The 2026 FIFA World Cup Thread

[BACH]

maybe so. But I also don't think that many people view MLS in the same lens with other leagues in Europe. It is a great league for international players that can't play in Europe for whatever reason. Outside of Europe, ok yes. it is a strong league then. But if you look at USA's top players, they are playing in Europe, just as Morocco's players are. Like the USA, Morocco also has players that maybe were not recruited by other top Euro countries.

This is where the underrating of American Football internationally comes into play. Take for example Mason Mount vs Christian Pulisic. There's not a question of who the better player is. Yet mount was always favored ahead of Pulisic at Chelsea and was one of England's top guys for 2022. only to see Mount's career dip well below Christian's. I think Christian is on a similar trajectory as Dembele, maybe not as good, but he's developed along the same trajectory. I think Dembele even publicly acknowledged that he looked up to Pulisic for what he did at Dortmund as a teenager. Still yet no one around the world outside of maybe Milan, would put Christian on a French or England international level.

The European leagues fall in two categories. Global level of top teams & global level of the depth the league. Premier league is by far the best ranked because it has both. But leagues with good depth gives a better base than the leagues where you have a 1-4 good team and the rest is questionable. The MLS has that depth and is actually pretty good due to that. We are not talking Premier League, serie A or Bundesliga good, but comparable with eg. the Danish and Belgium league that also have that quality.

 

[Lorenzo]

The European leagues fall in two categories. Global level of top teams & global level of the depth the league. Premier league is by far the best ranked because it has both. But leagues with good depth gives a better base than the leagues where you have a 1-4 good team and the rest is questionable. The MLS has that depth and is actually pretty good due to that. We are not talking Premier League, serie A or Bundesliga good, but comparable with eg. the Danish and Belgium league that also have that quality.

for sure, I'm not trying to diminish MLS or attack your point of view. Just pointing out that MLS is not a top destination for the best American players, so it is hard to judge the MLS for its impact on the national team. I think if you look at the team that played against Turkey, that was an MLS team level all-star team comprised of American players. the preferred 11 are all a notch above that, even if someone like Ream at 38 is playing in MLS now. the MLS is contributing to our ability to have a deeper pool of players who can still play at a higher level. and i think someone like Gio Reyna who is gifted technically, would play more in MLS than he does in Germany.

If we go back to 1994, there was no MLS. that alone is a major step forward from where we were.

 

[Adrian]

Spain vs Austria kicks off in ten minutes.

 

[Adrian]

Did you wash your pulsic jersey @BooksOrangePlanet after the victory? Lol

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

Did you wash your pulsic jersey @BooksOrangePlanet after the victory? Lol

probably getting washed today!

 

[Crimson Warrior]

turn the sound down on your phone

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Jesus this gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.

He ******* knew that one was going in BGT!

 

[BACH]

for sure, I'm not trying to diminish MLS or attack your point of view. Just pointing out that MLS is not a top destination for the best American players, so it is hard to judge the MLS for its impact on the national team. I think if you look at the team that played against Turkey, that was an MLS team level all-star team comprised of American players. the preferred 11 are all a notch above that, even if someone like Ream at 38 is playing in MLS now. the MLS is contributing to our ability to have a deeper pool of players who can still play at a higher level. and i think someone like Gio Reyna who is gifted technically, would play more in MLS than he does in Germany.

If we go back to 1994, there was no MLS. that alone is a major step forward from where we were.

But this is kinda my point. The Danish and Belgium leagues are known for being the leagues where 2nd tier talents especially from football academies are sent to mature and develop. This gives the depth and increases the level of all players in that league

The top Belgian and Danish players do not play in their home league either. The talents start there and then moves on to bigger leagues.
One of biggest young/expected future megastars (froholt) debuted at 17 in the Danish league. Sold to Porto at 19 yo. Portuguese league MVP at 20. He’ll be on one of the top teams this time next year if he repeats his performance. If he had been a top top talent at a younger age he would already had transferred to a premier league club at 15-16 yo.

The Danish league has one team (consistently finishing #3-#6 in the Danish league) that only develop young players. That is the solve purpose because it is own by Right to Dream (owns San Diego in MLS and minority owner of Man city among others). If you look at their transfer list, it's a constant in flow of 15-17 yo players and a constant out flow of players mostly to 2nd tier teams in the big leagues.

 

[BACH]

I have a wager on Morocco to win it all. Also had one on the Dutch so it stunk they played each other. Couldn't lose but couldn't half win

I need to see France play, but it's hard to imagine a team that has the attacking power to touch them. Morocco is definitely elite and a good bet to make. It will be interesting to see them against Canada, coming off of the dutch game. not sure how that happens, but if Canada somehow upsets Morocco I think I will give up on picking games from now on.

France looks like the best team - by far

 

[Russ Smith]

I couldn't get it in English so I had Spanish, why did they overturn the tying goal by Croatia in the last minute was it offsides or something else?

Crazy game I think 3 goals were taken off due to VAR.

The go ahead header by Portugal my goodness what a pass and what a header beat 2 defenders for that.

You can see why the WC is so popular my goodness the games recently have been amazing.

 

[Russ Smith]

Found it online the ball touched the head of a Croatian player so that made the goal scorer offsides, I guess that's the right call

 

[ajcardfan]

Found it online the ball touched the head of a Croatian player so that made the goal scorer offsides, I guess that's the right call

Yeah, technically correct and it was extremely close. But the one scored by Ronaldo that was waved off for the exact same reason was even closer to being onside. BTW, they raised the flag on both of them so the video review actually affirmed the human beings. Amazing they got both of those calls correct when it was so razor thin that the only part of the body offside was a slice of their upper body leaning forward.

 

[Lorenzo]

But this is kinda my point. The Danish and Belgium leagues are known for being the leagues where 2nd tier talents especially from football academies are sent to mature and develop. This gives the depth and increases the level of all players in that league

The top Belgian and Danish players do not play in their home league either. The talents start there and then moves on to bigger leagues.
One of biggest young/expected future megastars (froholt) debuted at 17 in the Danish league. Sold to Porto at 19 yo. Portuguese league MVP at 20. He’ll be on one of the top teams this time next year if he repeats his performance. If he had been a top top talent at a younger age he would already had transferred to a premier league club at 15-16 yo.

The Danish league has one team (consistently finishing #3-#6 in the Danish league) that only develop young players. That is the solve purpose because it is own by Right to Dream (owns San Diego in MLS and minority owner of Man city among others). If you look at their transfer list, it's a constant in flow of 15-17 yo players and a constant out flow of players mostly to 2nd tier teams in the big leagues.

Eredivisie as well develop a lot of talent and at times produce elite squads that inevitably feed top leagues. I went to the 2019 UCL semifinal first leg in Tottenham and 3-4 of the spurs players came up with Ajax. the away fans gave standing ovations for those spurs players and booed the rest of the spurs players. it was awesome.

I think that has been one of the weak points with MLS, youth development. that has changed and gotten better over the last 10 years or so. But it is still relatively new for MLS to develop elite homegrown players. I think about half of the top players for USA are MLS developed and the other half in Europe. We also lost a few players here and there to other countries like Mexico. I think for MLS to take the next step they have to make the game more inclusive to all of the American population. As you pointed out, USA should be a better football country than they are based on population. But we are going in the right direction. There are great football nations that are struggling now. It’s not easy and having quality players is only one part of the equation. USA finally have the quality, it’s the grit that we are seeing now that is making a difference.

 

[Lorenzo]

I couldn't get it in English so I had Spanish, why did they overturn the tying goal by Croatia in the last minute was it offsides or something else?

Crazy game I think 3 goals were taken off due to VAR.

The go ahead header by Portugal my goodness what a pass and what a header beat 2 defenders for that.

You can see why the WC is so popular my goodness the games recently have been amazing.

This is how I got hooked in 1998.

 

[Lorenzo]

Found it online the ball touched the head of a Croatian player so that made the goal scorer offsides, I guess that's the right call

The Fox broadcast official expert said that the ball has a chip to confirm contact. That’s allegedly how they made the call to determine that the Portugal player that headed the ball had non intentional contact. I could not tell with the naked eye. But it is the right call I guess. I can’t understand how the Portugal player’s header is seen as not intentional. The ball did not move nearly enough for him to have incidental contact with the ball imo. It may not matter because I don’t fully understand the rule, but I think there is a case to be made that the Portuguese player plays the ball to an offside player. But if the ball changed trajectory even slightly it could be the difference between the ball going straight up in the air off the head or going backwards like it did.

 

[Chaplin]

Wow -- Save of the World Cup by Australia at the end of the game. And one of the best defensive plays as well.

Extra time with Egypt!

 

[Chaplin]

Some of the Australian decisions in the shootout were a bit head-scratching. No surprise that the two center defenders were the ones that missed their PKs. One that is only 18.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Messi is on another level this WC.

 

[Adrian]

https://x.com/YahooSports
Yahoo Sports


@YahooSports
·
53m



Messi now has 20 career goals at the World Cup, extending his lead as the tournament's all-time leading goalscorer

 

[Adrian]

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[Adrian]

https://x.com/ESPNFC
ESPN FC


@ESPNFC
·
3h



The World Cup match between Mexico and England on Sunday is likely to have its kick-off time changed due to the risk of weather disruption including flooding, sources told ESPN.Kick-off is set to become noon local time at the Estadio Azteca which is 7 PM in the UK and 2 PM ET.More: http://spr.ly/6018BDfQm8

 

[Adrian]

Polymarket Sports


@PolymarketSport
·
7h



JUST IN: Paraguay’s World Cup keeper sold his Jersey in 2022 to help pay for his son’s medical bills The buyer is offering to give it back after Paraguay’s win over Germany in the round of 32

 

[Lorenzo]

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LOL, how are they going to keep from being seen? England also won't be acclimated to the altitude. If I were them I would stay somewhere out of Mexico and fly in a few hours before the kickoff.

 

[Lorenzo]

wow the end of the CV and Argentina is a lot closer than I thought it would be.

 

[Lorenzo]

Argentina had to expend a lot for that game.

 

[Chaplin]

What a game