{"id":2661,"date":"2026-06-11T12:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:05:21","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-opening-ceremony-information-fixtures-groups-latest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/?p=2661","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup 2026: Opening ceremony information, fixtures, groups, latest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"asset:034fffc4-c490-4649-b4ef-075f180a1b25\">\n<header class=\"ssrcss-1gu7x8n-Header e14e9ror5\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1de7kuz-HeadingContainer e14e9ror1\"><\/p>\n<h3 type=\"normal\" class=\"ssrcss-89o2pv-Heading e10rt3ze0\"><span role=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-189b1h2-HeadlineWrap e14e9ror2\"><span>Group L &#8211; who are the key players?<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-rcvhal-ServerSideTime e14e9ror0\"><span data-testid=\"timestamp\" class=\"ssrcss-19b8cwc-Timestamp ekpio9q4\"><span data-testid=\"accessible-timestamp\" class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">published at 12:27 BST<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ssrcss-crgz56-Time ekpio9q2\">12:27 BST<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span role=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-j37a1a-SubheadlineWrap e14e9ror3\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-fxb76l-Paragraph e14e9ror4\"><span role=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-189b1h2-HeadlineWrap e14e9ror2\">England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/header>\n<figure class=\"ssrcss-hc6arm-StyledFigure e34k3c22\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ab5fd8-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c21\"><span class=\"ssrcss-zxo1np-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Luka Modric celebrating\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/240\/cpsprodpb\/vivo\/live\/images\/2026\/6\/10\/e68d0d6c-92ee-40dd-9fce-2726e7427627.jpg.webp 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/320\/cpsprodpb\/vivo\/live\/images\/2026\/6\/10\/e68d0d6c-92ee-40dd-9fce-2726e7427627.jpg.webp 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/480\/cpsprodpb\/vivo\/live\/images\/2026\/6\/10\/e68d0d6c-92ee-40dd-9fce-2726e7427627.jpg.webp 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/613\/cpsprodpb\/vivo\/live\/images\/2026\/6\/10\/e68d0d6c-92ee-40dd-9fce-2726e7427627.jpg.webp 613w\" width=\"613\" height=\"345\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/span><span role=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-tzgxt7-StyledFigureCopyright e34k3c20\"><span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">Image source, <\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">England captain Harry Kane might be the most inform striker going into the tournament after scoring 54 goals for Bayern Munich this season and so, like every tournament he&#8217;s played in, is one to watch. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Besides the 32-year-old, World Cup debutant Elliot Anderson is another one to keep an eye on. The Nottingham Forest midfielder had the most touches (3,300), won the most duels (297) &#038; won the most possession (306) of any top-flight player during a season in which he had to deal with the death of his mother.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">For Croatia, it&#8217;s no other than legend Luka Modric. Now 40, the midfielder continues to drive standards and direct play for club and country. The man in the mask \u2013 which he&#8217;s expected to wear to protect a fractured cheekbone \u2013 won the 2018 Ballon d&#8217;Or and is Croatia&#8217;s greatest player of all time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ghana&#8217;s leading man is Manchester City winger Antoine Semenyo. His dream season culminated in him scoring one of the great FA Cup final goals in May. The two-footed winger became only the second man after Andy Cole to score 10 or more goals in all competitions for two different teams within the same Premier League season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Adalberto Carrasquilla is Panama&#8217;s midfield orchestrator. His poise, athleticism and high technical level were recognised when he became the first Panamanian to win Concacaf&#8217;s Men&#8217;s Player of the Year award in 2024. Known as &#8216;Coco&#8217;, the 27-year-old was injured playing for his Mexican club in May and could miss the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Group L &#8211; who are the key players?published at 12:27 BST 12:27 BST England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama Image source, Getty&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}