{"id":39095,"date":"2026-07-12T13:23:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/englands-path-to-world-cup-title-is-toughest-in-history-reveals-scale-of-challenge\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:23:44","slug":"englands-path-to-world-cup-title-is-toughest-in-history-reveals-scale-of-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/englands-path-to-world-cup-title-is-toughest-in-history-reveals-scale-of-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"England&#8217;s path to World Cup title is toughest in history, reveals scale of challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Based on the FIFA rankings, England face their toughest battle yet to win the World Cup. England, who topped Group L, defeated DR Congo 2-1 in the first round of the knockout stage held in Atlanta on Wednesday, thanks to two goals from Harry Kane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">It is the next step in a journey that could see Thomas Tuchel&#8217;s side finally end a 60-year drought and become the first England men&#8217;s team to win a trophy on foreign soil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">England also avoided being tied with their European rivals Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. But the data shows there is no advantage over past winners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">If each of the top teams progress through England&#8217;s half, the Three Lions will face co-hosts Mexico in the Round of 16, five-time champions Brazil in the quarter-finals, holders Argentina in the semi-finals and finally Spain, who beat England in the Euro 2024 final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Get the latest 2026 World Cup news in your inbox with our Make Football Great Again newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">After defeating DR Congo, the average FIFA ranking of England&#8217;s opponents expected to reach the final will be 5.75, the most difficult average in history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">And that doesn&#8217;t have the context of playing against Mexico at Mexico City&#8217;s iconic Estadio Azteca. BBC pundit Wayne Rooney claimed that playing Mexico in front of their own crowd at 2,000 meters above sea level could be England&#8217;s &#8220;hardest&#8221; match of the entire competition, no matter how far away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Currently, France&#8217;s victory in the 2006 tournament is the toughest, based on FIFA rankings. They faced opponents who averaged 6.5 times more than Spain, Brazil, Portugal and Italy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Second place went to Brazil in 1994. The average ranking of the four teams competing (USA, Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy) was 9.75. And thirdly, in 2010 Spain played an average of 11 opponents: Portugal, Paraguay, Germany and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Of course, upsets are almost guaranteed in the World Cup finals, so England may end up playing a lower-ranked team than expected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don&#8217;t like our community, you can always check out. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/news\/england-run-world-cup-final-37361032\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based on the FIFA rankings, England face their toughest battle yet to win the World Cup. England, who topped Group L, defeated DR Congo 2-1 in the first round of the knockout stage held in Atlanta on Wednesday, thanks to two goals from Harry Kane. It is the next step in a journey that could<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>England&#039;s path to World Cup title is toughest in history, reveals scale of challenge - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/englands-path-to-world-cup-title-is-toughest-in-history-reveals-scale-of-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"England&#039;s path to World Cup title is toughest in history, reveals scale of challenge - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Based on the FIFA rankings, England face their toughest battle yet to win the World Cup. 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