pm PT, 9pm BST) — AT&T Stadium, Dallas
Wednesday, June 17: Ghana vs Panama (7pm ET, 4pm PT, 12am BST+1) — BMO Field, Toronto
Matchday two
Tuesday, June 23: England vs Ghana (4pm ET, 1pm PT, 9pm BST) — Gillette Stadium, Boston
