The Lamine Yamal Era Is Here: World Cup Group H Preview
48 countries, 12 groups, and a million possibilities abound as the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off next week, with Mexico opening against South Africa.
When it comes to World Cups, each edition has its own main characters, breakout stars, and new heroes or villains that find themselves in the lore of the sport forever.
Group H has a team with a slew of those types of players, including one 18-year-old who might be ready to take the torch as the world’s No. 1 player by the end of it if they’re hoisting the trophy at MetLife Stadium in July.
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Game of the Group: Spain vs. Uruguay
Although this Uruguay team isn’t the Uruguay of old, with an offense that could go up against even the best teams in the world, they’re still likely the biggest challenge Spain will face in this opening round.
If Uruguay has any shot, Real Madrid‘s Federico Valverde will need to take over the game with his relentless engine and ability to control games from the midfield. Unless Valverde is at his absolute best and Uruguay’s defense is as stalwart as it was in qualifying, it’s going to be a long night for the team with the second strongest squad on paper in Group G.
That’s how good this Spain team is. Their secondary team might have a legitimate argument for being the second-best team in a theoretical Group G, behind the main squad.
Player of the Group: Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona)
This could be his tournament, as 2018 was Kylian Mbappé’s and 2022 was Lionel Messi’s. After wowing the world as a 16-year-old and tearing through defenses en route to a Euros win two years ago with Spain, he’s adopted the talisman role at Barcelona and taken them to back-to-back titles.
He’s electric, confident, and fearless under pressure. Yamal knows his face is on every advertisement for this tournament, and it only seems to fuel him further to become a folk hero in Spain.
Yamal is already a household name worldwide, but if he has his way, his name will be known by every single person in the United States by the end of the summer.
Group Prediction
Spain should cruise to the top place in the group, as Uruguay, Cape Verde, and Saudi Arabia battle for the all-important second seed and possibly even third spot that gets into the knockouts.
Although a lot of people will take Saudi Arabia over the tiny country of Cape Verde for what they did in 2022 and upsetting Argentina, don’t overlook Cape Verde. They handled Serbia in a friendly and have looked good in their warm-up games, where Saudi Arabia has struggled.
- Spain
- Uruguay
- Cape Verde
- Saudi Arabia
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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 1:36 AM.