Group K at the 2026 FIFA World Cup contains Colombia, DR Congo, Portugal and Uzbekistan. Which teams will qualify for the knockout phase?
Games in Group K at the 2026 FIFA World Cup will take us to three different cities in the United States and two in Mexico.
The first of them sees Portugal face DR Congo. They meet in Houston on 17 June, the same day on which Uzbekistan play Colombia in Mexico City. (We can probably guess which country will have more fans at that second one).
There seem to be two clear qualification favourites and a pair of outsiders, but how do the numbers stack up? Let’s look at the Opta supercomputer’s World Cup predictions for Group K.
World Cup Group K Predictions
Portugal have been given a favourable 59.0% chance of winning Group K by the Opta supercomputer. They qualified for the last 32 in 94.9% of the supercomputer’s simulations. Colombia (84.9%) are the other nation expected to reach the next round from Group K. It will be tough for either of DR Congo (22.1%) or Uzbekistan (22.1%) to finish in the top two, but a third-place finish might be enough to progress to the last 32.Portugal are one of five European nations to have appeared in every World Cup since 2002, along with England, France, Germany and Spain. They are among the Opta supercomputer’s five likeliest tournament winners this summer.
Even reaching the final would be an achievement for a nation whose best showing was a third-place finish in 1966. A surprising quarter-final defeat to Morocco ended their hopes four years ago, so bettering that will be Portugal’s immediate target.
Manager Roberto Martínez is one of the tournament’s more experienced head coaches in World Cup terms, as this is his third in charge of a team. He guided Belgium to third in 2018 and has the joint-fourth best World Cup win percentage (70%) among managers with 10+ games at the tournament.
And if Martínez doesn’t have enough know how, there’s always James Rodríguez led the assist charts with seven. As the scorer of the goal of the tournament in 2014, the former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich man remains one to watch despite now being 34 years old.
DR Congo’s only other appearance at the World Cup occurred in 1974 when they competed as Zaire. Their 52-year hiatus from the biggest stage has only been topped by Wales (64), Egypt and Norway (both 56).
They will be hoping to do better this time around, as they failed to score in any of their three matches over half a century ago. No team has played more than five World Cup games without netting, so perhaps DR Congo’s final group game against Uzbekistan will see them break their duck if they haven’t by then.
Manager Sébastien Desabre can call upon Eldor Shomurodov to deliver if they are to make an impression this summer. He scored five times and provided four assists in qualifying, making more contributions than any other Uzbek player. Any player who scores in Group K will become an instant national hero, no matter their results.
*All prediction data is accurate as of 4 June 2026.
Enjoy this? Add Opta Analyst as a preferred source by clicking here.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
World Cup 2026: Group K Predictions and Preview Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about world cup 2026 group k predictions and preview was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( World Cup 2026: Group K Predictions and Preview )
Also on site :