2026 FIFA World Cup Thread

#1      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Getting this thread started after today's draw:

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The UEFA Path A winner will be Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, or Northern Ireland.

The UEFA Path B winner will be Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, or Albania.

The UEFA Path C winner will be Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkiye, or Romania.

The UEFA Path D winner will be Czechia, Ireland, Denmark, or North Macedonia.

The FIFA Interconfederation Playoff 1 winner will be New Caledonia, Jamaica, or DR Congo.

The FIFA Interconfederation Playoff 2 winner will be Bolivia, Suriname, or Iraq.


The UEFA qualifiers and Interconfederation playoffs will be held in late March.
 
#4      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
World Cup play-off scores from today thus far:

Czechia 2:2 Ireland (4:3 PK)
Denmark 4:0 North Macedonia
Italy 2:0 Northern Ireland
Poland 2:1 Albania
Slovakia 3:4 Kosovo
Turkey 1:0 Romania
Ukraine 1:3 Sweden
Wales 1:1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2:4 PK)
Bolivia 2:1 Suriname

In UEFA, these will be matchups on Tuesday for the playoff spots to qualify for the World Cup:

Bosnia and Herzegovina-Italy
Sweden-Poland
Kosovo-Turkey
Czechia-Denmark

Bolivia will face Iraq in one of the inter-confederation playoff finals on Tuesday.
 
#6      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Today's scores thus far:

Bosnia & Herzegovina 1:1 (4:1 PKs) Italy
Sweden 3:2 Poland
Kosovo 0:1 Turkey
Czechia 2:2 (3:1 PKs) Denmark
DR Congo 1:0 AET Jamaica

Bosnia & Herzegovinia goes into group B with Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland.

Turkey goes into Group D with the USA, Paraguay, and Australia.

Sweden goes into Group F with Netherlands, Japan, and Tunisia.

Czechia goes into Group A with Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea.

DR Congo goes into Group K with Portugal, Uzbekistan, and Colombia.

The Men in Blazers brought up that Italy have not played a World Cup match since Luis Suarez bit Giorgio Chiellini in 2014.
 
#10      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Roster was officially announced today.

Reyna being in surprised many as well as he hasn't played much this year for his club team.

What's interesting about the U.S. roster is that in the past their backline and goalkeeping was their strength and their forwards were an issue. Now they have the exact opposite problem. Some of the experts I was reading today seemed to think their roster in the midfield is a bit thin.
 
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