England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Qatar have had the best two chances

 

Really? Does teams like Japan and South Korea participate in this cup? They look miles better than Qatar.

 

They've literally won one game in the last year so i'd assume they the team with comfortably the worst form heading into the tournament. The list of the teams they've also played in that last year is also pretty bad so its not like they've been testing themselves either.

I'm not sure how seriously teams take the Asian cup given it happens mid-European season, but they were well of the pace in world cup qualifying. They only made it by finishing ahead of North Korea and Kyrgyzstan to make the final round of Asian qualifying, where they had to finish ahead of UAE and Oman to qualify (which they also barely did).

 

It’s 30 degrees in Santa Clara at the moment. Presumably it’s hotter than that at field level.

 

Yeah I didn't realise it happened mid-season. I've never paid any attention to it but I vaguely remember Son winning it being a big thing.

 

Qatars last ditch work has been spectacular.

Poor game though.

 

The Swiss have been wasteful

 

That's still more than Wales and Morocco

 

When Switzerland got their penalty, looks like offside to me ...

 

Yeah I've seen a few mention Indian cricket fans. I don't follow cricket consistently enough to be exposed to them but maybe they're an outlier.

 

Fifa refusing to show the offside. Infantino is swiss Switzerland is his country. Conspiracy theory

 

I follow the sport avidly. They are a class to themselves, it's impressive how bad they are.

 

Group b is the group of dearth

 

The Swiss are usually a proper team. But so far, they're looking a bit 'gutless'.

 

Very wasteful from Swiss attack. Should be 4/5 up.

 

Belting music out during a water break is the most yank thing ever. Can they not just sit in relative silence for a few minutes? Thought I was watching a T20 cricket match for a few minutes.

 

I’m very bored

 

Switzerland will get away with this wastefulness today but they need to improve a lot in the knockouts.

Qatar are a reason why expansion to 48 teams was a bad idea. South Africa were another.

 

Switzerland look like England under Southgate. No idea how to open up a deep line

 

For me, there's two main reasons that the matches have been largely boring.

Expanding the tournament has brought in more poor teams, who are invariably playing defensively.

Third place teams potentially advancing with three points as long as they don't get heavily beaten means teams are happy to defend a 0-1 situation in the opening games, as it could be considered a good result depending on your opponent.

 

They've had plenty of good chances, just very wasteful finishing.

Their xG from this game is already over 3, which is very high.

 

I’ve really hated this match.

 

They won't be charging hundreds for tickets for some of these matches in Spain or Portugal in 2030.