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World Cup 2026 Thread

Leoghann said:
Four extra group stage days plus an entire extra round that takes six. Gotta feed that FIFA cash cow.

As for the matches… Look, I’m still new-ish to being a somewhat serious soccer fan, but I figure Czechia and South Africa needed a win, and probably by multiple goals. Czechia scored early and then… did very little, really. South Africa countered by doing less, somehow. At least the late penalty got things moving a bit. First all US, all female referee crew, so I guess that’s cool.
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Yeah, welcome to the World Cup. For every England/Croatia that explodes into multiple goals, there’s 25 Czechia/South Africas where everybody just sort of decides that a draw suits everybody. So. Korea tried to tempt Mexico into that kind of game last night, but probably underestimated how much crap the Mexicans would take from their home crowd for passively defending for an entire half. I enjoy the World Cup but the soccer is generally pretty dire. Tense but so, so cautious.
 
I understand there's a level of pragmatism in tournaments like the World Cup that don't jibe with the American "win all the games" mentality. It just seems to get pushed past the point of sense. You're Czechia yesterday. South Africa is missing two starters. You come out on the gas pedal and get an early goal. And then you just try to park it for 85 minutes? I guess that works if you think there are points to be stolen against Mexico in the Azteca but... good luck with that.

Speaking of America, can we please just get this Australia match over with already? It's like the entire Commonwealth of Australia decided to read the comments and get triggered. All this because of something called a Mike Grella, who as best I can tell holds the job title of "Dollar General Alexi Lalas" at CBS, decided to be a troll. And now they won't stop feeding him. Hopefully we can all have a beer after this one and get back to the important stuff like annoying the English by calling it soccer.

Say a prayer for Boston tonight. If Scotland somehow manages to pull off the upset, there will absolutely not be enough alcohol in New England.
 
Interesting to read about the referring decisions above, and no one commented on the one all my friends are clamoring on about: Messi not getting a straight red for his challenge on Aissa Mandi in the 32nd minute. Looked pretty obvious to me he should've been shown a red, but what do I know, I'm just an "American football fan". :unsure: :rolleyes:
 
Good win for the U.S. today. Solid performance without Pulisic: the bold choice to go with Pepi and Balogun paid off, and they walk out of Seattle 2-0 winners. That said, there's much to be done after that tepid second half performance. Still, through with a chance to win the group later this evening if Turkiye doesn't win.

As for this Scotland/Morroco match, that goal by new Bayern signing Ismael Saibari was quality. Yikes!
 
Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron picked up a straight red in 1st half stoppage time for covering his mouth during a confrontation with a Turkish player. The rule is meant to prevent abusive language from being hidden from cameras or lip readers. So he picked up a yellow for simulation against the US and a straight red today. He’s having a nice tournament.

Paraguay leads 1-0 at the half, a Paraguay win clinches the group for the US.
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
Good win for the U.S. today. Solid performance without Pulisic: the bold choice to go with Pepi and Balogun paid off, and they walk out of Seattle 2-0 winners. That said, there's much to be done after that tepid second half performance. Still, through with a chance to win the group later this evening if Turkiye doesn't win.

As for this Scotland/Morroco match, that goal by new Bayern signing Ismael Saibari was quality. Yikes!
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Australia embarrassed themselves in the 2nd half, I thought. Bush league behavior. Turkiye lost, so the US wins the group with the opening 2 wins, which hopefully leads to Poch being pragmatic about his roster for that final game. No Pulisic, and nobody with a yellow card needs to play. Period. I don’t care if they lose 5-0. Also, clinching the group means the US will be in the West Coast bracket for the knockouts. HUGE benefit to avoid the heat that’s blistering the rest of the tournament.

The officiating has been shockingly bad which is why Messi’s stuff kind of blew past me in the crush of stupid decisions. The Scotland game yesterday was another howler … like NHL-level bad. These WC refs are making NWSL refs look good and they routinely miss hair pulling. Scotland didn’t deserve to win that game yesterday but they DID deserve a fair match from the ref. Worth noting that the worse the officiating is, the more it favors CONCACAF and COMNEBOL teams who are accustomed to terrible officiating. UEFA and Asian sides are used to competent officiating, whether they know it or not. If it comes down to the dark arts, it favors teams from the Americas, especially when you pile on the surface of the sun temperatures.

Also, Almiron must be the dumbest guy in the whole tournament. In two games he’s gotten a yellow card flipped for the most obvious of simulations and gotten a red for covering his mouth to hurl slurs at a guy who doesn’t speak his language. Both of which VAR could see from space. If there was a Darwin Award for the World Cup, he’s leading by miles. Idiot.
 
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And I thought the Miggy who’s just generally been wasting space in Atlanta the past couple of years was the worst version. Nope! Turns out he can actively screw things up, too.

Thankfully his antics didn’t hurt in the end, and the US are through as group winners.
 
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