The official FIFA world cup thread

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

Starting early with the draw later today. Everyone excited?

Who do we want England to get in the group stages? According to something I read apparently the worst case scenario (i.e highest ranking sides) would be Croatia, Panama and Jordan which doesn't feel particularly frightening. Suppose replacing Croatia with Scotland would add a bit of spice.

Either way, am fully expecting the WC to be a bit of a bore fest until at least the last 16...

Likely to be a few ex Saints in the tournament and potentially a couple of current ones (e.g the Irish).

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Draw starts at 5 right?

Probably won't finish until 8!

[disconnect]

2 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Starting early with the draw later today. Everyone excited?

Who do we want England to get in the group stages? According to something I read apparently the worst case scenario (i.e highest ranking sides) would be Croatia, Panama and Jordan which doesn't feel particularly frightening. Suppose replacing Croatia with Scotland would add a bit of spice.

Either way, am fully expecting the WC to be a bit of a bore fest until at least the last 16...

Likely to be a few ex Saints in the tournament and potentially a couple of current ones (e.g the Irish).

If that's the worst case scenario then makes a mockery of the whole extended format, and imagine we'll see some of the biggest ever scorelines next year. Might even mean we could rest Harry Lead Boots for a few games so he doesn't look like he's running through treacle by the time we play anyone half decent 🤣

[Turkish]

absolutely buzzing for the 2026 World Soccerball Series beamed live around the world from the US of A!!

[Doctoroncall]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

absolutely buzzing for the 2026 World Soccerball Series beamed live around the world from the US of A!!

…. And Canada and Mexico. 

[Turkish]

Just now, Doctoroncall said:

…. And Canada and Mexico. 

just states of the US pal

[LGTL]

Ah, the USA World Cup 2026, featuring Mexico and Canada. No idea why the latter two bothered in all honesty, you wouldn’t think they were even involved.

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

What a stellar cast for the draw.

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/articles/final-draw-ferdinand-brady-oneal-gretzky-judge?fbclid=IwdGRzaAOftlZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6RCAy1QOYc0aUN4hRBQ4h-qzMrE8OH0qON2I1Nnp39EEGCOo3KlfNB9OlHlw_aem_cocJeScJCrrF22g-dQ-bFA

[pingpong]

2 hours ago, disconnect said:

If that's the worst case scenario then makes a mockery of the whole extended format, and imagine we'll see some of the biggest ever scorelines next year. Might even mean we could rest Harry Lead Boots for a few games so he doesn't look like he's running through treacle by the time we play anyone half decent 🤣

I'd argue that Uruguay, ivory coast and Italy would be harder, which is also possible.

Other teams in our group could be

Croatia, Uruguay, Norway, Morocco, Senegal, Australia, Ghana, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Turkiye.

All of which I'd argue are better than Jordan or Panama.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by pingpong
Too many uefa for one group

[Totton Saint]

4 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Draw starts at 5 right?

Probably won't finish until 8!

The actual draw is much later after all the razzmatazz before hand has finished. The draw itself is on TV.

[die Mannyschaft]

England will get Scotland, Panama and Cape Verde an easy group.

Some pundit on England last game said if Kane not available there isn't another striker to replace him. No wonder Saints are struggling to find a striker, looks like they don't make them anymore.

[die Mannyschaft]

Fifa's big idea is to set up the best chance of blockbuster ties in the latter stages of the World Cup.

So for the first time it is giving special seeding status to the top four in the world rankings - Spain, Argentina, France and England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c997y4l20jgo

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

2 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Fifa's big idea is to set up the best chance of blockbuster ties in the latter stages of the World Cup.

So for the first time it is giving special seeding status to the top four in the world rankings - Spain, Argentina, France and England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c997y4l20jgo

 

It's written in the stars (and stripes) 🇺🇸

[Willo of Whiteley]

Would quite like USA to get drawn with Iran and Mexico purely to see Donald Trump’s injunction to try and remove them from the tournament.

Couldn’t actually care less about the draw itself.