2026 FIFA World Cup thread [R]

I won’t care about the next World Cup unless Infantino and his henchpeople all get the sack.

 

NO. I don’t care about the broadcaster. I care that the Cup is insanely corrupt! Several teams were mistreated off the field. Several teams got screwed by horrible, and biased refereeing. Change of broadcaster doesn’t improve that one iota. Not to mention Our President getting involved in the appeal of a red card! (I disagreed with that red card, but our government getting involved is beyond the pale, or orange, as the case may be.)

I stopped watching the Cup because I’m so disgusted. This tournament appalling.

I want puke!

Go Humans!!

 

With each passing game, this tournament is looking more and more rigged...

Then again, if Italy somehow wins the next championship, I'll kiss the ground Infantino walks on.

 

I want to see all of FIFA’s top brass sacked, and I want them replaced by people from CAF and AFC. Then we need watch dogs to make sure that this is a sporting organization and not an organized crime gang.

 

But doesn’t Infantino draw most of his support from CAF and AFC? They’ve seen the dodgy way Infantino operates, but vote for him to remain as president. Because they have no issue with shady dealings, why would anyone from CAF or AFC clean house if they become president?

 

FIFA, traditionally, only cared about UEFA and Conmebol.

Actually, they only cared about Brazil and Argentina from Conmebol.

The other nations are just along for the ride

 

Part of this is that both FIFA and AFC heavily cater to the whims and desires of moneyed petrostates like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, essentially rigging host selection and tournament format heavily. The eastern half of AFC (including Australia) is essentially crowded out of major influence despite accounting for most of the international sporting success.

 

They have supported him in the past. Now they are pissed. No fans from DRC were allowed in the US. And their team had to quarantine for 21 days. Iran had to stay in Tijuana during the tournament, even though all of their games were in the states. Egypt got screwed by the refs. Morocco got screwed by the refs. So I’m hopeful that Infantino won’t be re-elected.

Yes, CAF and ACF have supported the jerk in the past, but that may not be the case going forward. And of course UEFA are pissed at him over the Balogun fiasco. We’ll see, but he’s not a shoe-in to get re-elected.

And, there’s also the issue of how much he shares the wealth with the federations. An unknown factor.

So that’s my thinking, which might not be sound.

I’m describing what I want, as opposed to what I think will happen. Magic 8Ball says: future cloudy. Ask again later.

Go Humans!!

 

Infantino wants to expand it to 64, but, some of the federations aren’t too keen on the idea.

 

I just made a "powers of 2" error, but 64, for real? I think 48 is pushing it.

 

I'm almost inclined to say that you might as well make it 64 teams at this point if only to get rid of the 3rd place progression rules which create inequity between groups and add confusion. The quality of the tournament doesn't necessarily suffer much by adding a Denmark or an Italy, along with an in-form Costa Rica or Nigeria. They might finally be able to squeeze China in there as well.

The bigger obstacle may be finding a reasonable (co-)host country setup that can handle all the additional matches with acceptable infrastructure. Spain/Portugal/Morocco is okay I guess, but I can't believe they stuck those dumb "centennial matches" in South America just so they could gift wrap the 2034 bid and deliver it to Saudi Arabia.

 

With 64 teams, Italy might just be able to qualify.....

 

I thought 48 teams would be good, and most of the teams were good enough to compete. Going to 64 is a stretch, for now. Another two or three cycles and it won’t be. The “minnow” teams have caught up. Cobo Verde proved that. Even Curaçao didn’t look out of place. (Qatar really sucked.)

So Ikm thinking stick with 48 for the next couple of cycles and see how it goes. Also, FIFA needs to clean house. This Cup has had waaaay too many scandals.

Go Humans!!
Go Fútbol!!

 

USMNT are the Clippers?

 

Lionel Messi, doing his best Steph Curry imitation? Didn’t the Warriors go out in the 1st round or the play-in game or something?