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2026 FIFA World Cup megathread (2 Viewers)

Winner?

  • USA USA USA

    Votes: 7 22.6%
  • Brazil

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Argentina

    Votes: 1 3.2%
  • England

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Germany

    Votes: 2 6.5%
  • Spain

    Votes: 10 32.3%
  • France

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Uzbekistan/Show Results

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Total voters
    31
  • This poll will close: .
So provisionally SCO would be in Pot 3
Australia (?!?) would move up to Pot 2

In terms of CONCACAF btw:
Panama and Costa Rica would be in Pot 3 if they qualify tonight.

RSA bumps up from 4 of either of those two don't make it.
HON bumps up from 4 to 3 if they qualify and Panama doesn't

Jordan bumps up from 4 to 3 if HAI and SUR make it tonight.

The rest of CONCACAF besides Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras would definitely be in Pot 4.

Pots for the euro playoffs
Pot 1: Italy Denmark Turkey Ukraine
Pot 2: Poland Wales Czechia and Slovakia
Pot 3: Ireland Albania Bosnia-Herzegovina Kosovo
Pot 4: Northern Ireland Romania Sweden North Macedonia

All unofficial of course
-QG
 
Fortunately Kosovo and Bosnia are in the same pot - that is a prohibited match. Since they are already can't play there will be a straight draw.

-QG
 
So for those of us who are very interested in which teams go where, specifically the UEFA teams - it’ll be narrowed down to two, right?
No understanding the question.

Basically the long story short is all 4 teams that come out of the UEFA playoff will be pot 4. They cannot end up in a group with more than one other UEFA team.

-QG
I should have said “narrowed down to four” in my second post.

Those 16 UEFA playoff teams will be drawn into 4 groups (or playoff paths) on November 20th. So we’ll know each spot can be one of four teams. When the big draw happens in December, will it be “winner of UEFA playoff path A” in the envelope?

Just trying to get an idea of who will be coming to KC. I’d expect a huge price difference if it’s Albania instead of Italy, as an example, so just curious if I’ll have an idea of which countries it could be, or if it could be any of the 4 playoff path winners.
 
I am pumped for these CONCACAF games tonight, expecting things to get extra CONCACAFFY.
yeah this could get ugly, even more than usual.

Africa has already laid down the gauntlet with claims of vodoo effecting the results. Concacaf is usually up for the task :)
 
Wish Paramount had a red zone channel or something. I think I’m gonna start with Jamaica-Curaçao since it’s the only match that doesn’t depend on other outcomes
 
Suriname will join Jamaica in the inter-continental playoff.

Iraq, DR Congo, Bolivia, Jamaica, Suriname, and New Caledonia. I think Iraq and DR Congo will be the seeded teams. Draw on November 20th.
 
Suriname will join Jamaica in the inter-continental playoff.

Iraq, DR Congo, Bolivia, Jamaica, Suriname, and New Caledonia. I think Iraq and DR Congo will be the seeded teams. Draw on November 20th.
Does that mean the other 4 teams play a round first to drop to two teams, who then play Iraq and DR Congo
 
Interconfed Playoffs:

Seeds: IRQ and COD
No seeds: JAM BOL SUR NCL

Jamaica and Suriname will be in separate sides so each has a 50/50 chance of getting Bolivia or New Caledonia.

So Suriname and New Caledonia could very well be playing each other with a chance to get into a win-and-in game vs DR Congo or Iraq. Which would of course be massive for whichever seed benefits from that

-QG
 
Apparently possibly those UEFA teams might not go to the pot 4 allegedly per a couple articles I read. But how the heck Italy could crybaby its way into a post draw pot 2 seems very dubious. Like logistically there is no way they would explain it in that show - it would be way way way too convoluted when you consider all the other conditions that have to happen in the draw.

But strictly speaking stay tuned. I mean if this was like, I dunno Saudi Arabia, THEN maybe I could see FIFA bending over backwards...


-QG
 
Unless they do something like this ....

Best UEFA playoff team is in Pot 2.
Next 3 are all in Pot 3.

Like they would have to have the pots fixed for those balls anyway.

That could work I guess. But the pots for the playoff teams will be known I am sure. They can't have either ors there. No way

-QG
 
Maybe they just do Path Italy in Pot 2 regardless of who wins it and the other 3 paths in pot 3. Since it moves the other 3 seeds up a pot maybe they take it as better than nothing.
-QG
 
Wow so if Wikipedia is right there's a little bit of a change for the tiebreaking procedures for groups this time around.
Goal difference is NOT the first tiebreaker..
It goes head-to-head results (points) amongst tied teams
Head-to-head goal differential amongst tied teams.
Head-to-head goal differential amongst tied teams.
THEN Goal difference in the group.
THEN Total goals scored in the group.
THEN Discipline.
THEN instead of drawing of lots it will be by most recent FIFA ranking (and if somehow THAT is tied they keep going back to each month's FIFA rankings until the tie is broken).

There also is an awesome 494 row chart with ALL of the possible 3rd-place team combos and who they play in each scenario.

-QG
 
Wow so if Wikipedia is right there's a little bit of a change for the tiebreaking procedures for groups this time around.
Goal difference is NOT the first tiebreaker..
It goes head-to-head results (points) amongst tied teams
Head-to-head goal differential amongst tied teams.
Head-to-head goal differential amongst tied teams.
THEN Goal difference in the group.
THEN Total goals scored in the group.
THEN Discipline.
THEN instead of drawing of lots it will be by most recent FIFA ranking (and if somehow THAT is tied they keep going back to each month's FIFA rankings until the tie is broken).

There also is an awesome 494 row chart with ALL of the possible 3rd-place team combos and who they play in each scenario.

-QG
Call your doctor if your erection lasts longer than 4 hours.
 
YESSSSSSSSS all the Euro Playoff Winners are in Pot 4! Group of Death is on folks!

It is as I outlined - yes indeed Australia does make it into Pot 2.

-QG
 
Possible false alarm - did not see that directly from FIFA. Link was Yahoo sports - but they were linking someone else (foot-africa?!? Lol) so maybe I spoke too soon
:bag:

-QG
 
I’ve read the UEFA qualification wiki several times over the past week and still don’t understand how it works or what has to happen for teams like Italy or Holland. I did see that Haaland has 16 goals in qualifiers and the next closest player has 8.
 
UEFA playoffs are clear.
Basically 4 separate playoffs amongst 4 teams for 4 spots.

Each path with have 1 team from each pot.

Pots 1-3 are based on the FIFA rankings of the 12 2nd place teams. Pot 4 has the teams that qualified due to their Nationals League performance.

-QG
 
Current FIFA rankings of the 42 qualified teams range from 1-86. I know, but it is the only ranking system I readily see.
The 16 remaining UEFA teams in the playoff are ranked from 12-80.
The Confederation playoff of 6 teams are ranked from 56-149.

Of the qualified teams:
Four teams went unbeaten and untied: England 8-0-0, Morocco 8-0-0, Norway 8-0-0, New Zealand 4-0-0
Three teams gave up zero goals: England, Tunisia, Ivory Coast

The most wins in qualifying: Japan at 13-2-1
The least wins to qualify: Portugal 4-1-1 and New Zealand 4-0-0
The most losses in qualifying: Qatar 8-2-8
The most draws in qualifying: Ecuador 8-8-2

The most goals in qualifying: Japan with 54 in 16 matches
The least goals in qualifying: Scotland with 13 in 6 matches
The most allowed in qualifying: Colombia with 18 in 18 matches
The least allowed in qualifying: England, Tunisia and Ivory Coast with zero in 8, 10 and 10 matches respectively
Highest goal average in qualifying: New Zealand at 5.5 per match with 22 scored in 4 matches
Lowest goal average in qualifying: Ecuador and Paraguay at 0.78 with 14 goals in 18 matches each

Just from my spreadsheet, and some of it may run together or not make sense. I'm sure I will reread it and see something wrong.
 
Feel like there are going to be some epic blowouts in the group stages with some of these teams making it into the expanded field.

Probably can look back at the performance of the "additional" teams from each generation of world cup field expansion as a guide. Certainly less talent gap than would have been the case 20/40/60 years ago.
-QG
 
Still no release from FIFA proper. Guess they will spring it on everyone when they do the playoff draws tomorrow morning since a bunch of countries are gonna grumble no matter what they do
:lmao:

-QG
 

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