The 2026 World Cup has reached a rare kind of final four, and the numbers tell the story: France, Argentina, Spain and England are the top four teams in FIFA’s rankings, and all four made it through the expanded 48-team field. It’s the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history that the rankings and the semifinalists have lined up exactly.
Fox Sports analyst Laken Litman took that bracket and gave it a college football spin, matching each World Cup contender with a familiar College Football Playoff heavyweight. Her cleanest comparison landed on France and Ohio State.
The Buckeyes fit the profile. France sits No. 1 in the world, while Ohio State opened July at No. 1 in ESPN’s preseason Football Power Index. Litman wrote that Ohio State "always attracts the top recruiting classes and consistently develops top NFL talent," and that "like France, they enter nearly every season as a legitimate contender."
France has looked every bit like that in this tournament. The French have won all six matches, outscoring opponents 16-4 behind Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise. Mbappe leads the way with eight goals as France pushes for a third star under Didier Deschamps, who is coaching his final World Cup after 14 years in charge.
Ohio State’s case is built in a similar way. Ryan Day’s team brings back quarterback Julian Sayin, receiver Jeremiah Smith and running back Bo Jackson from a 12-2 season, and ESPN gives Columbus a nation-best 17.1 percent championship probability.
The strongest overlap between the two programs is what happens when talent walks out the door. Ohio State lost four defenders to the first round of April’s draft and still projects as a top-10 defense.
France doesn’t really experience the same kind of drop-off because its talent pool keeps producing the next wave. Neither side rebuilds.
Both reload.
Litman’s Argentina comparison went in a different direction, tying the defending champions to Saban-era Alabama, "the measuring stick by which every other team compared themselves." The fit is obvious on the World Cup side. Argentina has survived three extra-time knockout matches with 39-year-old Lionel Messi and his eight goals driving the run.
That comparison says more about the past than the present in Tuscaloosa. Kalen DeBoer is entering year three with an unsettled quarterback battle between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack, and ESPN’s FPI has Alabama eighth.
Argentina still looks like a dynasty in motion. Alabama is still trying to get one started again.
Spain and Georgia also line up neatly in Litman’s framing. She described both as "ruthless, relentless" with "an endless pipeline of talent," and the results back that up. Spain has allowed just one goal in six matches, while Kirby Smart won a second straight SEC title in 2025 with the league’s second-youngest roster and returns Gunner Stockton at quarterback.
England and Texas share a different kind of pressure: the weight of waiting. England has not won the FIFA World Cup Trophy since 1966, when it was still known as the Jules Rimet Trophy. Texas has not claimed a national championship since 2005, when Vince Young powered the Longhorns to the title.
England has given itself a real chance this summer. Jude Bellingham scored two goals against Norway, and Harry Kane has added six of his own in the tournament. Texas, meanwhile, enters with Arch Manning, Colin Simmons, Trevor Goosby, Cam Coleman, Rasheem Biles and Michael Taaffe, a roster loaded enough to keep expectations high.
France and Spain will meet Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET in Dallas on FOX, and England and Argentina will square off Wednesday at 3 p.m.
ET in Atlanta. The winners move on to the July 19 final in New Jersey.
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For Alabama, the appeal is obvious: getting in early on a player with Big Ten country roots and landing him before the heavyweight regional powers fully close in is the kind of move that can shape a class. Still, this is the part of recruiting where nothing is ever quite finished, and Ohio State is expected to keep pushing for Blalock as Alabama works to hold together an early class that has plenty of time to change. [Read more 🡒]
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Alabama's Receiver Board Just Got More Intriguing At A Critical Time
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Brown is already committed to Louisville, but Alabama has shown strong interest as it evaluates alternatives at receiver and keeps building out its options. The timing matters because the Tide are still working through a crowded board, and Browns rise gives the staff another increasingly attractive path if the top of the market continues to move the way it has this summer. [Read more 🡒]