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General World Cup Chat

By Aus Fox, in World Cup 2026

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Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

People always wang on aba the Jubilani being some whacky mind-of-it's own ball – second lowest goals per game of any World Cup behind only Italia 90

Oh you mean like most ex professionals, especially goalkeepers? 
 

It’s not just a bandwagon/hype thing. It’s regularly spoken about as being a ‘mind of its own beachball’.

 

The current WC ball appears to have big differences to more normal ones used in top leagues and competitions this season.

  • Like 1
OntarioFox

OntarioFox

Posted
Posted

Honestly really enjoyed the WC so far, yes there are issues (namely the vile government in the US, the shameless pricing and the hydration break nonsense), but god is it nice to see fans from all over just having fun in the sun, drinking towns dry and getting along in countries where they can actually just do it without walking on eggshells. Even us and the Scots seem to be getting along, there's your FIFA Peace Prize for ya Donald. lol The games have for the most part been good to watch too but we don't talk about Czechia - South Africa ok.

 

Compared to Qatar there's no contest, this actually "feels" like a World Cup. And I know people that went spoke highly of both it and Russia, but come on, this is the first "proper" tournament since Brazil in 2014 really. Bit jelaous I didn't get the chance to fly over to Canada to take it all in.

  • Like 1
Miquel The Work Geordie

Miquel The Work Geordie

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

I guess the wackiness could've worked both ways.

 

Plenty of shots wide or over that might usually have been on target. 

 

Maybe players were more cautious with it because of the lack of control  :dunno:

 

4 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Oh you mean like most ex professionals, especially goalkeepers? 
 

It’s not just a bandwagon/hype thing. It’s regularly spoken about as being a ‘mind of its own beachball’.

 

The current WC ball appears to have big differences to more normal ones used in top leagues and competitions this season.

 

But the original point was that the new ball has been designed to be "unpredictable like the Jubilani to create more goals / entertainment for the American audience" – I was pointing out that unpredictability ≠ goals and entertainment

Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/videos/cx2w5zwn7q0o
 

1 minute ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

 

But the original point was that the new ball has been designed to be "unpredictable like the Jubilani to create more goals / entertainment for the American audience" – I was pointing out that unpredictability ≠ goals and entertainment

Yeah I know but would you put it past FIFA to do something like this to help finally really crack North America? 

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OntarioFox

OntarioFox

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

 

But the original point was that the new ball has been designed to be "unpredictable like the Jubilani to create more goals / entertainment for the American audience" – I was pointing out that unpredictability ≠ goals and entertainment

I love the legend of the Jubilani purely because it was designed at Loughborough University. I can just imagine some student scientists stumbling back from a night at Echos before spilling kebab grease all over the blueprints and deciding to go with it anyway.

 

It's up there with DNA analysis, Pork Pies and the Elephant Man's bones as one of our county's finest exports.

 

Edited by OntarioFox
  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

Honestly really enjoyed the WC so far, yes there are issues (namely the vile government in the US, the shameless pricing and the hydration break nonsense), but god is it nice to see fans from all over just having fun in the sun, drinking towns dry and getting along in countries where they can actually just do it without walking on eggshells. Even us and the Scots seem to be getting along, there's your FIFA Peace Prize for ya Donald. lol The games have for the most part been good to watch too but we don't talk about Czechia - South Africa ok.

 

Compared to Qatar there's no contest, this actually "feels" like a World Cup. And I know people that went spoke highly of both it and Russia, but come on, this is the first "proper" tournament since Brazil in 2014 really. Bit jelaous I didn't get the chance to fly over to Canada to take it all in.

Being mid thirties the WC for me peaked between 98-2006. 
 

France was so good.

 

SK/Japan was amazing considering it was hosted by two countries.

 

Germany was just near perfect. 
 

SA wasn’t great but following Germany it had a lot to do. 
 

Brazil got things back on track a bit but the two that followed have progressively got worse.

 

This one is an improvement but I don’t think the WC should be anymore than 32 teams and ideally it should be hosted in one country or at least a tighter region.

 

Iberia and Morocco should get away with it similar to SK/Japan.

 

I just hope that the 2038 WC returns to a country like England (plus Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast). 

Stuntman_Mike

Stuntman_Mike

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

 

But the original point was that the new ball has been designed to be "unpredictable like the Jubilani to create more goals / entertainment for the American audience" – I was pointing out that unpredictability ≠ goals and entertainment

I see, hadn't seen anything about this one.

 

I had thought some of long range shots were more saveable (as in @Muzzy_no7 link with Joe Hart)

  • Like 2
Miquel The Work Geordie

Miquel The Work Geordie

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/videos/cx2w5zwn7q0o
 

Yeah I know but would you put it past FIFA to do something like this to help finally really crack North America? 

 

There isn't much I'd put past FIFA tbh lol 

 

But we have this discussion about the ball every World Cup and whether or not keepers will "get to grips with the ball." A quick Google shows that only really 2014 comes out with much praise and the rest get canned by keepers.

 

 

  • Like 1
Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted

You just know there is something either broken or manipulated if all of Saudi, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, Uzbek and Iraq have qualified.

 

19 teams from AFC and CAF while nations like Denmark and Italy are absent.

 

 

 

 

OntarioFox

OntarioFox

Posted
Posted
42 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

You just know there is something either broken or manipulated if all of Saudi, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, Uzbek and Iraq have qualified.

 

19 teams from AFC and CAF while nations like Denmark and Italy are absent.

 

 

 

 

I'm not personally against it, for it to be a World Cup there ought to be a more even balance of teams from the different confederations - yes, Europe is more developed in football terms than anywhere else, but it does saturate things when pretty much half the qualifying teams are from UEFA. Those teams you listed, rightly or wrongly, are amongst the best in their continent's confederation, so it's right they should get a qualification spot. And Qatar's collapse against Canada notwithstanding, all those teams have been at least competitive so far, especially Saudi and Iran who are in with a real shout of qualifying from their groups outright.

 

Well, we should probably draw the line at Oceania. Having the likes of Nauru or Kiribati in the same group as Brazil or France would be like Curaçao on crack, you can look at the time Tahiti got into the Confederations Cup as an example of what would happen. There's been conversation about merging it and having a west and east Asian confederation, so you'd have some actual competition for New Zealand playing the likes of Japan and Australia rather than just sleepwalking to a playoff every time.

(Oh and Italy totally deserved not to qualify, absolute joke of a team)

  • Like 1
Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, OntarioFox said:

I'm not personally against it, for it to be a World Cup there ought to be a more even balance of teams from the different confederations - yes, Europe is more developed in football terms than anywhere else, but it does saturate things when pretty much half the qualifying teams are from UEFA. Those teams you listed, rightly or wrongly, are amongst the best in their continent's confederation, so it's right they should get a qualification spot. And Qatar's collapse against Canada notwithstanding, all those teams have been at least competitive so far, especially Saudi and Iran who are in with a real shout of qualifying from their groups outright.

 

Well, we should probably draw the line at Oceania. Having the likes of Nauru or Kiribati in the same group as Brazil or France would be like Curaçao on crack, you can look at the time Tahiti got into the Confederations Cup as an example of what would happen. There's been conversation about merging it and having a west and east Asian confederation, so you'd have some actual competition for New Zealand playing the likes of Japan and Australia rather than just sleepwalking to a playoff every time.

(Oh and Italy totally deserved not to qualify, absolute joke of a team)

I would say Africa and AFC need the amount of teams qualifying reducing, then. 

Amin

Amin

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

I would say Africa and AFC need the amount of teams qualifying reducing, then. 

This is the World Cup, the Euros are in 2 years.

 

If Italy and Denmark can't beat what seems to be a pretty poor Bosnia and Czech Republic team, then they don't deserve to be in this World Cup ahead of any of the current 48 teams.

 

Personally, the mediocre European teams are worst part of a World Cup, I would much rather watch teams like Curaçao, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Jordan and DR Congo. We've already had great stories with Cape Verde and DR Congo holding European giants to draws and even Curaçao getting a goal against Germany. 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
MC Prussian

MC Prussian

Posted
Posted

Don't know what I find stranger with these Chinese WC streams – the fact they're using an AI version of a 2002 peak Ronaldo (de Lima) for one commercial or the advert for drinking milk during soccer matches.

Raj

Raj

Posted
Posted

Dutch score a fifth goal and the PA goes mad with a dance version of Auld lang sone.

 

WTF you yanky bastards🤬🤬🤬

Muzzy_no7

Muzzy_no7

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Come on then.

 

6 teams that have really impressed you so far:

 

England 

USA
Mexico

Netherlands

Argentina

Japan

England

France

Germany

USA

Netherlands

Japan

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