FIFA World Cup 2026

[buylowersellhigh]

16 hours ago, Marco Van Basten said:

Cape Verde - man, no matter who this ends, super impressive

So good and fun to watch.  One of the few games that I watched most of and glad I did.  That second goal by Cape Verde was one of the best ones I have ever seen.

[Paarslaars]

Solid football from Canada here, they are not letting Marocco play their game and seems like Marocco doesn't have a good answer yet. Here is where a coach needs to intervene.

Edited Saturday at 05:45 PM by Paarslaars

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, Paarslaars said:

Solid football from Canada here, they are not letting Marocco play their game and seems like Marocco doesn't have a good answer yet. Here is where a coach needs to intervene.

As he did. Morocco - Canada 2:0

[SharperDingaan]

Sadly 3:0 to Morocco, as Canada essentially just ran out of gas/expertise. 

 

A great run for both Canada, and the remaining African teams. One has to think that from here on out ... there are going to be a lot more trades with the elite farm club teams of Europe and South America, that raises everyone's game. A future First Nations/Inuit Renaldo would be quite something! 

 

SD

Edited Saturday at 09:11 PM by SharperDingaan

[Paarslaars]

So the FIFA dismissed Balogun's red card after pressure from the U.S...

Didn't know the US was scared of a country literally 0.3% your size and 3.5% your population.

 

That said his red car was very light so... bring it on!

I'll be up at 2 am with friends watching in silence so we don't wake up the kids. 

[backtothebeach]

Congrats to Norway beating Brazil!

Haaland, Messi and Mbappe have now all scored 7 goals so far, followed by Kane with 5 goals.

[Parsad]

16 minutes ago, backtothebeach said:

Congrats to Norway beating Brazil!

Haaland, Messi and Mbappe have now all scored 7 goals so far, followed by Kane with 5 goals.

 

Yup...no one can say that the big guns didn't show up.  Cheers!

[Gregmal]

Another example of this garbage. Norway scored 3 goals, one was disallowed. Brazil did nothing all game and was given two penalty kicks on plays in which neither scoring opp/penalty was anywhere near being an 80%+ chance of a goal. Justice prevailed but was just aggravating to watch the game being artificially kept close

[RichardGibbons]

12 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Another example of this garbage. Norway scored 3 goals, one was disallowed. Brazil did nothing all game and was given two penalty kicks on plays in which neither scoring opp/penalty was anywhere near being an 80%+ chance of a goal. Justice prevailed but was just aggravating to watch the game being artificially kept close

 

The second penalty was a terrible call IMO (speaking as someone who watches football on average for about 4 weeks every two years and is therefore clearly an expert.)

 

I suspect the second penalty wouldn't have been a penalty shot except that the game was nearly over and Norway had a multi-goal lead.

[aws]

What a crazy game between Mexico and England. Glad to see it ended with good sportsmanship and not ugly like France/Paraguay. 

[moatrep]

At first sight this goal may look simple, or overshadowed by more flashy strikes. One of the best I have seen, together with the strike from Cabo Verde in the same match. I cannot stop rewatching it. This is why everyone things he is from another planet.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/TyifPnxiKXQ?si=0FUXdhBafCdfCuSn

 

Also goes to show a tactical victory, this goal attacks the only space that Cabo Verde was leaving unguarded. Just a bit of space at the end that can only be profited with a long pass and milimetric precision. The Cabo verde defense of 6 players draw to Spain and Uruguay, and was undetead until this match.

Edited 8 hours ago by moatrep

[Paarslaars]

Let's make the world happy tonight! 

[Castanza]

11 minutes ago, Paarslaars said:

Let's make the world happy tonight! 

LOL Can’t help but laugh at this situation. Balogun gets a red and the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and says it should never have been a RED. FIFA reverses the call and now the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and they shouldn’t make changes. and now speculation Trump was involved….ffs… July 4th is over and now the US is the villain again  

[Paarslaars]

6 minutes ago, Castanza said:

LOL Can’t help but laugh at this situation. Balogun gets a red and the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and says it should never have been a RED. FIFA reverses the call and now the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and they shouldn’t make changes. and now speculation Trump was involved….ffs… July 4th is over and now the US is the villain again  

Ask yourself this question: if the roles were reversed, do you think Belgium would have gotten its main striker back? Or would the US actively try (and succeed) to prevent it?

 

I think the world knows the answer to this and that is where the outrage comes from.

Nobody thinks he shouldn't play, clearly wasn't a valid red card.

But the way it happened stinks...

[Kizion]

2 hours ago, Castanza said:

LOL Can’t help but laugh at this situation. Balogun gets a red and the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and says it should never have been a RED. FIFA reverses the call and now the whole world says FIFA is corrupt and they shouldn’t make changes. and now speculation Trump was involved….ffs… July 4th is over and now the US is the villain again  

 

It's just funny how every American seems to think this decision is normal or fair. It's never happened before — but for the US, in the US, suddenly it does. And apparently that's not strange at all... ffs.

 

But who cares, easy game for Belgium. 

 

[Aurelius]

You guys need to shut up lol  

 

If you don't watch or haven't played football, you really shouldn't complain/critique the refereeing! Think about it - that makes no sense. 

 

Brazil had two clear penalties. It does not matter if there was a chance or not for Brazil to score had it not been a penalty. Both were fouls inside the box and thus a penalty. The second one was really clumsy and just bad defending by Norway. A really stupid penalty to give away. It was a penalty nontheless. 

[Kizion]

4 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

You guys need to shut up lol  

 

If you don't watch or haven't played football, you really shouldn't complain/critique the refereeing! Think about it - that makes no sense. 

 

Brazil had two clear penalties. It does not matter if there was a chance or not for Brazil to score had it not been a penalty. Both were fouls inside the box and thus a penalty. The second one was really clumsy and just bad defending by Norway. A really stupid penalty to give away. It was a penalty nontheless. 

 

Correct - Reddit and other social media is suddenly full of American soccer experts. 

 

I don't mind Americans increasing their interest in "soccer" but ffs please show some humility. Enjoy, learn and don't start to think that everything is about you. Let's just hope it's over after today so we can start the real talk

[Aurelius]

What you should complain about is the USA red card getting overturned. Every team knew you could not overturn a decision after the match in this world cup. This was the policy. And believe me through out WC history there has been some terrible red card mistakes. They happen. 

 

Though it might not have been a red card... the ref and VAR room decided it was red. End of story as per the policy.

 

If you want to make it possible to correct mistakes then fine. (although with VAR this should be way less of a problem) But make it a policy before the tournament starts. 

 

There have been yellow cards given that were not yellow. Mistakes happen. Accumulate enough yellow cards and you'll miss a match... 

 

This smells like some kind of corruption. Crazy really. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Aurelius

[Castanza]

4 hours ago, Paarslaars said:

Ask yourself this question: if the roles were reversed, do you think Belgium would have gotten its main striker back? Or would the US actively try (and succeed) to prevent it?

 

I think the world knows the answer to this and that is where the outrage comes from.

Nobody thinks he shouldn't play, clearly wasn't a valid red card.

But the way it happened stinks...

 

31 minutes ago, Kizion said:

 

Correct - Reddit and other social media is suddenly full of American soccer experts. 

 

I don't mind Americans increasing their interest in "soccer" but ffs please show some humility. Enjoy, learn and don't start to think that everything is about you. Let's just hope it's over after today so we can start the real talk

That’s not true….Ronaldo had his suspension pushed back so he could play a World Cup match. 
 

edit: fwiw I think it shouldn’t be reversed. I’m all for less tech intervention in sports in general. This obsession with reviews and precision are ruining the nuance of the game (baseball, basketball, football, soccer, etc). 

Edited 3 hours ago by Castanza

[Castanza]

2 hours ago, Kizion said:

 

It's just funny how every American seems to think this decision is normal or fair. It's never happened before — but for the US, in the US, suddenly it does. And apparently that's not strange at all... ffs.

 

But who cares, easy game for Belgium. 

 

[Castanza]

6 hours ago, Paarslaars said:

Ask yourself this question: if the roles were reversed, do you think Belgium would have gotten its main striker back? Or would the US actively try (and succeed) to prevent it?

 

I think the world knows the answer to this and that is where the outrage comes from.

Nobody thinks he shouldn't play, clearly wasn't a valid red card.

But the way it happened stinks...

No team would try to get another teams best Striker reinstated…that’s a silly question….US is NOT the only team to have players reinstated this tournament. Again, I think it should stand even though it was terrible. But some US bias here is really driving the narrative without looking at the other cases. Nobody complained about Ronaldo or the four other players having suspension suspended or removed so they can play World Cup matches. Why does the outrage only start with Balogun? Is the corruption Trump making the call? Or the fact that the US player is the only one that shouldn't have theirs overturned based on FIFA Disciplinary Rule Changes and Reviews?

Edited 1 hour ago by Castanza

[Aurelius]

 

Seen on twitter:

Quote

Been a fun ride to watch people learn about the rules, speed run all the solutions (golden goals anyone?) that have already been tried, decide FIFA is a corrupt organization, and become a part of that corruption. Welcome!

Quote

Corruption is only bad if I’m not a beneficiary of it

 

Hopefully not true:

BREAKING: Howard Lutnick was involved in reversing FIFA’s red card decision on American player Balogun, per POLITICO

Edited 1 hour ago by Aurelius

[Castanza]

15 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

 

Seen on twitter:

 

Hopefully not true:

BREAKING: Howard Lutnick was involved in reversing FIFA’s red card decision on American player Balogun, per POLITICO

the plot thickens….regardless of outcome for the US team; Trump and Lutnick have written in permanent ink a big ass asterisk next to the 2026 World Cup Team….

[Paarslaars]

35 minutes ago, Castanza said:

No team would try to get another teams best Striker reinstated…that’s a silly question….US is NOT the only team to have players reinstated this tournament. Again, I think it should stand even though it was terrible. But some IS bias here is really driving the narrative without looking at the other cases. Nobody complained about Ronaldo or the four other players having suspension suspended or removed so they can play World Cup matches. 

 

You're misunderstanding me. If Belgium would try to do the same, the US administration would lobby against it and win for sure. My point was simply, this would not be possible for any other team.

 

56 minutes ago, Castanza said:

 

This is uninformed, here is the difference:

 

FIFA changed the rules before the tournament so that red cards from qualifying rounds do not carry over into the tournament. Ronaldo actually got 3 banned matched and served the first one in the qualifying rounds, the rest got suspended. All the others had their one banned match not carry over into the tournament.

 

None of them got their immediate suspension revoked in the middle of a tournament except Balogun...

[Kizion]

1 hour ago, Castanza said:

 

Sjees, are you also so biased in your equity research? 

 

You get a red card during a world cup - you don't play the next match - is it so difficult? 

 

Ngoy got a red card, he had to miss the next game. England had a red card yesterday, he will miss the next game.

 

But rules are clearly not the same for everyone. You clearly don't agree, that is fine, but biased.

 

You're just ignoring or twisting facts to make your argument valid. This should clearly be it, because I assume level of intellectual knowledge should be fine on this fora (in contrary to social media in generale - also only reason why I want to dedicated two post to it).

 

Now I shut up, hope I can watch an unrigged game of football and celebrate in the end. 

Edited 59 minutes ago by Kizion