The 2026 FIFA World Cup

[littlelum]

I'm visiting family right now, and my grandparents are watching France vs Senegal. I find Senegal's unorthodox play style fascinating to watch. I hope they qualify for the next tournament.

[Louis Paul]

My previous prediction for Argentina was correct, but I thought that Argentina would have a easier time, Lionel Messi missed the penalty, and Egypt made it 2-0, but Argentina ultimately made it 3-2 in normal time with comeback.

Now for the predictions for the Saturday quarterfinals matches, I think that England would win against Norway, and Argentina would win against Switzerland.

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[VinnyVideo]

France looks like the strongest team heading into the semifinals, but we shall see!

Argentina keeps winning nail-biters.

The United States had a pretty good run, but their defense fell apart with a lot of uncharacteristic mental errors against Belgium. Part of me wonders if all the drama around overturning Balogun's suspension only motivated Belgium (a talented but flaky team that probably needed a bit of motivation!).

@littlelum Yeah, a subset of Mexican fans is very badly-behaved, unfortunately! This is not a new thing - I remember when I was a kid I'd hear about some of the hardcore fans doing similar things whenever the United States or other teams traveled to Mexico for World Cup qualifiers.

@NowhereMan Brazil has won more World Cups than any other team. From 1994 to 2002, they were in every World Cup final, winning two of them. The past few World Cups haven't been quite as successful, though - they keep getting talented teams that come up short in the knockout rounds.

Course clear! You got a card.

[fireball3k]

well, if the USA has been eliminated, then I no longer care. That sucks, man.

[Louis Paul]

Brazil has won more World Cups than any other team. From 1994 to 2002, they were in every World Cup final, winning two of them. The past few World Cups haven't been quite as successful, though - they keep getting talented teams that come up short in the knockout rounds.

Yeah, Brazil has five titles, and is the only country which participated in all tournaments. Brazil is still a strong team, but since 2006 it's always eliminated by an european country. Let's see if Brazil will have a better performance in the next qualification phase.

The last predictions for England and Argentina were correct, for the semifinal predictions, I think that France would win against Spain, and Argentina would win against England.

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[NowhereMan]

well, if the USA has been eliminated, then I no longer care. That sucks, man.

Says the guy who calls American Football Handegg?  I thought you were European. 

I had the feelings Belgium was going to lose to Spain, just as I had feeling USA was going to lose to Belgium.

The 'favorites' to win; France, Spain and Argentina are still in the game. 

My prediction is that its France and Argentina in the final, France winning it all. If I am wrong, that's okay, that's what I feel.

Like @VinnyVideo said, Argentina has had some nail-biters recently.

[SUPERBLOCK]

It’s amazing—Spain is reaching a final again for the first time since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. If I’m lucky, maybe Spain will beat whoever they face (Argentina or England) and we’ll win "the second one" (the second star). It looks like a promising year for my country, since we also won the Women's Euro and the U-19 championship—just like in 2010 when Spain won the World Cup. I have faith!

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[fireball3k]

well, if the USA has been eliminated, then I no longer care. That sucks, man.

Says the guy who calls American Football Handegg?  I thought you were European. 

But that's what a gridiron football is! It's a ball that's shaped like an egg that you carry in your hand. Well, unless you punt it, and at that point you absolutely use your foot. I am very American and proud to be, but I like calling football handegg because is funny to me.

[VinnyVideo]

Argentina had another nail-biter today!

My pre-tournament prediction has turned out to be pretty accurate! My tournament bracket had Spain beating France to get to the final, and Argentina topping Brazil in the other semifinal. (I thought England would lose to Brazil in the quarterfinals.)

I'm inclined to think Spain will win the final on Sunday - they absolutely smothered France, a team that had looked really dominant.

Course clear! You got a card.

[NowhereMan]

I remember I called the last games, "pure mastery", as I saw a big change from the starting games to the top 16, and then to the top 8, sure, but now these games don't feel like "pure mastery".

Anything can happen, France losing. These games feel evenly matched. It doesn't feel like anything has changed in the actual game, per se, but it is still awesome. Excited for the last two games.

[Louis Paul]

The World Cup is near the end, my prediction for France was incorrect, they managed to lose to Spain, and my prediction for Argentina was correct, they managed to score two goals in 7 minutes.

Now for the final two predictions, I think that France would win the match for third place, and Argentina would be the champion of the World Cup.

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[SUPERBLOCK]

TODAY IS THE GRAND FINAL!!! WHO WILL WIN? SPAIN OR ARGENTINA?? PLACE YOUR BETS!!
(I hope Spain)

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[VinnyVideo]

I'm not a gamblin' man, but I'm sticking by my pre-tournament pick of Spain beating Argentina in the final!

Also, third-place games are often a sleepy affair, but yesterday's game turned into quite an interesting show. This was one of the five highest-scoring games in World Cup history.

Course clear! You got a card.

[SUPERBLOCK]

SPAIN WINS!!!!!

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[Louis Paul]

Now that the World Cup is over, congratulations to Spain for winning the World Cup. My prediction for the match for third place was incorrect, I never thought that the two teams would score so many goals, and France lost again (but Kylian Mbappé managed to be the top scorer).

And my prediction for the champion was also incorrect, Argentina only made two total shots, and these two were in the overtime, Spain pratically dominated the match. One detail I overlooked is that Spain only conceded one goal in all the competition.

For Brazil I just hope that they have a better performance in the next qualification phase.

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[VinnyVideo]

I was glad to see Spain win the championship (and not just to make my admittedly less-than-bold pre-tournament prediction come true!). Spain was the steadiest team throughout the tournament, while Argentina sometimes got distracted by playing footbrawl, especially in the final. Argentina wasn't able to muster a shot until extra time, which wasn't pretty to see. While Messi is still an amazing player, Argentina got a little too dependent on him.

The World Cup brought its share of controversies, but I feel like the whole thing was fairly successful, all things considered. Coming in, I was afraid that this World Cup was going to turn into a massive dumpster fire! It would've been fun to attend an actual match, but the prices were pretty expensive, and the nearest venue was a considerable drive for me. I was able to catch most of the games (except for the ones at crazy times) on TV, though.

I still believe that 32 teams is the right number for a modern World Cup. That said, I was glad that most of the new teams didn't get blown off the field like I was afraid they might. A couple of them were unexpectedly successful, like Cape Verde. They played the two finalists, as well as Uruguay, and didn't lose a single game in regulation time. (Argentina had to go into extra time to beat them).

Course clear! You got a card.

[NowhereMan]

Great that Spain won, I would have liked to see Argentina do some magic in the last game, overall I was disappointed in the final match. 

But the France and England game was truly a fun and entertaining event. 4-6, 10-point game.