FIFA World Cup: Qatar 2022 • Page 55

haha yeah I saw that, but still they did it and still got knocked out.

 

Fully back a TM/World Cup mix lol

 

NGL, i found that very tense for someone who has no affiliation with Australia

 

Denmark being shit really ruined my brackets. Just like them being good ruined my euro 2020 brackets. You know what fuck Denmark.

 

Would be cool if group C somehow finished with Poland 1st and Argentina 2nd. I think that'd require two draws today so probably isn't happening. But it'd leave a decent path for US to semis.

 

Because I have nothing better to do at work, I was curious to see what the average capacity of the stadiums for the 1994 World Cup vs. the 2026 World Cup. For some reason my perception was the 1994 WC had giant stadiums but yeah that is not really true at all.

When you average it out, the average capacity of a stadium in the 1994 WC was 69,927 while in comparison the average for the 2026 will be 69,377. That could go up a bit depending on how much those stadiums add capacity, I tried to use what their bid book had listed for the 2026 capacities but could not find all of them.

 

I know BMO Field here in Toronto has to add a lot of capacity ahead of 2026, increasing it to 45,736 (currently 27,980). Obviously still will be a lot smaller than the American football stadiums being used - but will be big for soccer specific stadiums in North America.

 

Did Tunisia just get a lot better, or did France play an experimental side/not their best players, because this game didn't matter for them?

 

the latter

 

Swiderski starting!

 

France played a C side.

 

Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez starting is promising for Argentina

 

Just saw that apparently Courtois and KdB haven’t spoken in YEARS unless directly in a game…?

 

If they expand to 48 teams for 2026, a good portion the extra spots should go to Africa more than anyone else.

They are football mad and they have a lot of good teams who narrowly missed out and the amount of teams who get through compared to how many enter qualifying is tiny.

Prioritise them, and then give Asia a few more, making winning Oceana an automatic slot, and then distribute the rest fairly.

 

It looks like the confederation breakdown is:

Asia: 8 or 9
Africa: 9 or 10
CONCACAF: 3 hosts, between 3 and 5 others
CONMEBOL: 6 or 7
Oceania: 1 or 2
UEFA: 16

So, if CONCACAF gets 5 after the hosts for a total of 8 (we've been guaranteed 3 more slots after the hosts), it looks like they're keeping the intercontinental playoffs where Asia/Africa get a slot and CONMEBOL/Oceania get a slot (or however it draws out). If CONCACAF gets 3 or 4 after the hosts, I have no idea how it breaks down.

 

The Argentines really brought it for their national anthem.

 

This is probably ignorance, but are there enough good teams to justify 8 from CONCACAF?

 

Our final round of qualifying is 8 right now so yes, but barely, but also not really to be honest. 6 is fair. Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Trinidad & Tobago would be the main contenders outside of the 3 hosts. Then you get into a lot of the smaller island nations and the Caribbean coast of South America.

 

I just looked at the final Mexico squad for the tournament for the first time. That's a terrible group of players considering their pool, yeah? Definitely feel like quite a few talents are missing.

 

Over two decades of professional footy and Messi is still able to dribble at full sprint past groups of defenders like they're standing in quicksand.

 

Quadruple post, but I love that you have 10 of the most Polish names ever and then "Matty Cash"

 

How many times have you heard the word "quality" used at this World Cup? Seems like the most used word to me.

 

Never a pen so it will be one.

 

If he gives a pen for that then I have lost all faith