Iran has qualified for the 2026 World Cup. What are the odds the team and/or their fans will be permitted into the US? Play their matches in Canada or Mexico? Or invite Uzbekistan instead?
2 Likes
I saw this as well and thats going to be an interesting one.
If the US tries to block Iran from playing FIFA is going to look like massive hypocrites if they don’t defend them.
2 Likes
Trump will ignore FIFA and invite Russia to replace Iran!
2 Likes
Possibly the most talented Canadian soccer player of all time may never play at the same level again due to his ACL tear in Canada-US match on Sunday. Sad
1 Like
That sucks.
ACL injuries used to be career ending, but these days a fairly high percentage of athletes return to their prior level post surgery.
2 Likes
I hope you are right. Davies’ strength was his incredible speed. He can still be a good player even if he loses a bit of speed but that loses some of his edge.
A little drama happening now
Bayern may have a good case. There is a good deal of controversy here on how Davies was treated by the national team.
Did they cause the ACL tear? Truly wondering how they could have. Grass at SoFi was top-notch, as they are testing out a new system for WC.
Was he slightly injured before the match, yet he was played?
It was his treatment after the injury that Bayern is concerned about. Not properly checked out before putting him on 12 hour flight to Munich. Although I expect he was not jammed into Economy.
Ah.
Should have kept him here with ice and whatever was immediately necessary.
But, I’m no doctor, IRL.
Not ice! Everyone still remembers RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). That is old, bad, debunked science. But even many doctors still recommend it.
The short version is - those all are designed to reduce blood flow and swelling. But swelling and blood flow is how the body protects and heals itself.
64 teams for 2030 World Cup seems a bit much?
Seems like an easy pass when proposing it to 211 countries, most of whom have never made it to a World Cup.
So 128 teams for 2034 should easily be approved?
1 Like
We are short hop and a skip away from this:
Now you’re being ridiculous!
Thing is, they won’t embiggin the groups, as they should (to eight) in order to clear the rabble from the top two in each. Instead, another round of highly variable knockout rounds will be included.
With 2026, they should have had eight groups of six teams. More matches result in clearer first and second-place teams. But no, the “best” third place teams play an additional round, and the winners included in a round of 32, again, a higher-variable match.
2 Likes
I look forward to 2038, with its 256 teams.
1 Like
“[Atlanta COO] Burks estimated that the price to attend all eight World Cup matches in Atlanta will be $20,000.”
I hope not, or at least hope the semis are most of that.
1 Like
FIFA is now booking hospitality packages for WC26. You can book 3 ways: All matches at a venue, follow my team, or pick 4. You are buying “premium” seats that include food, beverage, and other benefits. Sometimes the seats are quite good, sometimes they may be meh but include a “private club experience”
I put in my venue, which includes 8 matches (5 group, 1 round of 32, 1 round of 16, and 1 semis). Care to guess at pricing?
I put in Pitchside Lounge Standard first, as that seems to be comparable to my current MLS seats.
That’s $36,000 per seat. You can upgrade to Standard+ for $40,400 which I assume is right at midfield
The cheapest ones they are offering right now are in the upper deck behind the goal. They are calling that “Champions Club”. That’s $20,950 Standard per seat, and $23,200 for Standard+
One thing that sucks is that it won’t let me do the buy 4 for just my location. I could buy 3 here and 1 somewhere else, but no other venue is close to me and I expect airfare and hotel to be ludicrously expensive.