2026 World Cup

[Cruz_del_Sur]

You know me. I dont start threads. I descend upon existing ones and leave wreckage in my wake. But with the Wcup almost upon us and not a single one to be found, you have forced my hand.
Thus against my nature and better judgment, I hereby create one.

Shame on you all.

A plague o' all your houses.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Qatar followed by the U$A is a bit unappealing.

I usually get into the world cup but might utilise the later kick offs in Europe for quiet gym and pool times.

From the little I know Argentina, France and Spain seem to be the teams to beat.

The Dutch and Jocks will be my teams in Irelands continued unnotable absence.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

 

[Reiser99]

Because it turns out the most corrupt tournament this century is not Russia or Qatar but the USA.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Qatar followed by the U$A is a bit unappealing.

Honest question: so the way the hosts got selected determines, at least in part, your interest in the competition?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Honest question: so the way the hosts got selected determines, at least in part, your interest in the competition?

Don't particularly care how they get selected, it's FIFA and a given that it'll be corrupt more often than not, but the location matters.

I barely follow the sport but enjoy the spectacle of finals tournaments. My early memories of the tournament are 02, 06 and 2010 which were all very different but with incredibly enthusiastic local fans.

Qatar didn't have that and the U.S has priced 99% of genuine fans out of it. Guarantee the tournament will be an evolution from the cameras cutting to influencers that barely anyone knows in the early rounds to LeBron James and Kim Kardashian by the end. The atmosphere will feel more like an accessory to social media accounts than the biggest sport's tournament in the world.

 

[Welsh Exile]

England v Argentina semi final would be good but I doubt they’d get past Brazil in the qtrs. mind you, a Brazil v Argentina semi final would be great too. Hopefully football would be the winner and Brazil win that one but can see Argentina getting to the final.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I only ask one thing of the footy gods: let Argentina face Uruguay at some point during this World Cup. That is all. Well, maybe Portugal, too.
Who knows, maybe i get lucky.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I have selected teams, I'll try to watch
Mexico in Mexico should be great games
I historically love the Dutch also love their jersey, but since Robben, it's been harder.
Japan I feel, has a really good chance to cause upsets
Colombia just like the kit and style
I don't care much about this England team, but will still watch them, it will prob go as always. Crawl through the pool stages have a good first knockout round, just scrap past round 16 and then lose in the quarters or semi's

I have a list of games I'm interested in during the pool stages
Mexico v South Africa
Brazil v Morocco
Netherlands v Japan
England v Croatia
Mexico v South Korea (Crap time so won't watch live though)
Scotland v Morocco
Netherlands v Sweden
England v Ghana
Japan v Sweden
Scotland v Brazil
Panama v England
Colombia v Portugal

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Also for me a terrible year for World Cup kits with only the Mexico home and away shirts the one I like really. Actually German home is nice

 

[Welsh Exile]

I don’t know who to support in this one. None of the big teams are that appealing to me. I hope Scotland do well and I like Pochetino but don’t particularly want USA to do well to be honest. As long as England or Argentina don’t win I’ll be happy.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Also for me a terrible year for World Cup kits with only the Mexico home and away shirts the one I like really. Actually German home is nice

From a purely aesthetic pov, spain's second kit is a masterpiece. Thing of beauty. Curacao's second one is ok, too.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Also for me a terrible year for World Cup kits with only the Mexico home and away shirts the one I like really. Actually German home is nice

Rare miss for Japan on the kit front, normally they have bangers

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

From a purely aesthetic pov, spain's second kit is a masterpiece. Thing of beauty. Curacao's second one is ok, too.

Yeah Spain away is the best from a casual POV like I could see myself wearing it with jeans etc. Just IDK from a playing POV, I just don't think it screams spain and is a bit safe.

Rare miss for Japan on the kit front, normally they have bangers

Yeah I was expecting a lot better from them

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Have you seen this one? Part of me loves it and part of me hates it. Bit of a schrodinger kit.

 

[Groundhog]

The only Irishman playing in the tournament is Pico Lopes who plays for Cape Verde, that on top of being a tiny country makes it easy to root for them (to maybe pull off a single draw).
Hope the yanks get absolutely slapped around to be honest.
Hope Infantino gets pushed into the Grand Canyon.
In terms of best jerseys I feel like a lot of the away ones are stronger, Curacaos is lovely, Senegal probs the coolest home one.

I probably won't go out of my way to watch many matches, but will catch the big ones. Would be happy for the Scots if they go well. Some absolutely awful teams in this competition, but they have it tough with Brazil and Morrocco, may need to get a best 3rd place spot.

I'm fully still bitter we didn't qualify, especially considering some teams that did qualify

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

My dad and brother in law got tickets to some of the Philly games. I don’t have a game within four hours so didn’t even try to get tickets. It’s going to be ungodly hot and humid at these games. All the mid day games are in domes but those 3 o’clock kickoffs outside are going to be brutal. All the USA game kickoff times suck.

 

[nickp]

USA 1994 became the best World Cup in the history of soccer at the time

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

USA 1994 became the best World Cup in the history of soccer at the time

What??????

 

[Welsh Exile]

What??????

Maradonna thrown out, Argentina lose to Bulgaria and ******* Romania! What’s not to like?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Maradonna thrown out, Argentina lose to Bulgaria and ******* Romania! What’s not to like?

No England, Ireland beat Italy in Giants Stadium to take permanent ownership of New York - incredible tournament.

Most of Ireland's great football moments came before I was born. Beating England 1-0 in Euro 88 and then again, 1-1 in Italia 90 must have been heady days.

 

[saulan]

Oof we are playing terribly. Just completely error prone and honestly looking amateur in some regards...

 

[Welsh Exile]

Oof we are playing terribly. Just completely error prone and honestly looking amateur in some regards...

Mexico aren’t much better. I’m rooting for you guys.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Thoughts so far?

Haven't watched 90mins through yet and I'll be giving up on Holland v Japan very soon, Japan are parking the bus and will try to fill the coffers v Sweden and Tunisia who are considerably weaker.

Feels like it'll be a bit champions cup like. No point watching until the knockouts, lots of mismatches amd lack of jeopardy.

The stadiums are what's impressed me most so far, they're so impressive structurally.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Japen vs the Netherlands has been the best game so far imo. I knew people would underestimate Australia, but i didnt expect a 2-0 vs Turkey. Brilliant result in arguably the toughest group. Australia are always a pain to deal with and i have nothing but praise for what they've done since they changed federations over 10 (?) years ago. Risky move but it paid off imo.
Given that there are so many teams in the wc the first games are statistically likely to be lopsided. Other than the odd outlier (brazil vs morocco, etc).
I am keeping a close eye on norway.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Watched the wrong half of the Holland game for sure lol.

 

[Reiser99]

Btw, anyone else disappointed that watching Japan isn't like this.

 

[mackerzz]

Japen vs the Netherlands has been the best game so far imo. I knew people would underestimate Australia, but i didnt expect a 2-0 vs Turkey. Brilliant result in arguably the toughest group. Australia are always a pain to deal with and i have nothing but praise for what they've done since they changed federations over 10 (?) years ago. Risky move but it paid off imo.
Given that there are so many teams in the wc the first games are statistically likely to be lopsided. Other than the odd outlier (brazil vs morocco, etc).
I am keeping a close eye on norway.

I might have watched this game sitting at my desk at work lmao

 

[Kiwiwomble]

stop the count!!! i enjoyed that, some beautiful goals

 

[OllyM97]

Thoughts so far?

Haven't watched 90mins through yet and I'll be giving up on Holland v Japan very soon, Japan are parking the bus and will try to fill the coffers v Sweden and Tunisia who are considerably weaker.

Feels like it'll be a bit champions cup like. No point watching until the knockouts, lots of mismatches amd lack of jeopardy.

The stadiums are what's impressed me most so far, they're so impressive structurally.

I’ve watched a few games - Belgium/Egypt was a pretty good one last night and the Irish born lad who plays for Cape Verde had a good day out!!. 0-0 draw against Spain in your World Cup debut is fantasy stuff really.

In the very likely event that England don’t win it, I’ve really not got a 2nd team this time around. I’ve always rooted for the Italians in major tournaments but they’ve not made it yet again - the current team aren’t much missed but not having that anthem in a WC is criminal.

I don’t mind Spain but they’ve won a lot of tournaments over the last 15-20 years.
France aren’t overly likeable for me.
The media lovefest for Ronaldo would be nauseating if Portugal won it.
Germany are Germany (although I love their home kit - absolute banger.)
I like the Dutch but they won’t win it.
Argentina won it last time and they’re not the most likeable team, the Messi factor isn’t the same this time - although I love the colour and passion that their fans bring.
Brazil would probably be my alternate choice, but I watched them against Morocco and I can’t see them doing anything when it gets to the serious business. You only have to keep Vini Jr quiet to stop them imo.

I reckon Morocco, Colombia and Norway are the ones to watch outside of the leading group - I could see Morocco making the quarters at least, they’ll beat at least one of the “big names” in the knockouts I think and if they get a bit of luck with the draw, who knows.,