2026 FIFA World Cup: Zlatan Ibrahimovic backs Ghana to disturb England and Croatia

Football icon Zlatan Ibrahimović has backed Ghana to serve as an effective disruptive force against heavyweights England and Croatia in Group L, while leaving no chance for minnows, Panama.

Making his studio debut as an analyst on FOX Sports' "FIFA World Cup Live" on Thursday, June 11, the legendary Swedish striker cited Group L as the tastiest of the lot, describing Ghana as a joker.

"In this group, I think they will be a punching bag where England and Croatia will fight for the first spot, and Ghana might disturb them and take some points, but I don't see Panama," Ibrahimović confidently asserted. 

When pressed by the studio host on whether Panama could at least salvage some pride, Ibrahimović remained entirely unyielding: "I don't want to be disrespectful, but this is difficult. This is three confirmed nations."  

Despite receiving Ibrahimović’s backing, the Ghana national football team face an immense uphill battle to navigate their way out of this unforgiving group phase. 

Under the expanded 48-team tournament structure, Carlos Queiroz’s men must find a way to extract points from their matches against tournament favourites England, who currently occupy the 4th position in the global FIFA rankings under Thomas Tuchel, and a formidable Croatia squad. 

Statistically, the Black Stars enter the pool as the underdogs, saddled with a 73rd-place FIFA ranking compared to Croatia's 11th and Panama's 34th position. 

If they cannot secure automatic qualification as one of the top two teams; Ghana, flying one of the 10 African flags at this expanded tournament, will have to finish as one of the eight best third-placed teams to keep their dream of replicating their iconic 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final run alive.