2026 FIFA World Cup Thread
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
After my obvious team (the USA!!), I next cheer for the countries that form most of my ancestry - Germany, and then Sweden. Rough start to the day. 
Hopefully this afternoon will be better!
Hopefully this afternoon will be better!
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Well, I’m a quarter Italian, so it could be worse. Any my Lithuanian doesn’t get much play. Thank god for my German and English ancestry so I have something to watch.After my obvious team (the USA!!), I next cheer for the countries that form most of my ancestry - Germany, and then Sweden. Rough start to the day.
Hopefully this afternoon will be better!
Curacao gets their first World Cup point.
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
Curacao's keeper set the World Cup record for most saves in a 90-minute match with 15. Tim Howard still has the overall record but that was in a match that went extra time.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
That guy was on fire. MVP of the game by far.
found out just one player on Curaçao’s team is a native , all the others are Dutch due to them being part of the Netherlands kingdom & loose rules about who can be on the roster
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Only Imperial Stormtroopers shoot less accurately than the Turks and the Ecuadorians.Turkey say hello to Ecuador
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Any self-respecting Illini fan has to at least follow the Dutch. The combination of orange and a crazy good offense checks out.
That's not entirely uncommon in world football (and OrangeBlue98 can back me up on this). Cape Verde has a player that was born in Ireland (father is Cape Verdean, mother is Irish). DR Congo has quite a few players that were born in Belgium or France.
Spain certainly making up for the lack of goals scored against Cape Verde.
reminds me of Italian roster rules in the Baseball Classic. Basically anyone with an italian name qualified
Last edited:
I’m 100% dutch ancestry, so my love of that team is natural . They are almost always pretty good , just not elite .
Go USA, after them , I’m all orange .
Balogun for the U.S. is another world football example. Born in the U.S.. Parents are from Nigeria and he lived in England for most of his youth. Eligible to play for any one of those 3 sides.
Egypt get their first ever World Cup win.
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
Really great match. I don't watch soccer other than the world cup but when it comes around I watch as much as possible. I feel like I'm learning a ton about the dynamics related to height/strength/speed variables that I know a ton about in basketball, but they don't always play out the same in this level of soccer.
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
With a population of 158,000 it would be hard to field a roster of only people from the island. When they played Germany, they said there are 39 German cities that have a greater population than Curacao. In the US, it has roughly the same population as Springfield, Massachusetts.
or Naperville.
Someone earlier mentioned Balogun's story--it's crazy. His Mother was denied boarding on her flight back to the UK because she was too pregnant. That's why he was born in the US and eligible for the USMNT.