***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***

Who’s playing the best right now
1. France (no one else is close right now)
…huge drop off
2. Portugal (because of their midfield. They play better and more connected when Ronaldo is not in game)
3. Argentina (backline will get exposed against the best of the best teams. can they out score those teams is the question)
…sizable drop off
4. Spain (super talented, not playing together yet. Could get there. OYARZABAL is incredible)
5-10. Some shuffled order of: England, Norway, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Colombia
11-14. Some shuffled order of: Belgium, Morocco, Canada, Switzerland
15. Egypt
16. Paraguay
Id put Spain in third and Portugual with the first shuffled group. Colombia outplayed them (IMO) in their group match, and Portugal’s defense really struggled with Croatia.
 
I became a big fan of Morocco when they showed the.... enthusiasts fans... before the start of the second half. Happy to see them take the lead.
 
Id put Spain in third and Portugual with the first shuffled group. Colombia outplayed them (IMO) in their group match, and Portugal’s defense really struggled with Croatia.
Portugal id put down because they're too dependent on Ronaldo being on the pitch longer than he deserves. That alone is a small problem...but you can tell it effects the esteem ofbthe rest of the team.

Also insane to have morocco that low..they're top 6 for me. Consistent team play. Good strategy and flexible.to other teams
 
There will be a drop off from casual fans, but hopefully soccer added a few more fans domestically. It's important for the growth here in the States.

There will always be the "look at me" people that put a stupid amount of time into hating soccer and think they are funny with their comments. Nothing to really do about that segment of the population but ignore them.

This has been an amazing World Cup so far. So many matches have been decided late, and so many underdogs have put up amazing fights.

I hope this exposure puts the US into rotation for addition World Cups. Overall, the comments from visiting nations seem positive.
I think the longer term impact of us soccer is all the money fifa and us soccer put into community pitches. They built several new soccer locations. Soccer will be more accessible to lower income and as a day to day activity like basketball courts are. That's a great development step.
 
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Portugal id put down because they're too dependent on Ronaldo being on the pitch longer than he deserves. That alone is a small problem...but you can tell it effects the esteem ofbthe rest of the team.

Also insane to have morocco that low..they're top 6 for me. Consistent team play. Good strategy and flexible.to other teams
I missed Morroco being on the lower tear, and I agree with you. They deserve to be higher. I guess my take is.

France (big gap)

Argentina (small gap)

Group of Spain, Brazil, Portugual, England, Colombia, Morroco, USA, and Mexico.

Normay (very close to the group above, maybe even part of it)

Belgium, Canada, Switzerland

Paraguay and Egypt.
 
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Id put Spain in third and Portugual with the first shuffled group. Colombia outplayed them (IMO) in their group match, and Portugal’s defense really struggled with Croatia.
Portugal id put down because they're too dependent on Ronaldo being on the pitch longer than he deserves. That alone is a small problem...but you can tell it effects the esteem ofbthe rest of the team.

Also insane to have morocco that low..they're top 6 for me. Consistent team play. Good strategy and flexible.to other teams
I think Portugal will beat Spain but we’ll see. And Ronaldo is not the reason. Portugal has the best midfield in the world. These games are tough to predict, which is why it’s so fun!

Morocco is not playing as well as they did 4 years ago in Qatar. Not even close. This is just who I think is playing better right now. Morocco is well coached, good game plan. Everyone on that list above them is playing better right now. I’m generally rooting for all Africa teams, was for Ivory Coast and Cape Verde especially!
 
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I think the longer term impact of us soccer is all the money fifa and us soccer put into community pitches. They built several new soccer locations. Soccer will be more accessible to lower income and as a day to day activity like basketball courts are. That's a great development step.

Field space is a real issue. I know multiple kids in Ankeny charged with trespassing on soccer fields where they were just playing.

I think a great step would be building a lot of futsal courts.
 

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