How the 2026 World Cup already killed the 'group of death'

"In the aftermath of the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985, Franks tried to give his World Cup-going readers some alternatives to a city he claimed "was never much to write home about even before the earthquake." They could go to places like, say, Queretaro instead. As Franks wrote: "Queretaro had the added attraction of being the home of Scotland's group in the World Cup -- a group which has been dubbed, unfortunately perhaps, el gruppo del muerte (the group of death), which means nothing more sinister than that its outcome will be crucial to the tournament.""

"His Spanish wasn't quite right -- it should be "el grupo de la muerte" -- but his English was, and thus began the tradition of attempting to identify the most difficult group at the World Cup in the gravest terms possible. In 1990, the Times claimed England were in the so-called group of death, along with Ireland, the Netherlands, and Egypt. In 1994, the managers of both teams that reached the final, Italy and Brazil, claimed pre-tournament that they'd been stuck in the group of death. In 1998, there was no consensus on the most-difficult group, but the Yugoslavia manager did say, "Our group is difficult, but nothing compared to Group D. That's the group of death." In 2002, the Press Association used the headline "England get group of death" after they were lumped in with Argentina, Nigeria, and Sweden."

The phrase "group of death" entered English-language football coverage during the lead-up to the 1986 Mexico World Cup. The earliest primary-source English mention dates to May 12, 1986 in the Times of London, which recommended Queretaro as an alternative to earthquake-hit Mexico City and noted Queretaro hosted Scotland's World Cup group, dubbed el gruppo del muerte. The Spanish form should have been "el grupo de la muerte," but the English phrase caught on. The label initiated a tradition of naming the tournament's toughest group, with notable usages in 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002.

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