World Cup Group F includes Netherlands, Japan, Sweden and Tunisia; matches to take place in Arlington, Houston and Kansas City in the US, plus Guadalupe in Mexico; three-time runners-up Netherlands looking for first World Cup win; Graham Potter leads Sweden into tournament World Cup Group F sees three-times runners-up Netherlands begin their campaign against Japan, before facing Graham Potter's Sweden and Tunisia.
Group F Draw: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, and Czechia
Sunday June 14: Netherlands vs Japan, kick-off 9pm - Arlington, USA Saturday June 20: Netherlands vs Sweden, kick-off 6pm - Houston, USA Friday June 26: Tunisia vs Netherlands, kick-off 12am - Kansas City, USA
Goalkeepers: Bart Verbruggen (Brighton), Mark Flekken (Bayer Leverkusen), Robin Roefs (Sunderland). Defenders: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton), Nathan Ake (Man City), Micky van de Ven (Tottenham), Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan), Jorrel Hato (Chelsea), Jurrien Timber (Arsenal). Midfielders: Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona), Tijjani Reijnders (Man City), Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth), Quinten Timber (Marseille), Teun Koopmeiners (Juventus), Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool), Marten de Roon (Atalanta), Guus Til (PSV), Mats Weiffer (Brighton).
Forwards: Cody Gakpo (Liverpool), Donyell Malen (Roma), Brian Brobbey (Sunderland), Noa Lang (Galatasaray/Napoli), Memphis Depay (Corinthians), Wout Weghorst (Ajax), Crysencio Summerville (West Ham). Sunday June 21: Tunisia vs Japan, kick-off 5am - Guadalupe, Mexico
Related Coverage
Son Heung-min's South Korea and Mexico's Home Crowd Factor
Friday June 26: Japan vs Sweden, kick-off 12am - Arlington, USA Goalkeepers: Tomoki Hayakawa (Kashima Antlers), Keisuke Osako (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Zion Suzuki (Parma). Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Shogo Taniguchi (Sint-Truiden), Ko Itakura (Ajax), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Feyenoord), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Ajax), Hiroki Ito (Bayern Munich), Ayumu Seko (Le Havre), Yukinari Sugawara (Southampton), Junosuke Suzuki (Copenhagen).
Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Junya Ito (Genk), Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace), Koki Ogawa (NEC Nijmegen), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ritsu Doan (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ao Tanaka (Leeds), Kaishu Sano (Mainz), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad). Forwards: Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord), Keito Nakamura (Reims), Ito Suzuki (Freiburg), Kento Shiode (Wolfsburg), Keisuke Goto (Sint-Truiden). Monday June 15: Sweden vs Tunisia, kick-off 3am - Guadalupe, Mexico
Goalkeepers: Viktor Johansson (Stoke), Kristoffer Nordfeldt (AIK), Jacob Widell Zetterstrom (Derby). Defenders: Hjalmar Ekdal (Burnley), Gabriel Gudmundsson (Leeds), Isak Hien (Atalanta), Emil Holm (Juventus), Gustaf Lagerbielke (Braga), Victor Lindelof (Aston Villa), Erik Smith (St Pauli), Carl Starfelt (Celta Vigo), Elliot Stroud (Mjallby), Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund).
Group F Qualification Race and Knockout Stage Seedings
Midfielders: Taha Ali (Malmo), Yasin Ayari (Brighton), Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham), Jesper Karlstrom (Udinese), Ken Sema (Pafos), Mattias Svanberg (Wolfsburg), Besfort Zeneli (Union St-Gilloise). Forwards: Alexander Bernhardsson (Holstein Kiel), Anthony Elanga (Newcastle), Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal), Alexander Isak (Liverpool), Gustaf Nilsson (Club Brugge), Benjamin Nygren (Celtic). Goalkeepers: Sabri Ben Hessen (Etoile Sahel), Abdelmouhib Chamakh (Club Africain), Aymen Dahman (CS Sfaxien).
Defenders: Ali Abdi (Nice), Adem Arous (Kasimpasa), Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida (Esperance), Dylan Bronn (Servette), Raed Chikhaoui (US Monastir), Moutaz Neffati (Norrkoping), Omar Rekik (Maribor), Montassar Talbi (Lorient), Yan Valery (Young Boys). Midfielders: Mortadha Ben Ouanes (Kasimpasa), Anis Ben Slimane (Norwich), Ismael Gharbi (Augsburg), Rani Khedira (Union Berlin), Mohamed Hadj Mahmoud (Lugano), Hannibal Mejbri (Burnley), Ellyes Skhiri (Eintracht Frankfurt).
Forwards: Elias Achouri (Copenhagen), Khalil Ayari (PSG), Firas Chaouat (Club Africain), Rayan Elloumi (Vancouver Whitecaps), Hazem Mastouri (Dynamo Makhachkala), Elias Saad (Hannover), Sebastian Tounekti (Celtic).
Group F Prediction and Qualification Outlook
Netherlands look like the safest group-winner pick because of squad depth, tournament experience, and the ability to control the strongest spells of a match. Tunisia are the clearest threat if they protect the middle of the pitch and take points from the direct matchup.
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands |
| 2 | Japan |
| 3 | Sweden |
| 4 | Tunisia |
The dark horse is Sweden, especially if their transition play creates early goals. The key match is Netherlands vs Tunisia, because it should decide first place and the cleaner knockout route.