World Cup 2026

[coalman]

10 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

It's mental isn't it. 

We all know he's lying.

He knows that everyone knows he's lying, and he also knows there's absolutely fuck all anyone can do about it.

He only needs 106 votes from FIFA members to get re-elected. And he has 111 from South America, Asia and Africa due to funneling of money into their organisations. The only way anything happens is if UEFA walks away.

In the meantime he'll toady up to Trump, fix things so that Saudi Arabia can host a World Cup and organise more and more stupid summer club tournaments and nothing happens.

It's the same in Formula 1. You need a representative from each continents motoring organisation to support you to be able to run for president except South America has one (who just happens to be the wife of the former owner of F1, Bernie Ecclestone and who supports the incumbent) so it's impossible for anyone to challenge someone who is obviously not up to the job.

Trump himself is trying to do the same thing with the Save America Act which is aimed at stopping people who might vote for someone else to have the ability to vote at all.

Edited 16 hours ago by coalman

[Teamsaint1]

5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

You are aware of the club team you support, right?

We didn’t prosper. While others who also cheat did.

[coalman]

Just now, Teamsaint1 said:

We didn’t prosper. While others who also cheat did.

I think there's a difference between a participant seeking to gain and advantage and getting caught breaking the rules and the owners of those rules actively colluding to circumvent them for their pals.

[sadoldgit]

5 hours ago, St. Ciervo said:

Says the Southampton fan...

Honestly though, we bought a striker that couldn't get into that team... fml. 

When we bought him he did get in that team.

[Verbal]

Well done Belgium, and well done Trump for proving with 100% certainty that everything he touches turns to shit.

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

He was less than happy, when Martinez took him off in their last game, which they promptly won without him.

That would have been an interesting post match conversation. Martinez is a manager brought in to ease massive egos. He's going too after this. There's only so much of Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes anyone can stand. Or should have to.

In fairness, Ronaldo was taking up decent central positions, as no ball came into him. Also in fairness, he's not been capable of too much more for quite a while. He's squeezed every last ounce from his career. 

He’s had a wonderful career it’s a little bit sad seeing a player who was so good flailing around trying to cling on. Messi is still going but he’s still offering Argentina something whereas Ronaldo has become a liability to Portugal. 

[sadoldgit]

The Belgium team had a meeting beforehand and were fired up by the red card situation. Sounds like Trump’s intervention backfired bigly which is just as well as you can just imagine the grief if Balogun had scored the winner. Trump hates losers, perhaps Balogun and Pochettino will be receiving visits from ICE agents soon!

[Baird of the land]

Relieved that the US lost.

[sadoldgit]

[Toadhall Saint]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Just in: Trump reports that Belgium are 2 weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon!

Yep so he’s upping the tariffs on Belgian chocolate and beer

[LiberalCommunist]

I'd say there were shades of our first leg with M'boro reflecting on last nights world cup game. They looked like a distracted team, caught in the headlights of a drama far bigger than them. Like our team in the first leg of the play offs, as spygate broke out, we looked intimidated, rattled & disjointed. It was a bizarre performance, in both cases. Off field events clearly making a big difference.

Belguim are a better team, but that result looked exaggerated.

[AlexLaw76]

If you looked around online over the last week or so, the yanks convinced themselves they were going to win the World Cup, or come very close. You know, because they are the greatest country ever hosting the greatest World Cup in history. They have some big stadiums didn’t you know

😂

[Mattio]

Any recommendations on where to watch the England game in Southampton?

[Gloucester Saint]

14 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If you looked around online over the last week or so, the yanks convinced themselves they were going to win the World Cup, or come very close. You know, because they are the greatest country ever hosting the greatest World Cup in history. They have some big stadiums didn’t you know

😂

If they learn the engineering techniques from Dallas, Houston and Atlanta to apply to the North Eastern stadiums in terms of actually having a roof, they’d be much better. 

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If you looked around online over the last week or so, the yanks convinced themselves they were going to win the World Cup, or come very close. You know, because they are the greatest country ever hosting the greatest World Cup in history. They have some big stadiums didn’t you know

😂

I fully expect them to complain how a small city in Europe was able to compete in the World Soccerball Series

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Mattio said:

Any recommendations on where to watch the England game in Southampton?

Walkabout. Make sure you thrown as many drinks in their when England score, visibly showing your forced delight 

[Turkish]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

Walkabout. Make sure you thrown as many drinks in their when England score, visibly showing your forced delight 

Signing at the telly, arms out stretched, throw beer in the air when anyone gets close to scoring. Dont forget to wear your England shirt, face paints optional. 

[Mattio]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Walkabout. Make sure you thrown as many drinks in their when England score, visibly showing your forced delight 

I’ll fire up the Delorean 

[Verbal]

It gets worse. Having heard nothing from FIFA, the Belgian FA wrote for an explanation. FIFA - or their Qatari representative Salman al-Ansari - wrote back saying that Belgium's request constituted an appeal against the suspension. So they'd have to make a full case for an appeal, but in any case there was no time to hear it.

It's not just that FIFA are quisling shitbags to Trump and are happy to gaslight a UEFA member; we really need to get petrostate money out of football.

https://www.rbfa.be/en/news/update-rbfa-statement-regarding-folarin-balogun

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, Mattio said:

I’ll fire up the Delorean 

Be Just like this ‘lad’

 

[SW5 SAINT]

Telephone call overheard in the White House Oval Office -  ‘Is that Mr Gibson, this is Donald Trump speaking, I wonder if you could advise us’….?

 

Edited 13 hours ago by SW5 SAINT
Edit

[Verbal]

Trump/Infantino baiting at its finest

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Be Just like this ‘lad’

 

Bet his mates all think he's a legend. 

[sadoldgit]

[Wade Garrett]

Aside from the American government changing the rules on suspensions and Infantino being corrupt as hell, the World Cup has been brilliant.

I was negative before it started, too many teams, who wants to watch Cape Verde?

I have been pleasantly surprised.  I like the format, small countries have done well, no tolerance for timewasting or wrestling at corners, refs not falling for diving and theatrics, the stadiums are amazing.  Lots of brilliant games.

I do think UEFA should extricate themselves from FIFA though.  Corrupt and merely sells to the highest bidder (to them personally). 

[Oldandtired]

4 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

You are aware of the club team you support, right?

We have big club aspirations..we want to be just like Man City and Chelsea 😎

[Chez]

41 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

no tolerance for timewasting or wrestling at corners, refs not falling for diving and theatrics

I really like the rules they brought in about making players go off for several minutes if they need/want treatment. Funnily enough, they never do and refs seem very content to let play continue while players lie on the floor pretending to be injured. Will those new rules be utilised by the PL/EFL?

[trousers]

Apologies if already posted... 😂

 

 

[S-Clarke]

55 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Aside from the American government changing the rules on suspensions and Infantino being corrupt as hell, the World Cup has been brilliant.

I was negative before it started, too many teams, who wants to watch Cape Verde?

I have been pleasantly surprised.  I like the format, small countries have done well, no tolerance for timewasting or wrestling at corners, refs not falling for diving and theatrics, the stadiums are amazing.  Lots of brilliant games.

I do think UEFA should extricate themselves from FIFA though.  Corrupt and merely sells to the highest bidder (to them personally). 

Yeah I think it's been great fun, good tournament so far. Cape Verde added to the tournament, they were fun to watch. There have been some naff games, like the one last night between Spain and Portugal, but on the whole it's been a good watch - minus the early hour kicks offs.

The Mexico v England game will be one of my all time favourite World Cup memories.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

I was negative before it started, too many teams, who wants to watch Cape Verde?

I have been pleasantly surprised.  I like the format, small countries have done well,

For me there have been too many group games. I normally watch all of the games, but it's been impossible, especially with the kick off times. If it had been in Europe, would I have watched them all? I doubt it.  I was wondering how all the teams that probably wouldn't have qualified if there were only 32 teams had faired. The beneficiaries of the expanded format were (some of which definitely did, and some possibly did) according to chatgpt were: Iraq, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Qatar

Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ghana, Senegal

Curaçao, Haiti

Paraguay,

New Zealand

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway, Sweden

Quite a few made it out of the group (in bold), all be it mostly in third place (DR Congo and Norway came second). Paraguay and Norway then won their last 32 game and obviously Norway have made it to the quarter finals.  In Norway, could we have a kind of Denmark 92 on our hands?

Edited 10 hours ago by Chez

[Chez]

17 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

 

The Mexico v England game will be one of my all time favourite World Cup memories.

Right up there with the 1990 experience, which was something a little special as football was my whole world at that age.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 hours ago, Verbal said:

It gets worse. Having heard nothing from FIFA, the Belgian FA wrote for an explanation. FIFA - or their Qatari representative Salman al-Ansari - wrote back saying that Belgium's request constituted an appeal against the suspension. So they'd have to make a full case for an appeal, but in any case there was no time to hear it.

It's not just that FIFA are quisling shitbags to Trump and are happy to gaslight a UEFA member; we really need to get petrostate money out of football.

https://www.rbfa.be/en/news/update-rbfa-statement-regarding-folarin-balogun

The problem is that along with the petrostates, the smaller nations who have benefited from expansion have a majority within FIFA when it comes to Infantino’s re-election next year of around 20 votes over UEFA countries. 

The one-off centenary games in WC2030 also paved the way for Saudi 2034 as no-one else in Asia/Oceania was in a position to bid and as Morocco, Spain and Portugal are co-hosts, it meant under FIFA’s rotation policy that Europe and South America have taken their turn as it were https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cm2edy8kxpno 

[hypochondriac]

Seriously what is stopping uefa and all the European clubs seeking an agreement with the high profile South American teams and telling fifa to fuck off? Invite other nations to join if they like but no one is going to pay any money to watch African, American and Asian nations without the other lot.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Aside from the American government changing the rules on suspensions and Infantino being corrupt as hell, the World Cup has been brilliant.

I was negative before it started, too many teams, who wants to watch Cape Verde?

I have been pleasantly surprised.  I like the format, small countries have done well, no tolerance for timewasting or wrestling at corners, refs not falling for diving and theatrics, the stadiums are amazing.  Lots of brilliant games.

I do think UEFA should extricate themselves from FIFA though.  Corrupt and merely sells to the highest bidder (to them personally). 

It’s been ok, the refereeing has on the whole been excellent, and I like the new innovation of VAR getting involved with corners/goal kicks. They also seem to have clamped down on theatrics and diving. Too many meaningless group games though and there is some right noddyness going on. Counting down the kick offs, WTF is that all about? The hydration breaks are pony, and the stadium announcements and music sound a right load of old shite. And I’m sick of the TV cameras constantly point at nods or kids in the crowd. I don’t mind panning in on the odd fit bird, but it’s getting ridiculous now. The crowds are so fucking vanilla, mainly nods & blokes with their other halves, like they’re on some sort of date night. The other thing is fucking mobiles, watch the penalty, free kick or corner, don’t film it on your fucking phone. There’s probably a few lads & the odd bird who are proper die hard supporters, but it’s getting less and less.  It’s becoming a sporting Glastonbury….

Edited 9 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[VectisSaint]

3 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Aside from the American government changing the rules on suspensions and Infantino being corrupt as hell, the World Cup has been brilliant.

I was negative before it started, too many teams, who wants to watch Cape Verde?

I have been pleasantly surprised.  I like the format, small countries have done well, no tolerance for timewasting or wrestling at corners, refs not falling for diving and theatrics, the stadiums are amazing.  Lots of brilliant games.

I do think UEFA should extricate themselves from FIFA though.  Corrupt and merely sells to the highest bidder (to them personally). 

Hydration breaks

[sadoldgit]

Which have actually become coaching breaks with a bit of hydration thrown in.

[SWLondon Saint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

For me there have been too many group games. I normally watch all of the games, but it's been impossible, especially with the kick off times. If it had been in Europe, would I have watched them all? I doubt it.  I was wondering how all the teams that probably wouldn't have qualified if there were only 32 teams had faired. The beneficiaries of the expanded format were (some of which definitely did, and some possibly did) according to chatgpt were: Iraq, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Qatar

Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ghana, Senegal

Curaçao, Haiti

Paraguay,

New Zealand

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway, Sweden

Quite a few made it out of the group (in bold), all be it mostly in third place (DR Congo and Norway came second). Paraguay and Norway then won their last 32 game and obviously Norway have made it to the quarter finals.  In Norway, could we have a kind of Denmark 92 on our hands?

Think chatgpt is just talking shite as it often does, Norway won their qualifying group and were comfortably 2nd in their group stage. Definitely not a Denmark situation, that would be more like if Sweden were on a run since they finished bottom of their qualifying group and only got in via the Nations League route.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It’s been ok, the refereeing has on the whole been excellent, and I like the new innovation of VAR getting involved with corners/goal kicks. They also seem to have clamped down on theatrics and diving. Too many meaningless group games though and there is some right noddyness going on. Counting down the kick offs, WTF is that all about? The hydration breaks are pony, and the stadium announcements and music sound a right load of old shite. And I’m sick of the TV cameras constantly point at nods or kids in the crowd. I don’t mind panning in on the odd fit bird, but it’s getting ridiculous now. The crowds are so fucking vanilla, mainly nods & blokes with their other halves, like they’re on some sort of date night. The other thing is fucking mobiles, watch the penalty, free kick or corner, don’t film it on your fucking phone. There’s probably a few lads & the odd bird who are proper die hard supporters, but it’s getting less and less.  It’s becoming a sporting Glastonbury….

I agree with everything you've said there.

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It’s been ok, the refereeing has on the whole been excellent, and I like the new innovation of VAR getting involved with corners/goal kicks. They also seem to have clamped down on theatrics and diving. Too many meaningless group games though and there is some right noddyness going on. Counting down the kick offs, WTF is that all about? The hydration breaks are pony, and the stadium announcements and music sound a right load of old shite. And I’m sick of the TV cameras constantly point at nods or kids in the crowd. I don’t mind panning in on the odd fit bird, but it’s getting ridiculous now. The crowds are so fucking vanilla, mainly nods & blokes with their other halves, like they’re on some sort of date night. The other thing is fucking mobiles, watch the penalty, free kick or corner, don’t film it on your fucking phone. There’s probably a few lads & the odd bird who are proper die hard supporters, but it’s getting less and less.  It’s becoming a sporting Glastonbury….

WTF is a "fit bird" - a pigeon with abs? 

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Verbal said:

WTF is a "fit bird" - a pigeon with abs? 

Define fit. If you're talking simply speed and strength pound for pound the Peragine Falcon would win, if it's endurance it'd be the Godwit, if you want the hybrid bird who was the best rounded performer then probably be the Golden Eagle. It would really depend on how you were measuring and test what is fit.

[Verbal]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Define fit. If you're talking simply speed and strength pound for pound the Peragine Falcon would win, if it's endurance it'd be the Godwit, if you want the hybrid bird who was the best rounded performer then probably be the Golden Eagle. It would really depend on how you were measuring and test what is fit.

This would be a contender as fittest bird overall, the long wattled umbrellabird - although not entirely sure it isn't a Ducky selfie

 

 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Verbal said:

This would be a contender as fittest bird overall, the long wattled umbrellabird - although not entirely sure it isn't a Ducky selfie

 

 

looks like a 9 pinter to me

[Weston Super Saint]

7 hours ago, Turkish said:

, face paints optional. 

Errr. No they fucking aren't!!

[Verbal]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

looks like a 9 pinter to me

Ah but that's the point. like a lot of exotic birds, they behave recklessly and pointlessly to demonstrate their fitness. As the evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond has clearly shown, birds like eg the bowerbird look odd and do odd things to demonstrate their fitness to their potential mates, as if to say (because in Ducky's world they do apparently speak): if I can do this, looking like this, and survive I must be BRILLIANT. 

BTW all fit birds are male. 

[Verbal]

3 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

The problem is that along with the petrostates, the smaller nations who have benefited from expansion have a majority within FIFA when it comes to Infantino’s re-election next year of around 20 votes over UEFA countries. 

The one-off centenary games in WC2030 also paved the way for Saudi 2034 as no-one else in Asia/Oceania was in a position to bid and as Morocco, Spain and Portugal are co-hosts, it meant under FIFA’s rotation policy that Europe and South America have taken their turn as it were https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cm2edy8kxpno 

As pissed off as UEFA are, I'm not sure they really want to go nuclear on this. But they could conceivably clip Infantino's wings by insisting on some rule changes to remove any ambiguity about outside interference on in-game decisions, including from Infantino himself. As to Infantino's majority, is it as secure as all that? African FAs are not best pleased with the way they've been marginalised and defunded in favour of gulf states who have no use for football except as a means of sportswashing. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Half expecting Donald Trump to turn around and declare all the Belgians were in the US illegally and that the result should be voided. 😂

[RedArmy]

Ostrich got to be the fittest bird surely. Them things are rapid. 

[AlexLaw76]

46 minutes ago, Verbal said:

This would be a contender as fittest bird overall, the long wattled umbrellabird - although not entirely sure it isn't a Ducky selfie

 

 

[skintsaint]

13 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Half expecting Donald Trump to turn around and declare all the Belgians were in the US illegally and that the result should be voided. 😂

More likely for him to come out and it be the best of seven series....

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Define fit. If you're talking simply speed and strength pound for pound the Peragine Falcon would win, if it's endurance it'd be the Godwit, if you want the hybrid bird who was the best rounded performer then probably be the Golden Eagle. It would really depend on how you were measuring and test what is fit.

Loads of Red Kites around here and they are properly rapid. Strong as well.