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

Mick McCarthy it can't get any worse it can gif

I think the coverage is probably worse for big tournaments for several reasons including an assumption about the audience being more casual, but I'm hearing this during standard football reporting, incredulously questioning Tuchel on why his 15 starters aren't all starting etc

I don't think England will win it but I think they can...same confidence level as four years ago and er....2006 lol.

Japan beat Germany and Spain in the groups four years ago. Really like to see them go far

this is also amazing.

Joe Hart: I am not really a lover of dark horses. When it comes to any tie I always want the main team to win, and it will be a pretty similar feeling when I watch this tournament.

the main team

lol thats crazy

would love to dig into it a bit like how he felt when france weren't 'the main team'

That might explain some of his performances in Europe for Celtic

main team syndrome

he just loves the unplucky overdogs

what does he feel if watching a game with no top seed in it? perhaps a stupid question.

That's really bizarre. Surely one of the greatest pleasures of World Cups is seeing a South Korea or a Japan beating an established nation.

xp guessing he just makes a snap judgement on which team looks more heteronormative and goes for them

I can see Japan getting three draws and then stuck with France or Brazil in the round of 32 but hope Hart is not given such satisfaction.

Meanwhile FIFA cunts wouldn't even reassign the Somalian ref to matches only in Canada or Mexico? Disgrace.

Yeah they deserve as much or really more blame for this than the cuntish US gov

yeah its interesting that planned international travel is way below expectation not just in the us but for canada and mexico too

This is nice.

🗣️ “I want to say thank you to Algeria for choosing Lawrence, Kansas.” 🇺🇸

The locals in USA are all getting behind Algeria. 🇩🇿 pic.twitter.com/e2kejLtxjb

— Dean Ammi (@AlgerianFooty) June 8, 2026

https://www.theringer.com/2026/06/10/soccer/world-cup-2026-fifa-donald-trump-gianni-infantino-united-states

How do you stage a tournament while attacking the very basis of its existence, morally and also physically? Welcome to our celebration of openness and international friendship, which we hate! All visitors are welcome here, except the ones we arbitrarily throw into prison, which probably won’t be you, but maybe! Please write your credit card number on this form. How can you stage an event when you can’t even be bothered to conceal that this is your attitude toward it?,

Haven't seen this World Cup visa denial story circulating yet. Moroccan player Zakaria El Ouahdi, who plays in Belgium's top division, was initially denied a US visa on the basis that his father has what authorities deemed a suspicious beard pic.twitter.com/yEuGZI2lrE

— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) June 10, 2026

also was looking at what looked like a pic of dozens of armed paramilitary thugs tackling a pitch invader during a friendly. This needs to be cancelled and relocated ASAP

My view on this tournament is i fucking hate my country right now and I have zero excitement for this anymore.

The athletes and the other nations who are being treated like shit are not to blame for our fucking shit and as such I cheer for them but I'm so fuckin dreading what else the current administration is going to pull at this tournament

Facial profiling, god bless the USA

The foreign players and officials with work visas who come here the rest of the year to play/officiate in MLS and other tournaments here don't even seem to go through this shit this bad, it's just extra performative cruelty

the Nazis even toned down the racism for the ’36 olympics

You can't go in together
With suspicious beard

Lol

As mentioned on the podcast — the funniest commentary moment of all time.

Mark Saggers, TalkSport, 2010. https://t.co/FTXCNEBgwZ pic.twitter.com/NumtARsQnR

— WhoRemembersPod (@whorememberspod) June 11, 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/11/omar-artan-scandal-gianni-infantino-donald-trump-world-cup

Perhaps you still regard sporting spectacle as your cherished escape from politics. In which case enjoy your World Cup of games split into four quarters, decimated by heat and exhaustion, compromised by an unfair qualification process. Enjoy your largely meaningless group stage, the thousands of empty seats, the masked police standing guard just at the edge of shot, the long lingering shots of Infantino and JD Vance in the stands.

It could be really bad, but Qatar might've been a disaster and it turned out to be p good..

apart from the construction worker deaths

Talking about the football.

All of these global tournaments are insane in scale from what they started as..

loving all of this AI-upscaled and colourised archival footage, might just ask Grok to simulate the 2026 final for me and get it over with.

Gonna laugh when Poch's first US World Cup is a 3 and out

i know opening ceremonies are rubbish but rather that than the thoughts of Mark Pougatch

Scores about to be lopsided

bit of Wolves interest to get the tournament started

Nice first opportunity

Come on me bebés

South African defence is flaky af

Oh it's already started, missed it.

Megged the keeper

perfect first goal lol

Mexico are hardly the killer instinct squad of decades past and you could feasibly counter on em but it's gonna take more than Hail Mary through balls

Mexico is just sitting back anticipating these, gotta possess the ball longer before sending runners to at least force the defender to make a decision.

Mexico and RSA two of the great underachieving teams, though on v different levels.

I feel like Mex is gonna leak one

@Neanderthal, you could be right but so far RSA very poor going forward.

RSA goalkeeper is pretty good

As Keano just pointed out he did give the goal away tho

He made a couple of iffy passes before that too. Feel like both of these keepers have a critical mistake in them

I say this every tournament but I can't stand Mark Pougatch.

Absolutely dreadful. At least we don't normally have to see Matterface's face

south africa keeper a bit of a stiff innit

This game is over

people don’t score free kicks anymore. oooo remembers white dog shit, hairy fannies and free kick goals

Theo (11) is very amused by the name Sithole

Sithole more like Sit this one out

Mexico of like 2014 would be up 3-0 by now

Even in a low block they're leaving holes everywhere

(South Africa)

wth at these anti-time wasting rules

I get why they have this refreshment break with all these hot stadiums with no AC and great opportunity for more adverts, but why don't they stop the clock?

The reason they're not effective is that the punishments are all football-specific. Goalie takes more than 9 seconds to take goal kick, automatic corner for other team? Goalie don't care.

Goalie gets smacked in the face with a sock with a padlock in it? Now the game is moving

Fucking camera cuts to Infantino occasionally. Bring back Salma Hayek at least.

why don't they stop the clock?

If they don't stop it for other play stoppages like injuries, why would they do it here?

Typically stoppage time is inflated anyway in matches with drink breaks and we remember how egregious the stoppage was last WC

there was only a few minutes of stoppage time in the first half, despite the refreshment break

This half feels like it’s gone on for about 40 minutes already.

guessing they want to reinforce "no we aren't dividing it into quarters!"

Mexican fans getting restless

First half stoppage is almost always shortchanged compared to second

Raul!

Yeaaaaaaaaa Raul!

Wolves!

Not that many goalies are stopping this at point blank with nobody marking dude but this goalie also has seemingly no ability to make himself bigger

Xpost ay we!

south africa are dung

Ah bless the var ref must have been feeling neglected

Yiiikes

Spirit of Cameroon '90 but evil

Ok who had a bet on two reds?

south africa should get 11 reds for being pish

face of the SA player being told he was getting a red card and not understanding what the referee was saying was pretty funny

Just about dragged myself to the point of being happy that the World Cup was happening, one VAR atrocity seemed to have been enough to put paid to that

Whole stadium including the players directly involved had no idea what was happening or why

Hahahahahaha

Ok who had a bet on two reds?

Three.

lol, what a start.

Lol at beginning tourney with a 3 red affair

well that was a stupid thing to do

bullshit red

Hahahaha. Wow.

How the fuck is that a red?

Still time for a fourth.

not really showing off the best of the sport today

Whole reffing establishment has completely lost the run of itself

Can't be a clear goal scoring opportunity on the basis that we've seen what the South African forwards are like for the last hour and a half

And still time for Infantino to get struck by lightning.

You just got CONCACAFed

Does not bode well for the rest of the tournament tbh.

Almost as many red cards as corners.

is there like a golden boot competition but for refs and red cards?

Ah man this feels like a proper World Cup already

feels flat, off

Appears to be a total lack of atmosphere at this game too.

(xp)

Prop bettors cashing in those +20000 long shots today

do clears really seem to go 10-15% further faster in mex city

must be lack of atmosphere

Think i might have to give the 3am kickoff a miss

Funny because you'd have thought opening in Mexico with Mexico would have set the gold standard for atmosphere. It's all downhill from here

get you all back here at 3am for s.korea v czech republic

Might have to boycott this tournament now

I imagine the fact that no-one but rich people can afford to watch Mexico's games doesn't help.

Czechia for the dour draw

Korea will nick a win I think/hope

The cat woke me up at 3am yesterday so if he does it again I will remember to switch the telly on

Trying to work out what the nadir will be, atmosphere-wise. Got to take into account hot weather, difficult-to-reach stadiums, both sets of fans facing travel difficulties with USA visas, etc.

At a glance, Jordan vs Algeria at Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara on June 22nd looks particularly grim.

Y'all gotta be more positive, everyone was nervous in the opener.

Feel like the cobwebs will be shaken off enough for us to see 4, maybe 5 reds in the next one

that second red on RSA was pretty soft I thought. weird match

it looked soft but he did slap him round the head

You just got CONCACAFed

Looking forward to more of this but it's too bad we only have Panama and no Costa Rica or Honduras around for it

xppp yeah first matches in the group stage always throws up some low excitement stuff, love it

They're always sensitive about possible intentional contact to head, but if that was a red, most MLS matches would finish 8 v 7

it looked soft but he did slap him round the head

30 years ago a child would slap him round the head.

Might start a separate "Pougatch must die" thread

Key differences between the last time we hosted the Cup, we didn't even have a first division league, though we did have a Constitution

I don't remember any 3 in the morning our time kickoffs in 94

"Jordan vs Algeria at Levi's Stadium"

Gonna enjoy finding out what American stadiums are called.

one thing i remember from 94 is a US entrepreneur who was planning to make several changes to the game to get more interest in the sport, including marked zones so you got one point for a goal from the box up to four points for a goal from over the halfway line

That's kinda what Major League Soccer was in its fledging years.

No draws (everything went to PKs), clock counted down, and points were awarded based on some weird formula based on wins plus goals scored

xxp apparently the 49ers play there now, it's a replacement for candlestick park

Xpost Though the PKs weren't from the spot, they were like hockey penalties.

One of the stadiums is called America First stadium but thank God it's not a host stadium

Not MAGA themed, it's named for a credit union formed in 1939

Funniest one I can see is Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens

Funniest thing is there are a bunch of footie-specific stadiums in America because Don Garber requires most MLS teams build them to get a franchise, but most of them only hold 20,000 - 30,000, so most of the stadiums hosting games in the US are American football stadiums that don't actually have association football teams playing in them (Atlanta one exception)

The good thing about a 5 hour gap between matches is now we have ample time to pore over the amazing highlights of that first match

there's a lot of Amapiano-centred banter on Twitter right now :D

Guadalajara crowds seems pro-Korea overall

ha all of peacocks usa copa is in spanish which is good for me but…man i am there for this aspect of coverage in eeuu

whoa Korea

Two Wolves scorers on the first day, I'm guessing that's a first lol

Winning goal by a Brendan Rodgers' reject.

Looked like a good game

real heads* were up for it. south korea were tasty going forward but very vulnerable at the back. CR seemed like a bunch of haramball hoofers

(those with work-related anxiety and insomnia)

Yeah just watched the highlights and lol @ that Czech goal.

Good going forward (such a cool finish for the 1st goal) but they will be undone by the defense.

That's SK ^

---

These are some tasty games over the next few days, that I can watch.

13th Brazil Morocco 11pm
14th Netherlands Japan 9pm
15th Ivory Coast Ecuador 12am
16th France Senegal 8pm
17th England Croatia 9pm

CR seemed like a bunch of haramball hoofers

those haramball hoofers couldve been us *cry emoji*

Might take ceremonial shrooms before rooting for Paraguay at 2 in the morning god bless the weekend

Not even sure I'm going to stay up to watch Scotland's first appearance at a World Cup finals since 1998 tbh.

Planning to watch that one, also the weekend

Just getting up whenever Sunday AM and watching the entire match on catch-up without spoilers is my plan.