World Cup 2026

[Sutekh]

come on the 'çao!

Go Leandro!

[South Coast Royal]

I don't think they will do any good next Summer because of their defence but credit to Steve Clarke and his players for getting there.

Our defence has been shocking.

Can't imagine someone like Grant Hanley will be playing internationally after the World Cup (probably shouldn't've been featuring in this qualifying campaign tbh); I think Jack Hendry and Ryan Porteous are better than him (notwithstanding the latter's 'recklessness' issues), but neither are getting any game time (internationally).

I was thrilled when Hanley got dropped on Tuesday, it was so Scotlandy for Souter to then get injured in the warmup and him getting back in. Having said that he was pretty good, much better than Saturday, although that's not saying a great deal

Yeah, Hanley is hardly normally up to Championship level IMHO but he did nothing much wrong on Tuesday.
With regular game time at Brentford I can see Hickey improving over the next 7 months and the same goes for Andy Irving at West Ham who also needs game time.

Scottish mates of mine lament the lack of a Golden vision Young, McKay, ,St John ,Yeats, McGrain, Johnstone, Gray, Souness, Bremner, Gemmill, McQueen, Hansen, Law, Jordan, Cooke, Dalgliesh, Ferguson(s),John Robertson, McCoist etc., etc.
Different times eh?

[Sanguine]

So the pots are taking shape for the World Cup Group Stages themselves - albeit one impact of the larger tournament is there are unlikely to be any 'Group of Death' situations, with 12 groups of four.

Pot 1 is fixed - being hosts USA, Canada and Mexico, alongside Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Pots 2, 3 and 4 will be determined by November ranking of the final list of qualified teams, i.e. if Italy qualify they will be in pot 2.

Closest I can get to a really tough group is Argentina, Italy, Norway, Ivory Coast. But lots of moving parts for now. Depending on qualifiers, England could draw South Korea, Paraguay and Haiti. Which would be lovely.

Fwiw, Italy (12th) are the highest ranked nation not yet qualified for the tournament, followed by Denmark (21st). Serbia are the only team ranked in the top 40 who are already out of the competition.

12 Italy
21 Denmark
25 Turkey
28 Ukraine
31 Poland
32 Wales
37 Serbia
38 Nigeria

[Whore Jackie]

SF1: Italy v Northern Ireland
SF2: Wales v Bosnia-Herzegovina
SF3: Ukraine v Sweden
SF4: Poland v Albania
SF5: Turkey v Romania
SF6: Slovakia v Kosovo
SF7: Denmark v North Macedonia
SF8: Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland

Winner of SF2 (Wales Bosnia-Herzegovina) at home v winner of SF1 (Italy v Northern Ireland).
Winner of SF3: (Ukraine and Sweden) at home v winner of SF4 (Poland v Albania).
Winner of SF6 (Slovakia v Kosovo v winner of SF5 (Turkey v Romania)
Winner of SF8 (Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland) at home v winner of SF7 (Denmark v North Macedonia).

[RG30]

Interesting to see what happens if it's Ukraine vs Poland in the pathway B final. Ukraine currently plays it's home matches in Poland but would effectively be a home match for the Poles. Wouldn't be shocked if they played it in Germany.

[Sanguine]

IN for Wales beating Italy in Cardiff to make the Finals.

[Double C]

Mental that the smallest nation to qualify was cape Verde, until curacao got in

You can fit 9.5 curacaos into 1 cape Verde

[Sutekh]

Mental that the smallest nation to qualify was cape Verde, until curacao got in

You can fit 9.5 curacaos into 1 cape Verde

Looking forward to the usual Scotland World Cup embarrassment against one of these two.

[Silver Fox]

FIFA have discovered that 3 match suspensions for violent conduct red cards don't actually apply if you're Ronaldo, which must be nice for him

[Winston Biscuit]

FIFA have discovered that 3 match suspensions for violent conduct red cards don't actually apply if you're Ronaldo, which must be nice for him

Least surprising news ever

[Winston Biscuit]

The top four seeded countries will not be able to meet each other until the semi-finals of next year's World Cup for the first time in the tournament's history.

Fifa has announced that Spain (1st seed) and Argentina (2) will be 'paired' and placed into groups in opposite halves of the draw.

France (3) and England (4) will also be paired, which means England will not be able to come up against Spain or Argentina until the semi-finals, and France until the final.