FIFA World Cup 2026 - Discussion Thread

Switzerland, even after going down to ten men, made life much more difficult for Argentina than England did with eleven men...
 
creimer said:
Switzerland, even after going down to ten men, made life much more difficult for Argentina than England did with eleven men...
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You could as well add Egypt and even Cape Verde.
As someone said, Egypt throughout the game had a better attacking transition unlike England did.
Switzerland also did the same thing, despite of Embolo's harsh red card.
And shout out to Cape Verde for giving Argentina a big pain within 120 minutes, along with Vozinha's masterclass and Cabral's Puskas-worthy goal. Even Spain couldn't beat this team. Seems to be a "blessing in disguise" curse for both World Cup finalists as they showed a winning mentality at the end in the follow-up of knockout stages.

H_G said:
I don't remember England beat a team from the Top 10 of the FIFA ranking in the WC.
You need some luck in a tournament to get Germany knock out stage of the WC 2002 if you want to reach the final without meeting a Top 10 team.
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In case anyone comes across this thread, here's the opponents that eliminated England in the World Cup knockout stages since 1998, along with final pre-tournament rankings (in parentheses):

1998: Argentina (#6) in the Round of 16
2002: Brazil (#2) in the QF
2006: Portugal (#7) in the QF
2010: Germany (#6) in the Round of 16
2018: Croatia (#20) in the Semifinal and Belgium (#3) in the 3rd Place Playoff
2022: France (#4) in the QF
2026: Argentina (#1) in the Semifinal

The 2014 World Cup is not mentioned since, well, England didn't even get past the group stage. They lost to Uruguay and Italy, both being Top 10 teams (#7 and #9, respectively), while Costa Rica were #28.

Croatia were the only country outside Top 10 FIFA Rankings to beat England in the World Cup knockout stages. It's worth noting that England were also outside Top 10 before the 2018 World Cup (they were 12th, tied with Denmark; same position before the 2002 World Cup).

England's opponents in the 2022 World Cup were all teams from the Top 20 FIFA Rankings.

Last, but not least, England now have lost all four World Cup games against the previous World Cup winner, all in the knockout stages. Other than France and Argentina, the previous World Cup winners that had actually beat England in the subsequent tournament were Uruguay in 1954 and Brazil in 1962.

Before 2018, the FIFA Rankings aren't based on the new Elo system, so England's ranking might be the worse than we thought today. In 2014, they were sitting the lowest in #20 due to the disastrous World Cup performance. I'm very surprised why Italy were still in Top 20 FIFA Rankings right now despite not even playing in the last 3 World Cups; they should have been the worst without this new Elo system, maybe below Top 20.

Also consider this:

England's tough opponents in 2018 World Cup: Belgium, Colombia, Croatia
England's tough opponents in Euro 2020: Scotland, Germany (worst Germany team ever at that time), Italy
England's tough opponents in 2022 World Cup: USA, France
England's tough opponents in Euro 2024: Slovakia (Slovakia were only a seconds away for the QF), Netherlands, Spain
England's tough opponents in 2026 World Cup: Ghana, Mexico (cause they're the co-host), Argentina

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I forgot to say that Germany had a lucky path in the 2002 World Cup Final.
If we believe the knockout bracket at that time, they should have gotten a "real" opponent in the knockout stages. Italy in the QF and either Spain or Portugal in the Semifinal.
But yeah, we blame FIFA for doing the "trickery" over the co-host South Korea with some kind of corruption when they beat those 3 teams en route to the Semifinal so that Germany will go through the Final, even though they didn't deserve to be there.
Ask USA. That was a clear handball by German defender inside the penalty area.
 
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Ravager29586 said:
Also consider this:

England's tough opponents in 2018 World Cup: Belgium, Colombia, Croatia
England's tough opponents in Euro 2020: Germany & Italy (Germany were the worst team at that time)
England's tough opponents in 2022 World Cup: France
England's tough opponents in Euro 2024: Netherlands & Spain
England's tough opponents in 2026 World Cup: Mexico (Cause they're the co-host) & Argentina.
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Euro 2020, they drew 0-0 with Scotland. I'd argue they were a tougher opponent to them than Germany.

And I'd add Ghana to 2026.

Ok, group stages. But the tournament is the whole thing, not just the knockouts
 
FC Bayern said:
Euro 2020, they drew 0-0 with Scotland. I'd argue they were a tougher opponent to them than Germany.

And I'd add Ghana to 2026.

Ok, group stages. But the tournament is the whole thing, not just the knockouts
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Great point. Also, forgot to include the USMNT playing a goalless draw with England in 2022 World Cup, and Slovakia on verge of eliminating England in Euro 2024.

Ghana could have even beaten England. They actually got robbed with no penalty calls, as well as no red card for Pickford's reckless tackle.

Btw, England only scored 2 goals in both Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 group stages, though.
 
3rd or 4th. I guess it really doesn't matter except it being a grudge match. They should scrap the third place playoff from the World Cup. No one remembers who finishes third unless they look it up.
 
rockstrongo said:
Rotating for what?
Euro 2028?
Weird if you ask me, a medal is a nedal
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I dunno, with the post match interviews from the semi, Bellingham and Kane seem to be upset with Tuchel. That's the impression I got anyway.

Goal - Nice finish by Rice
 
PES4eva said:
I dunno, with the post match interviews from the semi, Bellingham and Kane seem to be upset with Tuchel. That's the impression I got anyway.

Goal - Nice finish by Rice
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Nice goal.
A pretty slow affair so far, England on top though, much better
 
rockstrongo said:
Wonder what the hell France is doing?
Mbappe running around smiling being 2-0 down
Pace is walking football, this could be a very good win for england
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He always smiling to be fair. I mean they pretty much have their full strength team out too
 
France 0 - 3 England.
France in shock now

Edit: 0-4 lol
 
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If anything, it's making me angrier.

Look what happens when we play positive football. Look what could have been if France beat Spain, and we hadn't (I have to use the phrase again) shat the bed against Argentina from a winning position. (And it's not even our "first XI".)

Instead, it's a meaningless play-off.

I'm just glad Tuchel got booed when he appeared on the jumbo-vision.
 
What the fuck is happening? Also yeah, agree with Chris. England's performance today is pissing me off. Why the fuck did they go full park the bus on Argentina's match? What a waste.
 
rockstrongo said:
Parody from France tbh.
Not taking anything away from England , but this is so bad from France
Happy im not french
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Even if this was a friendly match (which it isn't) this is seriously embarrassing for France. They've been carved open and they've been carved open easily.

@Chris Davies Yeah it's a bit frustrating when everyone knows we have the players to be able to push for another goal and tried to defend only a 1-0 lead Vs Argentina. I could understand defending if we went 2-0 up but not at 1-0 it's far too dangerous.
 
PES4eva said:
Even if this was a friendly match (which it isn't) this is seriously embarrassing for France. They've been carved open and they've been carved open easily.

@Chris Davies Yeah it's a bit frustrating when everyone knows we have the players to be able to push for another goal and tried to defend only a 1-0 lead Vs Argentina. I could understand defending if we went 2-0 up but not at 1-0 it's far too dangerous.
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Nobody does the job, embarrassing for France, haven't seen a worse performance for ages
 
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