World Cup 2026

[SuperBacon]

I know it's early but I couldn't find the other thread and we're getting to the sharp end of qualifying so sod it.

Cape Verde have qualified for the World Cup, absolutely incredible. 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/13/cape-verde-book-world-cup-2026-place-eswatini-cameroon

At the expense of my beloved Cameroonian boys but still. 

Anyway, USA 94 was my favourite World Cup ever (the kits innit) so even though its a 500 team diluted tournament, I'm still very much looking forward to a yankee based tournament.

Have at it in here come the summer.

[cobra_gordo]

11 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

USA 94 was my favourite World Cup ever

Same. I remember being interested in Italia '90 but I was only 5 so it was mainly because of the Esso tokens and the sticker album. '94 was the first World Cup where I watched all the qualifiers and pretty much every game of the tournament, mainly with my late grandad, so I've got fond memories of it all.

Slight tangent but at our school sports day in 1994 we were organised in to teams, sorted by country and I got Bulgaria. As England hadn't qualified most of the kids at our school were routing for Republic Of Ireland but my grandad said nope, you're Bulgaria at sports day so you're Bulgaria for the tournament. So that was that and I supported Bulgaria for a summer. And they finished third and I got to be a smug cunt about it.

[Cod Eye]

Do we think the Faroe Islands will qualify? 

Gone from the whipping boys of world football, to being on the verge of playing in the World Cup. Read they are pulling these results off with a team pulled from a pool of only 5000 registered players too...

[SuperBacon]

54 minutes ago, cobra_gordo said:

the Esso tokens

My Dad was a long distance lorry driver so I had the whole collection, sadly long gone.

55 minutes ago, cobra_gordo said:

I got Bulgaria

As England didn't qualify, I was firmly rooting for my Germany boys. A whole group of us went to Allsports in the Treaty Centre (a reference only @TheBurningRed will get) and got shirts. My sister had that banging blue Sweden and I got the green Germany shirt* (probably where my love of shirts came from) and when Letchkov bulleted in that header, I lashed my ice cream at the wall and cried.

Then I went to Richmond riverside with my Mum and her boyfriend that evening, still in my shirt and was called a "kraut cunt" by loads of revellers, which was a bit harsh for a 9yo kid to receive (sorry for the tangent) but Germany were hated. I was obviously elated that summer when we signed Klinsmann.

The final was absolutely shit, and I think we all went out to play football half way through the second half, only coming back in for the pens. But overall the tournament was great, much better than Italia 90 IMO.

If you haven't seen it, Two Billion Hearts, the official doc on that World Cup is superb.

*As some of you know I love my football shirts and have loads, but have never spent much on them, the exception being a few years ago I treated myself to the home 94 Germany shirt original, which did cost a bit more than the average shirt. 

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, cobra_gordo said:

Same. I remember being interested in Italia '90 but I was only 5 so it was mainly because of the Esso tokens and the sticker album. '94 was the first World Cup where I watched all the qualifiers and pretty much every game of the tournament, mainly with my late grandad, so I've got fond memories of it all.

Slight tangent but at our school sports day in 1994 we were organised in to teams, sorted by country and I got Bulgaria. As England hadn't qualified most of the kids at our school were routing for Republic Of Ireland but my grandad said nope, you're Bulgaria at sports day so you're Bulgaria for the tournament. So that was that and I supported Bulgaria for a summer. And they finished third and I got to be a smug cunt about it.

They finished 4th, the King of Kings scored in the 4-0 thrashing in the 3rd place play off. 

Edited October 14, 2025 by westlondonmist

[tiger_rick]

My enthusiasm for the tournament is pretty low. Like Bacon's OP, I was excited for it on a wave of USA 94 nostalgia and with the premise of Mexico and Canada hosting too. I've been on the FIFA email list for the last couple of years waiting for tickets and have tentative plans with my brother to go to some games. This year has really dampened it.

The ticketing situation is pretty awful. FIFA have been emailing for the last year selling "right to buy" packages when you buy worthless NFT type things. I thought this was a bit cheeky and some of the bundles just a way to get shot of Club World Cup tickets but it really is a massive racket that's seen them rake in tens of millions of dollars without selling a single ticket. Absolutely not surprising from the most corrupt organisation in football.

The Club World Cup and the on-field ramifications of that haven't helped my enthusiasm as a potential attendee or a TV viewer. Games getting held up for hours for weather interruptions. Someone realising it's hot in that part of the world so games will have to KO in the middle of the night. The entire political landscape of some host cities - or maybe not by the time next summer comes - and Infantino and Trump's cosy little relationship. All horrible.

Then the actual ticketing info that's known so far is unbelievable. It's the World Cup and the US so you'd expect it to be pricey but it's absolutely extortionate. Tiny numbers of low category tickets, ridiculous prices for the middle categories and the use of dynamic pricing still to come. FIFA are even allowing major price hiking on their official resale platform. 

The laws in Mexico mean that tickets can't be resold above face value so there might still be the prospect of going to some games in Mexico but I'd imagine the demand will be huge, rightly, and I'm not particularly up for it now. 

Greed will absolutely kill the World Cup, I'm sure. Already talking about 64 teams. Sold the 2034 tournament to Saudi. FIFA restrictions on stadiums make hosting the tournament a near impossibility for most countries individually so we're likely to see a load of middle east and US on the rotation. Bunch of absolute tits. 

[cobra_gordo]

8 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

They finished 4th, the King of Kings scored in the 4-0 thrashing in the 3rd place play off. 

Ah balls, that's me mis-remembering

32 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

the green Germany shirt

I keep adding one to my cart on alibaba, mainly so I can have Kuntz on the back.

[SuperBacon]

44 minutes ago, Cod Eye said:

Do we think the Faroe Islands will qualify? 

An incredible feat to turn around their status as joke of world football to being in contention for the World Cup, but they will still need a miracle and get a result against group leaders Croatia, while hoping the Czechs fail against Gibraltar, which seems unlikely. 

But who knows? Amazing for them to be this close, and that is the only positive for the World Cup expanding, that nations like that get to qualify etc. 

Also, saw someone say that Cape Verde are only the second team to qualify with a colour in their name after Ivory Coast. Not having that, Ca-maroon and Argent-ina for starters

[westlondonmist]

I'd love it if the Faroe Islands qualified. I wish they were doing this in the Euro qualifiers as that would have been easier to get them there. 

 

I do worry about this World Cup having some absolute dross in it though. North America getting an aditional 3 places on top of the hosts, New Zealand guarenteed a spot and with 16 European teams Scotland might even qualify. 

[TildeGuy~!]

3 hours ago, Cod Eye said:

Do we think the Faroe Islands will qualify? 

Not looking likely, they need to beat Croatia away in their last fixture and hope Czech Republic lose to Gibraltar just to make the playoffs.

Edit: Missed the post a couple up, but yea basically the same explanation as Bacon.

Edited October 14, 2025 by TildeGuy~!

[Devon Malcolm]

I seem to remember all the 1990s World Cups being absolutely shite in terms of quality. They've generally been crap but the last two or three have been excellent, especially 2018.

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I seem to remember all the 1990s World Cups being absolutely shite in terms of quality. They've generally been crap but the last two or three have been excellent, especially 2018.

I didn't watch WC 90, but didn't it have the lowest goals per game of any world cup. People say it was great, but part of me thinks they remember England doing well in it. In 94 Italy sort of bent their luck to get to the final and then took part in one of the most boring games ever. 

[tiger_rick]

1990 was dour football but some incredible drama. Definitely right that England's progress made it as a tournament, from our POV, along with the iconic grounds, incredible kits, Pavarotti and the relative lack of hooliganism. It was a bit of a celebration of football for a new decade. Personally, I was just 10 years old, absolutely football obsessed and all the games were on at great times.

1994 was a much better tournament in terms of the quality of football, even in the stifling heat. An array of superstars, incredible crowds, sunshine in the middle of the night and more great kits. It missed England's involvement, that would have been fucking hilarious under Graham Taylor, and the final was dogshit.

I'll go to my death still of the opinion that 1998 is the absolute peak of the World Cup. It's been downhill ever since. Mostly due to FIFA corruption. But also because the football world is so small now. 

[Carbomb]

15 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

1990 was dour football but some incredible drama. Definitely right that England's progress made it as a tournament, from our POV, along with the iconic grounds, incredible kits, Pavarotti and the relative lack of hooliganism. It was a bit of a celebration of football for a new decade. Personally, I was just 10 years old, absolutely football obsessed and all the games were on at great times.

1994 was a much better tournament in terms of the quality of football, even in the stifling heat. An array of superstars, incredible crowds, sunshine in the middle of the night and more great kits. It missed England's involvement, that would have been fucking hilarious under Graham Taylor, and the final was dogshit.

This was broadly my experience too. I think I'm about the same age as you, rick.

Difference being that I didn't notice the dour football of '90, as I was just in a boy's frenzy over a newly-discovered enthusiasm for the game - I'd always been a fan, but now that I understood the game properly, I was really into it.

I remember chatting on here about how Italia '90 felt like the last time a World Cup felt like a massive deal, and that 2014 was the first time since then that it felt like that (although that turned out to be a blip, I feel). There were a number of suggestions as to why that was, and I think the two best ones were:

1. It was the last time players treated their club careers as a showcase for an international/World Cup career, instead of the other way round, like it is now

2. Whatever the event, classical music makes everything seem big time, and Nessun Dorma sung by the most famous opera singer in the world at the time was about as big time an anthem a tournament could get.

[SuperBacon]

The World Cup is all about the drama, and not necessarily the quality of football in my opinion.

It's inevitable at a large scale tournament that a big percentage of the football will be quite poor, and tactics are cyclical. A lot of the 2010 and 2014 World Cups bored me to tears. I'm hoping for everyone just adopting long throws next summer.

90 was the last World Cup to have the back pass rule, so that probably contributed to the low goals per game.

I still think FIFA should pass an emergency law allowing 90s style MLS penalty kicks for next year.