***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***

[NorthCyd]

Since we are looking for bright sides. At least now us folks that actually enjoy soccer can finish watching the rest of the WC without the ignorant pricks!

And the elitist prick faction of soccer fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their sport will remain 3rd tier in the US and not get too popular.

 

[Althetuna]

People can get pushed to the ground, grabbed, whatever, then randomly a ref runs out with a yellow card and at times the replay shows the person wasn’t even touched, just flopped. Either let them play or make a little consistency there.

Same thing could be said for bssketball.

 

[AllInForISU]

Greed has made all sports unattainable for the vast majority of the country. Soccer isn’t exclusive to that.

I would argue soccer suffers the most for how cheap it should be.

 

[Clonehomer]

Baseball looked at their sport and realized one of the killers was the dead time between pitches so more action would happen. Every pitch has a chance for some big action. Baseball figured out how to keep the attention span of the audience. Soccer needs to find something like that if they want to keep the average viewer watching.

Still boring to me. Baseball has just as many low scoring games as soccer.

 

[BryceC]

Soccer is the worst, but charges the most, or close to it. Hard to figure out how that’s possible.

1. Field space is very limited. The clubs control basically all the field space and cities overcharge.

2. There is an over reliance on “pro” coaches who aren’t any better than some parent which drives up the costs.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

To think Belgium was down 2-0 last round with only minutes left in that match.

 

[BCClone]

Same thing could be said for bssketball.

They can review flagarant fouls and then hit flops with technicals. Is that an option in soccer?

 

[Althetuna]

Ream has been awful

The header he gave up for a goal was Charles Barkley turrible.

 

[AppleCornCy]

Is CONCACAF holding us back? You look at Mexico and they’re a large soccer-mad country that can’t get over the hump either.

 

[madguy30]

I don't watch soccer but the 'they never score! What a boring 3-2 game!' followed by 'what a great 21-14 football game!' (that's also a 3-2 score over 4 hours' time) is quite frankly stupid.

 

[clonedude]

People are going to play the sports they enjoy. Soccer is boring, play 90 minutes or more, run many miles all over the field and only score a couple points. That's like watching Iowa play themselves in FB (or even now in BB), no thanks.

The VAST majority of the world disagrees.

I posted earlier that there’s about 14 mins of action in a 3.5 hr college football game. It’s just ignorant to say soccer is boring but football isn’t.

Soccer though is just not even close to being our #1 sport in America, like it is in nearly every other country. That’s just a fact. Argentina will never have a prayer to beat us in American football…. it’s just the way it is.

 

[AllInForISU]

1. Field space is very limited. The clubs control basically all the field space and cities overcharge.

2. There is an over reliance on “pro” coaches who aren’t any better than some parent which drives up the costs.

This I can agree on. Winning is more important than skill building. That goes for most AAU/club sports though.

 

[Althetuna]

They can review flagarant fouls and then hit flops with technicals. Is that an option in soccer?

Floppers can be given yellow cards.

 

[AllInForISU]

Floppers can be given yellow cards.

Happened in the first US game this WC

 

[BCClone]

Floppers can be given yellow cards.

How often does that happen?

 

[3TrueFans]

If you don’t watch soccer, don’t like soccer and don’t know the rules why do you even care?

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

I thought Freese could have moved his feet better on Belgium's first 2 goals. The 3rd Belgium goal was as bonehead of a play by a goalie that you will see. Why did he hesitate on the kick to clear it? Was he trying to draw a foul?

I was wondering why he didn't grab it but I was informed there is only certain part of the field a goalkeeper can use his hands.

 

[Althetuna]

How often does that happen?

I saw it twice in this WC.

 

[BCClone]

I saw it twice in this WC.

Not often then.

 

[bos]

I don't watch soccer but the 'they never score! What a boring 3-2 game!' followed by 'what a great 21-14 football game!' (that's also a 3-2 score over 4 hours' time) is quite frankly stupid.

Can’t say I’ve liked soccer much over the years but have really enjoyed WC this year. It’s grown on me. I get your analogy, I would have felt that some years ago. So it hits home a bit