England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Premier League referee Michael Oliver has pulled out of his first game at the World Cup after suffering an injury. The Geordie referee was due to be the man in the middle for the clash between Ecuador and the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia - Mirror

 

That's the funny thing: athletic ability is clearly the US team's best trait and if they played a team like Spain or Argentina, that'd be the one advantage they'd have.

But thing they need to leapfrog those team is... more athleticism?

 

I don't care about Bosnia at all but you were appalling yesterday. A very mediocre Canada side dominated the match and were solely let down by having a terrible attack. I was surprised how poor Bosnia were in comparison, in all honesty. I thought the two sides would be much more even than they were.

The best thing going for Bosnia is that you have one of the easiest groups so a win against Qatar would put you through.

 

Bosnia look well short at this level. Hard-working but talent wise well short. Their 18 year old looks a good prospect though

 

Oh yeah I know, I love watching the swimming as I’m from a swimming family, my mother was a professional swimming coach so I had little choice growing up that this was one sport I had to compete in. Just really amazed at the venue for the Olympics though so kudos to the Yanks on this.

Edit: apologies going off topic now for this thread.

 

And before bihfan goes on a rant about how England fans dislike Bosnia. We don't. We were rooting for Bosnia to beat Wales. I certainly was. I've nothing against them whatsoever but it's clear they're out of their depth

 

He wasn't a serious selection in the first place. I suspect a large part of the reason he went in the first place is to avoid creating a media circus around it. He hasn't even played for Brazil at this point in 3 years, I highly doubt there's any plan for him to play anything other than token minutes even if he gets to some level of fitness.

 

Actually just out of interest, in football who winds you up more; Wales or Scotland?

 

I think for the US if results go the way they do they run into Spain, who’ll just pass them into oblivion for 90 mins sadly.

Won’t be the only one tbf who will suffer that fate, Spain does that to everyone, but that press and wide defence could really be pulled to bits by them.

I enjoyed them last night. Paraguay to me just represented the fact that I think the South American teams in this tournament are going to flunk and fail.

 

Wales by a long way

 

The Scots have a proper football culture. Their own league. A big chip on their shoulders about England but the Taffs are a whole new level. They crawl on the back of England, support English clubs yet their chip is the size of a boulder. I don't want their support but they're pathetic anyway

 

That, and some good old fashioned patriotism. USA! USA!

 

If we top our group the only round we should play after midnight would be the round of 16.

 

I've got my family coming round for the group games. I wouldn't mind a late kick off so I can watch one England game on my own.

 

No the squad now has far more depth. Someone like Ismael Kone is a quality midfielder they did not have before. In 2022 they were using 40 year old Atiba Hutchinson who is a CDM at CB because they had such little depth. There are a lot more players playing in europe now than 2022. The only MLS player in the starting 11 was Eustaquio who was recently on Porto and the GK.

They are missing Davies and Moise Bombito and Im not one that rates their technical ability but simply comparing that 2022 squad on paper even with an injured Davies this squad is better. And the bench is much better.

 

I’ll maintain I don’t think the South American sides are any good

 

all of them? it really depends how we rate teams yes Europe is ahead even small nations like Bosnia that lack depth due to their population have 5 or 6 players that would start for a Paraguay or even a Canada/US. But at the same time if we look past Eurocentrism where of course by the last 4 it will be majority elite European teams I think we can say many teams from the other confederations are good.

Good meaning they won't win the world cup but they could knock out anyone. Are there many great teams outside UEFA currently? No but England lost to Senegal/Japan under Tuchel this could repeat. Teams like Ecuador/Uruguay/Colombia could ruin someone's party very easily. While of course Brazil/Argentina are always a difficult out.

not any good is harsh.

 

Toronto are any of them really contenders to you?

Im not fussed on Argentina, and Vini is too much of a distraction for Brazil.

 

I mostly agree I am just making the distinction between great and good you need to be great to win it all. especially in the early stages we have to somewhat compartmentalize how we rate teams. many are good to very good sides.

Certainly Argentina/Brazil are contenders on paper. I don't think Argentina will win two straight world cups. I don't think Brazil will win either. At the same time Argentina have won a hell of a lot of games the last 5 years between Copa Americas World Cups and qualifiers.

There was a point let's say 2018 where I felt CONMEBOL was falling completely behind UEFA.
Croatia becoming a genuine top 5 nation said how far ahead UEFA was pulling but we still have to respect teams outside UEFA for me because international football is a different gravy you don't need an 11 of players all from the top 8 teams in europe to be a threat.

 

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Uruguay were deeply unimpressive when we played them. Colombia didn't look any good against France (and against Croatia apparently) in their March game either. All friendly games admittedly but still.

I've heard a lot of good about Ecuador so we'll see what they produce. They've got some good quality on paper but they do look light up top to me.

I do think we should wait and see with Brazil & Argentina though. There are reasons to be sceptical about them but I wouldn't confidently back against them putting it together and turning up either. It's certainly going to be interesting.

 

France also lost to Ivory Coast so maybe AFCON is better than Conembol now.
The last world cup we had two UEFA teams an AFCON and Conembol in the last 4.

Spain Germany have combined for 0 knockout wins in 2018/2022 while Spain and Portugal also combine for 1 KO wins since 2014. It never goes exactly as it should.

Uruguay were nothing special in 2018 either and knocked out Portugal who were european champions fairly routinely.

Spain/Portugal have combined for 3 of the last 4 euros and have a combined 1 knock-out win in world cups since 2010. Spain have not had a knockout win since the 2010 final.

 

I guess the France-Ivory Coast friendly was probably of less value since it was a pre-tournament friendly. They're quite unserious games.

But yeah tournaments are really hard to predict. Some teams just really show up on the day while others don't.

I think with Uruguay you could still see a level of quality on paper in 2018 that doesn't exist now. They've got Valverde but six years ago they had Gimenez, Godin, Suarez, Cavani & Vecino all either at or close to prime age. Then some good youngsters on top of that.

Ultimately international tournaments are won in both boxes and Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay are just really lacking standout attacking quality between them. There's only really Luis Díaz amongst those four teams who's a true needle mover.