***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***

A third place game in the World Cup is one of the most hilarious things I've seen.

Add in the Miami heat and it goes from hilarious to down right depressing for everyone involved. I’m just waiting for one of the teams to announce they are forfeiting and heading home. Wonder what FIFA would do about that?
 
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Guess I'm a casual because I kind of lost interest after the U.S. was eliminated. Still caught parts of games, but up until then I was watching as much as I could. It really is a fast moving game. I'm obviously not a purist, so I didn't mind the hydration breaks. Could do without so much flopping. I mean, go ahead and go down to draw a free kick or whatever, but you don't need to act like you're dying...and then get right back up and keep playing.

One thing that was surprising to me is how quickly the games go. Like "holy crap, it's almost halftime". Not the endless stream of commercials that FB has. I'll be watching the next WC and if they expand further, I'm all for it.
This gets brought up endlessly by people that trash soccer. It's usually presented like something that needs to be defended. The funny things is that actual soccer fans hate this too. You quickly learn which players and teams make a meal of a foul.

It's like flopping in basketball or faking an injury in football. I enjoy both of those sports, but I hate the "gamesmanship" side of things.
 
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This gets brought up endlessly by people that trash soccer. It's usually presented like something that needs to be defended. The funny things is that actual soccer fans hate this too. You quickly learn which players and teams make a meal of a foul.

It's like flopping in basketball or faking an injury in football. I enjoy both of those sports, but I hate the "gamesmanship" side of things.

Is rolling around on the ground in soccer any different than the head jerk in basketball? That’s just as prevalent in the NBA as embellishing injuries in soccer. All trying to get fouls called.
 
Is rolling around on the ground in soccer any different than the head jerk in basketball? That’s just as prevalent in the NBA as embellishing injuries in soccer. All trying to get fouls called.

The head jerk is definitely bad too. It's just more expressive in soccer. I think that the refs should be able to call something when the player is tripped and hits the ground. And not wait to see if he's "writhing in pain". I mean, they do have shin guards on. My 11 year old daughter gets kicked in the shin and gets up and keeps playing. IMO they need to legislate that out of the game. Act hurt if you're actually hurt. I think that a little bit of the American Football toughness would go a long ways here.
 
The head jerk is definitely bad too. It's just more expressive in soccer. I think that the refs should be able to call something when the player is tripped and hits the ground. And not wait to see if he's "writhing in pain". I mean, they do have shin guards on. My 11 year old daughter gets kicked in the shin and gets up and keeps playing. IMO they need to legislate that out of the game. Act hurt if you're actually hurt. I think that a little bit of the American Football toughness would go a long ways here.
I mean shin guards cover about 5% of their body, lots of places to get hit that aren’t the shin.

Football players also get to sub in and out as much as they want when they get tired or hurt but not actually hurt.
 
The head jerk is definitely bad too. It's just more expressive in soccer. I think that the refs should be able to call something when the player is tripped and hits the ground. And not wait to see if he's "writhing in pain". I mean, they do have shin guards on. My 11 year old daughter gets kicked in the shin and gets up and keeps playing. IMO they need to legislate that out of the game. Act hurt if you're actually hurt. I think that a little bit of the American Football toughness would go a long ways here.

The kicks and tackles are at a different level than 11 year old girls, but I get the point. But how often do you hit something in your everyday life and need a few minutes for the pain to subside before moving on? That’s the same with soccer. You may not get injured from a slide tackle, but it hurts like hell and you need a minute for that to go away. Once it does, your fine.

Similar in basketball, when guys go hard to the basket and get hit, they’ll stay down for a few seconds or minutes. Doesn’t mean they’re injured, but they’re still in pain.
 
Add in the Miami heat and it goes from hilarious to down right depressing for everyone involved. I’m just waiting for one of the teams to announce they are forfeiting and heading home. Wonder what FIFA would do about that?
This game is important to the countries playing in it. Different cultures care differently about different things. Crazy, right?
 
This game is important to the countries playing in it. Different cultures care differently about different things. Crazy, right?

I don’t get that sense at all from the English fans at least. I guess we’ll see how the players approach it. The starting lineups may tell a lot for who’s in them and who’s not.
 
The kicks and tackles are at a different level than 11 year old girls, but I get the point. But how often do you hit something in your everyday life and need a few minutes for the pain to subside before moving on? That’s the same with soccer. You may not get injured from a slide tackle, but it hurts like hell and you need a minute for that to go away. Once it does, your fine.

Similar in basketball, when guys go hard to the basket and get hit, they’ll stay down for a few seconds or minutes. Doesn’t mean they’re injured, but they’re still in pain.

Yeah, but how often do you see BB players rolling around on the ground in pain? I mean, Haliburton didn't put on that big of a show when he tore his Achilles. In soccer, you see something like that every game and the guy is playing 5 minutes later.
 
This gets brought up endlessly by people that trash soccer. It's usually presented like something that needs to be defended. The funny things is that actual soccer fans hate this too. You quickly learn which players and teams make a meal of a foul.

It's like flopping in basketball or faking an injury in football. I enjoy both of those sports, but I hate the "gamesmanship" side of things.

To be honest though most people bring it up in Basketball and football also. The other difference is the "Dying in agony" part of the soccer. I mean do the flop and if they call it they call it, if they don't they don't. The whole rolling around on the ground looking like a sniper took you out is so annoying. In basketball they do the stupid head jerk back move, which is annoying, in football they do the fake injury for a breather but nobody is rolling around on the ground with their face looking like Mike Tyson just punched in the leg
 

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