48 Crash - FIFA World Cup 2026

Of course we'll need a thread.

Such a bleak World Cup but I'm still p excited for it just because it's the World Cup.

that about sums it up. can't even pretend i'm gonna tune it out.

the level of "greetings fellow soccer fans" hype from advertisers and TV stations feels extra cringe this year but maybe that's just me

Yeah it's all p weird. I wish there more daytime games also, obviously that's more a gripe with football rather than every other bad thing.

Games I'm particularly looking forward to in group phase are Ecuador Germany and Scotland Brazil. Scotland Brazil feels so set up for "a famous night" for Scotland.

i don't remember the schedule being so bad in previous USA and Mexico tournaments, I assume this is another innovation of the moneyball era but maybe my memory's just shit. gonna miss a lot of group games which makes me v sad

https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/article37218975.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_IRN-BRU-are-set-to-reveal-a-completed-John-McGinn-mural-in-the-coming-daysjpeg.jpg

HE'S READY

to come home at the end of the group stage and get a good rest and a productive pre-season

haha naw but there'll be a lot of folk watching them with great interest and hopefully they can give em something to cheer about

This was the thread

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=1078909029&threadid=116760

Probably good not to use it as it has that awful fucking song at the top, however idk maybe listening to that awful fucking song will get us all in the correct mood.

i made a conscious decision to start with a clean slate

If only we could do the same for the world cup

It is once again v hard not to think Spain will go all the way. But Argentina to retain may be just as likely. Surely it's time for France to really fuck up again.

Definitely gonna be a bit weird waking up in the morning and checking what happened overnight but also a bit of a relief now it's this big.

Harder than usual to predict a surprise pacakage too - too many contenders and permutations.

Love the idea of Mexico winning not just one knockout game (unless it's v England tho would still rather go out to them than anyone else). Just beating a team of the same or better quality in the knockout would be momentous.

USA look pretty chaotic but the potential to surpass expectations is there.

https://i.postimg.cc/dVPX26Lq/IMG-0746.jpg

He’s ready (pending outcome of an MRI).

Although they have no midfield, I think Brazil could do ok this time.

Türkiye could have a good run. Mexico v South Africa has potential to be a great opener.

Not expecting it to be as even as their 2010 opener really but will admit I'm probably under-rating all the African sides (tho on their current form Panama could beat Ghana) and will be glad to be wrong.

I got Curaçao and Tunisia in the work sweepstake

I have invested a choice £20 on an accumulator on all the games against teams like Qatar, Curacao and New Zealand that could earn me a couple grand. Of course upsets happen but some of the disparities in quality seem massive.

one of the best bits of a World Cup is when those disparities suddenly evaporate tbh

New Zealand were the only unbeaten team at the World Cup in 2010, iirc!

Kinda want Iran to spank them ngl

haha naw but there'll be a lot of folk watching them with great interest and hopefully they can give em something to cheer about

Any team that brings Hanley, Souttar, McKenna and Ralston to a World Cup is on a hiding to nothing.

Kind of want to see chaos on par with the French Open men's tennis championships. We are surely guaranteed that in the US, but also what the heat (or heavy rains?!) will bring to the competition.

Must be awesome if your country is playing in Canada (or especially) Mexico.

And yeah like many I am sad not to be able to watch every single game.

Really want to see a new winner.

Reading some of the previews.

In The Guardian there is this weird bit on "What to expect from Fans" and reads stupid

What to expect from the fans
Czech supporters are unlikely to travel in big numbers in the same way as, say, England, Argentina or Mexico, but those who do are usually passionate, loud and heavily beer-fuelled (but not in a violent way). They traditionally sing simple chants such as “Cesi do toho!” (“Come on, Czechs!”) and create a friendly atmosphere mixed with self-deprecation and dark humour. Violence is very rare around the national team compared with club football. Just reaching the World Cup was worthy of heavy celebration and not many fans will have the financial resources to travel to the US and Mexico. The ones who make it, though, will not be quiet.

I was in Prague during the 2004 Euros (where they were briefly favourites) and this does not ring true at all, sadly the national team shared the support of the racist skinheads with Sparta.

Relationship with the US/Trump
In his first term as president, Trump often talked about Korea. His pursuit of a Nobel peace prize made him surprisingly amicable toward the then-leaders of the North and South, earning him a peculiar brand of popularity in Seoul. His second term, however, has struck a different chord. A public once intrigued is now fatigued by a tenure defined by tariffs and erratic foreign policy. Reports suggesting his administration pushed for Italy to replace Iran in the World Cup have only cemented his image as a reckless disruptor in the eyes of the Korean public

There is also this bit where every country's relationship with the Trump admin is evaluated.

xp yeah I am sure there will be many funniest/inaccuracies

Iraqi footballer Aymen Hussein issued a statement after being detained and questioned for seven hours upon entering the United States:

“If America is so hostile towards foreign nationals, why is it hosting the #2026WorldCup?”

move all the US-based games to Canada and Mexico imo

If the US had an ok team and it's performance could impact in the polls the government might have engineered a win.

The USA have blocked the Somali Referee Omar Artan from entering the USA, the Referee who is rated the best in Africa was blocked at entry, so he got the Somalian embassy to give him a Diplomatic Passport.

But the USA still refuses to let him in.

The USA need to be disqualified pic.twitter.com/GFjX2I4vLu

— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) June 8, 2026

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7340272/2026/06/07/kansas-city-shooting-england-world-cup-base/

Sorry this is the US Pol thread until we start kicking a ball about

BREAKING: Spain football star Yamal may not be at start of Spain’s World Cup match due to US Visa issues.

Natanyahu has personally requested for Yamal not to be allowed into the US 🇺🇸 as he was seen holding Palestinian flag 🇵🇸 during a celebration. pic.twitter.com/ZIWT8RXARS

— HODAN HOMES (@HodanHomes) June 9, 2026

Hopefully it's bollocks

That can't be true.

think he's got an injury for first two games
presume he's in USA already tho?

It's a spoof, come on

What has happened at the #2026WorldCup over the last 48 hours:

• Swiss footballer Embolo's visa was put under review and he was only able to join his team days later.

• Iraqi national team player Aymen Hussein was held for questioning for nearly 7 hours upon entering the United States.

• The Iranian national team spent days dealing with visa procedures at the U.S. Consulate in Türkiye. The U.S. only allowed them entry on match days. Fifteen members of the delegation were denied visas.

• Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named CAF's Best African Referee of 2025, was denied a visa. Despite travelling to the U.S. with a diplomatic passport, he was refused entry and sent back. FIFA announced that he will not be able to officiate at the tournament.

• The South African national team arrived in the United States much later than planned because part of the delegation was not granted visas.

• Members of the Senegal national team staff were forced to remove their shoes and subjected to lengthy searches, sparking accusations of racism.

• The Uzbekistan national team was searched with bomb-sniffing dogs and the footage went viral in international media.

• Some Scottish supporters, despite being eligible to enter the U.S. visa-free under the ESTA programme, had their travel authorisations revoked just days before departure.

• Many supporters who had already bought tickets and booked accommodation had their visa applications rejected, resulting in financial losses.

This is a little summary.

Any foreigner has to be crazy to travel to the US under any circumstances unless there's some critical personal issue, and the WC wouldn't fall under that.

i'm sure FIFA will take strong action

Some Scottish supporters, despite being eligible to enter the U.S. visa-free under the ESTA programme, had their travel authorisations revoked just days before departure.

What's this all about though?

wondering if it's a social media history check thing

https://www.readthemaple.com/canada-silent-as-american-authorities-throw-world-cup-into-chaos/

Canada, one of the tournament co-hosts, has not issued any official statement regarding the latest interruptions.

In April, Canadian border staff turned away Iranian footballing officials, forcing them to miss the pre-tournament FIFA Congress in Vancouver. Palestinian football officials also had difficulties obtaining Canadian visas for the conference.

I mean, Amnesty International is warning people not to travel to the US

bbc is ready

Who will win the 2026 World Cup? Total votes

France (9): Scott Brown, Gael Clichy, Rachel Corsie, Olivier Giroud, Danny Murphy, Paul Robinson, Tony Pulis, Alan Shearer & Chris Sutton

England (7): Thomas Frank, Joe Hart, Steph Houghton, Martin Keown, Wayne Rooney, Sue Smith & Ellen White

Spain (1): Micah Richards

Expert opinions there.

Joe Hart: England. But I am not actually that bothered whether I am right or wrong. I just like to back my people and I want England to do it.

we are paying for this guy to say this stuff.

He's breaking down the facade of BBC impartiality

does anyone here think england will win it?

who is our joe hart?

That'll be me. Scotland will win the World Cup.

You'll really shake them up when you win the World Cup

Scotland is the greatest football team so QED.

there's been some weird journalism from the BBC the last few days as football reporters are apparently discovering for the first time that

- football is a team sport
- you can only have 11 people in a team at the same time

pundits explaining this to their audience like they've discovered some arcane and puzzling mystery

The coverage is so patronising, like I feel they deeply underestimate the knowledge and intelligence of their audience, even accepting that it's a wide range of people and interest levels.

weren't you complaining about them doing exactly that more than a decade ago when you were an insider, this is just what they've been for ages

A lot of knocking on the door but Japan made it happen just now, solid goal. Let's see if they just sit on things from there.

Or not! Pretty sweet Swedish goal in turn, bit of a game now, but Japan can still hold it with a draw IIRC...

ecuador beating germany is very funny tbf

Lots of good matches today 😎

https://i.imgur.com/Ia4oHjS.jpeg

Damn aggressive start

There's that suspect US defending

hope you didnt tune in late to this one folks, each team has scored one goal

just tuned in! did I miss anything?

Walked into a full bar, game on. Hardly anybody watching. Seat closest to the TV open.

yes many celebs are in attendance

They sang the star spangled banner

Watching in split screen

Why is Berhalter

why are they taking our nations goals from us

There's that suspect US defending

― underminer of twenty years of excellent contribution to this borad (dan m), Thursday, June 25, 2026 9:11 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

unbelievable first turkey convinces the world to say the lil a at the end of their name now theyre scoring goals left and right

Wonder how hard Poch will try to win

Don't expect to see Pulisic except for maybe 10 minutes but I expect Poch will make a few stabilization subs

Trusty has basically sucked outside of the goal lmao

hes out of position imo, he's already kinda suspect as a CB as it is, putting him at LB is weird

Yeah so idk how much we're learning from the subs sadly. Other than the defensive depth is poor

So basically the US roster is top heavy as suspected.

we are Mayor McCheese

Predictions for halftime subs:

Tab Ramos in at midfield
Tony Meola in at goal

Damn son what did that goal do to you

Fuck now we'll never get rid of Berhalter

He hasn't been amazing but he's been better than the other midfielders not named McKennie imp

ImO

Really wish Dike hadn't had that spell of injuries as he was trying to get a foothold on the national team.

He hadn't really done much to earn a spot in the limited time he played for them but the dude's hold-up play was seriously impressive, he looked like he could be a better version of Altidore, but injuries wrecked his career.

Having a bruiser type that could receive the ball back to goal and turn would be quite the upgrade

Thank God Weah's done

Aaronson can sure do nothing with a lot

He was playing out of position for some reason xp

Both Aaronsons are butt

Agree that not having a classic big up front is a problem. Pepi isn't that guy.

Can Shaquille O Neal learn a new sport and de-age himself

Wonder if Paraguay and Australia agreed to draw in advance

lets just say it wasn't worth staying up for

Fan in Alexi Lalas costume

Rethink your life

they should make lalas wear the costume

Fuck. The depth shrinks further

unbelievable

entirely believable

Poch out

JK. Can't be too mad about it. Turkiye played well, US played several people out of position, several starters didn't play due to being worried about yellow card accumulation.

It did reveal what we already knew, that if one unit will be their undoing, it's the backline. Hopefully they learn a lot from this game film.

Next match will be more breaking down a low block

I am glad that Turkiye got to experience that goal scoring feeling

And their talented young player that looks like Nathan Fielder did a nutmeg. He'll remember that forever.

Nutmeg For You

steve clarke has clearly angered the football gods - every result that could have gone against him has. good

Not just the football gods he's angered tbf, still at least Celtic players have started scoring.