2026 World Cup Thread

[Joe Bear]

Hello, soccer fans [crickets, tumbleweed flies by]. The World Cup kicks off in less than 2 weeks and, well, USA USA USA and all. We beat Senegal 3-2 yesterday in a tune-up friendly at BoA, with Christian Pulisic finally entering the scoring column. 

How will we do in the World Cup once our tournament kicks off on the 12th?

Well, there are 48 teams (assuming Iran is there) and it feels like one of two thing happens: we get grouped for the first time since '98, or we make it to the Round of 16 for the third time in the last four World Cups.

I tried out the lottery for an Atlanta game and struck out, so yesterday was as World Cup as I'll get for in-person ($285/ticket for like Norway vs $39/ticket for USMNT right beforehand was a layup). 

The U.S. has a travel-heavy schedule in group play, playing in LA, Seattle and LA. Real road warrior mentality being built. Glad the east coast gets worse kickoff times for a NA World Cup than a Qatar World Cup.

[Brooklyn 3.0]

Looking forward to it. Won't be going to the games here, but will watch a lot. France, Spain, Portugal gotta be the obvious faves. I just hope the US doesn't get embarrassed and doesn't even get out of first round.

[toldozer]

Boring game, south Africa does not look threatening or competent on attack at all 

[toldozer]

I am hoping coaching knows enough to know we cant play this way against better teams or we will get killed on counter but this is fun to watch. Look much better than Mexico and clearly have zero respect for the opponent.

[45catfan]

The US team looked dominant with one lax moment to give up a goal.  Total control throughout.

[toldozer]

8 hours ago, 45catfan said:

The US team looked dominant with one lax moment to give up a goal.  Total control throughout.

They were not very good in the second half I didn't think. Turned the ball over a lot and looked far less dangerous without pulisic. However playing a little lazy up 3-0 is understandable. They can play similarly against Australia but strategy will need to adjust against better teams. They took a ton of chances and left themselves exposed a lot in the first half, Paraguay just wasn't talented enough on either end of the pitch to do anything about it. Playing that way against a top 10 ranked side probably results in a 3-0 halftime deficit instead of a lead but I believe coaching is smart enough to know that. Definitely a very entertaining first half and was super important towards gaining momentum with casual fans.  I personally didn't like the commentating style because I felt like they tried really hard to commentate for people who don't typically watch the sport but I understand why they did it. Great start for the team and country they should be in the driver's seat to top the group and I would expect a comfortable win against Australia too if pulisic is healthy.