News: 2026 World Cup Thread — Hope, Hype & Heartbreak™

BorisG · May 28, 2026

Dage · May 28, 2026

2026 FIFA World Cup — General Thread
Alright folks, it’s officially that time again.

The spreadsheets are open. The team leaks are everywhere. Someone already declared us “dark horses,” which means we’re either winning the whole thing or losing to a nation with 400,000 inhabitants in the group stage.

Welcome to the General Germany / World Cup 2026 thread the place for everything surrounding Die Nationalmannschaft and the tournament itself:

Squad speculation

Injury drama

Training camp overreactions

Tactical hot takes nobody asked for

FIFA chaos

Stadiums, travel, atmosphere

Media meltdowns

Random optimism after one decent friendly

Existential dread after one bad friendly

Basically: all roads to North America start here.

A few ground rules before this thing turns into 700 pages of tactical warfare:

NO individual Germany match discussion here: Every German game gets its own dedicated thread.

NO separate discussions for other national team matches: There will be other threads for that.

General tournament talk and Germany-related news? Absolutely.

Posting Müller memes after he somehow returns for another World Cup at age 47? Encouraged.

We’ve got 48 teams, three host nations, absurd travel distances, suspicious FIFA decisions, and hopefully a German squad that remembers how to finish chances again.

The countdown is on.

Brace yourselves, prepare your overreactions, and let the 2026 madness begin.

Dage · May 28, 2026

Sorry BorisG, I just did it myself. I merged your posting into this and edited your original thread to a poll. I hope, that's fine with you.

BorisG · May 28, 2026

Dage said: ↑

Sorry BorisG, I just did it myself. I merged your posting into this and edited your original thread to a poll. I hope, that's fine with you.
Click to expand...

All good champ no worries

BorisG · May 28, 2026

Rivals:

Spain vs Germany — The File Is Open

Let me lay this out chronologically because the pattern is too consistent to ignore.
2008 — Euro final, Vienna. Spain beat us 1-0. Fine. But then Casillas leads the entire squad in a conga line through the mixed zone, directly past Schweinsteiger doing a live German TV interview. Dances past once. Turns around. Does it again.
2010 — World Cup semi-final. 1-0. Same scoreline. Different continent. Different generation. Same result.
2020 — Nations League, Seville. 6-0. Germany’s worst competitive defeat in 89 years. Spain 3-0 up at half time and still didn’t stop. They sent on fresh legs in the second half to make absolutely sure.
2022 — Final matchday, Group E. Spain know before kick-off that losing to Japan still sends them through as runners-up. And as group winners? They get Brazil in the quarter-finals. As runners-up? Much softer route. Spain go 1-0 up against Japan then remarkably lose 2-1 in the second half. Germany win 4-2 against Costa Rica but go home anyway. Spain get the bracket they wanted, avoid Brazil until later, and Germany catch the flight home. Lost to Japan. Sure they did.
2024 — Euro quarter-final. On German soil. Our tournament. Extra time, Musiala shoots, Cucurella handles it. Clear as day. Anthony Taylor waves it away. VAR agrees. UEFA admitted it was wrong three months later. Germany go out 2-1.
2025 — Spain knock Germany’s women out of the Euros. Then dance outside the German team bus. “Humiliation after the final whistle” — German media.
Six major tournaments. Six incidents. One conga line. One phantom handball. One suspiciously convenient defeat that sent Germany home and kept Spain away from Brazil.
This isn’t a rivalry. This is an open account.

GermanLebaneseFan · May 28, 2026

BorisG said: ↑

Rivals:

Spain vs Germany — The File Is Open

Let me lay this out chronologically because the pattern is too consistent to ignore.
2008 — Euro final, Vienna. Spain beat us 1-0. Fine. But then Casillas leads the entire squad in a conga line through the mixed zone, directly past Schweinsteiger doing a live German TV interview. Dances past once. Turns around. Does it again.
2010 — World Cup semi-final. 1-0. Same scoreline. Different continent. Different generation. Same result.
2020 — Nations League, Seville. 6-0. Germany’s worst competitive defeat in 89 years. Spain 3-0 up at half time and still didn’t stop. They sent on fresh legs in the second half to make absolutely sure.
2022 — Final matchday, Group E. Spain know before kick-off that losing to Japan still sends them through as runners-up. And as group winners? They get Brazil in the quarter-finals. As runners-up? Much softer route. Spain go 1-0 up against Japan then remarkably lose 2-1 in the second half. Germany win 4-2 against Costa Rica but go home anyway. Spain get the bracket they wanted, avoid Brazil until later, and Germany catch the flight home. Lost to Japan. Sure they did.
2024 — Euro quarter-final. On German soil. Our tournament. Extra time, Musiala shoots, Cucurella handles it. Clear as day. Anthony Taylor waves it away. VAR agrees. UEFA admitted it was wrong three months later. Germany go out 2-1.
2025 — Spain knock Germany’s women out of the Euros. Then dance outside the German team bus. “Humiliation after the final whistle” — German media.
Six major tournaments. Six incidents. One conga line. One phantom handball. One suspiciously convenient defeat that sent Germany home and kept Spain away from Brazil.
This isn’t a rivalry. This is an open account.
Click to expand...

We got somehowe a revenge when bayern beat real madrid but I hope we can knock them out this time if we meet again in WC although we have to wish we can have a fair referee this time.

BVBFNM · May 28, 2026

BorisG said: ↑

Rivals:

Spain vs Germany — The File Is Open

Let me lay this out chronologically because the pattern is too consistent to ignore.
2008 — Euro final, Vienna. Spain beat us 1-0. Fine. But then Casillas leads the entire squad in a conga line through the mixed zone, directly past Schweinsteiger doing a live German TV interview. Dances past once. Turns around. Does it again.
2010 — World Cup semi-final. 1-0. Same scoreline. Different continent. Different generation. Same result.
2020 — Nations League, Seville. 6-0. Germany’s worst competitive defeat in 89 years. Spain 3-0 up at half time and still didn’t stop. They sent on fresh legs in the second half to make absolutely sure.
2022 — Final matchday, Group E. Spain know before kick-off that losing to Japan still sends them through as runners-up. And as group winners? They get Brazil in the quarter-finals. As runners-up? Much softer route. Spain go 1-0 up against Japan then remarkably lose 2-1 in the second half. Germany win 4-2 against Costa Rica but go home anyway. Spain get the bracket they wanted, avoid Brazil until later, and Germany catch the flight home. Lost to Japan. Sure they did.
2024 — Euro quarter-final. On German soil. Our tournament. Extra time, Musiala shoots, Cucurella handles it. Clear as day. Anthony Taylor waves it away. VAR agrees. UEFA admitted it was wrong three months later. Germany go out 2-1.
2025 — Spain knock Germany’s women out of the Euros. Then dance outside the German team bus. “Humiliation after the final whistle” — German media.
Six major tournaments. Six incidents. One conga line. One phantom handball. One suspiciously convenient defeat that sent Germany home and kept Spain away from Brazil.
This isn’t a rivalry. This is an open account.
Click to expand...

The mental block Germany have developed against Spain in the last 18 years really pisses me off, and things going suspiciously Spain's way in the Euro 2024 QF makes my blood boil.

rj123 · May 28, 2026

BorisG said: ↑

Rivals:

Spain vs Germany — The File Is Open

Let me lay this out chronologically because the pattern is too consistent to ignore.
2008 — Euro final, Vienna. Spain beat us 1-0. Fine. But then Casillas leads the entire squad in a conga line through the mixed zone, directly past Schweinsteiger doing a live German TV interview. Dances past once. Turns around. Does it again.
2010 — World Cup semi-final. 1-0. Same scoreline. Different continent. Different generation. Same result.
2020 — Nations League, Seville. 6-0. Germany’s worst competitive defeat in 89 years. Spain 3-0 up at half time and still didn’t stop. They sent on fresh legs in the second half to make absolutely sure.
2022 — Final matchday, Group E. Spain know before kick-off that losing to Japan still sends them through as runners-up. And as group winners? They get Brazil in the quarter-finals. As runners-up? Much softer route. Spain go 1-0 up against Japan then remarkably lose 2-1 in the second half. Germany win 4-2 against Costa Rica but go home anyway. Spain get the bracket they wanted, avoid Brazil until later, and Germany catch the flight home. Lost to Japan. Sure they did.
2024 — Euro quarter-final. On German soil. Our tournament. Extra time, Musiala shoots, Cucurella handles it. Clear as day. Anthony Taylor waves it away. VAR agrees. UEFA admitted it was wrong three months later. Germany go out 2-1.
2025 — Spain knock Germany’s women out of the Euros. Then dance outside the German team bus. “Humiliation after the final whistle” — German media.
Six major tournaments. Six incidents. One conga line. One phantom handball. One suspiciously convenient defeat that sent Germany home and kept Spain away from Brazil.
This isn’t a rivalry. This is an open account.
Click to expand...

You know, I can stand to be beaten by a better team - France, Italy etc. What I can't stand is poor sportsmanship. Their hubris and arrogance is disgusting.

BVBFNM · May 28, 2026

rj123 said: ↑

You know, I can stand to be beaten by a better team - France, Italy etc. What I can't stand is poor sportsmanship. Their hubris and arrogance is disgusting.
Click to expand...

IMO it got even worse after the 2010 World Cup, because after said torunament they started acting like they were the be-all and end-all of world football. My personal trainer said it best: "They have one World Cup yet they act as if they've won four."

BorisG · May 29, 2026

So I am not a person for conspiracy - but the conspiracy does float around that...

"Germany's back-to-back group stage exits in 2018 and 2022 rekindled old draw manipulation theories, but the more interesting angle is structural — UEFA's commercial model favours leagues open to sovereign wealth and billionaire ownership, which the Bundesliga's 50+1 fan-ownership rule actively blocks. A weakened German NT hurts UEFA's broadcast appeal, so there's no logical motive there, but the financial architecture of European football does quietly squeeze the German club model. No conspiracy needed when the incentives already do the work."

BorisG · May 30, 2026

Voraussichtliche Aufstellung
Baumann - Kimmich, Tah, N. Schlotterbeck, Brown- Pavlovic, F. Nmecha - Karl, Musiala, Wirtz - Undav

Against Finland - I see Brown over Raum and wonder if Woltemade won’t start over Undav ?
It’s quite impressive to see Karl Musiala Wirtz names next to each other . Hope all three have a great game . FotMob had Gorteska and Woltemade in.

BorisG · May 30, 2026

Ok see the kicker line up holds true as nagelsman has said that Karl Nmecha and Undav will start

I like it allot - proper !!!! Let’s hope they all perform well so that he has to think twice before changing it.

a real good starting 11

saj7866 · May 30, 2026

BorisG said: ↑

Voraussichtliche Aufstellung
Baumann - Kimmich, Tah, N. Schlotterbeck, Brown- Pavlovic, F. Nmecha - Karl, Musiala, Wirtz - Undav

Against Finland - I see Brown over Raum and wonder if Woltemade won’t start over Undav ?
It’s quite impressive to see Karl Musiala Wirtz names next to each other . Hope all three have a great game . FotMob had Gorteska and Woltemade in.
Click to expand...

WoW! Hopefully this lot play well. Looks on Paper our strongest line up.

However. After watching the champions league final and Havertz scoring, i can see Nagelsmann playing Havertz upfront When the world cup Starts!

BorisG · May 31, 2026

Yeah I really hope Germany play well with this starting line up tonight - as it’s should motivate the subs even more to perform . I hope the Germans have learned not to become to complacent when winning a game like in the past .

Interesting what nagelsman said yesterday at the interview when asked about the right wing … said that all players have shown to be in good shape but Karl especially . He also said Musiala could also play on the right with Wirtz on left .. means the 10 is open for players
Like Goretska . I guess Undav , Amiri and Havertz could also play on the 10 .

BVBFNM · May 31, 2026

BorisG said: ↑

Yeah I really hope Germany play well with this starting line up tonight - as it’s should motivate the subs even more to perform . I hope the Germans have learned not to become to complacent when winning a game like in the past .

Interesting what nagelsman said yesterday at the interview when asked about the right wing … said that all players have shown to be in good shape but Karl especially . He also said Musiala could also play on the right with Wirtz on left .. means the 10 is open for players
Like Goretska . I guess Undav , Amiri and Havertz could also play on the 10 .
Click to expand...

Seriously, why do you always type Goretzka's name as Goretska?

BorisG · May 31, 2026

BVBFNM said: ↑

Seriously, why do you always type Goretzka's name as Goretska?
Click to expand...

Seriously- I dont know why !!!!!!! I think my spellchecker has saved it as such . But clearly it irritates you, more than me . Will try and make mental note of it. And hopefully “ Goretzka” won’t feature after this World Cup and we can move on .

Stanislaw · May 31, 2026

MatthausSammer · May 31, 2026

While I dislike some of the selections made in the squad, this lineup for Finland is basically exactly what I want. I hope it coheres quickly.

BorisG · May 31, 2026

Maybe too much creativity for germany on the field and too little firepower …. But let’s see how it develops

MatthausSammer · May 31, 2026

UNNNDDDAAAVVVV!

BorisG · May 31, 2026

Undav Always good for goal

BorisG · May 31, 2026

Karl is having a solid game tonight

saj7866 · May 31, 2026

Karl looks like the Potent weapon!

MatthausSammer · May 31, 2026

Feels like the Finnish defence is allocating resources towards Wirtz and Musiala, which means Karl has space to exploit. He's taking advantage fairly well TBH.

BorisG · May 31, 2026

Musiala still not back to his old form …. Pavlovic most passes , Wirtz
Most shots and. Karl most touches in opposition side .