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2026 FIFA World Cup

As someone who tries and usually succeeds to watch all of the games (bar one of each of the final group games which have the same KO), the schedule isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I think I'll work as normal for the first week or so of the tournament and sacrifice some of the early morning kick-offs and take my vacation from work after the first week and a bit has been completed.

That will take me up to the start of the quarter finals and it's very doable to watch all of it from then on without needing any more time off.

Working from home will help as well during the first week.
 

brieverton said:
As someone who tries and usually succeeds to watch all of the games (bar one of each of the final group games which have the same KO), the schedule isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I think I'll work as normal for the first week or so of the tournament and sacrifice some of the early morning kick-offs and take my vacation from work after the first week and a bit has been completed.

That will take me up to the start of the quarter finals and it's very doable to watch all of it from then on without needing any more time off.

Working from home will help as well during the first week.
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I usually work in reverse to many people. I watch all of the knockout games and cherry pick the groups. Highlights shows do a lot of the heavy lifting for me. I'll record loads too for posterity. I hate the idea of having to work during, say, a last 16 match or quarter-final. Group games are ten a penny, and in this tournament twice that.

I'll cherry pick my live matches in the first week:

Thursday (evening): Mexico v. South Africa
Friday (evening): Canada v. Italy or Wales or Northern Ireland
Saturday (midnight): Brazil v. Morocco
Sunday (evening): France v. Senegal
Monday - might take a break if Belgium v Egypt is not capturing my imagination...
Tuesday (evening): England v. Croatia

The highlights will do the rest. Germany v. Curacao on Sunday early evening promises to be a new record score. Flat-track bullies, this German side. Double-figures possible here...and then they'll lose to Ivory Coast.
 
NathDogg said:
The least I’ve ever been arsed about a World Cup.

Couldn’t be bothered watching that whole nonsense, especially with the glowing orange idiot acting like he’s mahatma ghandi, and infantino hanging out of his hoop.

FIFA are a disgrace, have been for years, cesspit of an organisation.
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there were actual americans who thought that FIFA will never tolerate Trump and might even pull the games out of America.

I'm sure I could make it to New Jersey, Philly or Boston for a group stage match or 2. I just can't bring myself to do it. I'll watch on TV and save the money for Everton.
 

Seems to me that northern Europeans can forget winning in this climate at those times. Spain or France to make the final on one side of the draw - and a Latin American or Portugal awaiting them in the final.

My dark horse: Japan. I think they could wreck the best-laid plans of many fancied sides.
 
Drico said:
Seems to me that northern Europeans can forget winning in this climate at those times. Spain or France to make the final on one side of the draw - and a Latin American or Portugal awaiting them in the final.

My dark horse: Japan. I think they could wreck the best-laid plans of many fancied sides.
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There's a reason the longstanding rule of thumb was that if it was played in South America, a South American team won. If if was played in Europe, a European team won.

Of course with the 5 subs now, that is a bit of a leveler.

Playing in Mexico city at altitude, with polluted air, heat and humidity is going to be an eye opener for some. 1986 was a long time ago. Most will have forgotten. You just can't play the same way.

Dallas is indoors, so not bad.

Boston and New York, while quite far north can get hot and humid, but they are manageable.

I'd say the only venues that are particularly troublesome for Europe this time are the mexico ones, and miami.
 
I live in Southern California and had a peek at the prices for the 2 games in Los angeles for the usa team.

I have 3 kids that play, so would need to take them with me.

So, I guess we might go to a fan zone just have some of the feeling of the thing.
 
Huyton Layne said:
Putting group games 4.5hrs flight away from each other is stupid.

Also just saw that there's 104 games in this tournament. That gonna cause fan fatigue for sure.
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I largely agree. But they've been moving teams around like this during world cups for pretty much all of the modern era.

America is big. The only way to grasp it (more than intellectually) is to drive it.

We had a friend visiting from the UK 20 years ago. He was on a work trip to sandiego and visited us for the weekend in anaheim and it blew his mind the amount of time it took him to get there despite being on a large straight freeway the whole time. It's big, and on a map of the usa, the two cities look adjacent.
 

Lineker said:
There's a reason the longstanding rule of thumb was that if it was played in South America, a South American team won. If if was played in Europe, a European team won.

Of course with the 5 subs now, that is a bit of a leveler.

Playing in Mexico city at altitude, with polluted air, heat and humidity is going to be an eye opener for some. 1986 was a long time ago. Most will have forgotten. You just can't play the same way.

Dallas is indoors, so not bad.

Boston and New York, while quite far north can get hot and humid, but they are manageable.

I'd say the only venues that are particularly troublesome for Europe this time are the mexico ones, and miami.
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I think advancements in sports science might put an end to that. Germany won in Brazil in 2014 for example
 
Billy Dean said:
I think advancements in sports science might put an end to that. Germany won in Brazil in 2014 for example
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There was no altitude there, though.

Mexico - if it is they - in the last 16 is a way bigger hurdle than many in the English media have tweaked. Mexico City is a smog-infested altitude trap for any side. On the upside, Tuchel looked suitably shook by that draw. He knows. That's good news for England.
 
Drico said:
There was no altitude there, though.

Mexico - if it is they - in the last 16 is a way bigger hurdle than many in the English media have tweaked. Mexico City is a smog-infested altitude trap for any side. On the upside, Tuchel looked suitably shook by that draw. He knows. That's good news for England.
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I wasn’t referring only to England. Just meant that generally for countries away from their usual conditions
 

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