World Cup 2026 - USA/Canada/Mexico

Exiled_Addick

Couple of nice goals by Elijah Just for NZ. Motherwell winger. Maybe worth a look?

Siv_in_Norfolk

ElfsborgAddick said:

My mate is currently in Houston and saw this

"Addicks, a railroad stop for the Bear Creek community, was named after its original postmaster, Henry Addicks, in 1884"

AddicksAddict

Covered End said:

AFKABartram said:

Did I just spot a Toblerone shaped stand behind the goal?

Yes.
Out on it’s own.

I think the person who LOLled your incorrect use of an apostrophe needs to take a long, hard look at themselves. 

AddicksAddict

The Red Robin said:

Nug said:

AFKABartram said:

Did I just spot a Toblerone shaped stand behind the goal??

I think the idea is so you can see the skyline of the city from the rest of the stadium, does look odd though. They design a lot of stadiums over there to get the city backdrop.

Those massive speakers are going to cause problems with taking corners. 

AddicksAddict

EugenesAxe said:

The Red Robin said:

Nug said:

The Red Robin said:

Nug said:

AFKABartram said:

Did I just spot a Toblerone shaped stand behind the goal??

I think the idea is so you can see the skyline of the city from the rest of the stadium, does look odd though. They design a lot of stadiums over there to get the city backdrop.

I have been there it’s a fantastic stadium

Looks it. My brother-in-law and wife’s family are all huge Seattle fans. He took his wife there on their honeymoon 😅.

Mind you, we did the same and went to Chicago for part of ours and sat at the top of Soldier Field. Amazing and great views. But very cold. 

I took mine up the Nile 

Better than taking her up the Arse…nal?

AddicksAddict

Stefco said:

Off_it said:

I wonder how tempted the top brass at ITV were to run adverts when they have these "hydration breaks"?

Australia have jumped on that wagon, with McDonalds.

That really does deserve a “FFS”. 

MuttleyCAFC

Spain are a great side but their weakness is they play a lot of ball in places that are not dangerous. What you have to do is let them. If you engage them in those areas they can then cut through you and become more dangerous. It means they will have an obscene amount of the ball but as long as a lot of it is where they can''t hur you, let them fill their boots.

jimmymelrose

lordromford said:

AddicksAddict said:

lordromford said:

hoof_it_up_to_benty said:

Brazil look very average....

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I always want Brazil to fail in the World Cup. Nothing against Brazilians, but I just find it nauseating the way everyone jizzes in their pants over them, even when they’re not all that. 
And qualifying from South America is fucking ridiculous. Brazil (and Argentina) basically have a free pass every tournament.
That 7-1 shoeing they got from Germany in their own backyard in 2014 was a thing of beauty. That Sideshow Bob looking Chelsea berk in tears was hilarious.

Brazil tried their best to feck it up this time. 

And yet, still qualified!

When you look at how many times in the past that established footballing nations like England, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands have failed to reach the finals, it’s criminal how easy it has been for the only two major teams in South America.

We can't blame South America for Europe's failure to make a sensible qualification system.

They make one big league so it’s more likely the big countries qualify.

We make little groups which sometimes place, for example,  England with a strong Poland side in 1974, or Italy with a strong Norway in 2026. Then to compound it we give entry to a team with only 2 points in qualification because they won a third division mini league!

thai malaysia addick

These are the real facts we need.

Chris_from_Sidcup

MuttleyCAFC said:

Spain are a great side but their weakness is they play a lot of ball in places that are not dangerous. What you have to do is let them. If you engage them in those areas they can then cut through you and become more dangerous. It means they will have an obscene amount of the ball but as long as a lot of it is where they can''t hur you, let them fill their boots.

Spain will be absolutely fine once Yamal and Nico Williams are both fit enough to start.

They will definitely need them quickly though, as i feel that their last group game v Uruguay will decide who wins the group. The runner up in their group plays the winner of group J in the last 32..........which is pretty likely to be Argentina.

Alwaysneil

Weegie Addick said:

I got in touch with the guest house owners where we stayed a few years back in Cape Verde to congratulate them. 

Their reply included this lovely wisdom:

They made the mistake of giving us only a 1% chance against Spain, but we are a people who know how to turn 1% into 99% hope. Never underestimate the spirit of Cape Verde! 😄🇨🇻

Maybe a sentiment the Iranians can identify with if they meet the USA. 

KiwiValley

New Zealand unbeaten in our last four World Cup Final matches. Decent. Neither  Slovakia, Italy, Paraguay, and now Iran found a way to beat us. 

ForeverAddickted

Again focused just on the highlights, but really has been a Tournament for the Goalkeepers, with the Saudi fella between the sticks the latest to put in a blinding performance... Although Crocombe for New Zealand corrected things by having a confusing five minutes.

Always had a soft spot for New Zealand so glad they got another result, both teams could have done with winning that though, what with Belgium and Egypt to come, you'd expect them to struggle to find the required points to maybe get 3rd now.

Although funnily if England top the Group after the first round of fixtures, and we ended the Group Stages now, there is a chance we'd be playing Spain in the Round of 32 - Lets not have that happen quite yet eh!!

Jints

jimmymelrose said:

lordromford said:

AddicksAddict said:

lordromford said:

hoof_it_up_to_benty said:

Brazil look very average....

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I always want Brazil to fail in the World Cup. Nothing against Brazilians, but I just find it nauseating the way everyone jizzes in their pants over them, even when they’re not all that. 
And qualifying from South America is fucking ridiculous. Brazil (and Argentina) basically have a free pass every tournament.
That 7-1 shoeing they got from Germany in their own backyard in 2014 was a thing of beauty. That Sideshow Bob looking Chelsea berk in tears was hilarious.

Brazil tried their best to feck it up this time. 

And yet, still qualified!

When you look at how many times in the past that established footballing nations like England, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands have failed to reach the finals, it’s criminal how easy it has been for the only two major teams in South America.

We can't blame South America for Europe's failure to make a sensible qualification system.

They make one big league so it’s more likely the big countries qualify.

We make little groups which sometimes place, for example,  England with a strong Poland side in 1974, or Italy with a strong Norway in 2026. Then to compound it we give entry to a team with only 2 points in qualification because they won a third division mini league!

No. The difference is that Europe has 54 teams competing for 16 places. South America has 10 teams competing for 6 places with 7th going through to a play off. 

Stu_of_Kunming

ForeverAddickted said:

Although funnily if England top the Group after the first round of fixtures, and we ended the Group Stages now, there is a chance we'd be playing Spain in the Round of 32 - Lets not have that happen quite yet eh!!

Nah, let's have it ASAP, we need to tear someone of note apart as early as possible, build up the confidence and have teams fear us for a change. 

ValleyGary

Not sure if already posted but Cape Verde committed ONE foul against Spain. The lowest in a World Cup game since records began in 1966.

Briston_Addick

Stefco said:

Off_it said:

I wonder how tempted the top brass at ITV were to run adverts when they have these "hydration breaks"?

Australia have jumped on that wagon, with McDonalds.

That's nothing new for the Aussies as they've been doing kind of thing for years in their football (Aussie Rules) coverage, whether it's a Macca's banner at the bottom of the screen after a goal, the Harvey Norman replay (or Chemist Warehouse), the Bunnings (Warehouse) 'Build Up' if showing a replay of the passage of play the led to a goal.

At least it's not as 'in your face' as ITV's in-screen adverts during the Six Nations when scrums were being set.

The Red Robin

ValleyGary said:

Not sure if already posted but Cape Verde committed ONE foul against Spain. The lowest in a World Cup game since records began in 1966.

Gotta be able to get near them to foul them. 😅

guinnessaddick

ValleyGary said:

Not sure if already posted but Cape Verde committed ONE foul against Spain. The lowest in a World Cup game since records began in 1966.

One foul, one yellow.

Chris_from_Sidcup

"Mikel Oyarzabal made unwanted FIFA World Cup history during Spain's opening match against Cape Verde by failing to record a single touch of the ball in the first 30 minutes. This marked the first time a player had gone through the opening half-hour of a World Cup match without a touch on record since 1966"

Pelling1993

North Lower Neil said:

EugenesAxe said:

North Lower Neil said:

Also Belgium deserve to lose for the baseball cap and tie combo on their manager.

Makes me think of Alan Partridge

Castrol GTX jacket next game.

Hopefully the opposition manager has the battery for an Erikson for him.

killerandflash

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

"Mikel Oyarzabal made unwanted FIFA World Cup history during Spain's opening match against Cape Verde by failing to record a single touch of the ball in the first 30 minutes. This marked the first time a player had gone through the opening half-hour of a World Cup match without a touch on record since 1966"

That's extraordinary, for a team which dominated the possession, and passes the ball around for fun.

Pelling1993

killerandflash said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

"Mikel Oyarzabal made unwanted FIFA World Cup history during Spain's opening match against Cape Verde by failing to record a single touch of the ball in the first 30 minutes. This marked the first time a player had gone through the opening half-hour of a World Cup match without a touch on record since 1966"

That's extraordinary, for a team which dominated the possession, and passes the ball around for fun.

I'm delighted that I chose him as my golden boot winner!

Leuth

Not that extraordinary, considering his main job is probably to push the defence deep to give Spain the chance to make 2 zillion fruitless passes in front of them 

KiwiValley

ForeverAddickted said:

Again focused just on the highlights, but really has been a Tournament for the Goalkeepers, with the Saudi fella between the sticks the latest to put in a blinding performance... Although Crocombe for New Zealand corrected things by having a confusing five minutes.

Always had a soft spot for New Zealand so glad they got another result, both teams could have done with winning that though, what with Belgium and Egypt to come, you'd expect them to struggle to find the required points to maybe get 3rd now.

Although funnily if England top the Group after the first round of fixtures, and we ended the Group Stages now, there is a chance we'd be playing Spain in the Round of 32 - Lets not have that happen quite yet eh!!

Except Egypt are ranked worse than Iran , although admittedly not by much. When we got a point against Italy. They were the defending champions.

Anyway park NZ for now and onto my other national team, the gentlemen who have a panthera leo (gules) on their shirts. Not once, not twice, but thrice.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Pelling1993 said:

killerandflash said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

"Mikel Oyarzabal made unwanted FIFA World Cup history during Spain's opening match against Cape Verde by failing to record a single touch of the ball in the first 30 minutes. This marked the first time a player had gone through the opening half-hour of a World Cup match without a touch on record since 1966"

That's extraordinary, for a team which dominated the possession, and passes the ball around for fun.

I'm delighted that I chose him as my golden boot winner!

To be fair he has been in pretty decent form, 12 goals and 6 assists in his last 12 games for Spain before yesterday.

North Lower Neil

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

"Mikel Oyarzabal made unwanted FIFA World Cup history during Spain's opening match against Cape Verde by failing to record a single touch of the ball in the first 30 minutes. This marked the first time a player had gone through the opening half-hour of a World Cup match without a touch on record since 1966"

Glad he was in my fantasy team. 

Callumcafc

Winner of Argentina’s group players runner up of Spain’s group in the first knockout round. After Spain’s draw yesterday…

Chris_from_Sidcup

KiwiValley said:

ForeverAddickted said:

Again focused just on the highlights, but really has been a Tournament for the Goalkeepers, with the Saudi fella between the sticks the latest to put in a blinding performance... Although Crocombe for New Zealand corrected things by having a confusing five minutes.

Always had a soft spot for New Zealand so glad they got another result, both teams could have done with winning that though, what with Belgium and Egypt to come, you'd expect them to struggle to find the required points to maybe get 3rd now.

Although funnily if England top the Group after the first round of fixtures, and we ended the Group Stages now, there is a chance we'd be playing Spain in the Round of 32 - Lets not have that happen quite yet eh!!

Except Egypt are ranked worse than Iran , although admittedly not by much. When we got a point against Italy. They were the defending champions.

Anyway park NZ for now and onto my other national team, the gentlemen who have a panthera leo (gules) on their shirts. Not once, not twice, but thrice.

However the rankings are pretty stupid.

Germany are 9th. Their record at the last 4 major tournaments is group stage, last 16, group stage, quarters.

Italy are 12th despite winning 1 world cup match (a group game v England of course, who else?) since 2006. Yes they won the 2020 Euro's (in 2021) but in 2024 they lost in the last 16. So since 2021, their record at major tournaments is DNQ, last 16, DNQ. How they're still as high as 12th i have no idea.

Panama are 34th and Russia are 36th despite not playing a competitive fixture since November 2021.

Rufus is a dogs name

Callumcafc said:

Winner of Argentina’s group players runner up of Spain’s group in the first knockout round. After Spain’s draw yesterday…

Trouble is Uruguay only got a draw v Saudi Arabia last night, if they'd have won then Spain would really be pushed to top the group. Likely to all come down to Spain v Uruguay on 27th June! Winner tops the group and likely plays Austria/Algeria, and loser may well face Argentina.