36 minutes ago, rjshae said:

Maybe one day it will become the norm.

US being successful is just under England winning in a list of things I dread and wish never to pass.

Not sure what the hell Paraguay was doing, midfield 3 were always at sea, manager must be clueless.

2 hours ago, rjshae said:

It was refreshing to see the USMNT actually play like a team that knows what it's doing on a football pitch. Well apart from that one defensive hiccup. Maybe one day it will become the norm.

The game was too late for me to watch, it was at 2 am but I have watched the highlights when I woke up

A resounding win by the US and an excellent start to the WC, hopefully they will continue the momentum and they really can win against both Turkey and Australia. The US is in a good group with no serious opponents

I always like to see the host country at least getting out the first group because of the positive influence and excitement for the hosting country

And good to see Canada not losing for the same reason. At least both Bosnia and Canada both get a point

@Malcador

You should be happy, I would take a draw over a loss anytime and you should be able to beat Qatar? Which puts you in better position to progress

Edited Saturday at 07:08 AM3 days by BruceVC

This is really cute and endearing 🦆

We should post more WC animal clips like this

9 hours ago, BruceVC said:

You should be happy, I would take a draw over a loss anytime and you should be able to beat Qatar? Which puts you in better position to progress

Should have been a win, really. Don't really care too much about Canada this tournament, though.

Brazil are dire

I'm happy to root for Canada, USA, Mexico, and England in this tournament. But most likely only England will last to the later rounds.

Turkey continually passing to Yilmaz to ineffectually cross the ball certainly is a tactic.

2 hours ago, rjshae said:

I'm happy to root for Canada, USA, Mexico, and England in this tournament. But most likely only England will last to the later rounds.

We must definitely all get behind England to win once our main teams are knocked out. Out of the 4 teams you mentioned you right about England being the most likely to progress

And I see Morocco and Brazil ended up 1-1, I never would have thought that. Well done to Morocco

They now the African favorites

Al Jazeera

Vinicius drags low-key Brazil level against dominant Moro...

Vinicius Jr individual effort lift Brazil's struggle in team's 2026 tournament opener against Africa champions Morocco.

1 minute ago, BruceVC said:

We must definitely all get behind England to win once our main teams are knocked ou

Why ?

5 hours ago, Malcador said:

Why ?

The last time England won the WC was 1966

Considering how the professional , modern reality of football was created in England and the global popularity of the English League dont you think 60 years is long enough for England to win the WC again?

Who would you think deserves it more considering the winners over the last 60 years? And Im talking about those countries who could realistically win it

At least dbags like Walker, Foden and Maguire aren't in England squad anymore. Better them than France.

Edited Sunday at 05:55 PM1 day by HoonDing

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

The last time England won the WC was 1966

Considering how the professional , modern reality of football was created in England and the global popularity of the English League dont you think 60 years is long enough for England to win the WC again?

Who would you think deserves it more considering the winners over the last 60 years? And Im talking about those countries who could realistically win it

They and their fans deserve nothing. I would say the Dutch deserve a star.

England didn't deserve the World Cup in 66, have always been overrated just on account of being English, and are generally an unlikeable team.

The Dutch are definitely the ones who had the best team a bunch of times, and still failed to achieve what they should have. Their team isn't very good this year, though.

Several interesting games, I only watched the Netherlands vs Japan because of the times they were played

Japan is not some B rate team like Curacoa or South Africa but I still expected Netherlands to win and they should have

They got complacent after there second goal, you see how aggressive they became in the last 8 minutes after Japan scored. They should have played like Germany and not just started thinking " we won this game lets just defend "

But well done to Japan, the fans on both sides at least will be happy with the single point

Sweden crushed Tunisia which was an excellent outcome for them

Also Germany annihilated Curacao which was to be expected but the real story here is that Curacao was able to qualify and thats the best part of this larger and expanded WC

I am embarrassed to admit I had never heard of Curacao

I looked them up, its only got a population of 150k and its an autonomous country that is part of Netherlands

The point being its an incredible achievement just qualifying for the WC and they did this by beating Barbados, Aruba, Saint Lucia, and Haiti in the regional competition

So just scoring a single goal against a country like Germany is already making history for them

And its a nice story to hear about even if they don't progress ⚽

2 hours ago, Pidesco said:

England didn't deserve the World Cup in 66, have always been overrated just on account of being English, and are generally an unlikeable team.

The Dutch are definitely the ones who had the best team a bunch of times, and still failed to achieve what they should have. Their team isn't very good this year, though.

How is the current England team unlikeable, can you be more specific?

Nice Swedish victory against Tunisia, you must be happy

Something else about Sweden, what happened to @Azdeus ...is it just me or has he been very quiet lately?

Japan vs. Netherlands was a fun game; Sweden vs. Tunisia not so much. Ecuador seemed to run out of steam at the end vs. Cote d'Ivory, and they paid the price.

I don't see much to look forward to with Group G or H today. This World Cup has perhaps 16 teams too many; the contests would be more engaging if they cut down on the number of participants. But I suppose as long as fans keep flocking to the games, they'll keep expanding it.

Superficially, the throw-in rules change seemed like a good one, but I suspect that players will now simply not head for the sideline until the team is deployed.

15 hours ago, Pidesco said:

England didn't deserve the World Cup in 66, have always been overrated just on account of being English, and are generally an unlikeable team.

The current english team itself is as likeable as most others.

Their problem is, and always has been, the fans and press who are truly obnoxious whenever there's a modicum of success- or even just expected success. Not all of them, of course, but enough to make even someone who holds an english passport (ie me) hope that they lose in a way that generates the maximum amount of hilarity and over the top sky is falling reaction.

Brazil - Haiti, really ?

Not a fan of the seeding system, I suppose everyone gets to pretend that they can win in the group phase, at least for a while but give me Germany - Brazil - or Holland instead. I suppose we get at least one top seed matchup

This WC proves you can use a good old CF.

NZ top of our group? Say the line, Donald.

Entertaining game and nice to have one where both sides were clearly trying to win, rather than just not lose.

NZ - Iran was a fun match, even if some poor defending

9 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

The current english team itself is as likeable as most others.

Their problem is, and always has been, the fans and press who are truly obnoxious whenever there's a modicum of success- or even just expected success. Not all of them, of course, but enough to make even someone who holds an english passport (ie me) hope that they lose in a way that generates the maximum amount of hilarity and over the top sky is falling reaction.

So now its the English fans who are the problem, how are they more obnoxious than other fans? Can you be specific

Its strange how I come across all this rejection and dislike of England winning the WC on various forums but I cant get a consistent answer about why so many people dont want England to win?

And yet so many people love the English League

I dont see the difference between English fans, the team or the press compared to other similar countries? But I dont follow football extensively so Im probably not aware of something historical

2 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

NZ top of our group? Say the line, Donald.

Entertaining game and nice to have one where both sides were clearly trying to win, rather than just not lose.

Good to see NZ get a point, interesting how no one in your group has got a win

Its wide open for who can progress. I will predict definitely Egypt

17 hours ago, rjshae said:

Japan vs. Netherlands was a fun game; Sweden vs. Tunisia not so much. Ecuador seemed to run out of steam at the end vs. Cote d'Ivory, and they paid the price.

I don't see much to look forward to with Group G or H today. This World Cup has perhaps 16 teams too many; the contests would be more engaging if they cut down on the number of participants. But I suppose as long as fans keep flocking to the games, they'll keep expanding it.

Superficially, the throw-in rules change seemed like a good one, but I suspect that players will now simply not head for the sideline until the team is deployed.

Im enjoying the expanded teams. It creates more global excitement and interest and it becomes more inclusive

It allows a team like Cucacoa to qualify and they have never played on the global WC stage. And as I mentioned previously they had to still qualify in there region which requires skill and commitment

I understand the criticism but I think the positive outweighs the negative?

@BruceVC there is an expectation associated with English teams. Rule of thumb is England invents a sport and a few years later they suck at it. Tennis, badminton, football, rugby, cricket etc

Possibly they are a world leader I’m polo but I wouldn’t bet om it 🤔