Reigning European champions Spain approach the World Cup after being held to a draw by Iraq, the team ranked 56th in the world. It’s easy to wonder if Spain are really as strong as their reputation suggests.

And then there’s France — who lost to Ivory Coast. That hardly seems encouraging either.

But perhaps it’s wiser not to overreact. History shows that pre-World Cup friendly results often have little bearing on what comes next. Here’s a look at some past examples that turned out to be completely irrelevant once the tournament began.

Back in 2018, France were booed off at half-time in Lyon during their 1-1 draw with the USA on the eve of the World Cup. Julian Green gave the Americans the lead just before the break, and Kylian Mbappe equalised in the 78th minute.

Despite having 19 shots — 17 more than their opponents — France struggled to convert their chances against a youthful American side. The underwhelming result raised doubts about their prospects in Russia, but those worries proved unfounded as France went on to lift the trophy.

In the same year, Poland — widely tipped as dark horses — cruised to a 4-0 victory over neighbours Lithuania in their final tune-up match, with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice. However, their World Cup campaign ended in disappointment. They finished bottom of their group, winning only their final game, and Lewandowski failed to score a single goal in the tournament.

Germany’s build-up to the 2014 World Cup didn’t inspire much confidence either. They drew 0-0 with Poland and 2-2 with Cameroon in friendlies. Coach Joachim Low admitted, “We were not good in our passing game and that got us into trouble repeatedly. We had some chances but we lack the final finish. We need to find that efficiency we have been missing for some time. We currently take too many chances to score.”

Germany soon found their rhythm, thrashing Armenia 6-1 in their final warm-up match. The rest is history — they famously demolished Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final and beat Argentina in the final to claim the World Cup.

Portugal entered the same tournament buoyed by a 5-1 win over the Republic of Ireland, with Cristiano Ronaldo fresh from scoring 51 goals for Real Madrid. Yet their campaign faltered. They started with a crushing 4-0 defeat to Germany, followed by a 2-2 draw with the USA and a 2-1 win over Ghana — with Ronaldo finally finding the net. Despite that, they finished third in the group, eliminated due to an inferior goal difference to the USA.

England’s much-hyped ‘Golden Generation’ prepared for the 2006 World Cup in high spirits after a 6-0 thrashing of Jamaica. Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick, while Frank Lampard and Michael Owen also got on the scoresheet. Expectations soared, but their World Cup journey was far less impressive — a dull 1-0 win over Paraguay in their opener set the tone for a lacklustre campaign that ended in a quarter-final exit.

Meanwhile, during the same 2006 tournament, Italy also had a pre-World Cup friendly that seemed uninspiring at the time — a goalless draw against Ukraine. Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport criticised the team for being ‘lacking in attack’. Yet once the tournament began, Italy hit their stride, scoring 12 goals in seven games and ultimately becoming world champions, beating Ukraine 3-0 in the quarter-finals along the way.

So, as Spain and France ponder their recent setbacks, they might take comfort in football’s long record of proving that pre-World Cup friendlies often mean absolutely nothing when the real action begins.