Do not confuse Summer months in the northern hemisphere with Winter months in the southern hemisphere. 2014 WC: GER defeats both BRA+ARG under mild weather.
Well then, I guess that settles it. Colombia and Morocco in the Championship match based on the weather. Seriously, people seem to forget there will be games indoors and some mild places. Seattle and Toronto are usually not that bad. Mexico City is actually not bad either this time of year (It is just the smog and altitude that gets you there.)
So the cooking of the books is this time going to be making the top countries play in the hell holes and the USA/Mexico/Canada in the pleasant ones.
You know what, for the Group stage that does not seem that far-fetched of an idea. Even some of the knockouts. The Semis are both indoors so at least the round won't be affected by weather.
I do remember there were some very hot and humid games in Brazil. There is a wide variety of weather in the different parts of Brazil.
Toronto is definately bad in the summer. Morocco aren't that great in very hot and humid weather which is part of why they crashed out early in the last afcon. USA 1994 had some very severe weather in certain cities, and it will likely be the same this time around. I predict the European teams won't dominate as much as they did in Russia, Germany. It's been pretty consistent that they do worse in non European world cups and I expect that trend to continue.
Brasil-Colombia then. The Climate controlled stadiums are much more relevant for quality and there's more quantity this time around when compared to '94 though. It won't be as bad. I am hoping though the European teams suffer in the heat that is for sure.
The sod should be okay. They have had University scientists working on it for years now and it will be laid with enough time for it to settle. Maybe by the end of the tournament there could be some wear and tear though to your point.
Toronto can be bad but look. Next week is going to be in the 70s Fahrenheit which I will take any day of the week in July. Let's see how it is next year.
Yet, you referenced GER victories in Brazilian territory as examples of overcoming hot weather. People tend to conflate matches in BRA with hot weather. GER 2014 WC matches were far from that.
Germany's games against France, Brazil and Argentina were all daytime games, with the latter two both starting at 16h local.
The highest temperature I can find from those three matches was 23C. And 16h kickoffs meant that sunset happened during the game at that time of year.
Rare Orange Shark With White Eyes Spotted Off The Coast Of Costa Rica By Austin Harvey Published August 21, 2025 This is the Orange Omen of our first WC title next year.
Years ago, I made up some imaginary results for a future 2026 WC where the Netherlands did indeed win their first title by defeating hosts USA 5-2 in the final. Funny because I bet most USMNT fans would probably kill for that result now.
At this point in time I would take a surprise win of an easy home cooking FIFA Group and beating a mediocre third place team in the round of 32. Anything after that for USA is gravy as they say.
The worrying thing for Orange Squad fans is that we have a moron as coach, who at the moment selects/selected as attackers players who can't score (Brobbey, despite being at Ajax), or are has beens, Depay (who made us play with one man less than the opponent, so woefully bad was his contribution in the WC) and Weghorst (a pinchhitter with no technical skills at all) and leaves at home one of the topscorers of Ligue 1 and the Dutch relevation Mexx Meerdink, who's the last two years a regular subject in Spanish footy media, who are in awe about him. That's not a surprise, as he's scoring goals we only saw from masters like Bergkamp and van Persie. But hey, we got a moron running the show.
It is basically Spain on their own planet. Then everyone else. 1) Spain 2) France 3) Argentina 4) England 5) Brasil 6) Germany 7) Netherlands 8) Portugal 9) Colombia 10) Uruguay Japan/Morocco still the best of the Non -World Cup Confederations. Canada is playing well but still cannot see them making it past the round of 16 at best.
Can Portugal win outside of Europe? They have won a Euro and Nations Leagues but underachieved in Korea and Brasil and Qatar etc. They are due to break through but I am still hesitant to put them ahead of a team like Germany.
For someone with nothing to do better with his time: Put together a list of the nations that made the final 8 of the WC since 2000 and compare that with predictions in here.
Brazil - 6 times Argentina, England, France, Germany - 4 Netherlands - 3 Spain, Croatia, Belgium, Portugal, Uruguay - 2 Korea, USA, Senegal, Turkey, Ukraine, Italy, Ghana, Paraguay, Colombia, Costa Rica, Russia, Sweden, Morocco - 1
48 spots in total, of which 13, or 12 if one still counts Italy as a powerhouse, went to "cinderella teams". From those the semi finalists were: Of those in the Final: