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World Cup 2026

AlexLaw76

By AlexLaw76
in The Saints

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benjii

benjii

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Mexico unbeaten at home 21 games I think bbc said

They've only lost eleven matches at the Azteca stadium since it was built. In 1966.

But they haven't beaten many good teams either.

Edited by benjii
Saint Fan CaM

Saint Fan CaM

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Window Cleaner said:

Norway's game is too complicated for their skill set.

Looks like they’ve sorted that out. Or rather Haaland did.

Edited by Saint Fan CaM
East Kent Saint

East Kent Saint

Posted
Posted
45 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Looks like they’ve sorted that out. Or rather Haaland did.

They failed to supply him for the rest of the match , he just stood around waiting for a cross or ball to feet that never came !

Norway got in a couple of good positions but failed to shoot at the goal Odegaard a prime example .

Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I missed the first 15 minutes but it was one way traffic from the bits I saw.

Well obviously I'm going to say that's when Sweden were world beaters, as it supports my view. 🙂

  • Haha 1
Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

Posted
Posted
45 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I bow to your superior knowledge!

It's just a shame that, due to rights issues, there's no highlights of that game available. Ever. So, you'll have to take my word for it. 🙂

Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

Posted
Posted

Advertised handily just ahead of the World Cup...

For a mere 1400 dollars

Football: The Impossible Collection distills the sport into 100 defining moments, not simply the greatest, but the most culturally seismic. 

236 pages, most of which are covered by over 150 pics.

image.thumb.jpeg.5198cfde004481cd16da5be6bb4e267c.jpeg

Dark Munster

Dark Munster

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Window Cleaner said:

Yes, there are so many teams playing below their level. 

Hard to pick a winner of the WC really,any team could go out on an off day.

France.

Easy!

  • Like 2
AlexLaw76

AlexLaw76

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

We ain’t getting beyond Mexico in their own backyard 

I know the yanks can’t stop patting themselves on the back for having large stadiums and the world should be thankful, but they have nothing in terms of an iconic arena compared to the Azteca

Edited by AlexLaw76
  • Like 3
hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We ain’t getting beyond Mexico in their own backyard 

I know the yanks can’t stop patting themselves on the back for having large stadiums and the world should be thankful, but they have nothing in terms of an iconic arena compared to the Azteca

Yep. No guarantees but more likely than not to win today I would have thought. After that it will take something really special to beat Mexico and I don't think we have it in us. Out in the round of 32.

  • Like 1
Osvaldorama

Osvaldorama

Posted
Posted

Dunno why there’s so much negativity about us, we haven’t been that good so far but we’ve still topped the group easily which is a lot better than most world cups in my life time. 
 

That said, everyone may as well pack up now as no one is beating France. 

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Dunno why there’s so much negativity about us, we haven’t been that good so far but we’ve still topped the group easily which is a lot better than most world cups in my life time. 
 

That said, everyone may as well pack up now as no one is beating France. 

It's not negativity I'm just being realistic. Obviously I'd love us to smash Congo and look brilliant doing so which would improve our chances of giving Mexico a game. If lose to them people will start suckling off Southgate but there's zero chance he would beat Mexico.

Verbal

Verbal

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We ain’t getting beyond Mexico in their own backyard 

I know the yanks can’t stop patting themselves on the back for having large stadiums and the world should be thankful, but they have nothing in terms of an iconic arena compared to the Azteca

I've seen it up close and the Azteca is glorious. And nothing quite irritates me more about this World Cup (aside from the scandalous, vindictive abuse by the Trump regime of the Iran team) than the common American claim that their stadiums outshine European ones. 

They are bigger, yes, but most are utter shit for football. They're built not just for different sports but for a different sporting culture. The vast and numerous parking lots that surround them are designed for American football and baseball fans who can never stop eating, with "tailgate parties" starting hours before the game. This eating frenzy then continues in the stadiums with food hawkers going up and down the extra-wide, extra-numerous aisles passing blobs of fat burger to ever fatter people. In American sports, attention paid to what's going on on the pitch is slight. Sport is experienced as an individual - it isn't a collective, communal thing at all. Hence, among other things, no real actual noise other than when a goal is scored, no edge, and no humour (oh god how I'd miss this if stuck there).

My son went to the England Panama game, played at the MetLife in a New Jersey wasteland. This is the venue for the final. Whoever designed it thought that as an East Coast venue of a winter sport, the stadium didn't need a roof of any kind. The downpour before and during the match meant there wasn't a dry seat, or person, in the stadium. Unfettered commercialism makes the pitch-side parts of the stadium - weirdly devoid of fans and consisting, seemingly, of air ducts, ad screens and scaffolding - a cluttered, ugly mess.

It's also not designed to have well built-up ends (because: see above) - the one in Foxborough is even worse, with one end taken up with the largest screen you've ever seen along with what appears to be a vast abandoned greenhouse. 

Oh, and the pitch at MetLife is worse than anything you'd see in League 2 - swampy and weirdly uneven. It seems FIFA has applied no quality to control at all to pitch preparation and devoted their attention to dynamic pricing instead. 

Great football (often) but shit major US venues. 

  • Like 4
Window Cleaner

Window Cleaner

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Dunno why there’s so much negativity about us, we haven’t been that good so far but we’ve still topped the group easily which is a lot better than most world cups in my life time. 
 

That said, everyone may as well pack up now as no one is beating France. 

Who knows, France can be shaky at the back and the keeper sometimes panics.

They haven't played anyone serious yet, same as most teams, because of the enlarged group stages.

  • Like 1
saintant

saintant

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Congo, then Mexico - piece of piss.

Brazil will be the tasty game.

If we manage to scrape past Congo I don't see us beating Mexico in the Azteca - it will be a cauldron and their record there is very impressive.

Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, benjii said:

They've only lost eleven matches at the Azteca stadium since it was built. In 1966.

But they haven't beaten many good teams either.

Mexico have only lost 2 out of 89 competitive matches at the Azteca. The only teams to beat them in any competition - Costa Rica in 2001 and Honduras in 2013 -were used to similar conditions.

Osvaldorama

Osvaldorama

Posted
Posted (edited)

Could throw out all kinds of pro-England stats. 
 

I think they are beatable. Will be tough but we’ve beaten better teams with Kane/Jude/Rice. 

With some luck we can beat anyone in this tournament except France, imo 

Edited by Osvaldorama
Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted (edited)
59 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Could throw out all kinds of pro-England stats. 
 

I think they are beatable. Will be tough but we’ve beaten better teams with Kane/Jude/Rice. 

With some luck we can beat anyone in this tournament except France, imo 

Just as long as our players have secretly been having altitude training for the last few weeks, they'll be fine at the Azteca.

At Estadio Azteca’s elevation there is about 25% less oxygen available per breath than at sea level.

So, you’re breathing in about a quarter less oxygen at Azteca compared with Wembley.

If you're not used to it, you'll find any physical activity difficult. 

It takes 2-3 weeks of training at that altitude for red-blood cell changes to stabilize and for your body to adjust as best it can.

Your body goes through several phases:

Immediate response: Hyperventilation and increased heart rate.

First days: Plasma volume drops, concentrating existing red blood cells. Higher heart rate, breathlessness, sleep disruption.

Worst period Days 2–5 Heavy legs, fatigue, slower paces

Weeks: Kidneys adjust blood chemistry; new red blood cells are produced.

Weeks–months: VO₂ max partially recovers but never reaches sea‑level values

Edited by Nordic Saint
Sarnia Cherie

Sarnia Cherie

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, benjii said:

These Norway fans are ghey.

Why? Embracing their Viking heritage? At least people will remember them. Much like the Netherlands and their Orange Dance. Respect their ways.

TheAlehouseBrawlers

TheAlehouseBrawlers

Posted
Posted

If we make it to the Azteca I guess there won’t be so many England fans nabbing tickets so will be up against it in, as someone mentioned, a cauldron of a stadium.

Add in the altitude and I think we would be setting up to conserve energy which they may thrive on. Tough gig but let’s try and get past ‘Doctor’ Congo first!

  • Like 1
M271

M271

Posted
Posted (edited)

If we win today it would be wise to travel to an at altitude training camp ASAP. It doesn’t take long for the body to initially adapt to the reduced oxygen content but the longer the better, although it takes some weeks to fully adapt for strenuous activities.

Edited by M271
  • Like 1
TheAlehouseBrawlers

TheAlehouseBrawlers

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, M271 said:

If we win today it would be wise to travel to an at altitude training camp ASAP. It doesn’t take long for the body to initially adapt to the reduced oxygen content but the longer the better, although it takes some weeks to fully adapt for strenuous activities.

At least the weather forecast is favourable on Sunday, around 23 degrees, plenty of cloud and some rain.

  • Like 1
Scummer

Scummer

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, M271 said:

If we win today it would be wise to travel to an at altitude training camp ASAP. It doesn’t take long for the body to initially adapt to the reduced oxygen content but the longer the better, although it takes some weeks to fully adapt for strenuous activities.

Or apparently you can go in as late as possible, play the game before your body realises it's at altitude (24-48 hours) and then leave again straight after the match according to something I was reading.

Verbal

Verbal

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Window Cleaner said:

What a lot of nervous nellies. England will beat Mexico on Sunday. 

No they won't and I'm not the least bit nervous about it because there just isn't enough time to acclimatise. 

Window Cleaner

Window Cleaner

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, Scummer said:

Or apparently you can go in as late as possible, play the game before your body realises it's at altitude (24-48 hours) and then leave again straight after the match according to something I was reading.

This is obviously the plan. Fit young blokes won't suffer as much as normal people and there are probably altitude tents or masks (or both) at the base camp. All these things will have been foreseen and taken care of for a good while now. 

Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Scummer said:

Or apparently you can go in as late as possible, play the game before your body realises it's at altitude (24-48 hours) and then leave again straight after the match according to something I was reading.

Or transfusions of oxygenated blood during the hydration breaks.

Verbal

Verbal

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Scummer said:

Or apparently you can go in as late as possible, play the game before your body realises it's at altitude (24-48 hours) and then leave again straight after the match according to something I was reading.

When in my youth (2018) I went to Mexico City for the first time I'd forgotten about that little altitude thing. My body realised the problem with the first breath on the jetway. You breathe in, get half-way through it, and then it's as if someone cut the oxygen supply.  The Mexican team will have a huge advantage.

Edited by Verbal
Soz, ran out of breath before I'd finished the thought
  • Like 1
vectraman

vectraman

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Djed Spence starting again then :facepalm:

And Madueke. Not been impressed with him at all. Mind you Saka hasn’t impressed much over the last few months after his injury either.
If only Cole Palmer had been in the squad….

Could have had Palmer instead of Gordon or Madueke.

But hey ho, is what it is - hopefully we have enough to stumble past DR Congo and onto a ‘proper’ game in Mexico 🇲🇽 where our counter attacking play has a chance to work…🤞

 

 

  • Like 1
Turkish

Turkish

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, vectraman said:

And Madueke. Not been impressed with him at all. Mind you Saka hasn’t impressed much over the last few months after his injury either.
If only Cole Palmer had been in the squad….

Could have had Palmer instead of Gordon or Madueke.

But hey ho, is what it is - hopefully we have enough to stumble past DR Congo and onto a ‘proper’ game in Mexico 🇲🇽 where our counter attacking play has a chance to work…🤞

 

 

Yep i dont think i've ever seen Madueke have a good game from anyone. I suspect it'll be a rinse and repeat of Ghana, wide players cutting inside into a pack penalty area and being crowded out.

Window Cleaner

Window Cleaner

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yep i dont think i've ever seen Madueke have a good game from anyone. I suspect it'll be a rinse and repeat of Ghana, wide players cutting inside into a pack penalty area and being crowded out.

He had some fairly good games at Chelsea, 60 minutes sub mainly.

  • Like 2
egg

egg

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yep i dont think i've ever seen Madueke have a good game from anyone. I suspect it'll be a rinse and repeat of Ghana, wide players cutting inside into a pack penalty area and being crowded out.

Nope, he's a lower PL level winger for me. 

  • Like 1
East Kent Saint

East Kent Saint

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, egg said:

Nope, he's a lower PL level winger for me. 

He depends on playing at pace to beat defenders , as soon as he is forced to slow down he has to pass sideways.  

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