Jordan — 2026 World Cup Squad

Pot four on paper, Group J is a draw that gives Jordan a puncher's chance rather than a death sentence, and Jamal Sellami's side will fancy ambushing somebody on the counter. This is a team built to sit, soak and spring, with everything routed through Mousa Tamari. The Rennes winger is the headline act, a left-footer who drifts in off the right to shoot and carries the ball further in transition than anyone else in the squad.

Behind him there's more nous than the rankings suggest. Ali Olwan at Pohang Steelers and Al Ahly's Yazan Al-Naimat give them two genuine penalty-box strikers to aim for, while the spine of Ehsan Haddad and Salem Al-Ajalin is uncompromising and well-drilled. Noor Al-Rawabdeh screens in front of them, doing the unglamorous legwork that lets Tamari roam.

The storyline writes itself: this is a maiden World Cup for a nation that reached the 2023 Asian Cup final and has steadily outgrown its underdog tag. Expect a low block, set-piece menace and a couple of moments where Tamari makes a fancied opponent very nervous indeed.