Everyone loves to root for the underdog so why not choose your second team by backing the team that appears to have the odds stacked heavily against them?

The obvious place to pick an underdog team will be from one of the World Cup debutants, with four nations playing at the tournament for the first time.

The tiny Caribbean island of Curacao will become the smallest nation to participate in a World Cup when they take on Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in Group E.

Curacao, 37 miles off the Venezuela coast, has a population of little more than 150,000 – similar to Huddersfield – and a land area of 171 square miles, smaller than the Isle of Man.

Cape Verde, meanwhile, are the third-smallest nation after Curacao and Iceland to reach the World Cup.

An archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of fewer than 525,000, Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and first attempted to reach the World Cup when it was held in Japan and South Korea in 2002. They face Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H

There are two debutants from Asia in Uzbekistan and Jordan.

The Uzbeks, who were the Asian Cup semi-finalists in 2011, ended their long wait for qualification under 2006 World Cup-winning Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro. They will hope to make an impact in a group featuring Portugal, Colombia and DR Congo.

Jordan, meanwhile, are ranked 64th in the world and their progress has been steady, reaching the final of the 2023 Asian Cup, when they were beaten by hosts Qatar. Argentina, Algeria and Austria await in Group J.