The 2026 FIFA World Cup is nearly here – but before then, the participating countries are fine-tuning their preparations with some last-minute friendlies.

There could be some significant takeaways for Fantasy managers from these friendlies – and we’ll be producing some brief Scout Notes from each of these kickabouts.

We continue with four more friendlies contested on Tuesday 2 June.

You can get the Opta data from three of these matches (Haiti v New Zealand wasn’t covered by Opta) via the links below:

CROATIA 0-2 BELGIUM

• Goals: Tielemans, Lukaku
• Assists: De Cuyper, Vanaken

• Belgium won the game, scored two, kept a clean sheet, produced double the xG of Croatia, and came out on top for shots (8-5) and big chances (2-1). They were dominated in terms of possession, though, especially in the second half.
• There was a change to Belgium’s system, as head coach Rudi Garcia went with a back three. Courtois played in goal as we would expect. Theate, Ngoy and Onana all played at centre-half. Debast wasn’t in the squad as he recovers from injury, whilst Mechele only featured from the bench. Those centre-halves were flanked by De Cuyper and Saelemaekers. Meunier, who we thought we’d see ahead of the latter, featured from the bench. The defence was far from convincing from the get-go.
• Whilst Tielemans started the game, he was joined by Raskin, who was also heavily involved during qualifying. De Bruyne (who has had end-of-season fitness issues at Napoli) and Doku both started, playing well over an hour, and will be crucial for Belgium.
• De Ketelaere played out of position up front. He’s had a poor season for Atalanta, so there may not be too much to read into starting in attack. Indeed, main man Lukaku replaced Ketelaere and make an instant impact.
• De Cuyper got an assist and made two key passes, as well as having an attempt on goal. Tielemans scored, created a big chance, made two key passes, and registered two shots on goal. De Bruyne and De Ketelaere did very little, but Doku had two attempts on goal (both on target) and made one key pass.
• Not a bad performance from Belgium, considering they had some out-of-form players and a botched backline with a new system.
• As for Croatia, they dominated the game in terms of possession but outside of that weren’t great, mustering only five shots.
• They too went with a back three.
• This was also a very strong XI. First-team goalkeeper Livakovic started and played for 60 mins, while Gvardiol, Vuskovic and Sutalo were deployed at centre-half with Perisic and Stanisic outside of them at wing-backs.
• Central midfield was also strong as Modric and Kovacic started.
• Sucic on the right, Baturina on the left and Musa up front felt new, however. Musa started ahead of Budimir, who eventually came on for a 30-minute cameo. We also saw off-the-bench contributions from Kramaric, Vlasic, and Pasalic.
• Of course, this is an aging team, so the front three was maybe an attempt to add youth; it just didn’t work. They will for sure control games as we saw in this one, but lack in attack. The front positions are, for sure, less settled than the rest of the team.

MOROCCO 4-0 Madagascar

• Goals: Saibari x2, Rahimi pen, El Kaabi
• Assists: El Khannouss, Ounahi x2

• This was a routine win for Morocco. Arguably, they need to be facing tougher opposition rather than stat-padding against the likes of Madagascar and Burundi, but a good test against Norway lies ahead.
• This was their second friendly in a week, their second big win, and their second clean sheet.
• First-choice goalkeeper Bounou wasn’t in the squad for this one, as he felt discomfort, but the coach said it wasn’t serious.
• It was a back four for Morocco. Salah-Eddine played left-back as Mazraoui was deputising for Hakimi – who missed out after the recent Champions League final – on the right.
• Diop and Halhal were at centre-back. Masina isn’t in the squad for the World Cup, whilst Aguerd wasn’t ready to play the match. So, this was far from the normal back four.
• Bouaddi and Amrabat played central midfield, and Ezzalzouli played left wing as we’d expect.
• The big news on right wing was that Brahim Diaz didn’t start, but featured from the bench.
• El Khannouss played in the 10.
• Saibari, listed as a midfielder, played up front and was excellent, although El Kaabi came on in the second half. En Nesyri wasn’t called up for the Morocco squad either, along with other big names like Boufal.
• Mazraoui was very good, with two big chances created among three key passes.
• Ezzalzouli (three key passes, two attempts on goal), Khannouss (an assist, two key passes, two attempts on goal) and Saibari (two goals, seven attempts on goal two big chances missed) racked up their stats just the first half! All three departed at half-time.
• Ounahi came on in the second half, won a penalty that Rahimi scored, and got another assist.
• El Kaabi also scored and had two attempts on goal.
• Diaz played nine minutes and hit the post.

Wales 1-1 GHANA

• Goal: Yirenkyi

• Ghana had less possession than Wales, fewer shots (11 v 18) and fewer big chances 3 v 4), but produced more xG (1.79 v 1.52).
• It was a good overall performance for Ghana, especially considering they were away and facing a strong starting XI from Wales. The hosts had the second-best home record in UEFA qualifying and the best in Euro 2024 qualifying, so this was a decent result.
• Goalkeeper Asare didn’t start the game, as we’d expect in the World Cup, but he did feature in the second half.
• It was a back four from Ghana, with Mensah at left-back, Opoku and Adjetey at centre-half, and Senaya – who doesn’t feature much usually – at right-back. Oppong was unused on the bench.
• Partey was in midfield as expected, alongside Owusu, who shouldn’t start ahead of Yirenkyi.
• Jordan Ayew started the game and played most of it, unlike other key starters in attack.
• Semenyo was an unused sub, while Inaki Williams played 15 minutes and Thomas Asante was handed the second half.
• This clearly wasn’t Ghana’s first team, so the draw was even more commendable.
• Ayew had two attempts and missed a big chance but the key players did little overall.

HAITI 4-0 NEW ZEALAND

• Goals: Providence, Joseph, Pierott, Lacroix
• Assists: Isidor, Arcus, Pierott

• Haiti edged it on attempts on goal (13 v 12) as well as possession.
• Haiti’s first-team goalkeeper Placide started. Experience was at left-back, but usually Lacroix starts ahead of him. Ade and Duverbe were at centre-half, although you’d expect Delcroix to feature ahead of the latter. Both Lacroix and Delcroix featured in the second half. Arcus, a regular starter for Haiti, was at right-back.
• First-team central midfielders, Pierre and Jacques, started the game, as we’d expect to happen in the World Cup. Providence was on the left wing as usual, with Casimir on the opposite flank. There was no Bellegarde in the 10, as we’d expect, but he featured towards the end.
• Isidor and Nazon started together up front, which is interesting, as we’d maybe expect just one of them to start come the big kick-off.
• This was mostly a main starting XI but Haiti we’re missing key players in the first half. Three of their goals came in the second half when those regulars came on, which was telling.
• As for New Zealand, losing 4-0 to Haiti is far from ideal preparation for them. They did rack up a similar number of shots and possession, so maybe bad luck and poor finishing played a small role.
• Paulsen started over Crocombe in goal, which was interesting. Crocombe has had a good season at Millwall.
• Cacace at left-back wasn’t a surprise, nor was Surman at centre-half or Payne at right-back. Boxall didn’t start at centre-back as we’d expect but came on in the second half.
• Stamenic was in midfield, as we’d think, with Rufer in the other spot. Bell and Thomas weren’t in the squad.
• Randell (left wing), Just (right wing), Singh (10) and Wood (striker) were all regulars who started, so it was concerning that they played most of their first team and were thumped 4-0. However, most of the Haiti goals came in the second half when New Zealand were subbing off key players and Haiti were bringing on their regulars.

• READ MORE: Fantasy FIFA World Cup 2026 friendlies – Raum a rotation risk?
• READ MORE: Fantasy FIFA World Cup 2026 friendlies – $3.5m Gordon starts + Son brace
• READ MORE: Fantasy FIFA World Cup 2026 friendlies: Baumgartner injury
• READ MORE: Fantasy FIFA World Cup 2026 ultimate guide – Best players, tips, team reveals + more