England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Perhaps you should have looked at the link I posted no!? Are you mixing up ex-pats and ancestry?

 

Yep. They're the best talent producers in world football, it's just what it is.

Even then though they won't just hoover up every tournament. It rarely ever works like that.

Everyone said they were going to dominate world football after the 2018 World Cup but they still haven't won a tournament since, despite having the best squad at every tournament since then.

I think they'll win this one though. Hopefully we can nick one of the next three or four but I think a few European teams are going to get stronger from here.

 

Morocco were VERY poor today, I think they over thunk it. It seemed to me that they were playing 'scared' of France and looking for penalties right from the start - it would have been MUCH better for them to have just gone at France the way they did against Brazil. they may well have lost but they would have made MUCH more of a spectacle of it!

One problem with the World Cup is that it becomes SO important to (some) of the countries involved that we all forget that its a sport and it's supposed to be about entertainment!

 

I must have missed something. I thought ut was about winning.

 

Football is part of the entertainment industry..............or at least that's what it was when it started. To be honest with you if 'football' was what we saw today or was what we saw when France played Paraguay then I'd be 'done' with it. I would like to see what a World Cup would be like where nobody watches because the game is so dull - funnily enough it would suddenly be about as important as the World Cup for dominoes - suddenly the Paraguayan Minister wouldn't be saying racist remarks because of her hatred............she wouldn't even notice if a Frenchman beat a Paraguayan in the World dominoes championship!

 

It is about winning. Even Paraguay got forward on the break against France. Congo and Ghana both had a go against us with some success. Then there was the epic counter attacking of Egypt that could have resulted in a win over Argentina if they had shut up shop with the 2 goal lead. Morocco offered nothing at all until they were losing. It wasn't just a lack of entertainment it was poor tactics.

 

If France win the wold cup Mbappe has a shot at being considered the greatest world cup performer ever across multiple tournaments. Pele has 1.57 G/A to Mbappes 1.17 per game and he won 2 world cups 3 depending on who you ask so that is tough to beat but he also exited the group stage in 1966. Who knows France could even get to a final in 2030. We can say that it is in his sights.

 

I feel like we going to head for humiliation at one or two tournaments at some point particularly as we have no long term striker replacement coming. Fair chance we false 9 in 2030 and 2032. We also going to lose more and more talent to other nations and the lack of opportunities the PL gives to players (Same issue is going to hit the Lionesses even more(

 

Belgium defender Zeno Debast is at the centre of a disagreement between his national team and club side Sporting CP and appears set to miss their World Cup quarter-final against Spain on Friday.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said in a statement on Thursday that… pic.twitter.com/0spDTPpHqt

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 9, 2026

 

You don't think there’s anyone between 16-22 currently that could be up to the level in 6 years?

 

There's always a chance of an early exit at a tournament. It's knockout football.

You keep repeating there's no striker coming through and it's completely false. There are loads of good strikers in the youth teams and one or two of them are going to come through and play for England. How good they'll be remains to be seen but someone will play for England.

You talk like the only two possible options are either we produce another striker as good as Harry Kane or we just don't bother playing a striker at all.

It's not like Kane has forever set the bar for how good a striker needs to be to play for England and if nobody meets that in future then nobody plays. Whoever the next best English striker is post-Kane will determine the new level required to start for England.

If Kane went down now we wouldn't all of a sudden play with a false nine. We'd play with Ollie Watkins. If he went down we'd play with Toney. Why would that be any different in 2030?

A striker that can score double figures for a mid-table Premier League club is good enough to start for the majority of international teams. That's the general standard across the globe and that might be us post-Kane too. Mateta gets minutes for France for goodness' sake.

There's even every chance a 32-year-old Solanke would start in 2030.

 

Talent wise I think he's their best ever, he's the only player they've had with the potential to be a top 20 player in the world. He's failed to live up to expectations, however.

 

I suppose the other point to mention is that Kane is two goals away from becoming the joint third highest scorer in World Cup history. He would share that accolade with Miroslav Klose, a World Champion and also a vastly inferior striker to Harry Kane.

It's highly improbable that we'll get another striker as good as Harry Kane after he retires. Kane is on course to finish his career as one of the best ever. It's not something to worry about.

The obvious alternative is Bellingham becoming the talisman, playing a lot like he has in this World Cup with a lot of 'box crashing' alongside another striker like say Solanke.

 

I must be missing what others are seeing with Bouaddi. It is if course impressive for any 18 year old to be playing at this level, but his passing range seems very Harry Winks. He gets stuck in but I must be missing what others are seeing on his own the ball abilities which seem pretty unremarkable. Reminds me more of another Guendouzi than a world class midfielder in the making.

 

He's quite emblematic of the whole Morocco side at the moment, technically very competent but with a distinct lack of difference making quality. I saw that at the last World Cup they made the semi-final without winning a game on xG. I think they're a bit overrated on the world stage.

 

🇦🇷⚔️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Los ingleses tienen miedo porque saben que esta banda tiene huevos
En el Azteca ya corrieron, y en Miami los vamo a correr de nuevo
Ingleses esperanos un poquito más
Ya nos vamos a encontrar..🎶

La nueva canción de la selección argentina pic.twitter.com/1ACx0UzSZ8

— Barra Brava Photos (@barrabravaphot) July 7, 2026

Not sure if it’s been posted but this is the video of the Argies celebrating. I didn’t realise they were so obsessed with us……seem like a lovely bunch. Not sure what it is with them but it’s the same with their fans, they have to fling one arm in the air like some act of aggression or something which bugs me.

 

Yeah I'd agree, just running through their eleven yesterday is a solid list of players playing at good levels but largely squad players at decent clubs or playing at mid table and lower clubs

They're much more similar to Switzerland than they are the top national sides.

People in England really don't appreciate how much of a rivalry the Argentinians view England. Even in their club matches there are chants about England.

You will get people in England who try to claim England have one sided rivalries (which isn't really true either), and that it's not a big deal but it really, really is. I would wager there isn't a country on the planet they want to beat more.

 

They have always been obsessed with us more than we are with them. No doubt the arm thing is supposed to be macho but it is very camp.

 

If was Reece James, I’d be arranging a welcome back to Chelsea party for Enzo by giving him a good old bog wash and reminding him of where he currently lives…..

 

Every game they’ve played this World Cup they’ve sang ‘he who does not jump is an Englishman.’ Not offended by that but shows how much they care.

I think if we get to the semis and play them the younger generation will get a shock at how fierce games between us and them are given we haven’t played them in 20 years.

 

England has been good at producing strikers; Lineker, Shearer, Owen, Rooney and many before then. Just because there isn't an obvious Kane replacement doesn't mean there won't be one in a couple of years. Kane was probably not known by many people outside of Tottenham before his breakthrough season in 2014/15, and even then plenty were saying he was a one season wonder.
To be honest, it's probably just as important to be able to create chances. If enough clear cut chances are created, any competent forward should be able to put them away.

 

Germany won the 2014 world cup with a 36 year old Miroslav Klose up front and Kane is a far better centre forward than he ever was. I wouldn't be quick to write him off for going for another world cup beyond this one. He certainly looks after himself, and Bundesliga is a much less exerting league for him to play in so if he can avoid injury I don't see why he wouldn't still be going at a high level.

It would still be nice to see some younger options coming through, our youngest striker call up in the last 12 months is 28 (Solanke) and even in the championship there's few emerging options, though our youth teams do at least seems to be getting more strikers than they had been.

 

I travelled through Argentina a couple of years ago and they were genuinely extremely friendly people, but one thing that sticks out when you're there is just how obsessed they are with the issue of the Falklands.

Everywhere you go there are road signs pointing towards the coast that say "Las Malvinas", loads of Falklands themed graffiti etc.

It's funny because as far as geopolitics goes it's actually an incredibly trivial issue and not remotely worthy of this kind of jingoism, but for whatever reason it's a huge, huge sore point in their history and something they're never going to let go of.

 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is once again under pressure after calls from 72 European lawmakers for a formal investigation to be launched following the Folarin Balogun scandal - Daily Express


Donald Trump's World Cup chief, Andrew Giuliani, has admitted that the scandal surrounding Folarin Balogun's red card may have distracted the USMNT ahead of their humiliating loss against Belgium - Daily Mail

Christian Pulisic suffered a microfracture and bone bruise in his leg in the United States' 4-1 loss to Belgium in the World Cup last 16 on Monday, US Soccer announced - The Guardian

 

I'm not worried about our striker prospects at all, just those aged 21 or 22 Makama, Lankshear and Ballard have all started there senior career really well. Its possible none make the top level, but there's literally names like this at each age group level.