2026 FIFA World Cup Thread

Nova said:
I'm a casual, but a friend explained it to me pretty well-- Mexico can produce talent that succeeds on the global stage at the youth level. However, they grow up and don't typically leave Mexico because Liga MX is a very comfortable landing spot. While it's lucrative and well run, it just doesn't have the same level of competition as Spain, England, and Italy/Germany, and therefore the talent kind of stalls out.

Honestly though, Mexico looked like one of the premier teams in this World Cup right up until Bellingham scored two goals in 2 minutes. Before that, they had England on the ropes. And bizarrely, they became extremely unimaginative in their attack over those last 20 minutes with the man advantage.

Hats of to England, though. What an incredibly tough win.
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Very good explanation. I often thibk of the American athlete and why the men’s teams trail so far behind US Women . Well in high school and college the elite male athlete is going to gravitate to where the $$ is Baseball Basketball Football . Soccer leagues just not paying in the US where as women don’t have much choice it’s either soccer or the WNBA .

It’s ironic Balogun could be playing for England or Nigeria I guess . Fortunate for the US he chose his birth country .
 
Whyjerry said:
To be clear I am all in on the US. America always. That said I kinda like this Norway team.
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Me too. Even though I am Spanish and Italian, my wife has the Viking ancestry on her father's side. She jokingly asked me, who are you rooting for in the Portugal/Spain match? I said I don't care who wins. But IF and when they play the USA, it's USA 100%.
 
RonWashington said:
Very good explanation. I often thibk of the American athlete and why the men’s teams trail so far behind US Women . Well in high school and college the elite male athlete is going to gravitate to where the $$ is Baseball Basketball Football . Soccer leagues just not paying in the US where as women don’t have much choice it’s either soccer or the WNBA .

It’s ironic Balogun could be playing for England or Nigeria I guess . Fortunate for the US he chose his birth country .
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Haaland also could have played for England. He was born in Leeds. Fortunate for Norway.
 
csirl said:
This is headline news all across Europe - people not happy with the optics.
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Who cares? Justice was served. People like to forget that FIFA also waived Ronaldo's 2 game ban for this world cup so he could play. FIFA does have the right to intervene. The nutty part isn't their decision. Its lack of process to appeal these calls. Rules need to be changed. Its absurd that a referees calling of one game can impact the next game. IMO. ALL of the red cards should be automatically reviewed by cooler heads.
 
atlantacowboy said:
Who cares? Justice was served. People like to forget that FIFA also waived Ronaldo's 2 game ban for this world cup so he could play. FIFA does have the right to intervene. The nutty part isn't their decision. Its lack of process to appeal these calls. Rules need to be changed. Its absurd that a referees calling of one game can impact the next game. IMO. ALL of the red cards should be automatically reviewed by cooler heads.
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Unless you’re headhunting out to cause injury like some of the players in the WNBA or NHL a red card should toss you for that game but not the next . Your giving the ref way too much authority for two players getting tangled .
 
I am amused at all the European hypocrites crying over the red card call being reversed. Guarantee if it had happened to any of their players they would be singing a different tune
 
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