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

I'm so glad that Ukraine live to fight another day, but I definitely hope that we wouldn't have to face them. Too many emotions and such there.

Norway will be a tough out in their pot, for sure, though I wonder how much of their recent form (I've only watched a couple of their recent matches, including today's demolition of Italy in Milano) is down to a couple of really good players and a superlative striker plus confidence and belief. They're on a roll.

Italy, on the other hand, while not a bad team, are not anything at all like a team that's won the WC four times, or even close to it. Even Donnarumma (their best player by far) is looking very human.

 

I mean.............that's a lot.

They walked into Italy and punked 'em. And did so without Odegaard,

That's a team nobody wants to face at the World Cup. No team from Pot 1 will be happy with that draw, no matter who they are. [And it could be the USMNT.] The best defenders in the world don't know what to do with Haaland. He is frightening.

Norway hasn't lost a game in more than a year. No many games against top 10 caliber opponents (outside of Italy), so its a little hard to know how good they've become. They've just had so many windows of WCQers and Nations League games against the 2nd tier teams in Europe. The last time they played one of the powers, it was Spain in 2023. Tough game. Spain scraped by 1-0.

Who knows what to make of Italy? But I think we get it. Italy isn't Italy. They haven't made it out of the group stage of a World Cup since 2006. Missed the last two events and are in danger of missing again. Older folks like me keep expecting the Italy we grew up with. Its not there. Once in a while we see a glimmer of something.

 

Man I knew DRC would beat Nigeria. To me throughout qualifying they've had one of the best defenses. If it wasn't for a total second half collapse at home to Senegal, they would've already been qualified. They seem to have a perfect balance of players across the lines with some quality depth to boot. Mbemba is a clear leader on the team, surrounded w a strong cast of players that fill every role. They're definitely qualifying out of the Intercontinental Playoff.

 

He certainly could pull it off like he did with Chelsea. Seems like the players could both win and not have an ounce of fun. He's like Mourinho in sucking all the fun away.

 

I don't know.

Thomas Tuchel seems like one of those guys who wears out his welcome with players/front office types real fast.

...................but if players only see him in brief, sporadic camps, maybe it works out just great.

Look at that guy's trophy cabinet. He knows how to coach this level of player.

 

Esmir had a nice goal in this game

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Would be the biggest result in decades for qualification if they lost to Liechtenstein surely?

 

Belgium won't lose to Lichtenstein.

On the road in Kazakhstan probably is a more difficult challenge than we give it credit for.............

If we want a CONCACAF comparison, Kazakhstan beat Curacao comfortably this season on a neutral site in Turkey.

They're one of those teams that lose and lose and lose in UEFA, and will then pop up against a good opponent and be a real troublemaker. Drew with Norway at home in the Nations League last year. Beat Denmark at home in 2023 for a Euro qualifier.

 

Is there a reason they chose to join UEFA rather than AFC? Gives them access to the European club competitions of course but it also sounds like they could potentially qualify for a WC out of Asia.

 

What the hell is with FS2's PBP audio during these UEFA qualifiers? So tinny and echoey.

 

No drama in Germany. It's already 3-0.

 

You answered your own question. More money, stronger competition, higher visibility, blah, blah, blah.

Kazakhstan used to be in the Asian federation (right after the Soviet Union collapsed), and switched to UEFA as recently as 2002.

Kazakhstan really is a big country. Part of it you could say is in Europe and part of it is in Asia.
Its the 9th largest country by geography in the World.

Meanwhile if you asked most Americans (and me) to point to it on a map, we'd struggle.

 

Really selfish of The Germans to do this in the one interesting game today

 

No clue how they lost the previous meeting to these guys.

 

I notice that we are also troubled by these type of teams and put it down to they are usually large/tall all over and lately we aren't (changing with Poch). We have tons of trouble in U17 and U20 with these teams for the same reason. Lower level US callups need to look for more size, speed etc.

 

Germany is definitely going to be in the seeded pot, which is a good thing.

But I HATE the possibility of drawing Croatia out of pot 2.

 

Germany has NOT been firing on all cylinders at all this past year, but I think they may be the single team in the world who had been most underperforming their actual talent.

We've underperformed our overall talent, but nothing quite like Germany, who is talented enough to win the World Cup (though they definitely wouldn't call them "favorites").

 

My impression is that form from WCQ is pretty inconsistent in terms of carrying over to the actual tournament. I don't know that any of this necessarily means much.

 

Certainly, but Germany hasn't been especially good good for some time now, relative to the quality of players available to them

That said, they could still very well win the World Cup. I wouldn't bet on it, but it wouldn't be a huge shock if they did. And unlike the last few years where they were hanging on to too many veterans for too long, they now have a nice mix of vets, mid-career players in their prime, and youth.

 

I remember when both Brazil and Germany looked awful in 2002 qualifying, and then it ended up being the final. That's when it really drove home the narrative that the big teams always make it in the end regardless of their form going in, despite some of the upsets along the way.

 

I feel like Croatia wouldn't be a bad draw? They're coming off a golden generation and possibly over ranked at the moment as a result, had excellent performances the last few tournaments driven largely by players who are now retired or well past their prime. There's a team like that just about every WC and they usually crash out early (Belgium in 2022, Germany in 2018, etc). Not to say they don't still have a number of excellent players, they do, but that's going to be true for any team in pot 2.

 

Weird thing to note with Italy, they've been relatively fine with the Euro's, with not too many signs of decline: Trips to the Final in 2000, 2012, and a title in the 2020 cycle, and they weren't bad in 2016, or 2008 either (though they were terrible at Euro '04).

What I find interesting is that while they've been largely, same ol, same ol Italy at the Euro level, they've basically been complete --- at the WC for 25 years. '02 they lost the group winner status to Mexico, '06 they were good, and for me, fluked their way to a final (I don't have them in my top 3-4 for that tournament, but scoreboard is scoreboard so there's that), but underlining why I didn't rate them at that level, since then they've basically crashed out in the group stage in 2010, and 2014, and now are at risk of failing to make a third consecutive final.

So what is happening? I think we've all noticed a generalized Serie A decline, but they still have had no trouble at all qualifying for the Euro's, and only failed to make it out of the group in one of 7 Euro's this century, so wtf is wrong with them in terms of the WC and UEFA qualifying for that. Why do they stumble so much more in WC qualifying, than the Euro's, and also perform worse in a competition that should be easier than the Euro's (until they made them bigger)? It's so odd. I'm astonished at how bad they've been, utterly flummoxed. They clearly have been passed by Spain, France, Portugal and England in UEFA, and while Germany's been stumbling around for a while, they're still largely, a diet version of Italy's collapse (qualifying, but stumbling around, rather than failing ot qualify entirely).

It's so odd. It would be easier to say that Italy is just a middling UEFA side now, but when you look at the Euro's, the fact that they've made the final and/or won it in 2 of the past four, and yet anything WC related, and suddenly they're a disaster. As I mentioned earlier in the week, not only did they fail to qualify for the WC in '18 and '22 (and maybe this one), they also have won all of 1 World Cup match combined, since the WC Final 19 years ago across four World Cups. In Comparison, in the four World Cups preceding their WC '06 Title, they won 12 matches (I got interrupted while counting so I could be 1 off).

That's pretty telling, '90-'02, 12 wins, '10-'22, 1 win. Ouch. I will grant, you can't win, if you aren't there, but they also were utter ---- at the ones they qualified for (1 win 2 draws, and 3 losses in 6 matches). Yikes.

Very confusing. I cannot believe they lost at home 4-1, otoh, they had no chance to qualify, so if I was the coach, I probably would have experimented with the lineup, and tactical approach, try and use the window as a planning opportunity for the playoff so they don't ---- their pants, like they did in '22 against Northern Macedonia.

 

Agree. WCQ is more like playing in the league, the WC itself is a short mostly knockout tournament. Quality is quality, but in terms of getting your team ready to perform they're very different.

 

Yeah, I've been confused at that too with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the AFC. Why take the harder road?

 

I think so sure, and yet, there are 12 groups, and the 3 hosts are seeded right? So wouldn't only the top 9 teams in FIFA rankings be in Pot 1? Germany currently is a few points out, but yeah, with Italy inexplicably ahead of them, I would imagine that switches when the new rankings come out tomorrow, but what about Croatia? Any chance they can leap ahead of Belgium? Not really sure why Belgium is so high? What have they done the past several years? Some Nations league Horse ---- accomplishments nobody cares about?

The big boys seemingly to top off Pot 2, for now, seem like Italy (if they qualify), Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Japan, and Ecuador. How the hell the US is still in the top 20 after the utter ---- show that was June '24-March '25 is utterly beyond me.