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By Marc StrydomPortugal will be a threat and looking to end Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup career with a bang in North America. Colombia have been impressive and are dark horses, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are making a historic return to the tournament.PortugalPortugal are hugely experienced campaigners at the World Cup. There is also a feeling they have underachieved, especially in the now-ending Cristiano Ronaldo era.While the rival to Lionel Messi for the past two decades for the title of the world’s best player was able to lead “A Seleção” to their first European Championship title in 2016, he has been unable to emulate Messi winning a World Cup, let alone reach the final. Portugal’s best placing in the Ronaldo era was a quarter-final in Qatar four years ago, while they had last 16 exits in 2010 and 2014 and a group stage exit in 2006 and 2014.Apart from a third-place finish in the era of the other Portuguese great, Mozambique-born Eusébio, in 1966, the above has been their most successful era — the Iberian nation only had two qualifications until 2002.One might assume that with an ageing Ronaldo, they might not be rated as a top contender in North America, but that’s not the case.Ronaldo, at 41, continues to bang in goals in the Saudi Pro League, with 28 in 30 games steering Al-Nassr to the title in 2025-26, and he captained Portugal to the 2024-25 Nations League title.The manager who took them there, Roberto Martínez, is hugely experienced and has a best finish of third place at a World Cup with Belgium in 2018. He has a world-class midfield, led by Bruno Fernandes. Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva and the Paris St Germain pair of Vitinha and the dynamic João Neves complete a quality engine room.Democratic Republic of CongoThe DRC are returning to the World Cup for the first time since making history in becoming the first Sub-Saharan qualifiers as Zaire in 1974, a campaign best remembered for a colourful and controversial moment.In a 3-0 defeat to Brazil, Mwepu Ilunga bizarrely charged out and kicked the ball before the South Americans could take a free kick. At the time mocked, it later transpired to have been a moment of quiet rebellion after threats over pay disputes from the Mobutu Sese Seko regime. Unsurprisingly, it was an awful World Cup all round for Zaire, conceding 14 goals in three defeats, including a 9-0 humbling by Yugoslavia.The modern DRC are known for some tough defensive and hard-running attacking football and should not be bleeding goals in North America. They trod a hard patch back to this World Cup. After finishing as runners-up to Senegal in their qualifying group, they reached the World Cup by shocking two powerhouses in the playoffs — Cameroon 1-0 in the semifinal and Nigeria 4-3 in the final. They then beat Jamaica 1-0 in the inter-confederation play-off final in Mexico.UzbekistanA 48-team World Cup will throw up some surprising qualifiers. With countries like Curacao, Jordan and Haiti, rookies Uzbekistan, admitted to Fifa in 1992 after the break-up of the Soviet Union, are among those.Yet Uzbekistan have a decent ranking of 50th and have generally been competitive in the Asian Cup, with quarter-final appearances in six of the last four tournaments and finishing as fourth-placed semi-finalists in 2011.They have a genuine Italian defensive legend as coach in 52-year-old Fabio Cannavaro, who in his formative career on the bench has won league titles in China, though leading Uzbekistan to the World Cup is his major postplaying achievement.Manchester City’s 22-year-old centreback Abdukodir Khusanov is the undoubted star player.ColombiaExperienced campaigners Colombia have one of their strongest combinations going to a World Cup and are being touted as dark horses.They finished third in South America’s Conmebol single qualifying group behind Argentina and Ecuador and ahead of Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay with seven wins, seven draws and four defeats. Given they were also 2024 Copa America runners-up to world champions Argentina, they are being put forward not just as the second-strongest combination in Group K to Portugal but a side capable of a deep run in North America.Argentinean coach Néstor Lorenzo, appointed in 2022, among the strong World Cup and Copa campaigns, presided over a record 28-match unbeaten run that included victories over Brazil, Germany, and Spain. The 60-year-old is stepping out of the shadow of being a long-time assistant to the acclaimed José Pékerman.• TimesLIVE, Sowetan, The Herald, Daily Dispatch and Business Day online are profiling 2026 World Cup groups until the tournament’s June 11 kick-off. Also catch the Star Player profile every Friday.
