2026 WC USA (et al): Worldwide Opponents Watch [all R's]

Indonesia tapping into their diaspora. They've been a game changer for sure.

🇮🇩 Indonesia have announced Mees Hilgers (FC Twente 🇳🇱) and Eliano Reijnders (PEC Zwolle 🇳🇱) will feature for the team in October's World Cup Qualifiers.

More solid additions for the national team.https://t.co/2iiS7EnEAb

— The International Window (@windowintlpod) September 6, 2024

For reference, Eliano is Tijjani's younger brother. Indonesia has been very aggressive with bringing in dual nationals.

 

Yes Ahmed Bin Ali, aka Al Rayyan Stadium. I did wind up seeing Wales v England there (while following our game there following you guys chatting about it) + Argentina v Australia there too. It's one of my favorite stadiums in Qatar. Accessible via metro, ample parking, right next to Mall of Qatar so can hang out before/after matches, and the stadium itself is not so bad - just freezing cold inside with all the ACs. They played their first round games at Khalifa and Al Sadd Stadium, but they'll play their next game v Kyrgyzstan at Ahmed Bin Ali too.

 

Italy get the 3-1 Nations League win at France! It's nice to see a team playing a back-3 get the big W. Pochettino has used a back-3 at times.

Saudi being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Indonesia really helps to underline the work that Renard had done. Saudi are currently being coached by Roberto Mancino who is obviously no slouch in the club world.

 

Wow, Cuba plays the entire 2nd half down a man yet Jamaica still can't beat them at home.

Jamaica had 74% possession and 7 shots on goal but it ends scoreless.

It really feels like this team is gonna find away to miss The World Cup

 

I'm not sure if Steve McClaren was the best hire for The Reggae Boyz, but I guess time will tell.

 

Speaking of tough nuts to crack, Paraguay went back to the bunker+counter tradition and proved nearly lethal to Bielsa's Uruguay. They got the draw in Montevideo with 35% possession but out-shooting (on goal) the locals 3 to 1.

Brazil beat Ecuador (barely at home) and Peru held the 1-1 vs. Colombia in Lima, so after 7 out of the 18 dates of the South American Battle Royal we got:

To WC Finals:

ARG 18/+9
URU 14/+8
COL 13/+3
BRA 10/+2
VEN 9/-1
ECU 8/+1

To Playoff:

PAR 6/-2

Out:

BOL 6/-6
CHI 5/-7
PER 3/-7


The Top 6 are clearly stronger teams. The bottom four are likely to circulate, and whoever finds the right young guys should make it to the playoff. Whoever that is, it's going to be an immediate favorite, considering the quality of the whole.

 

Honduras thump T&T at home.

Their win and Jamaica stubbing their toe could have an effect on our quarterfinal opponent

 

You wanna know a once-rising team in CONCACAF that has totally collapsed?
Curacao. They lost to Saint Lucia this week in League B.

They're coached by Dick Advocaat.

As far as League A goes, Jamaica is now really behind the 8 ball.
They have 3 games left. Home and away to Honduras and away to Nicaragua.
None of those are gimmee games. Nicaragua ain't chopped liver.

There's clearly a lot going wrong behind the scenes with Jamaica.
They need to right the ship. Not beating Cuba at home means they're not just in danger of missing the Nations League quarters. They need to do well against Honduras to ensure automatic qualification for the Gold Cup.

With the unbalanced way these groups are conducted, missed points can be a disaster. In fact, the next matchday could decide it. If Nicaragua beats Cuba and Honduras beats Jamaica at home......................then it'll be very difficult for Jamaica to advance. Nicaragua would still have French Guiana on their schedule. And T&T only has French Guiana and Cuba left. Don't write the Soca warriors off because they lost to Honduras away. They too could run the table and pass Jamaica too. I don't know if they will, because they're not your father's T&T.

 

Dominican Republic overcomes an early red card and 2 separate 1 goal deficits to beat Bermuda 3-2 on a neutral field (Bermuda was the "home" team).

They do appear to be the best team in that group, and the group winner qualifies for The CONCACAF Gold Cup, something they've never done before

 

Esmir got an assist against Holland. Hate to lose a left-footer. Oh, well.

 

Team that we once trailed at home, St. Vincent and The Grenadines handles Montserrat 2-0 and El Salvador is up 2-0 on Bonaire getting late into that one.

Bonaire is slightly interesting, this team is by no means reach a Gold Cup good, but they are an island of only 26,000 people yet have been quite competitive at the lower levels of CONCACAF, and are by no means the doormat you'd think they'd be. They're clearly the worse team, but they are not getting humiliated by El Salvador tonight and got an absolutely stunning draw at Audi Field against them earlier this year (a horrific own goal helped, but still).

This is not a team that's advantage of any sort of diaspora either, their national team almost exclusively comes from the island.

 

No it doesn't. Believe it or not, Bonaire has a decent amount of dual nats on the NT. For example the guy who scored today against El Salvador plays for Dundee United in Scotland... He's one of six that I know ply their trade abroad in Europe. Are their players the quality that Curacao or Suriname possess, absolutely not, but they aren't total waste bins either.

 

It appears Wikipedia has betrayed me.

Oh well

 

Australia with a goalless draw away to Indonesia.

Qatar also with a 2-2 draw in North Korea, albeit played under a monsoon.

Saudi Arabia snatch three points away from China, down a man, in the 90th minute.

 

Asia has been lively early on in Qualifying.

All square everywhere in Asia at HT:

🇵🇸 1-1 🇯🇴
🇴🇲 1-1 🇰🇷
🇰🇬 2-2 🇺🇿#WeAre26

— The International Window (@windowintlpod) September 10, 2024

 

All three away teams take care of business.

Jordan clinical early in the second half to win 3-1 over Palestine.

Korea break down the Omani bunker and run away 3-1 winners.

Uzbekistan survive Kyrgyzstan's attack, 3-2.

 

It makes you wonder how the Palestine team can even focus on matches given what's going on at home...

 

Don't look now, but Bolivia with a smash and grab 2-1 win in Chile puts them firmly in 7th place with 9 points...

 

Brazil in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying from 2003-2022 (19 years) ⬇️

👕 71 matches
❌ 5 losses

Brazil in 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying ⬇️

👕 8 matches
❌ 4 losses

Crisis point for Seleção? 😱 pic.twitter.com/majLVAVo3b

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 11, 2024

 

Australia's poor start to round 3 has today seen the resignation of head coach Graham Arnold.

Graham Arnold resigns as Socceroos coach ahead of next World Cup qualifiers | Australia | The Guardian

Not sure where we go from here. I can't think of an obvious candidate to take over, or at least one that we can afford to pay. We' haven't employed a non Australian as head coach for a while so maybe its time to explore that option again. The leading Australian candidates I can think of all have jobs at the moment.

 

I know just the guy for you!

 

I just remembered there is a former Australian International available who has had mixed success as a Manager that completed a contract with an A league club last year and doesn't have a job. Maybe he will take over. He did win an ACL title in his earl days as a manager with the only Australian club to do so.

 

The person I alluded to above (Tony Popovic) has apparently been appointed Australia's new coach with a formal announcement expected tomorrow (according to a respected sports journalist)
Tony Popovic set to be confirmed as new Socceroos coach (smh.com.au)

"Tony Popovic has won the race to become the next coach of the Socceroos, with his appointment set to be officially confirmed by Football Australia as early as Monday.

Less than three days after Graham Arnold’s decision to step down from the job was publicised, the federation has reached an agreement with the former Western Sydney Wanderers, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory boss, according to multiple sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the negotiations. Football Australia declined to comment.
Capped 58 times for Australia as a player, Popovic has emerged during the past decade as one of Australia’s top coaches, with his signature achievement being the Wanderers’ AFC Champions League triumph in 2014."

 

Thanks @almango

Not having seen Australia play in a long time, are the following two statements correct?

1. Your current generation is your least talented in quite a while.
2. In spite of this, they've been the better team in their qualifiers, just haven't had the results go their way yet.