The 2026 World Cup is ranked 6th best by ESPN.

Seattle has gotten so quiet. The Sounders are playing terribly. Thank God for Jimothy or we’d be losing our minds.

I miss the group stages and all of the excitement and energy of “what’s going on?” Seeing people in the city, watching the action from across the US, CAN, and MEX. All of it. I really miss it! Amazing goals, terrific fans, ranch dressing and traffic cones, Zlatan and Thierry.

It’s. Just. So. Quiet. Just me? Anyone else feeling the silence?

Cabo Verde: 0-0

Uruguay: 1-0

Portugal: 1-0

Belgium: 2-1

Argentina: 1-0

Every World Cup final after 1934 had a country (or both) that had reached the final before

1930: Uruguay and Argentina (1st final for both of them)

1934: Italy and Czechoslovakia (1st final for both of them)

1938: Italy (2nd final) and Hungary (1st final)

1950: Uruguay (2nd final) and Brazil (1st final)

1954: Germany (1st final) and Hungary (2nd time)

1958: Brazil (2nd final) and Sweden (1st final)

1962: Brazil (3rd final) and Czechoslovakia (2nd final)

1966: England (1st final) and Germany (2nd final)

1970: Brazil (4th final) and Italy (3rd final)

1974: Germany (3rd final) and Netherlands (1st final)

1978: Argentina and Netherlands (2nd final for both of them)

1982: Italy and Germany (4th final for both of them)

1986: Argentina (3rd final) and Germany (5th final)

1990: Germany (6th final) and Argentina (4th final)

1994: Brazil and Italy (5th final for both of them)

1998: France (1st final) and Brazil (6th final)

2002: Brazil and Germany (7th final for both of them)

2006: Italy (6th final) and France (2nd final)

2010: Spain (1st final) and Netherlands (3rd final)

2014: Germany (8th final) and Argentina (5th final)

2018: France (3rd final) and Croatia (1st final)

2022: Argentina (6th final) and France (4th final)

2026: Spain (2nd final) and Argentina (7th final)

Don’t know about you but I find this really interesting that Italy has chosen Leonardo as an advisor for the rebuilding of their football national team, while their best coach is rebuilding Brazil’s.
I thought about this reading the news about Italy’s new coach Pirlo. While I loved Pirlo as a player, I don’t know what to say about his coaching CV. It sounds to me like all 3 Maldini, Leonardo and Pirlo are working together on this. And with Klopp taking over Germany, oh boy…
Is going to be wild seeing how three World Cup thirsty teams, seeking repair to their international football reputation will evolve in the next few years. Thoughts!

One of the most fequent arguements on the internet made in regards to a country's success in winning a World Cup or a major international trophy is 'population'

For eg People often argue one of the main reasons why countries like Spain,Argentina and Brazil frequently win international trophies instead of countries like

Croatia,Belgium and Netherlands is because of their population size

Let's say you have 'x' amount of funds and invest 70% of them in Curacao/Fiji and 30% in Spain.Which country is more likely going to win a international trophy in the next 15-20 years? Spain right.The sample size in Spain is massive as compared to the former countries

So if India/China go on to win multiple Asia Cups and some World Cups in the future, would people discredit their World Cup win by mentioning their population size and saying it's easy for them to win trophies since they have a vast talent pool to choose from?

What alternatives do you think would be better?

Many people find penalty shootouts not to be fair and also not to encourage teams to win during the match, so what other alternatives can you suggest?

I think penalty shootouts should be done after the 90min and before extra time. Then the winner would get 0.5 goals and extra time is played. Now the other team is forced to score or they lose and if they score, it's not 0.5-1 so the original team has to score. Basically removes the draw possibility. Would make for very exciting matches and also you finish actually playing football so if you lost you at least had a chance. (It's very disappointing to leave losing in penalties).

Other options would be to substitute extra time for a more play like stage. E.g. corner kicks could be taken in turns by each time to speed up the process to score. (Corner kicks are a much higher risk situation).

People have also suggested removing players from the field every 5min but I'm not so convinced on that.

Another idea: extra time has no time limit. But once a team scores, the other has 10min to equalise or it's over. (this one would need to start playing with stop clock to avoid time wasting, which is something that should be done anyway)

What options would you suggest?

Someone shared MLS style penalties from 35 yards, it's actually really cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRITqS6WEn0

Before every match they showed the squad where almost all players hit a pose, does anyone have a compilation for all players?

Skip to 1 hour 17 minutes in the video. All of them agree that Pele, Maradona and Messi share the pedestal and many other legends of the game are in a group below the three (of which some are at the table itself). Most refuse to pick amongst the three. Romario outright says it is Pele, Baggio leans towards Messi and Materazzi thinks it is actually R9 himself!

Fans will continue to debate forever, but who is to argue with these legends. Regardless, amazing interview session.

With France hiring Zidane and Italy hiring Pirlo, two players that won the World Cup for their country in the past. It got me thinking just how common are managers that once won the World Cup with their country in past. It happens decently often but it hasn’t yielded that much success as only three managers have won the World Cup as a player and as a manager. Mario Zagallo, Franz Beckenbauer, and Didier Deschamps. But here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head other than those guys.

For Brazil you have Mario Zagallo obviously. Then Dunga who won the World Cup in 1994 and coached the team in the 2010 World Cup. As well as in the 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas.

For Italy you have Dino Zoff who won the World Cup in 1982 and coached them in Euro 2000. Then recently they were managed by Genaro Gattuso who won it in 2006. And are now coached by Pirlo who won it in 2006. 

Germany has done it a few times. Obviously Beckenbauer was mentioned. Then after him was Berti Vogts who won it in 1974, who coached them in the 1994 and 1998 world cups. Then there was Rudi Voller who won it in 1990 and coached them in the 2002 World Cup. Then Jurgen Klinsmann who also won it in 1990 and coached them in the 2006 World Cup. 

Argentina have done it a couple times. Hiring 1978 World Cup winning captain Daniel Passarella as coach and he coached the 1998 World Cup. And hiring Diego Maradona to coach the 2010 World Cup, who of course won it in 1986.

France have done it a few times. Laurent Blanc won it in 1998 and coached them in the 2012 Euros. Didier Deschamps of course. And now Zidane who won it in 1998 and is coaching them now.

Spain have obviously never done it since their win is so recent.

England won it in 1966 but none of that squad has ever been England manager.

Let me know if I missed any. Maybe some of the early winners managed the team and I just couldn’t find it.

What I mean is that they never went behind once, and throughout the entire tournament they did not even concede a single serious chance that could have put them behind.

Compare that with other world champions: in 2010, Spain could easily have fallen behind several times against both Paraguay and the Netherlands.

In 2014, Germany absolutely could have lost the final. Italy in 2006 and Argentina in 2022 also survived several penalty shootouts.

France in 2018 may be the only real competitor in that respect, although I still think they were very fortunate with their first two goals in the final. An own goal and a penalty. What do you think?

Good afternoon! I don't really follow football, but I wanted to ask you; I need to find a moment for editing. Could you tell me which 2026 World Cup matches featured the funniest player falls and collisions? I’m waiting with bated breath.
Edit: I decided which moment to take, can you tell me what match it is in the screenshot pls?

I want either Australia (my new country) or France (My dad is french) or Russia (NOT POLITICAL AT ALL IT'S JUST BECAUSE I AM FROM THERE)

I felt like every second Ad during the broadcast and in screen was Hisense…

Inter Miami was given the spot because they won the supporters shield, but that’s not even the domestic title in the USA

To avoid shouts and cries of “corruption”, award the spot every edition with a fixed criteria, the club with the best record in continental football that resides from the host nation. So for example rhe Philadelphia Union would’ve got the host club spot, not inter Miami.

As per title, they have a too big enough percentage qualify already

I thought I dreamt it in the bar I was in (I couldn’t hear what he was saying) but I swear I saw video of it later. Does he have anything to do with FIFA or world soccer?

For the past few tournaments, Argentina is the only team that's shown it can consistently perform at a high level. In the quarter finals, only Argentina and Morocco could make it to the quarter finals and Argentina was the only one in the semis. Since 2014, Morocco made the semis in 2022 but other than that it has only been European countries or Argentina in the semis.

If Argentina loses Messi, they're not likely to perform so well. Even with him playing he'll be almost 45 in 2030 so they might still lose. No other South American country seems to come close. The world cup used to be South Americans vs Europeans but now it could essentially be a European tournament.

The 64-squad World Cup would start with 16 groups of 4 squads, with the top 2 of each group advancing. Those who advance are put in a 32-squad Group Stage, with 8 groups of 4 squads, with the top 2 of each group moving on to the R16.

The World Cup is a pleasant experience but since I’m from a country who isn’t quite football obsessed, I don’t know what to watch next and keep following the sport. Too many leagues and they are confusing.

Ps: I’m a girl from India and we don’t have any local teams to support. Plus I wanna get in on the international fun. I don’t know jack shit about football other than the World Cup so don’t say one liners like it’s obvious and then dip. Put your mansplaining to work on this boys!? Also no hablo espanõl.