World Cup 2026

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 hours ago, Polaroid Saint said:

If Scotland are still hanging on by Saturday night, (and if Croatia get any result against Ghana), then England could always throw the Panama game, lose by 3, and finish third in the third place table. Thus indirectly knocking Scotland out. 

Down from high 40% chance to just over 5% for Scotland this morning. 

[rallyboy]

Just planning ahead we need to choose what we're having for Christmas lunch.

Just like the BBC, I can't decide between Turkear and Turkeyay at the moment.

It's bonkers.

[chiknsmack]

10 hours ago, Polaroid Saint said:

Classic case of only seeing him for thirty minutes at the world cup, but...

...that Kevin Rodriguez CDAJFU. Just the profile striker we've been talking about.

1 in 6 in the Belgian pro league is hardly pulling up trees, but right age to be coached into a dangerous target man for a team like Saints in the Championship.

Mentioned him on here a couple of weeks ago, looking at tall strikers in the last year (give or take) of their contracts (there's a club option for another year in Rodriguez's).

On 08/06/2026 at 01:36, chiknsmack said:

Kevin Rodriguez is in the Brighton system at Union SG in Belgium. That Brighton scouting setup can find a South American or three, and after a knee injury ended his first season there and his second season was shit he went alright (eight in 21) last season.

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

🤣🤣 Love the thought of the Sweaties hanging around waiting to see if their historic victory over the mighty Haiti might be the one, the result which finally gets them out of the group. Why don’t they just fuck off home. Feels as pointless as me hanging around back stage hoping to get a blow job off Shania Twain. About the same odds. 
 

Hopefully one day they do it, you never know FIFA might extend it to 84 teams next time..

 

[revolution saint]

47 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

🤣🤣 Love the thought of the Sweaties hanging around waiting to see if their historic victory over the mighty Haiti might be the one, the result which finally gets them out of the group. Why don’t they just fuck off home. Feels as pointless as me hanging around back stage hoping to get a blow job off Shania Twain. About the same odds. 
 

Hopefully one day they do it, you never know FIFA might extend it to 84 teams next time..

 

Still not big enough for Italy to qualify though.

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

🤣🤣 Love the thought of the Sweaties hanging around waiting to see if their historic victory over the mighty Haiti might be the one, the result which finally gets them out of the group. Why don’t they just fuck off home. Feels as pointless as me hanging around back stage hoping to get a blow job off Shania Twain. About the same odds. 
 

Hopefully one day they do it, you never know FIFA might extend it to 84 teams next time..

 

I am sure we will get the "going home because other results didn't go their way" when of course it is because they did fuck all apart from scoring one entire goal against Haiti.

In the old days (1986/1990) 3 points was rarely enough to get through as a 3rd place team and its looking that way again. Get on the plane lads.

[saintant]

Think it's time to change the words of the song from 'No Scotland, no party' to 'No Scotland, let's party'

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

Looking forward to the pride match tonight. Should be a cracker.

[saintant]

13 hours ago, saintant said:

Unlikely as they are going to finish high up in the table of 3rd place teams.

Looks like we are still projected to play Ecuador which would be a very tough game judging by their performance against Germany.

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

Norway making a mockery of the naff group stage format, making 10 changes v France.

France take the lead after 6 mins. Could quite easily be 4-0 already.

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

What's this weird Viking rowing thing the Norwegian fans have started doing. Its up there with "mauled by the tigers" for naffness.

[die Mannyschaft]

France look very good moving ball forward at every opportunity. All players best in thier position playing for top clubs according to my son. So why aren't England playing this was also? Germany dont have enough top players in all positions and that shows in thier games.

 

[die Mannyschaft]

Good news on the Scotland front.

[die Mannyschaft]

21 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

What's this weird Viking rowing thing the Norwegian fans have started doing. Its up there with "mauled by the tigers" for naffness.

No doubt some ticktock craziness for viking boats

[die Mannyschaft]

Useless pen by Norway another stutter pen easily saved.

[Challenger]

8 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Useless pen by Norway another stutter pen easily saved.

Yep, another soft shoe shuffle followed by a back pass. Why do they persist with this bollox ?

[qwertyell]

Reece James ruled out for at least the next two games with his perennially dodgy hamstrings.

Darren Anderton was less of a sick note. 

 

[RedArmy]

Bit of a shame really. I wanted Scotland to get sent home by Cape Verde taking their spot. 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

30 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Reece James ruled out for at least the next two games with his perennially dodgy hamstrings.

Darren Anderton was less of a sick note. 

 

Just as well they brought in another fullback after Livramento got injured.

[LiberalCommunist]

Jordan Henderson has began his warm up. Should be ready by October. 

[Saint Scott]

2 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Reece James ruled out for at least the next two games with his perennially dodgy hamstrings.

Darren Anderton was less of a sick note. 

 

Quansah at RB going into the knockouts then, brilliant!

Shocking from tuchel

[Dark Munster]

Baz's Uruguayan cousin goal?

[Jimmy_D]

Cape Verde go through 2nd in the group!

[qwertyell]

Argentina are going to get into the quarter finals without playing a single serious team all tournament.

It's going to be them or France again. No-one else looks remotely impressive.

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Argentina are going to get into the quarter finals without playing a single serious team all tournament.

It's going to be them or France again. No-one else looks remotely impressive.

Spain looking good vfm last night against a pretty good Uruguay team.

[Sheaf Saint]

20 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Looking forward to the pride match tonight. Should be a cracker.

The Iran coach said they wouldn't acknowledge "things that don't exist", because God.

Newsflash for you mate... Only one of those things does actually exist.

[egg]

6 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Argentina are going to get into the quarter finals without playing a single serious team all tournament.

It's going to be them or France again. No-one else looks remotely impressive.

Agreed. The Argies haven't had a work out yet, and Cape Verde isn't far from a bye for them.

France only had Norway's B team to give them a game. 

My money was on France pre tournament, and it's hard to see past them, although I fancy Belgium to do well for some reason. 

[trousers]

23 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

The Iran coach said they wouldn't acknowledge "things that don't exist", because God.

Newsflash for you mate... Only one of those things does actually exist.

Source?

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Source?

Ask MLG 😉

[adrian lord]

The tail end of the group stage tends to lots of dull dead rubbers and B teams. 

France or Argentina for the title. 

[East Kent Saint]

49 minutes ago, adrian lord said:

The tail end of the group stage tends to lots of dull dead rubbers and B teams. 

France or Argentina for the title. 

Nice rainbow celebration reference 😄

[Dark Munster]

This third place qualification is a farce. Not fair on teams finishing their groups earlier. And just wait for the Austria-Algeria lawn chair bore draw. Compare this to the excitement of the group stages in the last WC.

No easy solution with the ludicrous 48 team format. The best I can think of is have the same number of groups of 4 teams, but only the top two qualify. Have the best 8 first place finishers get a bye into the round of 16. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Dark Munster said:

This third place qualification is a farce. Not fair on teams finishing their groups earlier. And just wait for the Austria-Algeria lawn chair bore draw. Compare this to the excitement of the group stages in the last WC.

No easy solution with the ludicrous 48 team format. The best I can think of is have the same number of groups of 4 teams, but only the top two qualify. Have the best 8 first place finishers get a bye into the round of 16. 

Can't imagine Austria ever playing out for a draw. 🙂

[East Kent Saint]

49 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Can't imagine Austria ever playing out for a draw. 🙂

I have W Germany v Austria match firmly in my brain having watched it live. A disgrace at the time. 

 

[Badger]

29 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

I have W Germany v Austria match firmly in my brain having watched it live. A disgrace at the time. 

 

Yes, remember it.It was gamesmanship,collusion and cheating of the highest order. It may have been 1978 but it’s never too late for a retrospective ban according to Gibbo.

Northern Echo journalist Joe Cuntface is leading a campaign for  Tonda to be personally held responsible and served with a ban on behalf of Germany. This is despite it being 48 years ago involving a different country (West Germany) and years before he was born. ‘Factless Allan’ is the other name on the petition. 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by Badger

[ChrisPY]

4 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

This third place qualification is a farce. Not fair on teams finishing their groups earlier. And just wait for the Austria-Algeria lawn chair bore draw. Compare this to the excitement of the group stages in the last WC.

No easy solution with the ludicrous 48 team format. The best I can think of is have the same number of groups of 4 teams, but only the top two qualify. Have the best 8 first place finishers get a bye into the round of 16. 

Up it to 64 and just have the top 2 from each group qualify. Most of the additional teams (Europe, South America and Africa would get a decent chunk) would on paper be better than Cape Verde so unlikely to dilute the competition heavily.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, East Kent Saint said:

I have W Germany v Austria match firmly in my brain having watched it live. A disgrace at the time. 

 

I'm blaming being really young, but I think I was watching and didn't actually realise. 🙂

Bear in mind, like the entire analyst industry that followed, I was also focused on my felt tips, to record cards and subs.

It was a long time before I read about it, and I remember being surprised. I remembered the opening spell, with a goal,  more than anything.

"Poised for a further breakthrough at anytime, by one of these cagey sides," I was probably thinking. 🙂

[Badger]

13 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I'm blaming being really young, but I think I was watching and didn't actually realise. 🙂

Bear in mind, like the entire analyst industry that followed, I was also focused on my felt tips, to record cards and subs.

It was a long time before I read about it, and I remember being surprised. I remembered the opening spell, with a goal,  more than anything.

"Poised for a further breakthrough at anytime, by one of these cagey sides," I was probably thinking. 🙂

It probably prepared you for watching a Russell Martin side later in life. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Just now, Badger said:

It probably prepared you for watching a Russell Martin side later in life. 

I remember watching a Sven Goran-Eriksson Man City game that finished goalless, with neither side getting much of a shot in. What was the most boring game ever seen by some, I was rivetted by. 🙂

[Badger]

2 hours ago, East Kent Saint said:

I have W Germany v Austria match firmly in my brain having watched it live. A disgrace at the time. 

 

About a year before I think, there had also been a bit of uproar over a last game of the season between Coventry and Bristol City ending 2-2.

They had kicked off 15 minutes after Sunderland who were also in the relegation mix, and by the end of the Sunderland match knew a point each would keep them up. Report said game effectively fizzled out at that stage with neither looking to go for it.

Allegations from Sunderland that Coventry put KO back deliberately, although they said due to crowd congestion etc.

Chairman of Coventry at the time was Jimmy Hill. Talking to a Sunderland fan about 5 years ago and he said the bitterness to Hill remained until his death. 
 

Of course the Coventry v Bristol City match wasn’t subject to the scrutiny that mass tv coverage and the internet brings. Sunderland unlike another club up that way just raised a complaint but got on with life. 

Edited 21 hours ago by Badger

[egg]

Quansah at RB. Jeez. When Tino (predictably) got injured, and knowing that James may (predictably) have got injured, not taking the opportunity to bring in another full back was mental. 

We've got Lewis Hall, Shaw, Alexander-Arnold, on the beach, but Chalobah, Burn and Henderson on the bench. I'm not A-A fan, but against a team who won't attack much, and will be tough to break down having Quansah in the side ahead of him is ridiculous. 

Crazy squad selection. 

[skintsaint]

19 minutes ago, egg said:

Quansah at RB.

Surprised they didnt stick Spence there, he is wank but least a right footed fullback.

[AlexLaw76]

22 minutes ago, egg said:

Quansah at RB. Jeez. When Tino (predictably) got injured, and knowing that James may (predictably) have got injured, not taking the opportunity to bring in another full back was mental. 

We've got Lewis Hall, Shaw, Alexander-Arnold, on the beach, but Chalobah, Burn and Henderson on the bench. I'm not A-A fan, but against a team who won't attack much, and will be tough to break down having Quansah in the side ahead of him is ridiculous. 

Crazy squad selection. 

I like Tuchel and think from an attacking sense he has been pretty good.

However, not perfect. Madueke is shit, and have no idea why he left Hall or Shaw at home and did not bring a fit RB (TAA or someone else). Basically, Henderson and Chalabah are wasted positions

[egg]

4 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Surprised they didnt stick Spence there, he is wank but least a right footed fullback.

Probably wrapping him in cotton wool for the last 32 game as he's our only fit full back. Just imagine Quansah and Burn as the full backs, while A-A and Hall are kicking back in the Caribbean. 

[Doctoroncall]

Just turned on the tv for the footy for the first time this WC.  Is pre match build up this shit now?  Presenters are awful and just talking nonsense with Joe Public. 

[pingpong]

I'm officially confused.  Commentator just said Panama are already out, but if they win and Ghana win, won't they be a decent third?

Edited 20 hours ago by pingpong
Nvm head to head. That's stupid.

[steve green]

11 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

Just turned on the tv for the footy for the first time this WC.  Is pre match build up this shit now?  Presenters are awful and just talking nonsense with Joe Public. 

 

Yes

 

It's beyond parody at times.

[die Mannyschaft]

Commentator said let's see if Rogers can play alongside Bellingham? For christ sake are these players so robotic they cant adapt to and team line up.

[die Mannyschaft]

6 minutes ago, steve green said:

 

Yes

 

It's beyond parody at times.

Bring back Saint and Greavsy, Brian Moore, Jimmy Hill.