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

And then there were Pepe and Stoichkov. South American soccer is way cleaner, you do something like that and be sure that both you and the top player from your team will be carried away on stretchers. Like hockey enforcer system. Euro soccer is a fake gentlemen sport.

 

So finalists got automatic spots too..3 free spots plus host = at least 4 lol

 

With the way the tournament is expanding in scale, there are going to be multiple hosts for a while. 3 hosts already for WC2030. Morocco, Portugal, and Spain have automatic entry.

..........................if they expand to 64 teams, which it sounds like they want to.................................then there's little reason for those top teams to go thru some sort of qualifying event. Heck, they could give automatic entry to the 2030 World Cup to the Round of 16 participants from the 2026 World Cup. Whatever.

We're going to keep expanding the field until Italy is assured of getting in!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was so excited to be gifted a bottle of absinthe once. I went out and made myself a Sazerac with it.

Turns out that absinthe sucks. So disappointing.

 

Absinthe doesn't suck you just don't like licorice. You also might have put too much in the Sazerac as my licorice hating wife loves Sazeracs as the absinthe is only a rinse on the glass and then all extra is poured out. Too little to disgust her.

 

I think both of those statements are true.

 

Apparently they’re searching all 85000 attendees and not everyone will get inside by kickoff. FFS. I know if some lout kept me out of a World Cup final there would be serious consequences

hell, FIFA should have just Trump no. If you can’t live with people coming to see the match, then you don’t get to come. And presenting the trophy? Just no.

 

You're the one they're looking for

 

Me and millions of others.

 

That..............is actually a great idea tbf

 

We need Argentina to score first to get that, and that would be a maybe. Spain has just killed the entertainment value in largely every single one of their matches.

 

I think that's totally on point in terms of rankings, and talent, but not right in terms of performance. If you look at elo, you see a pile of teams in the 1900's right below the big 4, Colombia, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, but its quite clear that they are a step below, in results, period (though I think Portugal and Brazil have an upwards volatility potential that the Dutch and Colombia lack).

Performance though, there's no question, England was awful in this World Cup, Final Four yes, but they made hard work or were outright outplayed by Ghana, Panama, DR Congo, Norway and of course Argentina, Mexico was a great performance so I'll leave that aside as the only truly quality performance start to finish (Croatia had a strong chunk inside of it). France was mega elite the entire tourney other than a first half against Senegal, and the Spain match, Spain, well, totally dominant, but maybe more entertaining if they're most talented attackers were healthy, and Argentina, well this is a last hurrah.

So its, at least to me deceiving, by far, those 4 seem like a tier above, but look under the hood, and not so much, Spain's injured, so they're grinding away, it's Argentina's last hurrah, France was spectacular until they ran into Spain, again, and England was in the eighth year of this spectacular run, consistently underwhelming in performance, while spectacular in results generation.

Going forward, Spain, France and England will continue in this tier above, but Argentina is going to slip into the pack of teams currently 5th-14th, better than some (Norway, Belgium, Colombia, Switzerland, and Mexico) while worse than others (Portugal, Morocco, maybe Brazil and Germany)......

It should be a real interesting Copa America '28, with Brazil trying a reboot with youth, and Argentina transitioning without Messi (I assume), while Euro '28 will have some advantages for England, but France, and Spain as superior squads, and Portugal and Germany and the Dutch as threatening ones.

 

True, but 2026 Argentina has yet to allow anything boring.

 

I thought Argentina was going to go out against Cape Verde. They were dead men walking out there in extra time. The tank was empty.

I think Spain is overall a significantly better team, but who the hell would bet against Messi?????????????? Cuz Messi just brings the magic when its most needed. Its remarkable.

Messi doesn't need this game for his legacy. Not even remotely. But if he wins this 2nd World Cup title....................................

 

I was positive Argentina would win that, and it broke my heart, but you just knew w/all that attacking talent, they'd generate chances in ET, what made the game so utterly unique was that after falling behind 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, they came back every single time, down 3-2 they nearly scored like 3 different times and w/say, Freese back there, it goes to penalties.

What a glorious game. What made it so fun for me is that I was watching them all the way through qualifying along with DR Congo, and Burkina Faso (and Ivory Coast), and while Burkina Faso was obviously just not putting it together, DR Congo was getting there, you could see it, and Cape Verde was doing it. I watched their clinching game against Eswatini and took pictures lol of my laptop as they celebrated last October. I was so damn excited for Stopira, who'd basically gotten ready to retire and was coaxed back for one last cycle, even moreso than Vozinha because Stopira had first laced them up for Cape Verde 3 decades ago, basically after WC '06, and here he was, nearly 20 years after first lacing up his boots for Cape Verde (his first match was a sub on in a WCQ in the summer of '08), getting to lace them up at a WC? My only sadness is he didn't get a sub on, but a quick perusal of Cape Verde's matches, and you know why he probably didn't get minutes (0-0 with Spain, 2-2 with Uruguay, 0-0 with the Saudi's and 2-3 to Argentina). But even making the bench for not only a WC, but what ended up being easily the most thrilling match at the WC, in what will likely go down as the greatest performance in Cape Verde history? Pretty damn awesome.

 

The Dutch are very poor.

Ronaldo is a noose over the side and wants to make 2070.

 

Random thoughts:

Mbappe is an overrated loser, now Messi has to score 2 in order to restore cosmic balance. Still funny France got ran and Mbappe started and only got 1 in the loser bowl.

Spain should win comfortably but nothing about Argentina is comfortable their opponents or themselves and Messi is Messi, we are literally watching the nadir of the greatest greatness.

This is MLS one shot to have a ballon d’or player, Messi winning could have hilarious repercussions.

 

I don't really know what the Dutch are, they were definitely poor in the tournament, that's for sure, other than the Sweden game, but I can't envision any Portugal coach after Martinez just drinking that Ronaldo poison chalice again, dude has helped sabotage 4 consecutive tournaments for them in the Euro '21, '24 and WC '22 and '26. If I'm a coach considering that gig the first thing I tell them in an interview is I dgaf what Ronaldo wants, or his fans, he's not making the roster, let alone subbing on, or starting at Euro '28 (maybe that ends up too strong a take, but there's no chance he gets starts for any sane coach, and to be honest, there's no chance he should make a roster, has he retired yet?!?!). I don't know if Portugal is capable of winning a Euro's in '28, but I know they are a top 3-5 side in Europe going into that tournament, especially wants they commit to building a post-Ronaldo team, which should have started after Qatar.

 

So you have Argentina and Spain, two countries with fantastic musical traditions, so of course roll out the tackiest, cheesiest schmaltz imaginable instead.
Never change, America.

 

I don’t think those people were for the American audience lol.

 

Can not remember the last time I was this neutral about a game

 

Jennifer Hudson and the Star Spangled Banner as Fran Sinatra Jazz standard sure wasn’t for anyone else. Why the heck even have the US national anthem before the game? The US isn’t playing

 

Do Americans control the final show content?

Also, Spain needs to have words in their anthem.

 

Man this has been a long tournament. Started 39 days ago.

Hold a candle out for Sabri Lamouchi, the Tunisia coach who was fired on June 15. His tournament has been done longer than anyone else!

 

A Slovenian ref crew? Strange with a UEFA Conmebol final