Off Topic: Soccer and NASCAR

[Marko69]

Holy shit. Penalty

[Marko69]

This is a total farce

[Marko69]

VAR & officials have ruined the game

[Marko69]

What a cocky bastard is KANE!!! That was superb. Places the ball at speed in the same part of the net.

[Marko69]

Well....... the truest prediction is, not the high score......, but the fact that Panama are complete shit.

[Marko69]

[chemiclord]

Bear in mind, the United States couldn't get past this Panama team.

[Panoptes]

Now you're getting it.

Sorry about your MIL. Hope she GWS. Safe travels.

[Fraquar]

If you think this is bad, wait until 2026 when the World Cup comes to the Americas and they add 16 more teams. Epic struggles like Montenegro vs Albania or maybe Oman vs Haiti.

[froot loops]

USMNT did get past Panama, they blew it against TNT. They blew them out in Orlando, Panama is competent in Panama but not on the road. But yeah, seeing them in the World Cup shows you what an abject failure Klinsmann and then Arena did in the qualifying, what a disgrace.

[chemiclord]

For what it's worth... there one reason why I'm okay with the 48 team World Cup.

Because of the infrastructure needed, it's going to force FIFA to have to lean towards countries that already have at least part of that infrastructure in place. The major reason why the USA w/ Canada and Mexico won the 2026 bid is because Morocco simply couldn't promise that they'd have the requirements FIFA demanded in terms of stadiums and lodging in place. They are trading the grift they were able to pull on other countries for a larger market share and TV revenue.

And I'm... okay with that considering the alternatives.

[froot loops]

48 teams is going to be a rough watch for the first couple of World Cups, eventually the bottom feeder teams will catch up a bit.

[chemiclord]

Meh, the first few games of World Cup play can be a rough watch already. You have plenty of garbage matchups as it is. A few more in the group stages aren't going to really matter.

Now, if they extend the knockout rounds to 32 teams that could lead to some ugly knockout round games, which wouldn't be a good look.

[FVD]

Does Canada and Mexico also get automatic spots on the tournament or just the US?

[Fraquar]

For what it's worth... there one reason why I'm okay with the 48 team World Cup.

Because of the infrastructure needed, it's going to force FIFA to have to lean towards countries that already have at least part of that infrastructure in place. The major reason why the USA w/ Canada and Mexico won the 2026 bid is because Morocco simply couldn't promise that they'd have the requirements FIFA demanded in terms of stadiums and lodging in place. They are trading the grift they were able to pull on other countries for a larger market share and TV revenue.

And I'm... okay with that considering the alternatives.

Part? They need to have like 80% of that in place when the bid is placed. To finish a 48 team World Cup in 1 month means they need a fuckton of stadiums that can hold the FIFA minimum attendance numbers, which are 36,000 for this tournament. You are talking every round being like the 3rd round is right now, 2 games at the same time, and 3 sets of them a day instead of two.