A lot of the World Cup 2026 Group K focus will be on Cristiano Ronaldo most likely, which Portugal may enjoy as the rest of the players can concentrate on building a World Cup winning challenge. They have an exciting squad, but will Ronaldo get in the way like he sort-of did four years ago? In saying that our Ratings below still call them as 3/3 in this Group K. This group features regular visitors Colombia, who finished third in South American qualifying. Plus Uzbekistan in their first ever World Cup and DR Congo who have been absent from the World Cup for so long they last entered under a different country name. Our ratings points to this being a straight forward, top two cruise. But we do have a soft spot for Uzbekistan despite the ratings.
FIXTURES
| Match |
AEST Day |
Date |
AEST Time |
Team1 |
Team2 |
Ground |
Location |
Result |
| 23 |
Thursday |
Jun-17 |
3:00 |
Portugal |
DR Congo |
NRG Stadium |
Houston |
|
| 24 |
Thursday |
Jun-17 |
12:00 |
Uzbekistan |
Colombia |
Estadio Azteca |
Mexico City |
|
| 47 |
Wednesday |
Jun-23 |
3:00 |
Portugal |
Uzbekistan |
NRG Stadium |
Houston |
|
| 48 |
Wednesday |
Jun-23 |
12:00 |
Colombia |
DR Congo |
Estadio Akron |
Zapopan |
|
| 71 |
Sunday |
Jun-27 |
9:30 |
Colombia |
Portugal |
Hard Rock Stadium |
Miami Gardens |
|
| 72 |
Sunday |
Jun-27 |
9:30 |
DR Congo |
Uzbekistan |
Mercedes-Benz Stadium |
Atlanta |
|
GROUP STATS
| Team |
Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Total WC Appearances |
Previous World Cup |
Previous best effort |
| Uzbekistan |
AFC third round Group A runners-up |
5/06/2025 |
0 |
0 |
Debut |
| Colombia |
CONMEBOL third place |
4/09/2025 |
7 |
2018 |
Quarter-finals (2014) |
| Portugal |
UEFA Group F winners |
16/11/2025 |
9 |
2022 |
Third place (1966) |
| DR Congo |
Inter-confederation Pathway 1 play-off winners |
31/03/2026 |
2 |
1974 |
Group stage (1974) |
PREDICTIONS
Here’s where we put our money where our mouth is. Using all of the stats below and more, we have developed a H2H win rating for both teams for all Group Stage games. If the rating is within 5% of each other we’re calling a draw, otherwise the higher the rating the more likely to win. From there we come up with our prediction on the final table. All of that is available below for following, arguing or ignoring. We welcome any.
H2H MATCH RATINGS
| Match |
Team1 |
Ratings |
Team2 |
Ratings |
Match Prediction |
| 23 |
Portugal |
67.3% |
DR Congo |
32.7% |
Portugal |
| 24 |
Uzbekistan |
31.8% |
Colombia |
68.2% |
Colombia |
| 47 |
Portugal |
71.2% |
Uzbekistan |
28.8% |
Portugal |
| 48 |
Colombia |
65.6% |
DR Congo |
34.4% |
Colombia |
| 71 |
Colombia |
46.8% |
Portugal |
53.2% |
Portugal |
| 72 |
DR Congo |
51.4% |
Uzbekistan |
48.6% |
Draw |
FINAL TABLE PREDICTION
| Team |
Pts |
| Portugal |
9 |
| Colombia |
6 |
| Uzbekistan |
1 |
| DR Congo |
1 |
GENERAL STATS
