One month. That's roughly all that separates four of Europe's biggest football nations from having to name their squads, pick their systems, and back their choices in front of the entire world. ESPN FC has already published its predicted XIs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — but the more interesting conversation isn't who the pundits think will start. It's the selection calls that could genuinely go either way, and the managers who have to make them.
Three Lions fans spent years watching Gareth Southgate shuffle the same deck. His successor inherits a squad that is, on paper, more talented — and somehow harder to pick. The forward line alone is a genuine puzzle. Bukayo Saka's place is untouchable, but the balance around him — how many creative players, how much physicality, whether a proper number nine starts — is still genuinely open.
Jude Bellingham's form at Real Madrid has been the kind that makes selection easy and tactics complicated. He wants to be everywhere. The question is whether England can build a midfield around that instinct rather than in spite of it. Harry Kane's season at Bayern Munich has been prolific; his place in the starting XI is not seriously in doubt. What surrounds him is.
Kylian Mbappé is the best player France have. He is also, right now, the most complicated one to fit. His Real Madrid season has had peaks and stretches of something closer to frustration — and the dynamic between him and a squad full of strong personalities is a story that never fully goes away.
Luis Enrique has shown at PSG that he is not afraid to make uncomfortable decisions about big names. Whether that mindset travels into international management — he is, of course, Spain's coach — is a different matter. France's actual manager will need to decide how much of the system bends toward Mbappé and how much Mbappé bends toward the system. That conversation is always more interesting than the predicted lineup.
Lamine Yamal is 17 and already one of the most important players in world football. Hansi Flick has built Barcelona around him, and Spain's national setup has followed. The selection debate around Spain isn't really about who starts — it's about who gets left out, and whether that feels like a waste.
Pedri, Gavi, Rodri, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Yamal — you cannot fit all of them into a single XI without someone playing out of position or someone very good sitting on the bench watching. Spain have won tournaments before by trusting a core and staying patient. Whether they can do that again, with this much talent pushing for minutes, is the real question.
Spain are, quietly, the most interesting squad to watch in this tournament.
Julian Nagelsmann has done something that felt genuinely difficult after the 2022 group-stage exit and the home Euros disappointment: he has made Germany feel like a team again rather than a collection of reputations. The structure is clearer. The identity is sharper.
Florian Wirtz has been the standout domestic performer in the Bundesliga this season and his place in the starting XI feels settled. Jamal Musiala's fitness and form will be the variable that shapes how dangerous Germany actually look going forward. If both are available and firing, Germany have the creative engine to hurt anyone. The defensive shape — and whether it holds under pressure in a knockout game — is where the real scrutiny will land.
One month is not long. The squads will be named, the debates will sharpen, and then the games will start. At that point, the predicted XIs stop mattering entirely.
One month. That's roughly all that separates four of Europe's biggest football nations from having to name their squads, pick their systems, and back their choices in front of the entire world.
Fonti
ESPN FC
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“Stays on France — different angle, same beat.”
Eight years is long enough to let the noise settle. Long enough to stop arguing about whether France were boring and start asking something more interesting: how exactly did Didier Deschamps take one
“Stays on France — different angle, same beat.”
Eight years is long enough to let the noise settle. Long enough to stop arguing about whether France were boring and start asking something more interesting: how exactly did Didier Deschamps take one
