FIFA World Cup 2026 - Discussion Thread

ngl, that FPS POV of ref in this WC is fun to watch.

Portugal might be cooked. Spain is making too many near goals.
 
Portugal Spain wasn't very entertaining. Wasn't particularly impressed with either team.

Balogun Will be playing v Belgium. Red card decision reversed 🤷
A real chance for the US to make the quarters, which will be quite the achievement.
 
Mexico were a poor team though, anytime England broke they looked like scoring. Mexico had a lot going for themselves albeit they were a goal down, but their effort to equalize was pathetic. At home, cohosts, etc, you're going out of the world cup and all you can think to do is hoof aimless crosses in. they could have been there for another 30-40 mins and not equalized. I think England were expecting more from Mexico. But who knows, with these water/ad breaks the matches have very little flow. This suits England down to the ground, England traditionally have always played in patches and been very poor in possession.
 
End of an era. The last remnants from 2006 are reaching retirement. My fav squad already was out by 2006 and Ronaldo retired in 2011. It's surreal to see the "next gen" players after Ronaldo coming to retirement too.
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ThatsAnEarlyBath said:
Mexico were a poor team though, anytime England broke they looked like scoring. Mexico had a lot going for themselves albeit they were a goal down, but their effort to equalize was pathetic. At home, cohosts, etc, you're going out of the world cup and all you can think to do is hoof aimless crosses in. they could have been there for another 30-40 mins and not equalized. I think England were expecting more from Mexico. But who knows, with these water/ad breaks the matches have very little flow. This suits England down to the ground, England traditionally have always played in patches and been very poor in possession.
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Not been impressed with any of the big name teams except France who have been a cut above.
England absolutely played well, that's why Mexico struggled. I'm all for fair criticism but you've got to give plaudits too when they do play well and they deserved to advance.
 
I hate USA, the way they hosted the World Cup has literally ruined so much of football (and maybe, everything) imo.
Visa entry restriction for certain countries, the whole Iranian national team fiasco, and now this??? Balogun's red card got reversed.
Not surprised if we give the World Cup to USA just as Trump did with Peace Prize.

Spain vs Portugal was quite boring to watch. Portugal didn't played like a team. Lack of creativity in midfield.
And I don't think Spain will beat France in the semifinal this time around, provided France won their big QF against Morocco. They missed so many big chances. Could have been 3 goals or so.

EDIT: Not surprising. USA deserved this World Cup elimination after all of those drama. Probably best Belgium won.
 
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All 3 World Cup co-hosts are now out. But still, not a disappointing campaign for them.

Canada and Mexico won their own hearts. They really deserved to be a decent hosts for this World Cup unlike Moron Murica.
 
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Glad USA went out last night and Belgium destroyed them.
Could say justice was eventually done.

Spain v Portugal was an absolutely dire game of football and Portugal didn't even bother turning up.
Martinez is now gone and the next manager won't have to feed Ronaldo's ego, so Portugal will be better in the next tournament.
Ronaldo is an all time great but watching him in the tournament, Portugal looked like they were playing with 10 men.

With the teams through already it looks like France - Morocco is the stand out game for QF's and most of the other games seem predictable.
Norway could shock England but would expect England to get through.
 
bsmaff said:
Glad USA went out last night and Belgium destroyed them.
Could say justice was eventually done.

Spain v Portugal was an absolutely dire game of football and Portugal didn't even bother turning up.
Martinez is now gone and the next manager won't have to feed Ronaldo's ego, so Portugal will be better in the next tournament.
Ronaldo is an all time great but watching him in the tournament, Portugal looked like they were playing with 10 men.

With the teams through already it looks like France - Morocco is the stand out game for QF's and most of the other games seem predictable.
Norway could shock England but would expect England to get through.
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Ronaldo is playing in EURO 2028
 
lector said:
Ronaldo is playing in EURO 2028
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Portugal will be f**ked then too.
It is OK taking him as a Henderson type figure who is "helping" the team but he is past it now at this level and shouldn't be playing.

Prime Ronaldo was absolutely quality but he needs to know he should of retired from International football years ago.
 
lector said:
Ronaldo is playing in EURO 2028
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SIUUUUU!

He needs to play more aggressively and cover more space. Even if it means he becomes tired and has to be subbed off. Whats the point of walking and doing almost nothing for the majority of the match?

Edit: I'd also like the state that I doubt the blame falls on Ronaldo only. To me, it looked like most of the players in Portugal were washed up. They did not play well at all. Nor were they making any good pass or cross. The team as a whole really suck, 2nd to Brasil.
 
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Messi isn't exactly setting the world alight Vs Egypt. Missed Pen and a ballooned shot over the bar. Pundits were right though, it's difficult to tell these old pros what to do once they get to idol state.
 
Wow, they canceled Egypt's goal because of a foul caused on other end of the field using VAR.

But then Ref did nothing when Egypt got fouled on d-box and instead gave yellow card to staff and players for arguing for that? What a shit.
 
Can't believe they got back into the game and won.
@Sami 1999 that penalty shout should have gone to VAR... Especially since Argentina scored just after.
 
Today, Egypt showed that they were more than 'Salah and 10 others', Shobeir in goal was fantastic, and they defended so well. Quite the opposite for Argentina, this tournament was all about trying to ease the transition of Life without Messi. Yes, he got the assist for the winner, but Lautaro Martinez and especially Alvarez have been very underwhelming in this WC.
 
Sami 1999 said:
Wow, they canceled Egypt's goal because of a foul caused on other end of the field using VAR.

But then Ref did nothing when Egypt got fouled on d-box and instead gave yellow card to staff and players for arguing for that? What a shit.
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It’s unbelievable.
When Egypt was leading 2x0, they never should have just sat back and defended. In my opinion, that was Egypt's biggest mistake. Because withstanding that kind of pressure becomes unbearable.

The decision to disallow Egypt's goal due to a foul earlier in the play was correct. But it happened to Salah specifically so why wasn't VAR called in? What is the criteria?
 
drigOrange said:
It’s unbelievable.
When Egypt was leading 2x0, they never should have just sat back and defended. In my opinion, that was Egypt's biggest mistake. Because withstanding that kind of pressure becomes unbearable.

The decision to disallow Egypt's goal due to a foul earlier in the play was correct. But it happened to Salah specifically so why wasn't VAR called in? What is the criteria?
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Exactly! Instead ref started giving yellow card to players and staff for arguing. He could have at least watched the VAR even if hey did not give penalty.

What a disgrace. his is why I hate the stupid argue with ref= yellow card rule. What a bullshit.

Just lost the mood to watch the world cup after seeing nonsense like this. This was straight up partiality.
 
The WC proved that Slot wasn't wrong on benching Salah. At his current level he's more an Attacking midfielder than a Winger
 
H_G said:
The WC proved that Slot wasn't wrong on benching Salah. At his current level he's more an Attacking midfielder than a Winger
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I'm not sure he would be very good anywhere but the wing but it may be a good idea to switch position if he wants to prolong his career, however I don't think he has an amazing eye for a pass meaning I don't think he'd be good as an attacking midfielder. Pretty much his entire career has been based on direct to goal dribbling. They only position he could still be effective is probably as a makeshift striker and even then he doesn't really have the physical attributes for that position.
 
A good and historic run of Egypt but Argentina they are the current world champions and they want to take this world cup again and make this a beautiful farewell for Messi.
 
melex15789 said:
A good and historic run of Egypt but Argentina they are the current world champions and they want to take this world cup again and make this a beautiful farewell for Messi.
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He already had his world cup winning farewell
 
Too bad for Egypt. Even if they were quite reliant on Salah, they were still playing like a team unlike Argentina.

They used to be the most dangerous national team in the world. The most decorated nations in African Football with 7 AFCON titles, 3 of which were done in a successive fashion between 2006 and 2010. Something that big countries couldn't achieve, even Spain's golden generation (Spain actually did the 3-peat in 2008-2012, but it was back-to-back Euros sandwiched with 2010 World Cup triumph; Egypt's one was done within just the same tournament, the AFCON). They also pushed Brazil and Italy to their limits in the 2009 Confederations Cup (Brazil needs a last minute winning goal during that 4-3 thriller, while Egypt somehow won vs Italy), but eventually fell short at the end with a loss vs the United States. The controversial defeat against Algeria during the 2010 World Cup qualification playoff really hurts them, but then, the Arab Spring came and it literally changed the country forever.

After a dark times in the Egyptian Football, they somehow returned back. Even if the ilustrious AFCON still eludes them since their 2010 triumph, this year's World Cup performance wasn't quite disappointing. Until now, Egypt haven't won a single World Cup games, nor reaching the World Cup knockout stages. The 2018 World Cup, in particular, wouldn't have been so disastrous for Egypt if Salah didn't got injured during the 2018 Champions League Final with Liverpool.

Against Argentina in the Round of 16, they really pushed the reigning World Cup winners to their limits by going 2-0 up, even better than Cabo Verde did. Only big problems for that game is the team's overconfidence and referees literally on Argentina's side with some questionable calls, particularly Egypt's 2nd goal being disallowed due to the foul committed before that goal by Egyptian player (some argued it's correct) and no penalty in the additional time (which was very questionable).
 
Look at this farce.
They call in VAR going back three hundred meters to disallow the goal. The reason was contact.

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But with the score tied at 2-2 late in the game, that exact type of contact occurred involving Salah which should have been a penalty for Egypt. VAR didn't intervene. Argentina capitalized on the situation and turned the match around.

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Honestly, this favoritism is disgusting. It doesn't matter which country it is... What is the point of VAR? To be convenient whenever they want to benefit or disadvantage someone?Is it a mafia operating with other interests?
In football, it is a characteristic of Argentines to be arrogant, violent, and extremely unscrupulous.

When Argentina was leading 3-2, Lautaro Martínez started doing step-overs, trying to humiliate the opponent. That’s just how they are. When they’re ahead even if it’s a robbery they show no respect. I'm going to root for them to get eliminated! :RANT:
 
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VAR has ruined so much of football today. FIFA refused that because they wanted Lionel Messi to win another World Cup (as well as money).

And to make things even worse (and little funnier), they also give a real chance for France (and Kylian Mbappe) to win the quarterfinal game by appointing an Argentinian referees for the Morocco game according to some reports (the referee for Argentina vs Egypt was French).

So yeah, it looks like a rematch of 2022 final is going to happen, but with an unfair way. 100% FIFA conspiracy.

It would be great to see an all-European semifinal in this year's World Cup. France vs Morocco is still a mouth-watering clash with both sides having an equal chance to win, but I would like to see Norway, Belgium, and Switzerland making a huge upsets. That would really save the entire football.
 
Njorgo7 said:
Today, Egypt showed that they were more than 'Salah and 10 others', Shobeir in goal was fantastic, and they defended so well. Quite the opposite for Argentina, this tournament was all about trying to ease the transition of Life without Messi. Yes, he got the assist for the winner, but Lautaro Martinez and especially Alvarez have been very underwhelming in this WC.
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I liked Emam Ashour too.
 
drigOrange said:
Honestly, this favoritism is disgusting. It doesn't matter which country it is... What is the point of VAR? To be convenient whenever they want to benefit or disadvantage someone?Is it a mafia operating with other interests?
In football, it is a characteristic of Argentines to be arrogant, violent, and extremely unscrupulous.

When Argentina was leading 3-2, Lautaro Martínez started doing step-overs, trying to humiliate the opponent. That’s just how they are. When they’re ahead even if it’s a robbery they show no respect. I'm going to root for them to get eliminated! :RANT:
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Absolutely unfair. The ref was clearly biased. Seeing that I'm starting to worry when I see that France vs Morocco will have refs from Argentina.
 
I just hope, as I always do, that this is the end of VAR. But football is big business, so of course it isn't. We just live in a different reality now.
 
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