{"id":727921,"date":"2026-06-10T18:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727921\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T18:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:22:11","slug":"why-ecuador-japan-and-norway-are-the-dark-horses-at-this-world-cup-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/727921\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ecuador, Japan and Norway are the dark horses at this World Cup | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every World Cup needs a dark horse: the team nobody quite planned for, that disrupts the natural order and is remembered more vividly than the finalists. Morocco did it in 2022<\/a>, beating Spain and Portugal on their way to becoming the first African side to reach the semi-finals. Croatia produced a fairytale run<\/a> to the final in 2018. Costa Rica topped a group that featured three former champions \u2013 England, Italy and Uruguay \u2013 in 2014 before eventually losing to the Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals. And South Korea, who had never won a match at a World Cup, went all the way to the semi-finals in 2002<\/a>. With 48 teams at this year\u2019s tournament, there are a few candidates to make an unexpected run to the latter stages.<\/p>\n

Ecuador<\/p>\n

A defence featuring two Champions League finalists; a 19-game unbeaten streak; and second place in South American qualifying. You would think we are talking about one of the favourites. Instead, we are talking about Ecuador, who have a great chance to go further than ever before at the World Cup<\/a> \u2013 their last-16 exit at the 2006 tournament in Germany.<\/p>\n

Ecuador did not play in the World Cup until 2002 but they have missed only two tournaments since then: in 2010 and 2018. While participation has long been their goal, there is a growing sense that something greater is finally within reach.<\/p>\n

A new generation of players \u2013 led by Mois\u00e9s Caicedo, Piero Hincapi\u00e9 and Willian Pacho, under the guidance of Sebasti\u00e1n Beccacece, the Argentinian head coach \u2013 have turned Ecuador into one of the hardest teams to break down in world football. If you are expecting the flair and risk-taking sometimes associated with South American football, this is not it. Beccacece has drilled a side built on structure and control, with Ecuador conceding just five goals in 18 qualifying matches and keeping 13 clean sheets. They were behind for just 97 minutes across the entire campaign.<\/p>\n

Mois\u00e9s Caicedo celebrates after scoring for Ecuador against Senegal at the World Cup in 2022. Photograph: Jennifer Lorenzini\/Reuters<\/p>\n

They rarely allow opponents to dictate terms, but the question is whether they can score enough goals to turn draws into wins. No side that qualified from South America scored fewer than Ecuador\u2019s 14 goals, with the burden falling heavily on the shoulders of the 34-year-old veteran Enner Valencia, who contributed six of them during qualifying. Nevertheless, as Beccacece has argued: \u201cAll you have to do is score one more than the opposition.\u201d In knockout football, where margins are often fine, Ecuador\u2019s defensive solidity means they do not necessarily need to score goals in masses.<\/p>\n

Japan<\/p>\n

The last 16 has haunted Japan<\/a> at World Cups. Four times they have reached the knockout stages and four times their journey has ended there. Japan hold the record for most World Cup matches played without ever reaching the quarter\u2011finals (25).<\/p>\n

They are getting closer, though, missing out in 2018 only after a late collapse against Belgium and in 2022 with a penalty shootout defeat by Croatia. This is Japan\u2019s eighth consecutive World Cup appearance and there is a growing sense that they will make a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest difference this time is the genuine belief in the camp they can do something special. \u201cWe aim to win the World Cup, so the national team is ready to play every match like it\u2019s their last,\u201d said the manager, Hajime Moriyasu, in a recent interview. His optimism isn\u2019t unfounded; Japan beat Germany and Spain at the last World Cup, and they have beaten England<\/a> and Brazil in the last 12 months. They were the first country to qualify, after a near flawless campaign.<\/p>\n

This team has been refined over years. Thirteen players from the squad that topped a group featuring Spain, Germany and Costa Rica in 2022 are back, bringing experience and a shared understanding of what it takes to compete on the big stage. While injuries to Kaoru Mitoma and Takumi Minamino are significant setbacks, Moriyasu \u2013 who has been in charge since 2018 \u2013 can still call upon Takefusa Kubo, Daichi Kamada, Daizen Maeda and Ayase Ueda, who won the golden boot in the Eredivisie this season.<\/p>\n

Japan are in a tough group alongside the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia but their high tempo, relentless pressing and togetherness could take them far.<\/p>\n

Norway<\/p>\n

When Norway<\/a> last played at a World Cup, in 1998, only nine of the 26 players in this squad had been born. The current generation have ended the country\u2019s long wait and they are not just making up the numbers.<\/p>\n

Headlined by Erling Haaland and Martin \u00d8degaard, Norway arrive in North America with wind in their sails. St\u00e5le Solbakken\u2019s side stormed through qualifying, becoming one of only two European teams, alongside England, to win every match. They scored 37 goals and conceded just five in their eight matches, with their massive 11-1 win over Moldova standing out.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s attack should be one of the most feared in the tournament. Solbakken has built a team that can hurt opponents in multiple ways, whether through patient buildup, quick transitions, or wide crosses into the box to make use of their aerial dominance \u2013 Norway are the joint-tallest squad alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n

The Norway players pose in the shirts of their first clubs. Photograph: Vegard Gr\u00f8tt\/Norwegian Football Association<\/p>\n

At the heart of it all is Haaland, whose 16 goals in qualifying matched the record for a European qualifying campaign. Behind him, \u00d8degaard\u2019s vision and creativity provide the ammunition, with the Arsenal captain finishing as Europe\u2019s leading assist-maker during qualification. But the side is far from a two-man show. The Atl\u00e9tico Madrid forward Alexander S\u00f8rloth, standing tall at 6ft 5in, provides a perfect strike partner for Haaland. And the pace and invention of Antonio Nusa, Oscar Bobb and Andreas Schjelderup ensure Norway are not reliant on a single source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

There are some reasons for caution. They lack experience \u2013 Norway\u2019s last appearance at a major tournament was in Euro 2000 \u2013 and they are in one of the toughest groups in the competition, featuring 2022\u2019s runners-up, France, and the Afcon finalists Senegal. Norway\u2019s attack has rightfully stolen the headlines but their defence \u2013 featuring Kristoffer Ajer, Torbj\u00f8rn Heggem, Julian Ryerson and David M\u00f8ller Wolfe \u2013 will need to stand up against elite opposition. If Norway can answer those questions, they have the quality to go far in this World Cup.<\/p>\n

This is an article by WhoScored<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every World Cup needs a dark horse: the team nobody quite planned for, that disrupts the natural order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-727921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}