World Cup 2026

MetLife getting either:
Brasil v Morocco OR Haiti v Scotland

Germany v Ecuador OR Côte d'Ivoire v Curaçao

France v Senegal OR Norway vs Bolivia/Iraq/Suriname

England v Panamá OR Croatia v Ghana

I think this is decided tomorrow.
 
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Until I saw the groups, I don't think I fully realized how lopsided some of the group stage games are going to be with the expanded feild. I'm sure there will be a few fun upsets, but those ticket prices are nuts to watch a total blowout snooze fest like Germany vs Curacao or Spain vs. Cape Verde.
 
gbservis said:
Until I saw the groups, I don't think I fully realized how lopsided some of the group stage games are going to be with the expanded feild. I'm sure there will be a few fun upsets, but those ticket prices are nuts to watch a total blowout snooze fest like Germany vs Curacao or Spain vs. Cape Verde.
Click to expand...

yep. group stage will be 90% snooze fest.
 
gbservis said:
Until I saw the groups, I don't think I fully realized how lopsided some of the group stage games are going to be with the expanded feild. I'm sure there will be a few fun upsets, but those ticket prices are nuts to watch a total blowout snooze fest like Germany vs Curacao or Spain vs. Cape Verde.
Click to expand...

And with very little jeopardy. The top 2 teams in each group move on, and 8 of the 12 third-place teams move on. We're only eliminating 16 teams in the group stage.

FIFA had the perfect format for the World Cup and threw it away when it saw the dollar signs. The Grand Enshittification.

The US doesn't only have a good chance to move on, the US has literally no reasonable excuse for elimination in the group stage. Anything less than a Round of 16 appearance will be an embarrassment, and anything less than a quarterfinals appearance in a home World Cup will be underwhelming.
 
What an embarrassment!
There isn't a single match in that 1st Round that I'm going to go out of my way to watch.
Not one. And that includes matches involving the USA.
I've been watching this sport probably since before most of you guys were even born and I can't believe I've got zero interest in Copa Do Mundo.
Sad.
 
Gene said:
What an embarrassment!
There isn't a single match in that 1st Round that I'm going to go out of my way to watch.
Not one. And that includes matches involving the USA.
I've been watching this sport probably since before most of you guys were even born and I can't believe I've got zero interest in Copa Do Mundo.
Sad.
Click to expand...

it's barely a world cup anymore. the HUGE prestige in qualifying has been greatly diminished. no longer is it the absolute best of the best.

fifa's greed and corruption knows no bounds. unfortunately, there is no real way to address it unless people stop watching and that's never going to happen.
 
Gotham Gator said:
I’ve got tickets to 4 nearby group stage matches. This has me sweating things out a bit.

I find out at noon what I got.
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I don't understand why there's even a question about which games will be where -- they announced already, theoretically, which of these group stage games will be placed in which stadiums. There shouldn't be any leeway there. Of course this is FIFA and they are corrupt so I'm sure they are finding ways to screw around, but the only thing they should be announcing here are gametimes.
 
FIFA is really cracking me up. Most previous World Cups I can remember, the Group Stage had a consistent scheduling pattern. This World Cup it's all over the map

They're playing four games a day, and they're listing all gametimes as ET, even if they're in pacific time. So a few games are being played at midnight ET, but the local time of the venue is 9pm the previous evening. Basically, there will be days when there are 5 games and the next day is 3 games because that's how we all experience life.
 
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ZYanksRule said:
FIFA is really cracking me up. Most previous World Cups I can remember, the Group Stage had a consistent scheduling pattern. This World Cup it's all over the map -- they even have some Matchday 1 and 2 games overlapping which seems crazy to me.

June 17 has two games at 1pm ET and two games at 10pm ET. What in the world?

They're playing four games a day, and they're listing all gametimes as ET, even if they're in pacific time. So a few games are being played at midnight ET, but the local time of the venue is 9pm the previous evening. Basically, there will be days when there are 5 games and the next day is 3 games because that's how we all experience life.
Click to expand...
Listing all games under a single consistent time zone is the only reasonable choice for the official combined list. It would be obnoxious to make fans around the world adjust for 4 different time zones while planning to watch from home. Tickets, venues and tv listings should all use their own local time.
 
mgarbowski said:
Listing all games under a single consistent time zone is the only reasonable choice for the official combined list. It would be obnoxious to make fans around the world adjust for 4 different time zones while planning to watch from home. Tickets, venues and tv listings should all use their own local time.
Click to expand...

I agree with that. It makes complete sense. I'm just laughing that they're playing games at 9pm local time and making it seem like they're on the same day as a game at 3pm the following day.
 
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