World Cup 2026 Chatter

I enjoyed the Korea v Czechia game. I haven't watched many Czechia games, so either they are a one trick pony or they knew Korea struggled with set pieces. Mexico v Korea is going to be a fun matchup.

 

I can confirm. I watch on Telemundo via Peacock, and there weren't any ads during the game.

Now if I just spoke Spanish....

 

My Spanish has definitely gone downhill over the past 20 years, but soccer announcer Spanish has always been a tough one for me. But it's still more enjoyable than listening to the english speaking announcers babble about their time trying to defend Henry.

 

Maybe worth a note: while watching the Korea-Czechia replay this morning, they showed an RSL ad (in Spanish) during the halftime break. Local ads on Peacock is relatively new (or they've always done it and I only recently noticed because they just patched a bug that allowed me to skip commercials on some browsers), and it's good to see that someone in RSL marketing is trying something new and tied to the World Cup

 

So the US plays tonight . . . in my lifetime, the US men have won only *six* games in the World Cup.

1994: USA 2, Colombia 1
2002: USA 3, Portugal 2
2002: USA 2, Mexico 0
2010: USA 1, Algeria 0
2014: USA 2, Ghana 1
2022: USA 1, Iran 0

World Cup wins are exceedingly precious. There have only been three more I wasn't alive for - two in 1930 and one in 1950.

In contrast, the US Women won six games in the first tournament - 1991 - and my rough count is they've won 41 World Cup games all-time.

 

That 2002 Portugal game was a Highlight of my soccer fandom. I gave a presentation for a few hundred students and faculty at the University of Porto a few days prior to the match and Figo was injured in training that morning. I felt we would win because of it. At the end of my presentation I announced the USA would win 3-2. It was apparently the best joke everyone in the auditorium had ever heard. That was Portugal’s Golden Generation team too.

 

Apples and Oranges. It's like comparing the well run USWNT to the USMNT. Not a fair comparison. lol

Also, the world is trying to, and catching up with, the USWNT as the USMNT is trying to catch up to the world. At least I think they are trying. We shall see.

 

A big cheer for the USMNT. I didn’t think they had the kind of play they showed in the 1st half.

 

It was absolutely glorious.

 

Wow, comprehensive victory. Paraguay didn't seem to know what steamroller they'd run into. Winning the first game matters a ton in WC group play, and my guess is goal difference will be important.

 

Friday Night was USA's biggest margin of victory in the qualification era. But, curiously, we beat Paraguay 3-0 in 1930! So, it equals the biggest victory in USA World Cup history.

 

The most goals the USA men have ever scored in a World Cup match.

 

Ojeda was on the Paraguay bench. I was happy to see he made the squad.

 

83 - Chris Richards completed all 83 passes he attempted for the #USMNT against Paraguay, the most passes with a 100 percent accuracy rate by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966.

Perfection. pic.twitter.com/kTD2kmrrPa

— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) June 13, 2026

 

Everybody had a great game. It was so fun to watch. I had been nervous all afternoon after watching Canada crap the bed against Bosnia, so it was a real relief in the first 5 minutes to see that we got "good" Weston tonight.

 

Awesome game by the US. Second half they took a bit to find their rhythm, but it was great watching the whole team defend, the way they transitioned from 4 in the back to 3 in the back so fluidly, and the creativity in the midfield. I was a little irritated when Gio came on because he seemed sluggish and lacked any urgency, but then he showed how dangerous he can be. Great game all around. Wish Balogun could’ve got his hat trick.

According to Google AI, the first player to score a hat trick in World Cup play was Bert Patenaude, when the US beat Paraguay in 1930.

 

They said that on the broadcast. So, unless Stu Holden is using an LLM to inform his color commentary, you can consider that confirmed.

 

Everything about 1930 should come with an asterisk. It was an invitation tournament and a good number of top teams said no to the transatlantic crossing. Every tournament after 1930 had some form of qualification process.

 

We watched at the theater at Jordan Commons. Pretty enjoyable. The package included a large tub of room temp, butterless popcorn. So I didn’t overeat. A large soda too.

 

It wasn’t that salty. In fact there was almost no taste at all.