FIFA World Cup 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇨🇦 2026

[BlackHillsPaul]

Except you're doing the typical American thing that pisses people off. YOU WERE CO-HOSTS. Canada and Mexico had major roles in this. 2 of the 3 best host cities were in Canada - Vancouver and Toronto - as voted by Sports Illustrated beforehand and fans during the event.

You also forget your president cast a dark cloud over the tournament, like no-one else could have done, other than maybe Putin.

I am looking forward to Euro 2028 where we wont have to put up with North American ignorance of the worlds game.

Stop trying to piss me off Malcolm.

[Aussieleeds]

England need to do what their fans wont let them do. Focus on youth, not the billionaires, and build from the ground up. Clean slate.

For Euro 2028, focus on building a new squad based on youthful talent.
You may lose a good few going in to it, but you'd have cohesion and unity. But the British press has no patience. You'd crucify any coach who did what I'm suggesting.

I reckon England's U21 team would give this world cup team a run for their money.

The success of the EPL is a double edged sword. There’s so much money, that up and coming English players get paid a fortune to sit on the bench behind the best players in the world.

[Sean_Nile]

After I arranged the 6-4 goal extravaganza between England and France I expected at least a 10-9 performance from Argentina and Spain, but instead we got a snoozefest, the only thing that salvaged the whole Cup Final was the halftime show.

The critics said it was "too extravagant." That's what losers say when they don't have enough glitter. If your halftime show doesn't require international air traffic to reroute around the pyrotechnics, why are you even trying?

Everyone agreed. The fans agreed. The television agreed. The cameras agreed. Ultra super mega stars from all the host nations. People said Sir how did you manage it?

And that's the story of how I rescued the World Cup Final from becoming the world's most expensive SNOOZEFEST. You're welcome.

[Clitheroe White]

Well, it's been a BRILLIANT World Cup tournament in my view. There were so many questions going into it. Would the pitches be good? Would the World show up? Would the stadiums be full? And the answer to all of it was YES!! It's been fun to see all the visitors from around the World having a great time and enjoying my Country. Exploring our culture. Loving our food! If you didn't attend, you don't really know what an unmitigated success this was. Or how grateful we Americans are. It's been a blast!!!

Hi BHP. That’s a very fair perception and rings true from inside the country. Great to see those Americans that got into football enjoy it. Fans on the ground seemed to have a great time too.

From the external view there was plenty that tainted the flavour. It’s a shame but some things need to not come back:
Rip off and murky ticket pricing

Hydration breaks (unless it’s genuinely hot) that don’t support a blatant need for advertising $. Oh and if needed make them 90 seconds.

28 min half time break

A meddling president and very corrupt fifa.

Too many non games at group stage (take back to 32 teams, definitely don’t increase it!)

Don’t host it across 3 mega countries as the travel carbon impact kills a forest somewhere.

That aside, many aspects of the tournament were good as you say. Shame that these bigger structural issues were nothing to do with the genuine lovely Americans, Canadians and Mexicans on the ground who made visitors welcome.

[weasel]

An instantly forgettable world cup, certainly won't live in the memory lime Mexico 86, Italia 90 etc. Standard of football extremely poor, too many average or below average team. Hardly any decent matches. Very few 'wow' goals. Just a bore-fest from start to finish

[BlackHillsPaul]

Hi BHP. That’s a very fair perception and rings true from inside the country. Great to see those Americans that got into football enjoy it. Fans on the ground seemed to have a great time too.

From the external view there was plenty that tainted the flavour. It’s a shame but some things need to not come back:
Rip off and murky ticket pricing

Hydration breaks (unless it’s genuinely hot) that don’t support a blatant need for advertising $. Oh and if needed make them 90 seconds.

28 min half time break

A meddling president and very corrupt fifa.

Too many non games at group stage (take back to 32 teams, definitely don’t increase it!)

Don’t host it across 3 mega countries as the travel carbon impact kills a forest somewhere.

That aside, many aspects of the tournament were good as you say. Shame that these bigger structural issues were nothing to do with the genuine lovely Americans, Canadians and Mexicans on the ground who made visitors welcome.

Thanks CW! I agree with you on most everything related to the game. I tend to be a traditionalist with regard to football. Can't stand the f**king halftime shows!

With regard to the political stuff. I'm just not interested. I live my life and try to be happy. And there's not a politician on the planet that can make that happen. It's up to me. So I watch football, ride my motorcycles, swim in my pool, enjoy some beers, and then BBQ dinner. Life is good!! Cheers!

[ShaunL]

I enjoyed the W C some great moments and some not so good but you’re going to get that.
The refereeing was poor with certain teams and individuals treated favourably.
Other than the price of tickets haven’t heard too many complaints from those that were there.
Spain by far the best team even after poor start only conceded 1 goal in the tournament.
They deserved to win and are rightly world champions.

[1964white]

Last summer's Club World Cup Final halftime show was no treat either Leon.

But in fairness, World Cup Halftime shows have been trending this way for a while. As I recall, the halftime show in Qatar was pretty bad also. I personally don't like any of it.

We're not used to such shows at Elland Road or Wembley, Paul.

I went into the kitchen for some supper, I thought my telly had gone on the blink when I returned to our living room.

[1964white]

An instantly forgettable world cup, certainly won't live in the memory lime Mexico 86, Italia 90 etc. Standard of football extremely poor, too many average or below average team. Hardly any decent matches. Very few 'wow' goals. Just a bore-fest from start to finish

Due to the timing of matches, one of a few WC tournaments I've missed so many games.

Maybe not a bad thing as it wasn't great.

[Sean_Nile]

[SG90]

Argentina to me are like Italy of the '80s and '90s. Defensive, destructive and without creativity. Without Messi they are nothing, and havent been for a long time.

Argentina, Brazil and South American football generally is largely devoid of the creativity that defined it decades ago.

The locus of creative, inventive football is now clearly in Europe, with Asia and Africa the emerging areas.

That's because Brazil have turned into a Premier League team after chasing the European money. Just a bunch of big athletes with no skillset, the likes of Ronaldinho and Romario wouldn't get selected now. They need to focus on what they're actually good at, Jogo Bonito and letting young players play with flair and invention. They need to stop young players going to England as well.

[SG90]

An instantly forgettable world cup, certainly won't live in the memory lime Mexico 86, Italia 90 etc. Standard of football extremely poor, too many average or below average team. Hardly any decent matches. Very few 'wow' goals. Just a bore-fest from start to finish

Come off it, Italy 90 was terrible! Just revisionism and misty eyed nostalgia over it, the football diabolical really.

The best World Cup in recent memory was 1998. So many great games, upsets and quality footballers on show and every team had a household name.

Football is boring now, that's why. It's all about running stats and limited passing to boost percentages for data etc and big athletes for set pieces. All the fun has gone out of it. The likes of Brazil and the Netherlands have lost what made them exciting. The most exciting team was probably Cape Verde when the strings were off and they just had a go.

[Cjay]

Ever watched the films of him playing?
Pele was a genius. Data does not tell the full story - different era.
Messi is a genius at scoring goals, pretty pedestrian at everything else compared to the likes of Pele or even Cruyff.

Messi not a genius at anything but scoring goals and Pele is? Come off it. Messi is probably the greatest goal scorer and playmaker in history.

And certainly in the top 3 best dribblers

What have you based that on? You can't have watched him much as their isn't much footage.

People who did didn't even think he was the best player in those World Cup games.

Talented I'm sure but the pr hype around Pele has greatly inflated his reputation.

Basically played amateur football in Brazil, wasn't the best player at any of his World Cups according to the people who watched and played at a far less competitive time.

Cruyff said Messi was "incomparable" and a "different level to anyone else" incidentally.

Everyone has a different opinion on the greatest chat.

Maradona, Cruyff etc I can get.

Pele I never have tbh and yeah I watched plenty of footage.

[SG90]

The success of the EPL is a double edged sword. There’s so much money, that up and coming English players get paid a fortune to sit on the bench behind the best players in the world.

The best players in the world don't play in the Premier League though. A lot of the foreign players are pretty average and not much better than the young English talent that gets ignored. Unfortunately we're part of the problem. Who was the last academy player we brought through? Archie Gray, 3 years ago? I can't see anyone getting a chance this year either.

[The Subhuman]

Ever watched the films of him playing?
Pele was a genius. Data does not tell the full story - different era.
Messi is a genius at scoring goals, pretty pedestrian at everything else compared to the likes of Pele or even Cruyff.

Cracking four posts on the bounce..

[PhoenixUnited]

An instantly forgettable world cup, certainly won't live in the memory lime Mexico 86, Italia 90 etc. Standard of football extremely poor, too many average or below average team. Hardly any decent matches. Very few 'wow' goals. Just a bore-fest from start to finish

Italia 90 was crap IMHO although there was a decent run by England after the usual awful start. It was the coming of Paul Gascoigne. That was a highlight and there were a handful of very good matches. The rest of it was dire and also a cheat fest with loads of players like Klinsmann diving and conning referees all over the place. Ended up with the cheating Germans and the thuggish Argentiaians in a final that was as boring as yesterdays match. The Germans nicked it and the Argies cried their tears after

[Cjay]

You knew he'd do it . . . . .

[SG90]

All this sanctimonious nonsense over Argentina is doing my head in. If England won the World Cup like that, they'd be praised. The likes of Bellingham have shown themselves to be pretty classless too over the years. Not to mention Kane diving for penalties every game. I never saw him criticised once for diving against Congo, only Shearer crying all game that a penalty wasn't given.

[weasel]

All this sanctimonious nonsense over Argentina is doing my head in. If England won the World Cup like that, they'd be praised. The likes of Bellingham have shown themselves to be pretty classless too over the years. Not to mention Kane diving for penalties every game. I never saw him criticised once for diving against Congo, only Shearer crying all game that a penalty wasn't given.

Argentina played the way that was most likely to get them success and nearly did it. I wouldn't have minded one bit if they had won it. You cna't just turn up and play like Burnley (under Kompany) and Southampton (under Martin Russell) in the prem and say 'oh well we played how we wanted and it was good to watch.' A lot of respect for Argentina.

[danhirons]

All this sanctimonious nonsense over Argentina is doing my head in. If England won the World Cup like that, they'd be praised. The likes of Bellingham have shown themselves to be pretty classless too over the years. Not to mention Kane diving for penalties every game. I never saw him criticised once for diving against Congo, only Shearer crying all game that a penalty wasn't given.

what a terrible post

England have never ever (in my living memory) played like Argentina did. Being clever to win a penalty (Kane definitely didn't dive as there was clear contact) is something pretty much every nation does and just completely different to the way Argentina acted. There's a reason why you're in the (minuscule) minority with this opinion