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World Cup World Cup 2026

Steve Gilbert said:
I was like you and didn’t watch any of Qatar because I didn’t agree how it was awarded and the corruption around them getting it. This coming World Cup is a little bit different where by it was awarded ‘properly’ but the interest with each World Cup is certainly getting less as the years go on for me.
I won’t be watching any of the Saudi World Cup.
Euro 28, now that is a tournament I am really looking forward to.
Click to expand...
Too right on Euro 2028.

I’ll watch the next World Cup, but it will be emotionally empty, and overblown.

The pinnacle of the World Cup was Italia 90.
Walking home from school absolutely buzzing for the 5pm kick offs.
Lying in bed upstairs while my older brother turned the volume up on the TV downstairs to tell me we were beating Cameroon.
Being allowed to stay up by my Mum for the semi-final and rolling around on the floor with said older brother when Lineker equalised.
Proper sticker albums.
Republic of Ireland v Egypt, still to this day the worst game of football I have ever watched, but for some reason still brilliant.
Cameroon, the first true, fearless underdog.
Gazza.
Marvelling at how many of the UAE squad were called Mubarak.
Nessun Dorma.

Football lived in your imagination in those days and the anticipation was almost better than the event itself.
No social media tainting your views, just you, and your mates, and your family, and your love for the game.

Bloody hell, almost brings a tear to the eye.
 
Last edited:
Berliner said:
Just don't...I thought the same way before Qatar, then came to my senses. Not a minute watched last time, and won't be watching a minute this time.

Oh yes, and you can all save on posting the Ricky Gervais sketch, I know what thread I'm posting in, thanks.
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It’s a lot easier to miss fair chunks of it this year since the games will be kicking off at silly times. I watched Ivory Coast v Japan at 2am UK time back in 2014 and felt like a real trooper but - with two children under four now - those days are over. I’ll certainly be more picky and choosy. I don’t think I’ll be bothering with Saudi Arabia v Cape Verde at sparrow fart o’clock.


holdsteady said:
The time to do something about it was years ago, maybe even pre Blatter, they are in with all the powerful and rich people now and they are bulletproof.

You either watch it, enjoy the football but laugh at the absurdities or don’t watch it, don’t enjoy the football and get angry about the absurdities. Either way it will go ahead with or with out you.
Click to expand...

Oh for sure. I know any boycott from myself would have absolutely no impact (I have some sense of realism - I’m not Ian Middleton!). It just feels grubby that I’m giving FIFA want they want - eyeballs on all the sponsors and on the product that they have.

I want football back in the hands of administrators who want what’s best for the game and not best for bank balances. In an capitalist world, that ain’t going to happen though, is it?
 
Mateo Corbo's Tackle said:
Too right on Euro 2028.

I’ll watch the next World Cup, but it will be emotionally empty, and overblown.

The pinnacle of the World Cup was Italia 90.
Walking home from school absolutely buzzing for the 5pm kick offs.
Lying in bed upstairs while my older brother turned the volume up on the TV downstairs to tell me we were beating Cameroon.
Being allowed to stay up by my Mum for the semi-final and rolling around on the floor with said older brother when Lineker equalised.
Proper sticker albums.
Republic of Ireland v Egypt, still to this day the worst game of foodball I have ever watched, but for some reason still brilliant.
Cameroon, the first true, fearless underdog.
Gazza.
Marvelling at how many of the UAE squad were called Mubarak.
Nessun Dorma.

Football lived in your imagination in those days and the anticipation was almost better than the event itself.
No social media tainting your views, just you, and your mates, and your family, and your love for the game.

Bloody hell, almost brings a tear to the eye.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, Italia 90 was the pinnacle although euro 96 was up there too.

I can't pretend I won't watch the England games but I've found they are much more summed up by indifference these days.

I can still remember the gut wrenching sadness when we lost in Turin whilst I can't even remember who we lost to in the last few wcs and euros. Players wanted to win to be part of the history that they knew all about, it just doesn't feel like players today even care about the history.

I honestly wouldn't really be that bothered if England won the trophy or not, let's just hope Curacao or Cape Verde do!
 
Mateo Corbo's Tackle said:
Too right on Euro 2028.

I’ll watch the next World Cup, but it will be emotionally empty, and overblown.

The pinnacle of the World Cup was Italia 90.
Walking home from school absolutely buzzing for the 5pm kick offs.
Lying in bed upstairs while my older brother turned the volume up on the TV downstairs to tell me we were beating Cameroon.
Being allowed to stay up by my Mum for the semi-final and rolling around on the floor with said older brother when Lineker equalised.
Proper sticker albums.
Republic of Ireland v Egypt, still to this day the worst game of foodball I have ever watched, but for some reason still brilliant.
Cameroon, the first true, fearless underdog.
Gazza.
Marvelling at how many of the UAE squad were called Mubarak.
Nessun Dorma.

Football lived in your imagination in those days and the anticipation was almost better than the event itself.
No social media tainting your views, just you, and your mates, and your family, and your love for the game.

Bloody hell, almost brings a tear to the eye.
Click to expand...
Can I add...

'Schillaci!!!'
 
As far as international football is concerned, I am entirely a fairweather viewer. I'll probably watch some of it if it is convenient. I don't know what times the England games will kick off, but I won't be staying up until stupid o'clock to watch them.

Glad I didn't watch tonight's draw shenanigans, from comments here and elsewhere it sounds as if it was toe-curlingly awful!
 
Italia 90 being the pinnacle of World Cup history is rose-tinted glasses to the nth degree!

It is the World Cup with the fewest goals per game in history; it was a tournament so boring in fact, that they had to introduce the back pass rule immediately after it. And the final was one of the most tedious, cynical displays of anti-football the game has ever seen - decided by a dodgy penalty.

We just remember it fondly because England had a great tournament, and Cameroon produced the biggest shock in World Cup history to that point in the opening game.

But for a neutral, there's literally never been a worse tournament.
 
tonyw said:
Italia 90 being the pinnacle of World Cup history is rose-tinted glasses to the nth degree!

It is the World Cup with the fewest goals per game in history; it was a tournament so boring in fact, that they had to introduce the back pass rule immediately after it. And the final was one of the most tedious, cynical displays of anti-football the game has ever seen - decided by a dodgy penalty.

We just remember it fondly because England had a great tournament, and Cameroon produced the biggest shock in World Cup history to that point in the opening game.

But for a neutral, there's literally never been a worse tournament.
Click to expand...

Games were on at good times for UK based people though, Italy is a football country so no “soccer” type nonsense etc.

At my age back then, 11, I don’t think you could find that tournament boring, so I think that plays a part. I genuinely thought it was great, had my Orbis sticker binder to build up to it, a great England song in World in Motion, great World Cup song in Nessun Dorma sung by a really fat man, Italy seemed impossibly glamorous with its big fancy stadiums (how that’s changed), all the teams seemed proper foreign due in part to very few of them playing over here.

I think looking back at the statistics doesn’t always tell the story, I would wish away twenty goals for the sheer brilliance of getting home from school to watch a long haired Argentinian called Claudio Cannigia get brutally assaulted by Cameroonians (A country we knew less about than Narnia) to help the plucky underdogs to a shock first game victory over the defending champions, for Toto Schillachi becoming the home country hero from no where, for Gazza, Platt, Lineker being galant, glorious failures, for real pantomime villains like the cheating Maradona and the diving Germans Klinsman and Voller, brilliant overachieving Republic of Ireland/England B and brilliant underachieving Dutchmen, plus loads more.

Probably all nostalgia of an at the time 11 year old mind, but I loved it.
 
Mateo Corbo's Tackle said:
Too right on Euro 2028.

I’ll watch the next World Cup, but it will be emotionally empty, and overblown.

The pinnacle of the World Cup was Italia 90.
Walking home from school absolutely buzzing for the 5pm kick offs.
Lying in bed upstairs while my older brother turned the volume up on the TV downstairs to tell me we were beating Cameroon.
Being allowed to stay up by my Mum for the semi-final and rolling around on the floor with said older brother when Lineker equalised.
Proper sticker albums.
Republic of Ireland v Egypt, still to this day the worst game of football I have ever watched, but for some reason still brilliant.
Cameroon, the first true, fearless underdog.
Gazza.
Marvelling at how many of the UAE squad were called Mubarak.
Nessun Dorma.

Football lived in your imagination in those days and the anticipation was almost better than the event itself.
No social media tainting your views, just you, and your mates, and your family, and your love for the game.

Bloody hell, almost brings a tear to the eye.
Click to expand...
Football lived in your imagination because you were young.
 
tonyw said:
I don't know what the hell you guys were doing watching the draw - surely everyone knew what it was going to be like!?!

But my analysis - that's a pretty bad draw for England; not the worst possible, but really not great.
Not so much because of the teams in our group - moderately hard but certainly we'll be strong favourites - but because of the path it puts us on.

Win the group (which we should) and it's an easy Last 32 tie against a third place team indoors in Atlanta - Great.
But then? Last 16 game in Mexico City.......which could even be against Mexico if they win their group (and it's pretty easy, so they very well might)
Then a Quarter Final game in Miami, very possibly against Brazil if they win their group and get that far.
So back-to-back knockout games in two of the hottest venues of the tournament, against teams that are used to playing in ridiculous conditions.

And if we end up second in the group, it doesn't get much better - weather will be nicer, but we'd likely have to play Colombia then Spain just to get to the quarters.

Not good.


We wanted to be where Belgium are - p**s easy group, and they will never have to play anywhere that isn't the Pacific Northwest (cool and pleasant at that time of year) or indoors and climate-controlled all the way to the final. Shame it's wasted on them because they're not very good any more. But if we were where they are, I'd be very confident of going deep.

As it is......going to be tough.

As an aside.....England-Panama is going to be about an hour away for me. Time to decide whether I want to sell any major organs to afford a ticket........or just screw watching the Three Lions and get a ticket for Ivory Coast vs. Curacao instead......
Click to expand...

If you want a good chance of winning the World Cup, you have to be in a position to be able to beat anytime in front of you.

Irrelevant to me who or where we play our games... you just have to be good enough to win.
 
RgYellows said:
Football lived in your imagination because you were young.
Click to expand...
100% this.

I was too young for 1990, but was coming to the end of primary school for 1996 and heading to secondary school for 1998.

1996, Gazza against Scotland and the penalties against Spain etc. I can still remember vividly! I remember a group of us round at a friends house watching with his parents. We were running through the streets after the final whistle, absolute pure joy and emotion.

The whole thing at that age is a fairytale, the summers feel longer and sunnier, we were leaving the house in the morning, playing football until the evening with not a care in the world.

Very much looking forward to Euro 2028 when my son will be nine and will begin to appreciate everything just that little more.
 
holdsteady said:
Games were on at good times for UK based people though, Italy is a football country so no “soccer” type nonsense etc.

At my age back then, 11, I don’t think you could find that tournament boring, so I think that plays a part. I genuinely thought it was great, had my Orbis sticker binder to build up to it, a great England song in World in Motion, great World Cup song in Nessun Dorma sung by a really fat man, Italy seemed impossibly glamorous with its big fancy stadiums (how that’s changed), all the teams seemed proper foreign due in part to very few of them playing over here.

I think looking back at the statistics doesn’t always tell the story, I would wish away twenty goals for the sheer brilliance of getting home from school to watch a long haired Argentinian called Claudio Cannigia get brutally assaulted by Cameroonians (A country we knew less about than Narnia) to help the plucky underdogs to a shock first game victory over the defending champions, for Toto Schillachi becoming the home country hero from no where, for Gazza, Platt, Lineker being galant, glorious failures, for real pantomime villains like the cheating Maradona and the diving Germans Klinsman and Voller, brilliant overachieving Republic of Ireland/England B and brilliant underachieving Dutchmen, plus loads more.

Probably all nostalgia of an at the time 11 year old mind, but I loved it.
Click to expand...
Totally.
Perhaps I should have said “pinnacle for me”. Quality, for me, is a really small part of the allure of football. It’s more circumstances, surroundings, companions, emotions. Give me a crap game against Wolves in the 90s at the Manor with Dave Penney scoring a late winner rather than a ding-dong 3-2 Premier League experience, any day.
 
Mateo Corbo's Tackle said:
Totally.
Perhaps I should have said “pinnacle for me”. Quality, for me, is a really small part of the allure of football. It’s more circumstances, surroundings, companions, emotions. Give me a crap game against Wolves in the 90s at the Manor with Dave Penney scoring a late winner rather than a ding-dong 3-2 Premier League experience, any day.
Click to expand...

My first Oxford league game at the Manor was against Blackburn in the 90s with Dave Penney getting the late equaliser in a 1-1 draw so I agree, although I will sit and watch a premier league followed by an FA Cup second round game as well, Always be Oxford, England but I still love watching any games live and on the tv, football has always been a big part of my life, can’t ever see that changing.
 
holdsteady said:
Games were on at good times for UK based people though, Italy is a football country so no “soccer” type nonsense etc.

At my age back then, 11, I don’t think you could find that tournament boring, so I think that plays a part. I genuinely thought it was great, had my Orbis sticker binder to build up to it, a great England song in World in Motion, great World Cup song in Nessun Dorma sung by a really fat man, Italy seemed impossibly glamorous with its big fancy stadiums (how that’s changed), all the teams seemed proper foreign due in part to very few of them playing over here.

I think looking back at the statistics doesn’t always tell the story, I would wish away twenty goals for the sheer brilliance of getting home from school to watch a long haired Argentinian called Claudio Cannigia get brutally assaulted by Cameroonians (A country we knew less about than Narnia) to help the plucky underdogs to a shock first game victory over the defending champions, for Toto Schillachi becoming the home country hero from no where, for Gazza, Platt, Lineker being galant, glorious failures, for real pantomime villains like the cheating Maradona and the diving Germans Klinsman and Voller, brilliant overachieving Republic of Ireland/England B and brilliant underachieving Dutchmen, plus loads more.

Probably all nostalgia of an at the time 11 year old mind, but I loved it.
Click to expand...

Surely if they're proper pantomime villains, they're supposed to be gloriously defeated? They're not supposed to then meet in the most cynical World Cup final ever!
(also Ireland overachieved yes - but they also didn't win a single game outside of penalties and they scored a grand total of 2 goals in their 5 games!)

I 100% understand the irrational joy and nostalgia that Italia 90 brought - think I'm the same age as you, and I felt it too. Nessun Dorma over a montage of Toto screaming and Gazza crying? Stuff of legends.

Just don't necessarily see why a kid of the same age (who could look up from their phone for long enough to watch a game) wouldn't have said the same thing about Qatar? Games were on in the morning and afternoon so they could watch. Saudis beating Argentina thanks to an absolute thunderbastard; Japan beating Germany and Spain to knock the former out; A Zorro-like Son dribbling the length of the pitch to set up a South Korea goal in injury time to knock out the pantomime villains of Uruguay; Morocco turning over Spain and Portugal, whilst Croatia level Brazil and put Neymar (another pantomime villain) out to pasture. And then all punctuated by one of the best major finals ever. Plus a lot more goals, and a lot lots less of defenders passing around in a circle and then back to the goalie to pick it up, then rinse and repeat!
 
tonyw said:
Surely if they're proper pantomime villains, they're supposed to be gloriously defeated? They're not supposed to then meet in the most cynical World Cup final ever!
(also Ireland overachieved yes - but they also didn't win a single game outside of penalties and they scored a grand total of 2 goals in their 5 games!)

I 100% understand the irrational joy and nostalgia that Italia 90 brought - think I'm the same age as you, and I felt it too. Nessun Dorma over a montage of Toto screaming and Gazza crying? Stuff of legends.

Just don't necessarily see why a kid of the same age (who could look up from their phone for long enough to watch a game) wouldn't have said the same thing about Qatar? Games were on in the morning and afternoon so they could watch. Saudis beating Argentina thanks to an absolute thunderbastard; Japan beating Germany and Spain to knock the former out; A Zorro-like Son dribbling the length of the pitch to set up a South Korea goal in injury time to knock out the pantomime villains of Uruguay; Morocco turning over Spain and Portugal, whilst Croatia level Brazil and put Neymar (another pantomime villain) out to pasture. And then all punctuated by one of the best major finals ever. Plus a lot more goals, and a lot lots less of defenders passing around in a circle and then back to the goalie to pick it up, then rinse and repeat!
Click to expand...
I think the politics surrounding the locations of the last 2 world cups has taken a bit of the shine off.
 
tonyw said:
Surely if they're proper pantomime villains, they're supposed to be gloriously defeated? They're not supposed to then meet in the most cynical World Cup final ever!
(also Ireland overachieved yes - but they also didn't win a single game outside of penalties and they scored a grand total of 2 goals in their 5 games!)

I 100% understand the irrational joy and nostalgia that Italia 90 brought - think I'm the same age as you, and I felt it too. Nessun Dorma over a montage of Toto screaming and Gazza crying? Stuff of legends.

Just don't necessarily see why a kid of the same age (who could look up from their phone for long enough to watch a game) wouldn't have said the same thing about Qatar? Games were on in the morning and afternoon so they could watch. Saudis beating Argentina thanks to an absolute thunderbastard; Japan beating Germany and Spain to knock the former out; A Zorro-like Son dribbling the length of the pitch to set up a South Korea goal in injury time to knock out the pantomime villains of Uruguay; Morocco turning over Spain and Portugal, whilst Croatia level Brazil and put Neymar (another pantomime villain) out to pasture. And then all punctuated by one of the best major finals ever. Plus a lot more goals, and a lot lots less of defenders passing around in a circle and then back to the goalie to pick it up, then rinse and repeat!
Click to expand...

I should imagine every one enjoys there first “proper” World Cup (I have memories of Mexico 86 but only the England games and the final), no one can expect a 10 year old to care about the politics so in 32 years time middle aged men will be remembering the Qatar World Cup, you will recall the interesting parts and forget the dull.

The 90 World Cup having no good guy didn’t seem to matter at the time, even with it just being a repeat of the 86 one, I suppose at least you are guaranteed to see one of the bad guys upset.
 
SteMerritt said:
Espana '82 for me. Still think that is the best England kit as well.
Click to expand...

See I like that kit but my favourite is between 86-88-90 tournament ones, so it’s probably your age that decides the kits you like.

Thinking on it Euro 88 has a claim as my first proper tournament, we were dreadful but the euros were rock hard back then, especially in comparison to a 48 team World Cup with 8 third place teams going through to the next round.
 
The thing is that *everyone* apart from Trump realised we were giving an entitled toddler a present on someone else's birthday just to keep him quiet. The whole performance was hugely funny and the prize was meaningless. But he got a medal *as well*, LOL! If you look on the back it probably says 'I have been a brave boy at the dentists'!
 
Was listening to a podcast thing............. it seems FIFA have legitimised ticket touting.

You can resell on their platform at whatever price you like and FIFA take 15% from the seller AND the buyer. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
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