Third Place Rankings

Group A

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 0/4 + 1/4 + 0/1 + 0/1 = 1/10 [Terrible]
Games Correct: 2/6 [Poor]

Adam's group prediction was a total disaster, with his only correct choice being Mexico's qualification. Mexico conceded no goals en route to 9-point perfection, while Adam's favored 1st-placers South Korea choked against South Africa, who stunned the world by snatching 2nd place. It was Czechia who, after failing to beat South Africa and blowing a lead against South Korea, came in last.

Group B

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 1/4 + 2/4 + 1/1 + 1/1 = 5/10 [Average]
Games Correct: 2/6 [Poor]

Adam correctly picked Switzerland as the leader of the group, but Bosnia and Qatar were shoved down by a motivated Canada. Despite validating Adam's unpopular prediction of a tie against Switzerland, Qatar proceeded to underperform, being embarrassingly destroyed by Canada and Bosnia.

Group C

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 2/4 + 3/4 + 0/1 + 0/1 = 5/10 [Average]
Games Correct: 4/6 [Good]

If Adam hadn't picked Morocco to pip Brazil—the opposite happened on goal difference—he would've had the right order. Scotland suffered a horrific goal difference to crash out of the World Cup 2026.

Group D

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 2/4 + 1/4 + 1/1 + 0/1 = 4/10 [Poor]
Games Correct: 3/6 [Average]

Adam nailed America's 1st-place and Paraguay's 3rd-place finishes, but slipped up elsewhere with Australia's overperformance and Turkey's astonishing inability to finish. To add insult to injury, Turkey stunned the world by beating USA when all hope was already lost, leading to more wrong predictions.

Group E

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 4/4 + 4/4 + 1/1 + 1/1 = 10/10 [PERFECT!]
Games Correct: 3/6 [Average]

Adam predicted the group order perfectly, noting that despite Germany's 2018 and 2022 disasters, they should still top the group, while a valiant Ivory Coast takes second ahead of Ecuador. Yet he only predicted 3 out of 6 games correctly, not expecting Curacao to hold Ecuador scoreless, Germany to beat Ivory Coast at the last second, and Germany to choke yet again, this time to Ecuador.

Group F

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 0/4 + 2/4 + 0/1 + 1/1 = 3/10 [Poor]
Games Correct: 2/6 [Poor]

Defying popular sentiment and choosing Japan to pip the Netherlands, Adam could've been correct if Japan beat Sweden convincingly instead of tying them. He swapped positions 1/2 and 3/4, leading to a prediction performance as disastrous as Tunisia's in the group.

Group G

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 1/4 + (2-3)/4 + 0/1 + (0-1)/1 = 4/10 [Poor]
Games Correct: 3/6 [Average]

Iran's failure to clinch the top spot left Adam's predictions in a dire state. The group featured 4 ties, tied for most with Group H. With three ties, Iran was the Cabo Verde of their group, though unlike Cabo Verde, their playoff hopes died on the fine line of third-place teams.

Group H

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 1/4 + 2/4 + 1/1 + 1/1 = 5/10 [Average]
Games Correct: 2/6 [Poor]

Cabo Verde shocked the planet by tying all three games, which was stunningly enough to see them through at second—a feat no other group could've harbored. This was Adam's sole error in prediction, which cost him 3 exact placements via rotation and 2 qualified statuses.

Group I

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 1/4 + 4/4 + 0/1 + 1/1 = 6/10 [Average]
Games Correct: 4/6 [Good]

Adam's pick of Senegal at the top backfired spectacularly as France and Norway overwhelmed the Gambia-surrounders. One of Adam's very few correct exact scoreline predictions came in the rather difficult scoreline of Norway 3-2 Senegal.

Group J

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 2/4 + 3/4 + 1/1 + 0/1 = 6/10 [Average]
Games Correct: 4/6 [Good]

Argentina dominated the group, while Algeria tied Austria in a failed revenge attempt for 1982. In his predictions Adam swapped the two teams, which were separated on goal difference. Had Austria not scored a last-second goal to tie their match against Algeria, Iran would've been in the playoffs.

Group K

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 0/4 + 2/4 + 0/1 + 1/1 = 3/10 [Poor]
Games Correct: 3/6 [Average]

Adam swapped Colombia and Portugal, as well as DR Congo and Uzbekistan. DR Congo displayed stunning resilience, coming back against an outmatched Uzbekistan, and forcing a draw with Portugal, which ultimately confined them to place below Colombia, who scored only 4 goals.

Group L

Adam's Group Prediction Score: 2/4 + 4/4 + 0/1 + 1/1 = 7/10 [Good]
Games Correct: 3/6 [Average]

Adam's belief in Croatia was not rewarded, as they mustered no discernible offense against England. However, in alignment with Adam's unpopular opinion, this group was indeed the true Group of Death, as England, Croatia, and Ghana were all strong teams—unlike Group I, the popularly-described group of death, which saw Senegal blown out by both Norway and France.

3rd Place Rankings

These 12 teams were the 3rd place out of 4 in their groups. They are ranked against each other, and the top 8 go to the 32-team knockout. Points comes first, then goal difference, then goals scored.