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

Harry Kane knows

🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Kane: “Once we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try to hold on… which at this level is not enough to get to a World Cup final”. pic.twitter.com/VzOLmFGlNE

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 15, 2026

 

Yeah, it certainly feels like I misunderstood the context of that first quote. I thought he WAS taking responsibility! But it sounds more like he's saying "well, you morons just don't understand me and my big brain". From the BBC:

 

I'm just going to point out that going back over the last three world cups the list of teams that have made the quarters or better in all three are:

England
France.

Also, Messi will have played in three of the last four finals, assuming he makes it on Sunday

 

TBD... as others pointed out, Inter Miami does have a match on Saturday...

 

I disagree. His coaching decisions forced them into that position. Even if he wanted to set up with a back 5, he could’ve at least brought in some fresh fast legs to provide more of a threat on the counter. Rashford or Saka could’ve really helped there.

instead, they backed off and basically let Messi get the ball 30-35 yards from goal without any defenders within 10 yards of him time and time again, without any real threat to relieve the pressure. And this was with England not being very strong defensively.

 

there is no good solution for hair loss, none, and the goal of a hairpiece is to cover the bald area in an acceptable way, not to imitate a natural hairline, which no hairpiece or transplant can do; make up artists can do it for the camera; but those props are not meant to be worn in real life, and the camera can do wonders. with cgi you really don't even need hairpieces anymore for movies..landon has said hair loss is a disease but the kind he, and i, have is not a disease, any more than gray hair or blue eyes is. to solve baldness, one scientist said, we would have to solve aging, though both landon and me are in that category of " pre mature balding" as it started in our late teens. which is also not an abnormality. in fact, an argument can be made that a full head of hair is more abnormal after a certain age, though native americans did not have the genes for it all and did not go bald. ok, lesson over. leave landon alone if he thinks he looks good fine. my wife thought he looked good.

 

England also has made two Euro finals in that period. Of course Argentina has won the last three tournaments they’ve played in and in the final in a 4th.

 

actually this has been studied; people quickly move on with life its only a game.

 

I will say that Spence and Stones and Argentinas team defense were all great today.

 

It’s an English media kink-off? Should be pretty embarrassing…

 

Argentina in the knockout stage of this World Cup:

1' to 67': -3 goal differential
68' onward: +8 goal differential

— Ella Brockway (@ellabrockway) July 15, 2026

 

Tuchel still not sacked yet?

 

Looked like he hurt himself just before that sliding for the ball. To my eye, he got to his feet gimpy and was struggling to move.

 

I think if there were any supporters left on the planet for that take after Copa America '21, they left the building after that Qatar WC '22 Final. Anyone still think it was Ronaldo after that WC, lol, it should have been obvious a decade earlier with that run from '11 to '15, but people stubborn enough to hold onto that view to Qatar, so be it, but they are and were utterly hopelessly wrong with their arguments clearly by '22. Were any of us seriously ever on the Ronaldo side? Anyone? The take literally never made sense once it became clear what Messi was as a player (which seemed pretty clear as far back as 2006). It was always self-evident that Messi was additive as a player, period, he was that rare player that was like Michael Jordan on offense, and also the best point guard who ever played to boot. Ronaldo was a goal scorer, period, got some assists, but primarily he was just a spectacular goal scorer stylistically in any imaginable format. But he was also not additive, I definitely do not think and never thought he was a additive in the way Messi was, either he was getting goals for you, or he wasn't, and that's where it ended. The penultimate example of this being Portugal finally getting it done when Ronaldo couldn't physically play on the field, and Argentina finally lifting 3 consecutive trophies when Messi ate some sort of video game 10x fruit that activated yet another layer of stardom, and isn't it telling, that when Argentina had to find a way to do it without Messi two years ago, the essence of it was, "we must do this for Messi, we can do this for Messi," while in '16, when Portugal won it, the vibe seemingly was, "We can't screw this up for Ronaldo"...

Maybe I just am projecting but I'm absolutely one of those people, where, with some things, there's clearly a sense that there's two sides to an argument, were the US impacted by the red card issue or not, if they were, is it why we lost or part of the reason yada yada, how important should Pulisic, Adams, and McKennie be going forward to what we are trying to build. We can all debate that, whether Poch is right to go or stay, whether we should be heavy recruiters, or demand that dual nats be happy just to play for us yada yada.....

Messi vs Ronaldo always seemed clear just watching them, it always seemed so obvious I never even understood why there was a debate, it was like the people who were and are blown away by the flashiest of studliness. and the people who watch what a player does which makes everything about his team simply better, period? That was clear to me by '06 or '07 already even with Messi just a kid basically. It's so weird that there ever was an argument because we've always seen this kind of player question in all sports in all manner of things and the answer has always seemed obvious to me. But even if it wasn't, '11-'15 should have made it clear, the fact that Messi just completely buried him the past 5 years underlines it, and if you want to make the comparisons in terms of age, just note that Ronaldo's decline didn't start now, he's been largely ineffectual for at least 4 consecutive Euro's/World Cups combined, Messi is seemingly more impactful ancient, than he was in his prime.

I'm just so glad I got to see him and watch him. Like some of you I have an odd memory that stretches as far back as 2005, when he was inexplicably benched for the first half of the US 1-0 win over Argentina to open the U20 World Cup. I was lucky enough to see that goal he scored in the '07 game against Getafe on highlights same day......and after having completely missed out on really watching Pele much at all, beyond a bit of Cosmos, same with Cryuff, and virtually all of Maradona's and Zidane's careers (Zidane I got to see the last 5 years to some extent), I'm just happy I got to see prime Ronaldinho, and both Ronaldo's, and Messi. That's the blessing of blessings.

 

They've literally been outplayed or been backs against the wall vs Cape Verde (embarrassing), Egypt (Rigged), the Swiss (horse ----), and now England. It's been an astonishing run in the knockouts. They keep getting punched in the face and getting back up. They're like 11 wolves fighting a bear in the final half hour of every match. It's nuts.

 

Maybe after 8 years of choking away epic match after epic match, it just comes natural to them.

 

Its also conserving energy a bit in the first half,Messi is not the only older guy out there.
They know the game is 90 minutes.

 

That camera feed was cruel too, they're looking left and right for handsome and beautiful and cute Argentina fans, and they just keep trying to track down Hodor's and Hot Pie's from Game of Thrones in the English Supporter sections. Just not nice lol. Clearly the camera men hated England lol.

 

??? They do not.

 

I don't know, Maybe you're right, but they can't possibly want to chase the game either. I think they're trying to find goals and just ----ing up, but once they're behind, they change it up to full on attack and w/their attacking spears and what not, the only side that can probably stand up to them would be France's attack, and Spain's defense maybe.

Of course England could have easily won this or not allowed this to end in regular time by actually playing to win, instead of not lose, but they seem dedicated to playing not to lose, and so always lose.

 

In a plot twist, that’s where the Star Trek is

 

Nope. Based on their play the last 40 minutes, he is still clearly sackless.

 

Might get both. Messianic Islands sounds better.

 

Unlucky England, but well done on reaching the semi final after playing, Panama, Ghana, Croatia, Congo, Mexico and Norway after qualifying from a group with Albania, Serbia, Latvia and Andorra 👏

— Welsh Fan Zone TV 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WelshFanZoneTV) July 15, 2026

 

That’s the weird thing, you’d think England would have learned from all their previous “play not to lose” losses that this doesn’t work for them, so maybe they should try to “play to win” and get a coach who:
1) shares that philosophy; and
2) has the tactical nous to play that way