Our 7-day march to opening kick off of the World Cup continues with a deep dive into who might take home the tournaments most coveted prize – the James Rodríguez Award.

This special trophy is awarded to the World Cup's most electric young player, but with a catch. First, you must be 22 or younger by the conclusion of the competition. Second, you cannot already be a global star playing for a megaclub (Yamal, Zaire-Emery, Güler). And third, you ideally don't play for one of the biggest international footballing nations (Endrick, Nico Paz).

The James Rodriguez winner, much like its namesake, will capture the hearts and minds of soccer fans everywhere and will be launched into stardom. Our mission is to build a starting 11 of contenders who we deem most likely to take home this honor (in addition to a hearty bench).

Will your favorite youngster make our roster? Find out on World Cup Preview 4 of 7. 3 more to go!

Cheers!

Chapters:

01:15 - the premise & close omissions

08:00 - Goalkeeper

10:00 - Centerbacks

14:15 - Fullbacks

16:00 - Midfielders

20:45 - Forwards

26:05 - Bench & honorable mentions

31:15 - Our picks for the James Rodríguez Award

On the third edition of our World Cup previews, we talk teams that could be headed for disappointment at this year's tournament.

Can Argentina keep up with the demands of yet another deep run? Is Belgium's golden generation finally out of gas? Is Mexico good enough to carry the national burden of "el quinto partido?" Has Saudi Arabi lost their luster as a Middle Eastern footballing power?

We select a nation from each from 9 tiers of World Cup contention that we developed and explain why we think they could be in for an underwhelming – or downright embarrassing – showing in North America 2026.

4 more previews to go!

Cheers!

Chapters:

01:50 - the tier system

3:00 - Tier 1: Argentina

05:48 - Tier 2: Germany + Brazil

07:15 - Tier 3: Croatia

8:50 - Tier 4: Belgium

10:10 - Tier 5: Uruguay

10:55 - Tier 6: Mexico

12:20 - Tier 7: Egypt

15:20 - Tier 8: Saudi Arabia

17:20 - Tier 9: what's reasonable to expect?

On our second World Cup preview episode, we're diving into the BEST OF THE REST to determine who will could be this year's Morocco.

We examine the credentials of more established squads like Colombia and Switzerland, some high-flying newcomers like Norway, and some international outsiders like Japan and Austria with distinct and exciting styles of play.

Finally, we take a look at some long-shot nations we think are being criminally underrated. You'll have to tune in to find out how foolish our selections are.

Cheers!

Chapters:

00:00 - the start

02:30 - Colomobia

04:40 - Norway

08:15 - why Belgium wasn't considered

09:20 - Japan

11:55 - Ecuador

14:20 - Austria & Switzerland

18:30 - Sweden & Turkey

21:20 - Longer shots