A handful of 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualified Nations took part in the FIFA series, which brought together different international teams to a single location to play matches in the March friendly window. While the series produced a highlight for New Zealand, Curacao was brought back to earth. Here is your look at what we learned during the final two days of the international window. A previous article looked at the first matches of this March international window including France vs Colombia and USA vs Belgium. We also take a look at how World Cup qualifying finished, with Sweden and Iraq booking their places in the tournament.
New Zealand’s Historic Win Over Chile
Fifa’s 85th ranked team, New Zealand, are in their third ever World Cup but after beating New Caledonia in March 2025 to qualify, they were in terrible form. Having gone winless in eight matches with mostly a string of losses since June 2025. At Eden Park a 4-1 win over Chile may have rewritten their entire script heading into the tournament.
Chile, a nation passionate about football with a robust pedigree, have fallen into terrible shape on the global stage. They finished dead last in South American qualifying with a 2-5-11 record, the national team is in a shambolic state, but still, they had no business falling 4-1 to New Zealand, a result aided by the fact they were playing with 10 men from 27 minutes on. On just 12 shots, New Zealand scored four and proved they could pull a surprise in one of their matches against Iran, Egypt, or Belgium at the World Cup. The result was a brilliant sendoff for the OFC representative at the World Cup.
The result was historic for New Zealand, their first ever over a South American nation, and they did it without captain Chris Wood, who was out injured.
Host Nations Continue to Struggle and Other Americas News and Notes
Argentina had far more pep in their step when they thumped Zambia 5-0, but little can be said of a wasted international window where they had 76% possession against the CAF side. Argentina are a great international team, but it’s not foolish to claim they could be surprised by Austria or Algeria in the Group Stage purely on being out of form against top competition.
Brazil’s 3-1 win over Croatia, on two late goals, will boost their confidence. Croatia are not bad, the game was 1-0 Brazil until Lovro Majer scored in the 84th, but Croatia got caught out and conceded two late goals in a pretty even game. Both nations comfortably slot in as “tier 2” World Cup contenders.
South America’s third contender, Ecuador will be angry with just a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands, after they played more than 80 minutes against 10 men. An own goal was an early concession for Ecuador, before Denzel Dumfries was red carded, Enner Valencia converted a penalty as he continues to carry the burden of scoring for his country but despite 71% possession and 17 shots vs 2, they couldn’t break the Dutch backline. The Netherlands are a top team, and Ecuador concedes almost nothing, but the attack is simply not a top international level, and three months likely won’t change that.
The host nations also blundered this window, Team USA look like pretenders, not contenders, they scheduled two home friendlies against top UEFA sides and got blitzed in both. Portugal were 2-0 winners on Tuesday, they dictated play and looked relatively comfortable against a toothless US side. Their finishing class showed.
Mexico know who they are at this point, and that’s acceptable, but still unaggressive, a 1-1 draw against Belgium was the result after Jorge Sanchez scored the opener and Dodi Lukebakio fired back to tie the game in the second half. Belgium didn’t look nearly as ascendant as they did in the 5-2 win over the USA, the pro-Mexico crowd in Chicago was loud, but under Javier Aguirre, this is not a Mexico team that’s going to seize the game and go forward against any of the better international sides. Mexico had 10 shots to 5 against Belgium but there’s still no standout star in the squad.
Canada’s window saw a pair of draws, they were scoreless against Tunisia despite looking like the better side. They have now gone without scoring 3 goals or more in their last eight games. Not much has changed since this side lost on penalties to Guatemala in the Gold Cup.
Curacao’s Disaster
Curacao traveled to Australia for friendlies against China and Australia this window, and they looked nothing like the brave side that reached the World Cup from the CONCACAF region. China won 2-0 in game where Curacao didn’t produce a single clear chance on goal (xG of just 0.34). Against Australia they fell to a lethal side, that on a pretty even statline, won 5-1, exposing their defence. Australia remain a team where it’s hard to determine how good they are, but given how poor this March window was for CONCAF, Curacao will be heavy underdogs against Germany, Ecuador, and Ivory Coast in their group, and they could suffer heavy defeats against all three sides.
World Cup Debutants Uzbekistan, Jordan, and Cape Verde Have Mixed Results
The Cape Verde Blue Sharks believe they can get some results out of a group that features Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia, but a 4-2 loss against Chile, and winning on penalties against Finland isn’t the ideal confidence boost.
Jordan drew with Costa Rica and Nigeria and haven’t won an a-list international for a while now. Iran’s 5-0 win over Costa Rica shows how far the Central American nation has fallen in the international pecking order as they are no longer a talent factory.
Uzbekistan beat Gabon 3-1 and Venezuela on penalties, they have shown consistent improvements as a national football program but it will be tough to get a result from a group featuring Colombia, Portugal, and DR Congo.
Germany Show Offensive Firepower
Having scored six goals this window, four against Switzerland, and a 2-1 win over Ghana where they outshot Ghana 23-6, Germany are going to be an entertaining team to watch this World Cup in their group with Ecuador, Ivory Coast, and Curacao. Germany are clearly favored to top the group, despite questions around their backline, the attack runs smoothly and the team has depth although they are on a tier 2 list in terms of World Cup contenders.
In other UEFA action, Switzerland and Norway played out a dull scoreless draw, Serbia were 2-1 winners over Saudi Arabia, Iceland and Haiti settled for a 1-1 draw. Austria continued to shine, winning 1-0 over South Korea. Ivory Coast beat Scotland 1-0. Spain shockingly drew with Egypt 0-0.
Reviewing CAF’s Window
South Africa fell 2-1 to Panama, Morocco were 2-1 winners over Paraguay and continue to show their prowess, Algeria and Uruguay played out a scoreless draw, Senegal were 3-1 winners over Gambia, while Canada and Tunisia were scoreless, the host nations looking relatively toothless this window across six games in total.
Victory over England Shows Japan’s Strength
While England had a spotless World Cup qualifying campaign, concerns are renewed about whether the Three Lions are contenders or pretenders in 2026 after a 1-0 loss to Japan at home. Japan, the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, have been an international powerhouse for some time and clearly make the case as Asia’s best team. With Harry Kane out, England’s attack lacked bite, and Kaoru Mitoma scored a game winning goal for the Japanese. Japan looked comfortable all night, and have every chance to win a World Cup Group that has the Netherlands, Sweden, and Tunisia in it, that group has become a “group of death” arguably.
Main Photo Credit: Smartframe Images
