World Cup 2026 Predictions: Mark Stinchcombe's Outright Tips

Tip 1: Pedri to win Golden Ball

Best odds of 20/1 available with multiple bookmakers.

The Golden Ball is awarded to the best player in the tournament from a shortlist decided by the FIFA technical committee and winner votes by media representatives. Since 2004, across the World Cup and European Championships, six of 11 awards have been given to midfielders and the theme here is classy, easy-on-the-eye, technical players that make their team tick. Previous winners include Rodri, Luka Modric, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Zinedine Zidane. It’s no surprise there’s a Spanish theme with the national side’s success down to players able to dictate play and run the game. One such man who is capable of this is Barcelona’s Pedri.

He has three goals and three assists in nine games (60+ minutes) since EURO 2024 and has a huge influence of play and both domestic and international level. He dominates games – only two players in La Liga averaged more passes than his 70.9 last season, only two players made more assists than his nine and only three players averaged more key passes than his 2.2 per-game (a pass that leads to a shot at goal). In World Cup qualifying he was running the midfield averaging 95.0 passes per-game. He already has form for an award winning young player of the tournament at EURO 2020 and given Spain are joint favourites for the tournament, if they go far it will likely be down to Pedri’s influence.

Tip 2: James Rodriguez to have Most Assists

66/1 and four places available with multiple bookmakers.

Top scorer at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil last time the tournament was played on these shores, 34 year-old James Rodriguez now operates slightly deeper and as a result is a huge creative force for Colombia. He made seven assists in qualifying – three more than anyone else – and at Copa America 2024 here in the USA, he hit six assists in six games – four more than anyone else! At that tournament he made 3.3 key passes per-game, again unsurprisingly the most in the tournament, and for comparison, 0.5 more than Lionel Messi.

Colombia are in a group with Uzbekistan, DR Congo and Portugal and as a result are just 1/8 to qualify and forecasted to score at least seven goals. He won this alongside a host of players at the 2018 tournament with two assists and with four places paying just under 16/1, he looks underrated here. He has an enormous 38 assists in his career for the national team.

Hernan Galindez to win Golden Glove

80/1 available with multiple bookmakers.

Ecuador finished a lofty second in South American qualifying, above the likes of Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay and as a result, there’s a lot of feeling they could well at this years World Cup. However, on closer inspection they only scored 14 goals in 18 games and six of those came against the worst defence in Bolivia (43%).

Their success was built on their defence with just an incredible five goals shipped, thanks to the likes of world class stars in Moises Caicedo, Piero Hincapie and Willian Pacho. On top of that goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez plays a major role between the posts and he picked up eight clean sheets in qualification. He had the best clean sheet percentage with 67% and the second best save percentage with 88%.

On average this award has been won by a goalkeeper keeping four clean sheets in the tournament and with Switzerland famously being knocked out in the 2006 edition at the round of 16 on penalties having not conceded a goal in the whole competition, I wonder if we get a run for our money at 80/1 this way with Ecuador.

Ante Budimir to be Croatia's Top Team Goalscorer

Best odds of 6/1 with Ladbrokes / Coral.

With more goals in La Liga last season than Lamine Yamal, Vinicus Junior, Mikel Oyarzabal and Robert Lewandowski with a stunning 17 goals, Ante Budimir looks a stunning bet at 9/1 to finish as top team goalscorer for Croatia. Only two players managed more goals than him and those 17 were no fluke either. He ranked third for expected goals with 19.19 and fifth for shots per-game with 2.8 to showcase his ability to get himself in great scoring positions.

For Croatia his record is fairly mediocre with just six in 37 caps, however many of those appearances were off the bench and he looks to be playing in his prime with tallies of 21 and 17 goals for Osasuna in the two previous seasons. That’s reflected in his national team return in recent times with five goals in his last 10 starts, including against France and Portugal. He should start as the lone striker for this Croatian and as a result should be much shorter in the betting.

Jordan Ayew to be Ghana's Top Team Goalscorer

Best odds of 11/2 with multiple bookmakers.

It could be an early exit at the World Cup for this Ghana team who come here winless in their last six games, having lost five of them. Hours after the defeat to Germany at the end of March, manager Otto Addo was sacked leaving replacement in 73 year-old veteran Carlos Queiroz just two months to prepare the team for the World Cup. In a group with England, Croatia and Panama, they are forecasted to finish third, and then they would have to see if they were one of the eight best third place finishers.

Indeed they are only projected to score around four goals in the tournament, therefore it may not take many to finish as the sides top scorer. And the competition looks sparce, with only two players in the squad that have scored more than four international goals. Top scorer in the squad is captain Jordan Ayew with 34 goals and he looks to be the man to back at 11/2. Top scorer in qualifying with seven goals in just 10 games, he’s also on penalty duties, and he looks a great bet compared to 3/1 favourite Antoine Semenyo who has just three goals in 34 caps.