Knockout Stage General Discussion Thread

At least USA lost to the 2nd best team of this year's tournament, Belgium.
Change my mind, lol.

 

2nd best team is Cape Verde, undefeated in 90 minutes and Spain couldn't get a win against them.

 

I'd settle for him not making it to the weekend.

YMMV

 

Not going to bother trying to change your mind
But nah hahaha, Belgium are far from being the #2. Every football match is different, they may have given Spain the best game but many nations are better than them.

 

Not quite as theatrical, but very reminiscent of Neuer’s sweeping in 2014, which allowed Löw to line up a very slow high line and still perform through the knockouts.

 

Fair enough—every match is different. But Belgium was still the only team to score on Spain, and they looked more competitive than anyone else Spain faced.

Spain made France and Argentina look pretty ordinary for long stretches. Managers deserve credit for the preparation, but the players still have to go out there and execute. That's why I still think Belgium has a strong case.

 

Touché

 

Interesting that despite 2026 having the highest goal average of any tournament since 1970, in the end it was a defensive team, Spain, that won the tournament.

 

The 2nd best team if not the best team was Iran only side besides Spain that went undefeated, we also beat cape Verde before the world cup

 

Colombia and the Netherlands were also technically undefeated as they did not lose in group play and were only knocked out on penalties.

 

I agree, Belgium were the second best team in the tournament. As long as it’s still 2018.

 

Im not sure I agree that Belgium were second best in 2018 either. I think Croatia was slightly better.

Also despite Belgium beating Brazil, I think Brazil overall was the better team and keep in mind Casemiro was suspended for the game that Belgium beat Brazil. If Casemiro played I think Brazil would’ve made the semis. Uruguay is another team that was top notch with everyone available that World Cup.

France, Brazil, Croatia, Belgium, and Uruguay were the top 5 teams in that World Cup. I’d then probably say England, Denmark, Russia, and maybe Spain and Portugal; although Spain and Portugal definitely had some flaws and there was drama with Lopetegui being sacked right before the World Cup started.

 

They weren't defensive!

Having a good defence doesn't necessarily mean that a team is defensive.

 

For anyone asking whether there has ever been another World Cup final where one team had had zero shots on target in normal time. The answer is yes, twice

Argentina in 1990 and
Argentina in 2014.​

 

My final updated rankings after the world cup.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/alternative-world-rankings-thread.2092151/page-27

WORLD SOCCER RANKINGS JULY 2026

1. Spain - 94
2. Argentina – 93
3. France - 89
4. England - 82
5. Norway – 78
6. Germany – 76
7. Portugal – 75
8. Switzerland - 74
9. Netherlands - 72
10. Brazil – 71
11. Belgium - 71
12. Morocco - 69
13. Colombia – 69
14. USA - 67
15. Mexico - 66
16. Japan – 64
17. Paraguay - 62
18. Senegal – 61
19. Turkey - 60
20. Ecuador – 59

 

The WC final was actually very similar to Cabo Verde x Spain. One would have trouble pointing to 2 games in this WC that resembled each other more.

 

Germany far too high IMO. They have had home advantage in the previous 2 Euros which obscures their real level IMO. But even with that, their results don't justify #6 or even top 10.

Results aside, they're just not that good on paper.

 

I probably agree, but they've had a number of big wins in qualifying, nations league, and their Euro was decent. Also a number of big friendly wins. Lot of high scoring wins too which bring you up on my ranking formula.

 

Belgium-France should've been the final. They were clearly the two best teams.

 

The brackets were very lopsided in the 2018 WC which makes it very difficult to rank the teams. An argument could be made that the 4 best teams were all in the top half of the bracket.

As usual, England were in the easier half. Their luck in this regard is remarkable (including the Euros also), but at least it helped in keeping Southgate around longer than he deserved!

Lopsided brackets was one thing I was worried about going into this 48-team 2026 WC, although in the end they weren't too bad. Top half was still stronger but nothing like Russia 2018 or Euro 2024.

 

Definitely. It will be very interesting to see what Zidane does with this group of French players. The expectations will be very high.

 

I got up before 5am ET this morning to watch the livestream of his first press conference as France manager. Deschamps probably hurt the team's evolution by staying at the helm for 14 years. I think Zidane will do well. He is inheriting a very strong squad that for the most has its best years ahead of it. I think his biggest task will be to find the right combination of players to use in midfield. He does appreciate that Spain will be the team to beat in the major tournaments to come.

 

Other teams to watch out for are England and Portugal, and I believe Netherlands, Italy, and maybe Germany will become top teams again very soon with better coaches.

Netherlands has the talent. The talent is there but so far the coaching has not been.

Same with Italy. Talent is there, although to be fair quite a few key Italian players have been underperforming at club level this past season like Barella, Bastoni, Frattesi, DiMarco, and Chiesa; but they’ll be back! Coaching has been terrible recently, but with Mancini back, should improve a lot.

Germany with Klopp I have high hopes in.

Portugal has enormous talent but it hasn’t been used right. A front three of Leao, Conceicao, and Goncalo Ramos as striker should be deadly.