2026 FIFA World Cup Finals

  • Thread starter Thread starter Famine
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England have drawn the second game in the last four tournaments, it wasn't great tonight at all....but its not the end of the world for them.
 
The final round of group games starts today, which means it will be two matches on at the same time to stop cheating, which in turn means its eight games a day until Sunday when the knockouts start with the round of 32.
 
MUSC4EVER
two matches on at the same time to stop cheating
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It's... not really that. It's more so that, outside of certain circumstances (of FIFA's own making now, with head-to-head being the prime tie-breaker meaning that more teams are through/out already after two games) teams don't already know what they need to play for, to preserve the spectacle for the fans.
 
Famine
It's... not really that. It's more so that, outside of certain circumstances (of FIFA's own making now, with head-to-head being the prime tie-breaker meaning that more teams are through/out already after two games) teams don't already know what they need to play for, to preserve the spectacle for the fans.
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I mean you say that, but there is a situation where Austria and Algeria just need to play out a draw for both to qualify based on how a few of the other groups have finished by the time they play.


The irony being the Disgrace of Gijon was a match between West Germany and Austria to eliminate Algeria.

Yeah...they aren't playing for a draw :lol:


We have to remember that this 8/12 3rd place teams qualifying system was developed after the 2022 World Cup as a response to how exciting the 4-team groups were. This competition was supposed to be 16 groups of 3 with the top 2 on each going through. Realistically, for a 48 team world cup, FIFA made the correct sporting decision, even if it makes the calculations of the next round so confusing that there isn't much point calculating and just let it happen.
 
6 matches daily for the next four days. In some instances there won't be much drama though.
 
Famine
Accidental tackle from tired player (it wasn't that deep into the match, but Qatar were being run ragged) with no malice resulting in a freak injury =

www.bbc.co.uk

World Cup 2026: Qatar's Assim Madibo given five-match ban for foul on Canada's Ismael Kone

Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo is given a five-match ban for the challenge which resulted in a broken leg for Canada's Ismael Kone.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Daft.
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That is harsh, it was a foul but it was pretty innocuous, this is purely because the player was badly hurt rather than the tackle was unusually nasty/reckless.
 
So after the first group of games today, all 3 hosts have advanced as Switzerland did not blow out Canada.
 
Switzerland top the group with Canada second, Bosnia finish third and should qualify with four points, Qatar finish bottom but fared a little bit better than in 2022.
 
An absolutely horrendous mistake by Scotland have gifted Brazil an early lead - and, yet again, Scotland insist on playing it back to the keeper at every opportunity, and this time they completely ****** it up.

Scotland seem to get the fear when they've made it to the half way line, and the number of times they go backwards and the ball ends up with the keeper is just embarrassing. We can't beat any big teams playing like this.

-

Dear God :ouch:

This is just horrible to watch - humiliating.
 
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Touring Mars
An absolutely horrendous mistake by Scotland have gifted Brazil an early lead - and, yet again, Scotland insist on playing it back to the keeper at every opportunity, and this time they completely ****** it up.

Scotland seem to get the fear when they've made it to the half way line, and the number of times they go backwards and the ball ends up with the keeper is just embarrassing. We can't beat any big teams playing like this.
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Well....
Embarrassing goal conceded #2

Well........
VAP decided to remove the goal for...reasons?
 
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Well... a bit of slightly undeserved luck, and boy do we need it.

This is the worst I've ever seen an international team play, and it couldn't be more embarrassing for Scotland.
 
Odd VAR decision that, of course the commentators will say it's the right decision and was definitely a foul, I imagine their opinion would be vastly different had it been at the other end.
 
I can't watch the rest of this.

I wish Scotland all the best, but that first half performance was as abject a performance as they've ever managed.
 
I see Scotland got the same memo as England did: just let this one go, so that Iran win and he has to give them the trophy.
 
For those of you who didn't stay up for the match, there will be highlights later on The Horror Channel.
 
As well as Scotland being lucky to get nil (and they may just squeak through, as there's one group where the third-place team can't jump them beyond something extraordinary, and four others where only specific results would bump them), we've got our first confirmed second round* tie and it's the very first match in the second round: South Africa - Canada

What's interesting is it's only the second ever knockout match featuring an African nation and a North American nation.

In 16 previous ties, African nations have faced European ones 12 times, and South American ones three times - even in Morocco's run to the semi-finals in 2022, where they faced three European teams (and a fourth in the third-place play-off). The only other occasion was USA-Ghana in 2010, which Ghana won only to be knocked out by Uruguay - and that was only the second time an African nation had been knocked out by a non-European one (2006, also Ghana, but at the hands of Brazil).

2026 also has as many qualified African nations for the knockout stages already as any other World Cup (two, Morocco being the other), and with Egypt and Ghana pretty well-placed, and two more facing their groups' bottom sides (Cote d'Ivoire vs Curacao, Cabo Verde vs Saudi Arabia) knowing a draw alone is probably good enough to displace Scotland and get into the top-eight third-place teams, we could be looking at six.

Though it is the first 32-team knockout round too.


*The official, toddler-friendly name can get in any sea of its choice. Second round, third round, quarter-finals.
 
Touring Mars
but that first half performance was as abject a performance as they've ever managed.
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You could have replaced the entire backline with Santa's little helpers and they still would've offered up fewer gifts...

The question posed on BBC Sport this morning was "Do Scotland deserve to go through?" and I can honestly say they can't feel hard done by if they didn't; a grinding/unconvincing win against Haiti by all accounts, didn't really offer anything against Morocco (didn't watch that one at all admittedly) and were incredibly careless last night.
 
South Africa qualified for the knockouts for the first time and they finished ahead of South Korea and Czechia which is equally impressive, Mexico finished top of that group with three wins from three.
 
Famine
and four others where only specific results would bump them
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That being one of them. Yikes.
 
Ecuador have beaten Germany with a fantastically spirited second half performance, 2-1. That pretty much guarantees Ecuador passage to the last 32.
 
Germany and Ivory Coast finish 1-2 in Group E. Ecuador has 4 points. They I believe jump above B&H due to goal differential?
 
Thanks Germany.
 
As it stands, England would be Ecuador's opponent.
 
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Blitz24
They I believe jump above B&H due to goal differential?
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Correct - and not only that, Ecuador and Bosnia & Herzegovina have qualified for the Second Round*, and Japan, Netherlands, Egypt, Spain, Portugal, England, and Ghana are all-but through too.

That's basically because three groups now cannot have a third-placed team with four or more points - A (already decided, South Korea), C (already decided, Scotland), I (Senegal/Iraq both have 0 and play each other) - while a fourth group, J (Algeria/Austria both have 3 and play each other), can return a team with four points but only with a goal difference of -2 and any other result leaves a team with three points (and either -1 or worse or -3 or worse).

The seven teams mentioned above have goal differences ranging from +1 to +4, so it's possible to have four points and miss out with a big enough defeat (Ghana is the most vulnerable, at +1, with one goal scored and Croatia to play) but six of them are definitely through now. Ecuador and Bosnia & Herzegovina though now cannot be overtaken by four of their third-place rivals: South Korea, Scotland, Senegal/Iraq, and Algeria/Austria.

It'll probably be decided by then, but if not it all hinges on the final group game: Algeria - Austria.

*Not saying it. Can't make me.
 
In the first match Sweden beat Tunisia 5-1
In the second match Netherlands beat Sweden 5-1.

Are we about to see Netherlands beat Tunisia 10-2?

Well they're 2-0 up after 7 minutes so maybe?
 
More confirmed second round ties with Brazil - Japan & Netherlands - Morocco, Sweden through as a best-third (actually the best right now) and Scotland really needing Australia to do them a favour and hose Paraguay tonight...

I did just run some predictions and I've got Scotland missing out to Algeria on goals scored... :ouch:

PosGroupCountryPWDLG+G-GDPt
1K🇨🇩 DR Congo311143+14
2F🇸🇪 Sweden31117704
3E🇪🇨 Ecuador31112204
4B🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina311156-14
5L🇬🇭 Ghana311112-14
6I🇸🇳 Senegal310267-13
7A🇰🇷 South Korea310223-13
8J🇩🇿 Algeria310236-33
9C🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland310214-33
10D🇵🇾 Paraguay310226-43
11H🇺🇾 Uruguay302136-32
12G🇮🇷 Iran302125-32
 
Famine
More confirmed second round ties with Brazil - Japan & Netherlands - Morocco, Sweden through as a best-third (actually the best right now) and Scotland really needing Australia to do them a favour and hose Paraguay tonight...

I did just run some predictions and I've got Scotland missing out to Algeria on goals scored... :ouch:

PosGroupCountryPWDLG+G-GDPt
1K🇨🇩 DR Congo311143+14
2F🇸🇪 Sweden31117704
3E🇪🇨 Ecuador31112204
4B🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina311156-14
5L🇬🇭 Ghana311112-14
6I🇸🇳 Senegal310267-13
7A🇰🇷 South Korea310223-13
8J🇩🇿 Algeria310236-33
9C🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland310214-33
10D🇵🇾 Paraguay310226-43
11H🇺🇾 Uruguay302136-32
12G🇮🇷 Iran302125-32
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I think if Australia loses to Paraguay, as long as it is not by 3 goals, Scotland essentially on life support?
 
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What a cluster of a game. Turkey got away with so much, and their bench was beyond annoying, but the US should've been better in the first half. Pepi is pretty useless, and I have no idea what we were doing on defense. I like Weah, but that was a godawful game from him. The result didn't matter, but I really hope we don't need to rely on our B team that much because they looked rough.

I also liked how our announcers called it Turkey most of the game, too. We don't speak Turkish, and the Turks can't be bothered to call us the United States, instead using Amerika Birleşik Devletleri (ABD).
 
Blitz24
I think if Australia loses to Paraguay, as long as it is not by 3 goals, Scotland essentially on life support?
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It's the Scottish way, build hope a small thread of hope only to have it ripped away.
 
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