The draw for World Cup 2026 Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Euro Playoff D (Denmark, Czech Republic, Rep of Ireland, N Macedonia Group B: Canada, Euro Playoff A, Qatar, Switzerland, Euro Playoff D (Italy, Wales, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland) Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Euro Playoff C (Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo, Romania) Group E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Euro Playoff B (Ukraine, Poland, Albania, Sweden) Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand Group H: Spain, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Cape Verde Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, Fifa Playoff 2 (Iraq v Bolivia or Suriname) Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Fifa Playoff 1 (DR Congo v Jamaica or New Caledonia Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
has been for years. I worked with a woman who went to school with him from a kid. She said he was thick as shit, which wasn't helped by teachers who gave him good marks year after year. Even from a young age he was looked up on as a phenom and they wanted to get on his good side. She said he was lucky he didn't get an early injury, or he'd end up with a career that involved little more than asking if you want fries with that.
Boy, I sure hope there are mass boycotts for the WC. Friends and I were considering but no longer. Football has become a farce. Watch and care less and less every day.
the nonstop money-grubbing, ass-kissing, human-rights ignoring etc etc has taken something very enjoyable and made it completely disgusting.
Fuck FIFA and fuck this World Cup. There will be 6 matches an hour and a half from my house, but I won't be watching. Fuck Infantino. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c8988118gj9o
Feels like a metaphor for the US and the world at large. Pay an incredible amount of money for a product that is going to be subpar. Most of the stadiums are well outside the city centers and have minimal if any public transport links. So in addition to the ticket you'll be paying $100 or so for parking/ uber plus A 20 dollar beer and another 20 for whatever crappy food you want. Pushing 500 to watch Uzbekastan vs Tunisia. And oh yeah 75% of the teams in the first round will advance anyways so good chance the match your watching will only matter for seeding. I was planning on going but not at these prices. I'll watch the tickets, especially in SF, LA, and the Mexico venues (can fly domestic in Mexico by using the TJ airport) but at this point I'm more out than in. The reality though is the stadiums will be full because Americans love a big event, and football has become huge in the US, especially among upper middle class suburbanites. If you are already paying 10,000 + a year for your kid to play travel soccer, what's another couple of grand for them to watch an honest to god W.C. match in person. Makes me nostalgic for the days when only me and people with accents actually knew the world cup was happening.
So Seattle pride celebration game is between Iran and Egypt yeah that is going to go down well with those countries
From a friend of and friend type of thing. FIFA are (unofficially) very concerned with a wave of ticket and package cancellations that have happened in the last month. At the moment, this stands at about 40,000 (supposedly), but it has caught the eye and the spreadsheets in Zurich. Many of these have happened during the cooling off period, but all indicators have the dynamic pricing and political climate in the US as the leading reasons. More tickets at lower prices are now flooding the market. The hope in Zurich is that things will level out and find stability when the cooling off periods end. I’m not convinced. The way Lumpy is going, he’ll be at war, have bombed or have threatened, over half the participants by the first kick off.
He's giving it a damn good shot .... not gonna go through the whole list but there's a few WC countries in that list. Even though this is about immigrants and not visitors, their fans (and maybe players coaches etc etc) would be nuts to take the chance ... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/14/immigrant-visas-suspended-trump Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries The state department cites welfare use as it pauses visa processing for Brazil, Iran, Russia, Somalia and others The Donald Trump administration has indefinitely suspended immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries, marking one of its most expansive efforts yet to restrict legal pathways to the United States. The freeze, which takes effect on 21 January, targets applicants officials deem likely to become a “public charge” – who they describe as people who may rely on government benefits for basic needs. The state department wrote on social media that it “will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”. According to a state department cable obtained by the Guardian, the full list of countries affected will be Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, the Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen. “The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the statement continued. “We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused.”
Shows how dumb Lumpy truly is - if he was a real power player he would have negotiated a US World Cup title in advance. Poor effort.
FIFA should kick the US out of the tournament and move all of the matches out of the country. They won't, but they should. Fuck Infantino.
Not saying it's likely but there is a very real possibility that the W.C. has to be canceled or postponed do to Mango Mussolini. I think it's better than 50/50 that one of the below happen. 1. "Invades Greenland" 2. Bombs Mexico 3. Invokes the insurrection act If he invades Greenland they'll be a lot of pressure on any country not led by a Trump Sycophant to boycott the W.C. particularly among European countries. If he bombs Mexico what does that do to the border? Are two host nations now at war? If he invokes the insurrection act how can we host a W.C. with troops in the streets? The reality is he will probably do all of those things AND the W.C. will go ahead because money is more important than the lives of people. (well at least the people who would be hurt)
Yup, your analysis is spot on. What I will say, however, is that Lumpy talking about all these things and doing any of them is great for him because there’s no Epstein in the headlines. Where you really need is a Lumpy-whisperer (now, there’s a f.uck of a job) to divine how many of the above are serious, realistic things or are they all an Epstein shield? Where the seasoned Lumpy-whisperer (now, there’s an even worse f.uck of a job) would come into his/her own would be to predict the likelihood that if some/any of these Epstein shields have unexpected legs, whether or not he’d follow through on it in a situational fashion. A little like how we ended up with Isak.