World Cup 2026

[Sutekh]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

Imagine the fuss kicked up if 60%-70% of UEFA countries were awarded qualifying places at world cup finals.

[Stranded]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

Imagine the fuss kicked up if 60%-70% of UEFA countries were awarded qualifying places at world cup finals.

Whilst I get your point, naturally the volumes make it very different but yes, it does get close to making a mockery of qualification as some teams barely have to try. In the last round of qualifying, for '22, if it had been a 48 team tournament, Chile would have made an inter-continental play-off having by winning just 5 of 18 games, losing 9 in the process. Hardly rewarding success.

Chile are currently ranked 37th in the World, as a comparison Turkey, who are 38th only Won 6 and lost 1 that was only good enough for a play-off then (lost SF game to Portugal) and would still only be good enough for the same in '26 qualifying.

[Sanguine]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

That's a mad stat.

FIFA have some work to do for 2030 - Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will qualify automatically, they must surely reduce the other available spots (i.e. to four), otherwise the whole confederation will be in.

[Stranded]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

That's a mad stat.

FIFA have some work to do for 2030 - Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will qualify automatically, they must surely reduce the other available spots (i.e. to four), otherwise the whole confederation will be in.

Imagine they will reverse what they have done this time. CONCACAF aslo have 6 spots - 3 hosts plus 3. So imagine they will just get 6 next time and CONEMBOL will go to 3 plus 3.

[RG30]

So the schedule came out last night including the choice of venue for the final. New Jersey's Met Life was chosen which was a slight surprise as all the talk in the last few weeks had been that Dallas had been picked because of the bigger capacity and the retractable roof.

US will play all 3 group matches on the West Coast (2 in LA, 1 in Seattle)
Canada will play opening group game in Toronto before flying West to play remaining matches in Vancouver.
Mexico will play opening group & last group game in Mexico City with second game in Guadalajara.

[Stranded]

So the schedule came out last night including the choice of venue for the final. New Jersey's Met Life was chosen which was a slight surprise as all the talk in the last few weeks had been that Dallas had been picked because of the bigger capacity and the retractable roof.

US will play all 3 group matches on the West Coast (2 in LA, 1 in Seattle)
Canada will play opening group game in Toronto before flying West to play remaining matches in Vancouver.
Mexico will play opening group & last group game in Mexico City with second game in Guadalajara.

I guess an East Coast venue has been chosen as it is the better time zone for the rest of the world to watch , without having the game kick off too early. Dallas is only an extra hour behind New Jersey but a 3pm start local time in NJ would be 8pm UK and 9pm/10pm for most of Europe/Africa. Asia will get it middle of the night but Australia/New Zealand would get the final as a Monday breakfast treat.

[Sutekh]

For the record, the 1994 final was played in Pasadena at 12.30 PDC (8 hours behind GMT) on 17 July.

[Stranded]

For the record, the 1994 final was played in Pasadena at 12.30 PDC (8 hours behind GMT) on 17 July.

And was so hot that the game was easily one of the worst finals in living memory.

[Sutekh]

An extra 10 days needed to complete the tournament thanks to the pathetic desire to ensure any elite nation that **** up their group gets the extra failsafe of two thirds of the 3rd places being good enough to qualify (not to mention Gerry Infantile's ongoing quest for £££££ over tournament integrity).

If it had been me at the insistance of a 48 team World Cup, I'd have gone down the route of trying to make the group stages really meaningful and exciting for everyone by saying just the group winners and 4 best placed SECOND placed teams would progress to a round of 16. Much better than the inevitable "borefests" that'll start breaking out in the current tournament design.