When the game gets momentum and reach at its peak point, the “hydration break” appears and completely ruins the momentum and also the game experience for the viewer. Football is one of a sport for those moments.

Normally outside WC, the team conceding attacks after attacks pray for a halftime whistle to go to the tunnel to break the momentum and to regroup. Now they basically get that chance in the middle of a half!!

I find it utterly disgusting and would like to know what do you all think about it?

So Iran isn't allowed to sleep in the US because of the political situation between the two countries. Their base camp is in Tijuana, Mexico. Last matchday they had to cross the border, play in LA, and then fly back to Mexico. No overnight stay, no recovery, just constant border crossings while trying to compete at a World Cup.

And their last group game? Seattle. So after all of that, they have to fly 2000+ km (I looked it up) north for the most decisive game of their group stage.

Every other team in this tournament wakes up in the same city as their stadium. Iran crosses an international border before and after every match. This is not a minor inconvenience this is a serious competitive disadvantage that FIFA is fully aware of and just accepted.

America is hosting the biggest sporting event in the world while actively making it impossible for one of the participating teams to have basic equal conditions. And FIFA just went along with it. Imagine if this happened to any other country, people would be furious.

It's not just unfair, it's embarrassing for the sport.

Edit:

It seems that Iran stayed in a hotel for one night before the match, but it still doesn't take away that they are very disadvantaged if they have to cross the border everytime, which probably takes hours knowing the USA, and they barely have time to acclimatize. They were also send back on a plane immediately after the game, but that wasn't in the agreement.

There also several VISA disputes as we speak, one player for example was only given a one-time VISA, while they have to cross the border at least two more times.

People say it lowers the quality, but the World Cup is supposed to be global, not just a tournament for the usual European and South American powers.

More teams means more countries get a real chance to qualify, build football culture, inspire younger players, and create underdog moments. Some matches may be lower quality, but that already happened with 32 teams.

I’d rather have a slightly more chaotic World Cup with broader representation than a cleaner tournament that keeps the same nations in control.

What do you guys think?

FIFA placating the American advertisers is fucked up.
They should be ashamed of themselves.

Firstly, it's Messi's last WC game and it comes after beating England in the semifinal. Argentina's archnemesis, who they hadn't played in the final stages of a World Cup since Maradona's Hand Of God game in 1986 and the round of 16 game in 1998.

Secondly, the final is against Spain. A game that both Spaniards and Argentinians have been waiting for since 1966. The only other time they faced each other in a World Cup.

Messi was 13 when he went to Barcelona to train at the best football school in the world, La Masía. He was already a prodigy by then but he needed medical help because of a hormone growth deficiency and Barcelona offered to pay for it. Then he grew and played for Barcelona to become a superstar under Pep Guardiola. He could've played for Spain, they offered, but he chose Argentina. Now he's ending his career with Argentina playing the final against Spain. In a 2005 interview a very young Messi said it would be beautiful to play in an Argentina-Spain match. Now it could be his last one.

On the other side, Lamine Yamal grew up in Barcelona and at 7 years old he entered La Masía while Messi was in his prime. He grew up idolizing Messi as did all of Spain. Now, in his first World Cup, in the final, he gets to play his idol in his last World Cup. It's beautiful.

Also in the mix are a professor and a teacher. In 2017, Luis De La Fuente was Lionel Scaloni's teacher in a course called UEFA Pro which is considered to be the most prestigious coach education in the world. They became friends and now they face each other. The student who already has one World Cup and his mentor who could be facing his only chance to get one.

And then there's the prophecy...

A 19 year old Messi took a photo with a six month old baby who is now 19 year old Lamine Yamal. He turned 19 right before beating France. Exactly 19 days earlier, Messi turned 39. The first time Messi played for Argentina he was wearing the number 19 jersey, Lamine now wears the number 19 for Spain.

The final of the World Cup is July 19th: It's the passing of the torch. It's fate. The master christening the prodigy. A promise for the future.

Is anyone else getting bad vibes about the logistics for 2026? It feels like FIFA is ruining the tournament just to chase money.

A Daylight Final: A 3 PM kick-off for the Final? That kills the atmosphere. It’s going to feel like a friendly, not the biggest game on earth.

The Heat: People are underestimating the humidity in NJ and Miami. The football will be slow and boring because players physically won't be able to press without heatstroke.

Insane Prices: Reports of $2,000+ for the cheapest seats at the Final? Real fans are priced out. The stadiums will just be full of rich tourists and corporate suits.

just to be clear, i love neymar.

man… it’s honestly sad. we watched this dude rise from the start. i remember it like it was yesterday, neymar at santos with that goofy fringe haircut, pulling off nutmegs, humiliating defenders, scoring goals like he was playing futsal. it felt like we were witnessing the birth of the next king of football.

then he went to barça and absolutely killed it. part of the legendary MSN trio, winning the champions league, scoring in finals, destroying PSG, he was unstoppable. at that point, everyone thought it was just a matter of time before he became the best in the world.

and then came that move. PSG. and here’s the thing, the start at PSG wasn’t even bad. he was balling out, stats were crazy, he looked like he was gonna run europe. but over time… it just started to fall apart. injuries, drama, off-field distractions. it felt like every time he was getting back on track, something would happen again.

while guys like mbappé and haaland were grinding, leveling up, neymar was showing up in poker tournaments, throwing parties, beefing with journalists. now he’s 32, torn his knee, playing in the saudi league, and barely even remembered on the global stage.

and yeah, now he’s back at santos, full circle. feels more like a retirement tour than a redemption arc.

it’s not hate, it’s heartbreak. this guy had everything to be the best. the raw talent was there. but it feels like the mindset never matched the potential.

and the worst part? it kinda seems like he’s okay with how it all turned out.

deep down, brazilians just wanted him to be our next icon. our next legend. but he chose a different path.

thanks for the magic, Ney. but man… it could’ve been so much more.

Ferguson was incredible, and Utd are just above average without him. He won THIRTEEN of their 20 titles.

Before he arrived....

Liverpool - 18
Arsenal - 10
Everton - 9
Villa - 7
Sunderland - 6

The guy made 2+ generations of people forget that Utd were not anywhere near the powerhouse they were in his time...before he arrived.

The last 13 years are no different to the 26 years they suffered before his arrival.

EDIT - 12 years before Fergie arrived, Utd got relegated. The truth hurts, UTD fans. But it is the truth.

Seriously. What in the fuck.

Honestly, I'm watching this World Cup with pretty mixed feelings. The football itself can still be brilliant, but for me a lot of the fun has gone. Too many moments just feel.. off. Scripted almost. I cant prove that, so I’m not going to pretend I can. But the fact that so many people are starting to feel that way is already a serious problem.

At some point football has to ask itself where it's heading. VAR, FIFA, politics, endless controversy, decisions that take 5 minutes and somehow still leave half the world confused. The game feels managed more than played sometimes.

For me it starts with VAR. And the funny thing is, VAR is almost the perfect metaphor for how we think justice works. Back then referees made mistakes. Everybody knows that. Sometimes you got the call, sometimes you got screwed over. People argued about it for days, months or even years, but the game moved on and that was the human factor.

Then we begged and invented VAR because technology was supposed to fix the human mistakes. Except, it didn't. They just moved them into another room.

A referee only gets one shot. He sees something or he doesn't. VAR can rewind 30 seconds, 45 seconds, sometimes even longer! Suddenly an entire attack gets dissected because a goal was scored. If you dig deep enough you'll almost always find something. A tiny push, a shirt pull, a soft foul nobody cared about until the ball hit the net.

And that's the part that really bothers me. The question slowly stops being "was this a clear mistake?" and becomes "why did we decide to go looking here?" If every team were allowed to demand a full VAR review after every goal they concede, I'm willing to bet you'd end up finding something. Because the hard part isn't finding something once you start digging but deciding which team get that level of scrutiny in the first place.. and which ones dont.

And before anyone jumps in: no, I'm not saying it's fixed. I'm saying if someone wanted to influence games, this VAR system gives you a hell of a lot more room than a referee making a split-second decision on the pitch ever did. That's just how systems work. The more interpretation, the more discretion, the more opportunities. You dont design systems around trusting people forever, you ddesign them around limiting what people can do.

I also think the people building these systems measure the wrong thing. They measure missed calls, but not what the sport loses. If your only KPI is "reduce referee mistakes" you'll just keep adding more cameras, sensors, AI and reviews forever. On paper that sounds more accurate, but in reality you are creating a game where half the biggest moments end with everyone standing around waiting for people behind closed doors to decide what actually happened.

In short: Football was never meant to feel like a courtroom. Honestly, I'd strip VAR back massively.

Keep it for stuff that's actually objective. Offside. Goal-line technology. Things where technology can establish a absolute fact. Everything else? Give it back to the referee. Yes, he'll still make mistakes. But I honestly think I'd rather live with mistakes you can actually see, than with a system that's supposed to remove them yet somehow keeps creating new ones while making the whole game feel less and less human.

how can any team stop Mbappe, olise, dembele, barcola, doue, cherki…? they seem unstoppable. What team has the potential to beat them? most teams have at least one weakness that you can exploit but this French team seems to have none

I've seen a lot of comments on social media saying England fans are arrogant and entitled. I always see people saying they'll support any team that's playing against England. They often reference to the song "it's coming home" as proof of our arrogance and entitlement.

England have not won a major tournament since 1966. Most of us grew up watching England get knocked out on penalties, lose to red cards, or find some other painful way to fall short. If anything, us English are known for being pretty self deprecating. We hope for the best, but we also expect something to go wrong.

"It's Coming Home" was written for Euro '96, when England hosted the tournament. Over the years, it's become less of a prediction and more of an expression of hope. When England fans sing "It's coming home," it's usually not because we genuinely expect to win. It's because, despite decades of disappointment, we still allow ourselves to believe that maybe this time could be different.

You don't have to like England or support us, but I do think the song is widely misunderstood outside England. It's much more tongue in cheek and optimistic than it is arrogant.

It’s clear when you look on Ticketmaster at some of the most poorly selling Club World Cup games that FIFA has worked with the selling platform to close some sections of the stadium on the site and funnel fans to the side of the stadium that will be shown on the TV broadcast. FIFA has already slashed the ticket prices of nearly every game in the tournament, now it appears they’re trying to save face by making stadiums look more full than they actually are to the viewers on TV.

The photo above is just one example of how many of the games look right now.

The more İ look at it, the more İ think the USA was a poor choice for hosting the World Cup.

A World Cup is supposed to be about bringing the football world together yet we're already seeing politics and visa issues affecting teams and fans İran had visa uncertainty right up until the tournament, several staff members reportedly weren't granted visas n the team had to move its base to Mexico because of the situation. There have even been reports that İran would only be allowed to enter the US on match days, that's not normal for a World Cup.

Then there's the football culture aspect. No disrespect to American fans but football simply doesn't have the same place in the US that it does in Europe, South America, Africa or much of Asia. İn many countries football is not just the sport it's part of daily life, local communities nd national identity. In the US "soccer's" still competing with several other sports for attention.

Then there's the stadium situation. So many venues are NFL stadiums that have to be modified for football instead of being purpose-built football grounds. İt feels like football is being squeezed into someone else's infrastructure rather than being the main event.

And what about the fans? Supporters from som countries are dealing with visa issues and travel restrictions just to watch their team play. A World Cup should be accessible to fans from every nation, not just those with the easiest passports. For me that's the biggest problem. The World Cup isn't just about hosting matches. İt's about football culture, fans traveling from every corner of the world n creating an atmosphere that represents the game globally. Right now, it feels like politics is getting in the way of that.

Sabah FK didn't even exist eight years ago. Last season they won their first ever Azerbaijan Premier League title, broke Qarabag's grip on the top, and completed the double with the Cup too. Then fought through a brutal qualifying run just to get here. And the reward is this draw, Barcelona at home, Arsenal away, Dortmund at home, United away, plus Napoli, Villarreal, and Slavia Praha. On paper, it's a gauntlet. I genuinely think they will still pull up to the knockout stages.

In Norway both viking and bodo are tied for the first with the same points, same wins, same draws and same losses, but the best part both have the same goal difference with the same goal scored and conceded.

How's position decided in this situation?

Which means no UCL next season

I grew up watching the Messi and Ronaldo era from the very beginning all the way to where we are now. I was just a casual fan until the 2002 World Cup, which is when I really fell in love with the sport and then Messi and CR7 showed up and completely shattered my expectations of what a "good" footballer looks like.

Watching those two play at the highest peak possible, putting up absolute alien numbers year after year (50+ goals a season being treated as "normal"), and literally passing the Ballon d'Or back and forth between each other made everything else feel small.

Now, watching regular football or current top-tier players feels... kind of boring? A striker having a "great season" with 25 goals just doesn't hit the same when we spent over a decade watching two guys treat 60 goals like a light Tuesday.

Anyone else feel like those two completely ruined normal football standards for you, or have you managed to reset your expectations and just enjoy regular games again?

I know this topic will likely dominate this sub today but my goodness what an absolute joke of a club they've been this season.

My most recent post here was the question "Is there a (non-rival) club that you no longer want to see succeed?", and my own answer to that was Barcelona. Within a couple months I have to say I'm delighted that Barca are on course to win La Liga and just beat Real in the cup final, after already trashing them in the Super Cup in January.

I don't think a more entitled football club exists. The Ballon d'Or snub because one of their players wasn't going to win, the way they reacted to their CL exit, and now the Copa del Rey final - both what happened at the game and the drama about the ref before it.

Rudiger should be given a decent ban, I can't say for sure what I think it should be, but put him out for a few months anyway. Along with fining a host of their other players who also went mad at the end of the game. Honestly even expulsion from next season's Copa del Rey would be considered fair.

Also just the treatment of Carlo Ancelotti is awful. First of all, they're still in with a chance of winning the league, they probably won't especially now seeing as their players are all big babies and it'll cost them further points in the final 5 games. But this guy is a club legend, a portion of the fanbase have been horrible to him in the last month or so. There are rumours he could even be sacked or walk before the end of the season despite the league still to play for. They club world cup as well. You have guys like Courtois throwing shade at him publicly.

What a shit club honestly.

It was really evident that Roberto Martinez let Ronaldo call the shots all tournament. From starting every match after showing very poor form game after game, to in-game management decisions like taking off Bruno and Cancelo quite early when they were two players that were creating chances for Portugal while Ronaldo was just doing some light cardio. This has to be one of the first times a player or player’s legacy holds a whole team hostage like that. Huge opportunity missed by Portugal because they could have been much better if Ronaldo played a secondary role. What a shame.

Any Portuguese people out there that would like to share what the overall opinion on all of this might be?

Greece are the biggest underdogs in international football and thats the truth

Cause when greece headed into the euros they did not have any well known players even after the euros most all of them you prob dont know unless you are greek

And they were put into the toughest group with next world cups Semi finalist portugal and spain not prime spain but still spain.Still they finished 2nd behind portugal and spain got knocked out.and next round they faced france with zidane and henry btw and won against them after that they faced prime Czech republic with ballon dor winner nedved and cech and they won and in the final they faced portugals golden generation that went to the semis next world cup with young cr7 figo rui costa and greece won and in portugals backyard because portugal hosted the euros.

This is different from all the other underdog teams such as 2018 croatia and 2022 morroco because they had known players before and after their tournaments.

You could make a case for cabo verde but they drew all their games and greece went against a prime france and golden generation czechia and portugal.

Edit: for other people saying other underdogs For Denmark in euro 1992 yeah they won it when they technically didnt even qualify but they still had schmeichel and Laudrup and they time wasted a lot.

Iraq 2007 is a great underdog story with iraq fighting a war at the same time.I think it is the prob the second biggest underdog in international history but at that time the strength of the teams were weaker then in euro 04 if it was the asian cup in 2000 then you could have made a point.

New fan here from the US who fell in love with football during the 2026 World Cup!

I keep seeing debates about Messi being the GOAT, but I also keep seeing that Pelé won 3 World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970).

How do older fans view his legacy compared to modern players like Messi or Mbappé? Is 3 World Cups the most unbreakable record in sports history?

Morocco are quietly becoming one of the most consistent national teams in world football.

Maybe I'm crazy but Morocco don't feel like a dark horse anymore.

A few years ago everyone treated them as a surprise story. Now it feels like they're just genuinely one of the strongest teams outside the traditional giants.

Ronaldo is leaving Al Nassr. There are talks about him joining Al Hilal so he could play in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, to be held in the U.S. Is this a good idea? I could see him move to the MLS for one season, ahead of the World Cup.