England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

Probably someone who needs to promote something so maybe Tom Holland from Spiderman.

Or Piers Morgan.

 

Beckham is supposedly not expected to go to any England matches but the FA hopes he will so they can give him his legacy cap.

 

Look at it this way, this is one of their biggest wins in history made possible by FIFA widening their corrupt tribute network which allows teams worse than Scotland to qualify for the World Cup. The Scottish First Minister called the victory 'seismic'. I say just be thankful that you get to support England.

 

Possibly because they knew the NBA finals might have been on that night.

 

Like a few matches the first half of Scotland v Haiti was pretty good but the second half wasn’t as enjoyable until it turned into Scotland clinging on for dear life. I do think it woukd be very Scotland to go out on three points becuase on that performance they might get thrashed by at least one of Brazil and Morocco.

He looked brilliant on the highlights. Turkey do have an habit of being expected to be good and then not being so.

 

Yeah if they lose to both Brazil and Morocco they will likely be knocked out, but they might not, the absurdity of this format means you could still so through with 3 points and a negative goal difference.

 

At the Euros only Ukraine in 2020(1j have got through in third on 3 points and a negative goal difference Through at the 2019 Women World Cup Cameroon and Nigeria both got through on 3 points and a negative goal difference of -2. Wonder if it’s more common when it’s 8 in 12 rather than 4 in 6 through.

They were some crazy tables at the 1994 World Cup the last time the World Cup had 3rd placed teams going through.

 

While watching the Australia vs. Türkiye match, my dad chimed in on Turkey’s somewhat unusual name change and said: “I actually prefer Türkiye over Turkey because who wants to call a country the same name as the bird we eat every f***in’ Thanksgiving?”

 

Chill and rise above. They're just jealous.

 

Turkey have all this talent but never turn up

 

I don’t think it makes a huge difference given 2/3 of 3rd place teams advance, but thinks it’s more likely in a smaller tournament that 3 points and negative goal difference gets you through, simply due to statistical variance, but the difference is tiny.

 

The expansion of teams makes it more likely for me that 3 points alone will be enough, both by having more groups and weaker teams. I'd put it at around 50-50 that all third place teams with 3 points go through.
In 1986 it was only 2 points for a win and 6 groups, but 2 draws would have still been enough for one team to advance under 3 points for a win.

 

I think it is a certainty that at least 1 team will go through on 3 points and negative goal difference. Very likely to happen with 1 win and 2 defeats. Pre-tournament I looked at 24 team Euro tournaments for pointers but I think the variation in quality is probably greater in this World Cup. Also the heat might reduce the number of second half goals. Morocco and Brazil will have to come at Scotland after their draw. Scotland's biggest weakness is defence so it will be interesting.

 

Thinking about this again the fact there are more weaker team in 48 team tournament might actually sway it the other way. But I think the difference is tiny. If Scotland avoid heavy defeats they might have a chance, if they take at least one hiding I think they are virtually out.

 

According to Google AI!

The Goal Difference Thresholds
Statistical tournament simulations and historic data from similar formats (like the 24-team UEFA Euros) break down your chances based on the exact goal difference:

• GD of -1 (High Chance - ~80%+): Typically achieved by winning one match and losing the other two by a single goal. Historically, a -1 goal difference on 3 points has been enough to advance in the vast majority of tournaments using a "best third-place" rule.
• GD of -2 (Coin Flip - ~50%): This is the expected baseline cut-off line for the 2026 tournament. You will be entirely at the mercy of other groups' results. In past tournaments, teams like Poland (World Cup 2006) advanced with a -2 difference, while others have been sent home.
• GD of -3 or worse (Extremely Low Chance - <15%): If a team gets blown out in one of their defeats, 3 points will almost certainly not be enough. For instance, at Euro 2024, Hungary finished third with 3 points but were eliminated due to their -3 goal difference

 

I regret to inform you that 48 teams is just a bridge to 64 teams in the future World Cups.

 

Weirdly 66 has been mooted.

 

It's such a small sample size though, and based on a different standard of teams.

 

It's also worth noting that at a minimum, the last four groups to play will know what result they need to guarantee advancing. That will impact things.

 

It does say that the data comes from statistical tournament simulations as well as historical data. It is AI of course so I did ask it to check that what it was saying was correct a couple of times.

 

I would think 3 points alone is not enough to get through as this requires 4 groups where the 3rd placed team has less than 3 points which seem unlikely.

Some teams will also play the goal difference game from the get go. Like Norway, they will probably try to hammer Iraq by as many goals as possible, as they know they that a good goal difference will get them through even if they lose to Senegal and France. They are also a team, unlike Scotland, proven to be aware of goal difference, in the qualification they made sure their goal difference was superior to Italy's, so in the final game Italy would have to beat them by something like 8 goals to qualify.

If teams, like Scotland, think goal difference is not important, and rather rely on luck, you can be in big trouble in this tournament.

 

everyones picks have been wrong... everyone just picked full 3pts for the favourite in every game.
last 32 will be interesting could be some more upsets.

 

Souttar wasn't great the year we got relegated but it felt a panic signing at the time. Cheers Rodgers

The last three seasons he might have played 5 games max for Leicester


23/24 Maresca didn't rate him as he isn't terrific at playing out from the back so we had to watch a tall Dane roll the ball back and forth under his boot.
24/25 Went on loan to Sheff Utd. Did his achilles tendon on Boxing Day
25/26 Played the last match of the season after finally getting fit from the Achilles

 

Yeah there is plenty of room for upsets at this World Cup and I wouldn’t ignore our group where this is concerned.

 

At least a 64 team world cup would get rid of the nonsense that comes with 3rd placed qualifiers.

I wouldn't even mind the expansions as much if they didn't milk so much out of it in getting as many extra games as possible. A 64 team world cup with 1 qualifier per group going to the last 16 could even be plenty exciting and allow for shocks with each game crucial, instead of the current very permissive format where even showing up for one game has a good chance of getting teams through.