World Cup 2026 - USA/Canada/Mexico

Afternoon Delight · July 2

Nice of Danny Murphy to update his story about his cat "Bob".

RIP Bob

guinnessaddick · July 2

Spain goal disallowed by VAR for a “foul” on the keeper. IMO a poor decision.

fenaddick · July 2

Lovely goal

IdleHans · July 2

And the camera lingers on yet another 'who the f is that', looking totally disinterested in the game

ken_shabby · July 2

Wow. Austria are so poor on the attack. Finally managed to launch a couple of attacks on the break and cant manage a decent pass or cross around the box.

BeerandFootball · July 2

EugenesAxe said:

is there a reason so many players are wearing pink boots?

BeerandFootball · July 2

Pink is supposed to show up better against the green of the grass. Hence a number of manufacturers have put their sponsored players in them.

guinnessaddick · July 2

Good night Vienna

ken_shabby · July 2

This is pretty much the game I expected. Personally I'd have rather see Rngland meet Austria or Belgium than Congo, Ghana or Senegal. The African teams are generally hard to beat in this World Cup.

Rock Spectacle · July 2

Another cat reference?

guinnessaddick · July 2

Rock Spectacle said:

Another cat reference?

Yes, miss Jones.

KBslittlesis · July 2

swords_alive said:

Anyone had direct experience of altitude sickness before? Tapped it in to Google and these symptoms do seem debilitating. If too many players fall ill just before or during the game that could be the least damaging way, reputationally, to exit the competition.

"Symptoms of Altitude Sickness
Known medically as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), symptoms typically appear 6 to 48 hours after arriving at high elevation. They include: [1, 2]
Throbbing frontal headache
Severe breathlessness and shortness of breath
Unusual fatigue and exhaustion
Nausea or loss of appetite
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Disturbed or restless sleep [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Risks for England Players
Even though England players are world-class athletes, being fit does not protect against AMS. The rapid elevation and thin air present major physical and tactical hurdles: [1, 2]
Quicker Fatigue: Reduced oxygen uptake significantly lowers a player's aerobic capacity, forcing faster heart rates and quicker fatigue during high-intensity pressing or sprinting. [1, 2]
Cognitive Impact: The brain requires heavy oxygen during intensive play; fatigue and lower blood oxygen levels can impact perception and split-second decision-making. [1]"...

I’ve climbed at altitude a few times and other than having to go much slower as it takes so much more effort to breath enough air in to put one foot in front of the other, I’ve never had any other issues.
My other half however had every symptom going and regularly had to top up on oxygen. And I would say we’ve always been pretty similar fitness wise.
It really is a lottery.

MrWalker · July 2

Afternoon Delight said:

Nice of Danny Murphy to update his story about his cat "Bob".

RIP Bob

I'd rather we had pundit Bob.

jimmymelrose · July 2

Semi finals are called as such because the winners are half of the final.
Quarter Finals are half of a semi, or half, therefore a quarter.
The round before that is the 8th Finals but that’s hard to say so it’s the round of 8.

But hang on, everyone calls this the round of 16. Why? Because there are 16 teams.
But that makes no sense, it should be the round of 8 because there are 8 matches. It’s the number of matches that counts not the number of teams.

The Final is one match
Semi Finals are two matches
Quarter Finals are 4 matches
Round of 8 is 8 matches.
England are now in the round of 8, not the round of 16. We just beat DR Congo in the round of 16. 16 matches.

Go figure.

swords_alive · July 2

KBslittlesis said:

swords_alive said:

Anyone had direct experience of altitude sickness before? Tapped it in to Google and these symptoms do seem debilitating. If too many players fall ill just before or during the game that could be the least damaging way, reputationally, to exit the competition.

"Symptoms of Altitude Sickness
Known medically as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), symptoms typically appear 6 to 48 hours after arriving at high elevation. They include: [1, 2]
Throbbing frontal headache
Severe breathlessness and shortness of breath
Unusual fatigue and exhaustion
Nausea or loss of appetite
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Disturbed or restless sleep [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Risks for England Players
Even though England players are world-class athletes, being fit does not protect against AMS. The rapid elevation and thin air present major physical and tactical hurdles: [1, 2]
Quicker Fatigue: Reduced oxygen uptake significantly lowers a player's aerobic capacity, forcing faster heart rates and quicker fatigue during high-intensity pressing or sprinting. [1, 2]
Cognitive Impact: The brain requires heavy oxygen during intensive play; fatigue and lower blood oxygen levels can impact perception and split-second decision-making. [1]"...

I’ve climbed at altitude a few times and other than having to go much slower as it takes so much more effort to breath enough air in to put one foot in front of the other, I’ve never had any other issues.
My other half however had every symptom going and regularly had to top up on oxygen. And I would say we’ve always been pretty similar fitness wise.
It really is a lottery.

Thanks. I am intrigued as to whether it will effect certain players noticeably, and maybe not others.
The team are staying in the city 2 nights prior to the match, trying to keep the exact location secret.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c74y7jwj30eo

sam3110 · July 2

They just described this as a magnificent football stadium.

Is Stephen Warnock on crack?!

sam3110 · July 2

My mistake it's the other absolute lunatic that said it

killerandflash · July 2

Looking at the alternative paths for England, it does seem that 3rd placed Ghana in our group have the easiest route to the QF.

We had a lower R32 opponent, but then a brutal altitude game against Mexico in Mexico.
Croatia have Portugal, then Spain
Ghana have Columbia, then the winner of Austria vs Algeria.

WHAddick · July 2

Ghana should lose to Colombia of course...
If not they get Argentina in the quarters so harder than ours..assuming we beat Mexico of course!

bobmunro · July 2

swords_alive said:

Anyone had direct experience of altitude sickness before? Tapped it in to Google and these symptoms do seem debilitating. If too many players fall ill just before or during the game that could be the least damaging way, reputationally, to exit the competition.

"Symptoms of Altitude Sickness
Known medically as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), symptoms typically appear 6 to 48 hours after arriving at high elevation. They include: [1, 2]
Throbbing frontal headache
Severe breathlessness and shortness of breath
Unusual fatigue and exhaustion
Nausea or loss of appetite
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Disturbed or restless sleep [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Risks for England Players
Even though England players are world-class athletes, being fit does not protect against AMS. The rapid elevation and thin air present major physical and tactical hurdles: [1, 2]
Quicker Fatigue: Reduced oxygen uptake significantly lowers a player's aerobic capacity, forcing faster heart rates and quicker fatigue during high-intensity pressing or sprinting. [1, 2]
Cognitive Impact: The brain requires heavy oxygen during intensive play; fatigue and lower blood oxygen levels can impact perception and split-second decision-making. [1]"...

The highest I've been on land is Bogota which is 8,660 ft above sea level - and it destroyed me. Our office there was about 300 yards from my hotel and it took me forever to get there in the morning, although strangely it wasn't so bad in the late afternoon. Disturbed sleep is an understatement as well - fitful sleep but when I was asleep I had the weirdest of dreams, almost hallucinating at times.

There doesn't appear to be a typical age, weight, smoker/non-smoker profile either. Someone with a BMI of 30+ who smokes could be fine, while someone with a BMI of 20 who never smoked would struggle. I'm the former profile by the way!

I believe it boils down to lung capacity and general circulation. A professional athlete should have exemplary cardio/vascular fitness so I think the effects they are warning about are somewhat exaggerated - I hope so anyway. The 1968 Olympics were held in Mexico with the Olympic Stadium being in Mexico City and there were 16 world records set in the athletics!

EugenesAxe · July 3

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5000498/uploads/editor/n3/xu0gom6h8ffs.png

Chappers not bovvered?

Rock Spectacle · July 3

Tantrum from CR7 impending

Laddick01 · July 3

Can’t put your arms around the man. Has to be a penalty.

Soft-ish again but I don’t mind it.

Rock Spectacle · July 3

Wish I'd had a bet

Laddick01 · July 3

Portugal will have to play a lot better than that to beat Spain.

Croatia really unlucky not to win that.

Rock Spectacle · July 3

So what law will they change to keep Ronaldo involved in the competition next.

Laddick01 · July 3

Rock Spectacle said:

So what law will they change to keep Ronaldo involved in the competition next.

That decision is one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever seen.

Nobody in the world can see that touch.

golfaddick · July 3

Laddick01 said:

Rock Spectacle said:

So what law will they change to keep Ronaldo involved in the competition next.

That decision is one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever seen.

Nobody in the world can see that touch.

Yep, totally agree.

Doesn't look like there is any deflection or change to the path of the ball. No error to correct imo.

EugenesAxe · July 3

Laddick01 said:

Rock Spectacle said:

So what law will they change to keep Ronaldo involved in the competition next.

That decision is one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever seen.

Nobody in the world can see that touch.

isn't that the purpose of the snickometer?

Stu_of_Kunming · July 3

After an absolutely dire first half, that was a crazy end to the game.

FIFA keep Ronaldo going

World Cup 2026 - USA/Canada/Mexico

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