World Cup 2026

[Carbomb]

Surprised you felt that 2014 was boring; I quite enjoyed it. Aside from the WCs from the past twelve years having the most goals because nobody can defend, it had the infamous 7-1 drubbing of Brazil by Germany.

That said, of recent WCs, I found Russia 2018 the most enjoyable, simply because of the sheer shithousery of a crap Russia team somehow squeezing out win after win.

[TheBurningRed]

6 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Treaty Centre

Will be closing down for good soon. Good memories of that place.

I really hope the Faroe Islands qualify. One of my favourite countries in the world, a beautiful place. It would be a great story.

I don’t remember anything about the 94 World Cup, but I still have my Ireland kit stored away. 1998 was the first World Cup I remember watching so it’s still my favourite one. That France team, Ronaldo, Owen’s goal against Argentina, being taken out of school to watch England's opening game. A great tournament that I look back on fondly. 

2010 is still the worst one I’ve ever watched. 

[SuperBacon]

38 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Surprised you felt that 2014 was boring; I quite enjoyed it.

It may very well be that I had two young children at the time so couldn't dedicate the full 4 weeks of my time to be honest.

Obviously Brazil getting battered is one of the all time great moments in football history.

[tiger_rick]

Was reminded about the other thing that's soured me on this tournament tonight. 3rd stage of Asian qualifying was held in Central venues. Qatar and Saudi. Shockingly both progressed. Gianni should have just sold two spaces and declared the income. 

[SaitoRyo]

France '98 was the first one I really remember watching and being properly into. 2002 was huge, because I was 11 and loved watching and playing football and they even did stuff like showing the England matches on a TV in assembly hall at school. I vividly remember leaving for a school trip shortly after Ronaldinho lobbed Seaman. Day's ruined, cheers. 

2010 has a very special place in my heart. Even though a lot of football itself was pretty shit as far as quality was concerned, this was the summer before I went to uni and everyone was around so we watched basically every game. My mate (who failed some important exams because he cared more about watching every single game than revising) had a homemade 'gym' in his back garden, which basically became a place to watch the games, drink cans and then party with people later. It was so fucking good. We had barely any responsibilities and all the time in the world to watch football and play 'VuvuStella' (chugging a can of Stella through a vuvuzela, natch). I had the lovely South Korea strip from that year, which I wore when we would go off and play in the local park during breaks in matches. No smart phones, halcyon days. 

I really liked 2014 (strong memory of watching Brazil/Germany with my now wife) and the last two World Cups have been fantastic, as far as the quality and drama of the games. Sucks that I live overseas and haven't really been able to come back and watch them with my mates. I might try and get back for a week or two next summer to remedy that.

God, I love the World Cup.

[Fog Dude]

On 10/14/2025 at 10:28 AM, westlondonmist said:

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. 

Europe already had 14/15 teams under the format in use since France '98. Almost all of the expansion has come to the benefit of other continents and I quite like that the next finals will have a wider global spread.

Why shouldn't Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Kiwis be there? They've all qualified before on merit. And even with 4 extra automatic places from Africa, mainstays from the 24-team era Cameroon and Nigeria have both ended up in the play-offs. 

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, Fog Dude said:

Europe already had 14/15 teams under the format in use since France '98. Almost all of the expansion has come to the benefit of other continents and I quite like that the next finals will have a wider global spread.

Why shouldn't Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Kiwis be there? They've all qualified before on merit. And even with 4 extra automatic places from Africa, mainstays from the 24-team era Cameroon and Nigeria have both ended up in the play-offs. 

New Zealand basically have a free spot, which teams shouldn't have. 

 

Those countries can be there when they qualify. But if qualification becomes too easy then it stops being special. Over half of South American teams qualify (with a possibility of 70% of them). 6th best North American team shouldn't be there either. As a continent they haven't done well enough to merit that.

 

Edit: I feel the same away about half of UEFA teams qualifying for the Euros. 

Edited October 15, 2025 by westlondonmist

[SuperBacon]

3 hours ago, Fog Dude said:

Cameroon

My boys should be in every World Cup.

[Devon Malcolm]

Ivory Coast didn't concede a goal in all 10 of their qualifiers in their group. Watched them against Kenya and they're really good in all departments. Wouldn't bet against them doing a Morocco-esque run.

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Ivory Coast didn't concede a goal in all 10 of their qualifiers in their group. Watched them against Kenya and they're really good in all departments. Wouldn't bet against them doing a Morocco-esque run.

By the time the tournament comes around, it will be 20 years of waiting for them to be as great as the sum of their parts. The 2006 & 2010 squads were incredible. Be interesting to see if they put it together as a team now there are no real stars. The PSG formula.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Ivory Coast didn't concede a goal in all 10 of their qualifiers in their group. Watched them against Kenya and they're really good in all departments. Wouldn't bet against them doing a Morocco-esque run.

 

21 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

By the time the tournament comes around, it will be 20 years of waiting for them to be as great as the sum of their parts. The 2006 & 2010 squads were incredible. Be interesting to see if they put it together as a team now there are no real stars. The PSG formula.

AFCON* coming up should be a good indicator, and they should blitz through the group (despite Cameroon being in it) and should be favourites alongside Egypt.

I'm still amazed Ghana didn't make it (but will be at the World Cup) but that's me really basing it off their past glories and the fact they have Kudus and Semenyo so should be good, rather than me actually having watched them in the last 4 years.

 

*still forever the funniest competition. 

[Carbomb]

Talking of waiting for a team to be as great as the sum of its parts, have we had the obligatory mention of Belgium being dark horses yet?

[SuperBacon]

8 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Talking of waiting for a team to be as great as the sum of its parts, have we had the obligatory mention of Belgium being dark horses yet?

One of my biggest bugbears is people getting that wrong (not that that's what you're doing)

In the last Euros someone I know said France were a dark horse. France, the 2018 World champions and 2022 runners up. Dark horses. In order to be a dark horse, you really should be less than 33/1 at any bookies for me Clive.

Belgium will never win anything. They blew their golden generation by having the world's most uninspiring manager in charge of them all.

[TheBurningRed]

5 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Talking of waiting for a team to be as great as the sum of its parts, have we had the obligatory mention of Belgium being dark horses yet?

I remember before the 2022 World Cup, someone down the pub said Belgium would win it as they had Dries Mertens up top (35 at the time). Plus the fact they had the Hazard brothers. A decent, but not world class Thorgan, and a completely finished Eden. Tbf, that would’ve put them as dark horses.

 

6 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Ghana

The year that cunt Suarez cheated against them (top shithousery tbf), I was all in on Ghana. For as good as Ivory Coast were with their team, I honestly thought Ghana would be the first African team to win a World Cup. For a couple of world cups, they were special. 

[SuperBacon]

16 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

I honestly thought Ghana would be the first African team to win a World Cup.

Yeah I remember this being the general consensus for a while, and they were certainly the strongest African nation at a World Cup I'd ever seen. 

It now seems further away than ever.