FIFA World Cup '26: News & Analysis

I can’t defend my memory! Lol

I remember the crime fears for SA, seemed legit. But mostly I remember positive vibes that Africa overdue, etc…

Yes I remember concern about Russia. People who went had a great time. That does not mean that the Putin regime is not evil nor that it is problematic that they hosted a WC and Olympics.

I respect your contributions Paul, I just wondered what your annoyance was. If it was the repetition, or defensiveness for USA or FIFA, or something else.

 

There's undeniable defensiveness about the tournament, due to a combination of FIFA embracing the cancerous US political scene of the moment and letting it infect the buildup, as well as FIFA's choice to push for an overwhelming flood of profits rather than settling for a merely enormous amount of profits + efforts to maximize the experience for fans and TV viewers. So while many American fans have been justifiably deflated heading into what should be the most exciting summer ever to be a US soccer fan (and yes, I see this on social media and have encountered this in real life too), others are putting their hands over their ears or resorting to defensiveness.

The tournament will be fine. As long as FIFA and the re-sellers it has prioritized follow market demand and let any prices that need to do so plunge in the final weeks, then pretty much all stadiums will be reasonably filled (50,000+), though the atmosphere at many matches may give off the impression of "international friendly". My guess is that some national teams have better support than others one would typically expect, with the most prominent South American national teams generally getting the best traveling support.

And then we'll get into the normal flow of things with great moments and goals, and the defensive crew will point to those, ignore everything else, and say that there was never any problem at all.

 

Future organizing committees have to work harder. It's easier of course when you're dealing with one body, such as a central government but any future USA bid has to do a better job of protecting fan interests, hosting city/state interests and commitments from the federal government to welcome fans and players from all parts of the world.

 

What recent World Cups have shown is that FIFA has little leverage when a host country that it wants to cultivate pushes back, and FIFA will generally go along with any late demand. If FIFA wanted to shake down US-based and international fans who want to travel to the US for the tournament, then the US always had the ability and weight to push back.

Like if I'm a state-level official in New Jersey, I would throw wrenches into plans for transportation to the stadium until FIFA ponies up the funds, no matter what contract had previously been signed. What is FIFA going to do, strip the World Cup from New York?

But on a national scale, FIFA certainly understood that they were going to get little national pressure from US leadership in the current environment.

 

The media will always criticise any tournament before it starts. Ticket prices will always be too high. Transport will almost always be an issue. If it isn't then maybe the stadiums won't be ready or the pitches not good enough or the training facilities. They will always find something. Qatar was criticised for years about the treatment of the labour used to construct the stadia. To my mind that is a far worse criticism than anything levelled at the USA.

The vast majority of World Cup viewers watch on TV. So long as the stadia look full it will be a success. There is an argument that far more different people will watch matches live than in Qatar. The only thing that concerns me is that the expansion to 48 teams will dilute the excitement, especially in the group stage. Something that isn't down to the hosts.

 

That's a remark that would make sense if the ticket prices increased 10-15%. Maybe even 20%

We're talking about literally a 1000% increase in ticket prices on average. At the same time that the quality and importance of the individual matches took a dive, on average, as you can admit to.

 

The British media is now struggling with the concept of resale (which is illegal in the UK). World Cup tickets selling for less than face value is being confused with dynamic pricing. That's at headline level.

If you read the story it eventually explains the difference, suggesting reduced resale values might be an predictor of reduced face ticket prices.

World Cup resale tickets cheaper than those available direct from FIFA | The Independent https://share.google/tqkQJZ1Nsdtw89aSM

 

Yep, many don't realize clueless Mexican gov't officials tried pushing national policy without consulting neither state gov'ts and parents' organizations.

Mexico's president has now walked it back, labeling it a "proposal" instead. Their Education Dept. head is now forced to revise his ill-conceived plan of cutting ~45 days off the school year after members of Congress demanded his resignation.

Who knew Mexican parents would object scrambling for extra childcare just because some federally-appointed idiot wanted to make a name for himself?

State gov't officials are asking why their students' instruction must be curtailed when only 3 of 31 Mexican states will host 2026 WC matches?

Apparently in Mexico, like in many other countries, regular folks know education matters, more so than a WC.

https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/nac...025-2026-preve-propuesta-final-para-el-lunes/

 

The reason was supposed to be related to the extreme weather forecasted. I guess that was just a ruse.

I spent two days in a tin roofed Bahamian classroom with no a/c. It wasn't pleasant but the weather wasn't particularly hot.

 

2026 is punch in the face of any fan, be it ticketing or anything else

qatar world cup was saved by great games and all fans in/around one city, this one is driving into total ripoff, and it is driving high speed. no matter how much I'm trying, I see nothing good about it

 

If the tickets are too expensive don’t effing buy them. If you don’t like this country don’t effing come. If you don’t like Trump nobody cares. All this effing whining is pathetic already. Stay home and watch it on TV with Mommy. What a bunch of effing wusses!

 

It does seem kinda funny that people are complaining every day about this World Cup and posting negative social media every hour when the last World Cup literally had hundreds of people killed due to its incompetence, greed and politics.

 

There was an absolute ton of complaints about the 2022 WC for years, which resulted in Infantino's memorable "I feel gay" speech a couple of days before the WC kicked off among several other defensive statements he came out with.

So, there's no inconsistency like you're trying to imply.

 

1 month to go

 

Yes. There is an inconsistency.
Unless you can prove to me that a month before the World Cup in 2022 there were people around here posting negative social media posts hourly about that tournament in the main news and analysis thread.

 

You're trying to shift the goalposts again. You were bewildered that "people are complaining every day about this WC" when the same was true for the last WC on BigSoccer and other social media. I would say this time the complaining is fairly concentrated in the few months leading up to the tournament, whereas for Qatar the complaining started well before - years.

 

How is almost quoting my post verbatim moving the goalposts?

 

Because first you just said "people are complaining every day" and then you turned into a question about whether people were complaining in exactly the same manner on a specific thread 4 years ago.

Qataris had to put up with people complaining every day for years about their country/culture/racism/politics/weather/etc while you Americans just had to put up with complaints for a few months.

Suck it up, snowflake! It hasn't been that rough.

 

That literally proves my point.
The complaining started early for Qatar but people seemed to forget about it and not have any consistent conviction whatsoever.
When it comes to the 2026 World Cup people seem to be crying and whining loudly a month before the cup and it seems to be getting worse and worse.

 

You are moving the goalpost now and do not understand my main premise. Or trying to conflate or confuse the two.

Nice try though.

 

media needs shocking titles and clickbaits, but IMHO this is the first world cup ever where there are more justified negative headlines than positive ones

I always hated that "media moaning" prior to every world cup, the only one that was really spared was 2006 even though not completely. But this time I fully understand it and I even think it is not loud enough, or at least it is not hitting the point

 

Thanks for also proving my point.

 

I have never seen a World Cup. It is all new to me and every one before 2026 was perfect in every way.

 

One month until the World Cup...