England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Yes none of these teams will win or even reach the semi final in their current state but they could all ruin someones party in the group stage or the new last 32 format that will essentially make up for no group of death but will be even more difficult than a group of death because a draw is no good.

 

A very mediocre Canada side? Did you stop watching football in 2013?

 

Teams regularly qualify through the playoffs, even Croatia which a lot of people like to praise has qualified through the play-offs several times including for the 2018 World Cup when they were finalists.

 

I mean they did start an English player in defence that no one in England has ever heard of

 

They're certainly mediocre (and that's being generous) in world cup terms....

I'm not really sure what you were expecting hunting round other countries forums looking for comments on Bosnia....did you expect widespread praise and fawning for escaping with a draw after resorting to backs to the wall defending against Canada?

 

Luc de Fougerolles had a 6.74 sofa score rating in the Belgian Pro league is on loan from Fulham and is only 20 years old. He has a current transfer value of 1.7m euros. It is possible he becomes a solid premier league player. Now we know something about him.

If the barometer is players that no one outside england has heard of then just about every team is trash because that bubble is thick! but the reality is overhyped over paid players on top teams don't have the same advantages they do for their clubs when it comes to international football.

Smaller nations have to find solutions they don't have 300 nationals in the top 5 european leagues same goes for nations like brazil and argentina who have fewer than 100 players in europe's top 5 leagues each but you don't have to win you simply have to be tough to beat.

England nearly lost to a Slovenia in 2024 that 7 of the current Bosnian team would start for hands down. Transfer values tell us this as well beyond veteran experience.

 

Nobody is trying to be disrespectful. I'm sure most on here would be happy if Bosnia did well but the game last night was quite low quality from both teams - despite being entertaining. People are just saying what they saw, there's no intention to insult anyone.

I agree Canada had some quality in the middle of the pitch and some of their approach play was nice but they were really weak in both boxes. It wasn't much different to what you'd normally see from a top six Championship team imo.

 

Everyone was impressed they got through against Italy but you can't expect us to throw superlatives at the Bosnian performance yesterday. They're were tough to beat but they offered little threat going forward. Canada on another day would have won

 

Blimey these threads are a mess during tournaments, you say a slightly negative thing about a team, and people turn up out of nowhere!

 

This is all well and good, maybe this guy will go and turn into a player, maybe he won't.

But are you really arguing that the term "mediocre" doesn't describe the Canada team. You will struggle to find a metric for the world cup where aren't ranked as a middling or lower side.

I thought Canada largely played well outside the useless attack but very mediocre seems a pretty apt description for the side, and perhaps even generous, relative to the world cup teams.

 

yes but one the championship is a good league. two Bosnia has 7 players in the top 5 leagues.
while Canada has 7 and another 5 players on Celtic Rangers in the Belgium League.

It is closer to a Europa League level game on paper than a Championship but because a nation like Bosnia has a small population and lacks depth their midfield has a missive drop off where they have players from leagues way off the map. This means their manager does not trust them to do anything but sit back and try to score on counters and set pieces. This is deliberate.

They could start Alhabegovic who will be bought by a top club this summer but instead they keep him on the bench because they would rather have a wide player that can mark a man. They went away to Wales and came through. Wales has 9 PL players and are better on paper than every Championship side.

If you only use Premier League and Championship as barometer you won't understand what is going on out there. Top international sides often look really ugly in terms of quality this is the nature of international football. We can't make a one to one comparison with club sides.

 

I agree they are mediocre I am just adding context. Again Slovenia on paper in 2024 were worse than these two teams. They are both good teams that can spoil a better team. Canada could beat the US tomorrow and it wouldn't be considered an upset.

Its more that mediocre is almost irrelevant as a discription when we are saying Bosnia were dominated by a mediocre side. The XG tells us a draw was fair. Bosnia could have easily won 2-0. They play this way on purpose. Bosnia and Canada are at a similar level. Canada has more depth Bosnia has more high end talent that will make its way to top european clubs. Murhremovic Ahlabegovic Kolasanic Demirovic and their GK would all start for Canada based on the clubs they play for and their match ratings.

Bosnia and Canada are certainly third their teams at the world cup slightly above the 4th tier which is truly off the mark with no hope to beat anyone and with no players anyone is remotely interested in.

 

With all due respect I think we've all seen enough international tournament games in our lives to know what good international sides look like.

 

I wanted Bosnia to win today, but they definitely were the 2nd best team against Canada and were fortunate to get a draw.

 

I used to view them that way but maybe it's because it's also my country, I want them to go as far as they can. Yes, there are many insufferable fans because they ultimately don't care that much, however there would be millions of great fans who would come aboard just by knowing all the great people I've come across watching baseball, college football, and hockey.

 

Yes and transfer values and the clubs the players play for tell us they are two teams above Championship level which is itself a strong level. But you would have to know who the players are.

It relative. If the tier list is Great Good Decent Bad then yes Canada Bosnia are Decent.
If the tier list is Elite Great Good Bad then they are good. It can become semantics. I would say there are two or three Elite teams like 5 great teams and whole lotta good teams that can beat each other. Of course a team like Bosnia is highly flawed because the gap between their best 8 players and the rest is significant.

 

Watched it live and was promoting it on the social media website I run. I'm a die-hard England fan, but last night was great day to be American as cheesy as that sounds.

 

I genuinely think that most fanbases can and will be insufferable if their teams do well enough to allow it. Who you think is the worst is mostly just a result of who you're most exposed to (English speakers for all of us).

Welsh fans are pretty dormant most of the time but they turned completely insufferable for the momentary period in 2016 when they were a good team and reached a semi-final.

I have little doubt Irish and Scottish fans would be insufferable if their teams ever gave them a reason to be. I can tell you from experience Irish rugby fans are tough to deal with so I doubt their football fans would be any different were their team as good. Don't get me started on South African rugby fans either.

Getting excited and carried away is what this whole thing is supposed to be about. As a natural pessimist I wish I could do it more tbh.

 

Have to make use of the ignore button as soon as they show up

 

I don’t know. I’m more than happy to hear the thoughts of angry Bosnians.

 

I suppose he’s healthy enough to play in the World Cup.

Chris Richards 83/83 completed passes are the most passes with 100% accuracy by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966 👏 pic.twitter.com/tDYxIRwpEA

— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) June 13, 2026

 

That's a shame. I loved how they gave a yellow card to the Paraguayan who dived.