England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Americans can be quite weird about this stuff. Many seem to think the country produces a set number of athletes that then get doled out amongst the various sports and but for that those athletes would be elite footballers instead.

 

Italy will be gutted to lose against this shower of shite

 

Bosnia are so cynical. They're anti football

 

Mookie Betts is a baseball player, how is that supposed to translate to football? Bizarre. Maybe Messi would have been a basketball player if he had played that as a kid...

 

Thats it for group B. 1. Switzerland. 2. Whoever of Canada/Bosina that beats Qatar by the most. 3. The other one. 4. Qatar. 3rd team Qualify.

 

For as bad as the first game was, we've had two pretty entertaining ones to follow.

That was an EFL standard game in terms of quality but at least it was a good watch.

 

I think there is so much pressure not to lose the first game that it constrains to some extent.

Bosnia are now in a decent position, whereas Czechs might fancy beating South Africa, but might not be enough.

 

The American mind can't comprehend!

 

It wasn't slow paced pass the ball around the back keep ball. Proper game of football between two teams that wanted to win. Often the games where there is a larger disparity in quality are less entertaining.

It is noticeable that throw ins are taken quickly.

I agree with Rooney that the goalkeeper punch is a red card, ignoring the offside. If you kick the ball and the follow through hits the opponent's head no-one would argue.

 

Yeah it's ridiculous how normalised stoppages are in their sports. I tried to watch some of this year's NBA finals I was quickly reminded why I stopped watching basketball.

 

I think anyone with three points who doesn't get hammered in one of their losses is going to progress, and even then one win in isolation may be enough. It wouldn't surprise me if at least one team gets through with 2 draws and a loss.

 

The groups where the 3rd placed team won't qualify is probably the ones with 2 good teams and 2 pub teams. Like group C.

 

The firer one was entertaining in its own way as well.

 

I think we'll see a few groups that finish like this



Or this



If four groups end up like either of the above, then 3 points will be enough.
If five groups end up this way, then 2 or even 1 point could be enough.
The dilution of quality increases the likelihood of these finishes.

 

And this brings us back to a previous problem from World Cups, where two teams could be playing each other and know that a draw sends both through and eliminates a team from another group.

 

To a degree. Both Bosnia and Canada could have more or less secured the number 2 spot by winning today. Which presumably gives an easier match in the first knock out. Now they most likely have to battle it out through goal difference.

 

We could quite easily have a 1994 scenario, where someone hits 5 in a group match (I'm thinking Haaland vs Iraq as a good contender, but it could be anyone really). It's quite conceivable that the top scorer may only play four matches in the tournament.

 

Yeah, I don't think Kane thinks much about the Golden Boot.

 

I'm thinking more about the last couple of groups to play their final matches. Teams will know all of the other group standings, and could easily manufacture a specific result in the final match if it benefits both teams and eliminates someone from a group already completed.

 

He won it in 2018 so has already done that.

 

And people said he had no trophies

 

One of those matches is Algeria v Austria. So one of the teams from the most infamous match in Worls Cuo history playing the team that got shafted because of it.