The 2026 FIFA World Cup

[NowhereMan]

Watching Argentina again right now. Final thoughts before I take a break for a moment...

The United States shoots when they need to pass, and Australia passes when they need to shoot. We'll see how things go here forward....

Also soccer is really interesting, the time never stops for fouls, out-of-bounds, etc for the flow of the game. Instead, time is added to the end of the game that got taken away due to these things.

Also yellow flags, red flags. I saw someone get a red flag for simply putting their hand over their mouth when talking to an opposing player.

[littlelum]

I saw someone get a red flag for simply putting their hand over their mouth when talking to an opposing player.

That's a new rule they implemented this year. It's intended to stop players from getting away with saying things they shouldn't.

[littlelum]

Tunisia lost 0-4 against Japan, eliminating them. Apparently, their head coach was fired after the first match.

Egypt beat New Zealand 3-1, putting them in the lead of the group. One of my housemates was rooting for New Zealand. Apparently, neither country had won a match in a world cup prior to this match.

Cape Verde tied again, this time against Uruguay. Meanwhile, Spain won their match against Saudi Arabia.

We already have our two winners of Group I, France and Norway. I'm not surprised, since I've seen them perform very well in other tournaments. Senegal and Iraq are technically not eliminated yet, as one of them could potentially do very well in their last match, and be in the top 2/3 of the third place teams.

Argentina also advanced to the next round, winning against Austria 2-0. (Sorry, DJ Coco!)

[DJ Coco]

Argentina also advanced to the next round, winning against Austria 2-0. (Sorry, DJ Coco!)

[NowhereMan]

Here's Christian Ronaldo. 

[VinnyVideo]

It's been a really good couple of days for the big-name scorers at the World Cup - Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

@NowhereMan I wouldn't say the United States has been the very best team at the World Cup, but they have been close to the top! Coming in, I wasn't sure what kind of form this team would be in.

Course clear! You got a card.

[NowhereMan]

It's been a really good couple of days for the big-name scorers at the World Cup - Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

@NowhereMan I wouldn't say the United States has been the very best team at the World Cup, but they have been close to the top! Coming in, I wasn't sure what kind of form this team would be in.

Kylian Mbappé is a fun player to watch.

And I can agree with you, they are much better than (there were 48 teams to start with) A LOT of the other teams. I am interested in how they do on Thursday.

[littlelum]

I saw a big group of people at work yesterday. They were heading to the Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Qatar game today. Bosnia and Herzegovina won. Switzerland also beat Canada. That means Canada, Switzerland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina advance, while Qatar is eliminated.

Jordan got eliminated after losing to Algeria 1-2.

Columbia advanced after beating DR Congo 1-0. Portugal also beat Uzbekistan 5-0. DR Congo faces Uzbekistan next, so the loser of that game will be eliminated. Possibly both if there's a tie.

England tied Ghana, while Panama was eliminated after losing to Croatia 0-1.

So far, 12 out of 32 teams have been confirmed to advance. Out of all the third place teams, only Bosnia and Herzegovina have been confirmed to advance.

[Louis Paul]

Now with all matches played on Group C, my predictions for Brazil were correct, with the Morocco match being the most difficult, ending with a draw, and the other two matches being easy, ending with both wins for Brazil. Now waiting for the next match in the round of 32.

My next prediction is that Brazil would face Japan in the round of 32.

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[NowhereMan]

The  Turkiye game vs. USA was a major disappointment to me, with one point taken away from USA off-sides penalty, ending in 3-2!!!!!

I am watching the France and Norway game, or should I say, Mbappe versus Haaland! We are getting to the good stuff now.

[Louis Paul]

The knockout stage has already begun, with Canada winning against South Africa and advancing to round of 16. My prediction for Brazil facing Japan in round of 32 was correct. Now my next prediction is that Brazil would win the match in the normal time, without going to overtime or penalty shoot-out. For the next match in round of 16 I think it would be against Norway.

I'm impressed with Cape Verde managing to advance to knockout stage in the first debut, but unfortunately I think it would lose against Argentina.

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[NowhereMan]

We are in the elimination games now, the USA plays today!

I watched Belgium play a few nights ago, and they were on fire!!!!!

French seems to be a favorite to win, followed by Argentina and Spain. 

Brazil is still doing well. 

Mexico, on home turf, is a hard match.

Let the games begin!!!!!!

[VinnyVideo]

The United States got a nice win over Bosnia. That red card for Balogun was questionable though - and losing their best goal scorer is going to hurt in the Round of 16.

Portugal vs. Croatia was quite a match today. It's a bummer that one of these teams had to exit from the Round of 32. The two most famous players on the field were both at the World Cup 20 years ago - not something that happens very often.

Course clear! You got a card.

[NowhereMan]

Happy 4th of July! 

USA should be able to beat Belgium on Monday!!!!!

[VinnyVideo]

It's funny - Canada's game was on the Fourth of July while the United States played on Canada Day!

Argentina squeezed past Cape Verde in overtime yesterday. I've heard some people say that was the best World Cup match they'd ever seen. It has to be high up on the list of greatest World Cup games. Cape Verde delivered some extremely composed and disciplined performances against the sport's heavyweights.

On the other hand, Paraguay retreated into their Koopa shell against France. Going into all-out defend mode isn't a rare strategy for a team with fewer resources facing a knockout game against a team of stars, but Paraguay decided to focus on kicking Mbappé and other French players. The highly questionable officiating - not to mention the sizzling temperatures - didn't help things. I'm glad France won that one.

Course clear! You got a card.

[Louis Paul]

My previous predictions were all correct on Brazil winning the match in the normal time, the next match in round of 16 being against Norway, and Cape Verde losing against Argentina.

The next predictions for Brazil in the round of 16 is that the match against Norway would be a tough one, because Norway have their best player Erling Haaland, I think Brazil would win the match in the overtime, without going to penalty shoot-out, and the next opponent in the quarterfinals would be England.

About Cape Verde, their performance was impressive and had potential to qualify to the next round, but unfortunately they lost in the overtime. Like Brazil their official language is also Portuguese.

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[littlelum]

I managed to catch the end of England vs Mexico. Normally, I root against England whenever they play soccer. No reason in particular, I just thought it was fun to root against them. But this time I made an exception. You see, I find the behavior of Mexico's fans to be deplorable. I have no problem with the players themselves, they are respectable based on what I've seen. But the fandom, oh boy. They've caused riots that led to people dying, harassing visiting teams so that they can't sleep, spraying foam on their bus, booing players while on the field, the list goes on and on. Heck, years ago I watched them throw trash at Venezuela's team after they scored a goal. No matter how good the team is, I can't root for them when their fans behave like that. I'm glad England won, since it means that it will put an end to the incidents that are going on.

While nowhere near as bad as Mexico, I also observed Columbia's fans being mean to Ghana, so I will be rooting for Switzerland in the upcoming match.

The USA is playing later tonight. I just so happened to be given today off of work, so that means that I don't have to worry about the crowds of hungry people stopping for lunch on their way to Seattle.

[NowhereMan]

Wonderwall is the national anthem of England.



They also play Norway next, which was Brazil's final game.

[Louis Paul]

So unfortunately my two predictions for Brazil were incorrect, I expected that Brazil would be eliminated in the quarterfinals against England, but they lost against Norway in the round of 16. The Brazil of today aren't the same from the Brazil from twenty years ago.

For the next prediction I think that Argentina would win against Egypt in the normal time without overtime or penalty shoot-out.

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[NowhereMan]

@Louis Paul I don't know anything about Brazil's team from twenty years ago, but I can assure you that Brazil is a good team today.

Every single game, starting with the final 16 is immensely difficult. Belgium winning today was a testament to their #9 placing and USA's #17 placing. I have only seen Belgium play in this tournament and they fluctuate my senses whether they belong in the quarterfinals or not, and they do. Go Belgium!!!!!

Every single game from here on out, especially in the quarterfinals is pure mastery. Especially with Portugal out and what-not. 

But I do have to say that The United States had it easy, and I thought Belgium was going to be a match they could handle but did not.

Go Belgium!!!!! They even gave USA diamond rings for the 250 anniversary. Sly