World Cup 2026: Mexico, USA and Canada

[Seedy Ron]

How does that donkey Martinelli get a game?

 

[elyid]

Here’s the lowdown on Scotland qualifying as far as I can tell.

Some facts:

Group B: Bosnia already finished ahead of Scotland.

One of Cape Verde or Saudi Arabia guaranteed to finish above Scotland lol

If Uruguay lose to Spain then Uruguay are out (this would help Scotland)

Scotland need FOUR of these scenarios to happen:

(I’ve bolded the four results I think are most likely)

Group A: Czech Republic don’t beat Mexico. South Africa don’t beat South Korea, unless they beat them by 4 goals.

Group D: Paraguay lose to Australia by 2 goals, or beat them by 4 goals. And Turkey don’t beat the USA.

Group E: Ecuador don’t beat Germany AND Curacao don’t beat Ivory Coast. (Very likely)

Group F: Sweden lose to Japan by 4 goals

Group G: Iran lose to Egypt. (Very likely)

Group H: Uruguay lose to Spain.

Group I: Senegal v Iraq a draw or Iraq win by no more than 2 goals

Group J: Algeria lose to Austria by 2 goals or beat them by 4 goals.

Group K: Congo fail to beat Uzbekistan

Group L: Croatia lose by 3 goals to Ghana and Panama don’t beat England.

Probably gonna jam their way through, but it is close.

I put this together as neither the BBC or Opta seem to be looking at the actual fixtures, or mentioning that Paraguay and Algeria will probably drop below them on GD.

 

[WillWeEverBeGoodAgain]

They should just go as fan mascots or something as they are not a very good team
2 shots on target in 3 games is pathetic
Clarke got given a new 4 year contract too just before the WC started

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I think they'll go through can't see Uruguay beating Spain, it will be a big achievement for Scotland. The decline in Scots football is a great shame, they use to produce some great players and most top English clubs had a couple of "Jocks" in their side. My relatives in Dundee put it down to a big problem with drug use in the youth.

 

[Muttley]

I think they'll go through can't see Uruguay beating Spain, it will be a big achievement for Scotland. The decline in Scots football is a great shame, they use to produce some great players and most top English clubs had a couple of "Jocks" in their side. My relatives in Dundee put it down to a big problem with drug use in the youth.

It's such a shame that we can't re-organise the football pyramid and include Scotland and Wales. It's not so difficult really. You have local leagues across England, Scotland, Wales in most of the football pyramid and as you get closer the top you centralise. It would be a difficult process to get all the teams right levelled to start with but eventually we could see the likes of Celtic and Rangers playing against Spurs if they can get promoted up into the top flight division. Any club could theoretically get access to the pot of gold at the top. With the loan system I also feel we would see much more cross fertilisation of players playing across the 3 countries. That in itself would help the international game.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

It's such a shame that we can't re-organise the football pyramid and include Scotland and Wales. It's not so difficult really. You have local leagues across England, Scotland, Wales in most of the football pyramid and as you get closer the top you centralise. It would be a difficult process to get all the teams right levelled to start with but eventually we could see the likes of Celtic and Rangers playing against Spurs if they can get promoted up into the top flight division. Any club could theoretically get access to the pot of gold at the top. With the loan system I also feel we would see much more cross fertilisation of players playing across the 3 countries. That in itself would help the international game.

In theory that sounds good, but nationalism would rage against it. Celtic and Rangers fans would cause problems wherever they played. Most Scottish teams would feel it was like relegation despite the greater revenue it would generate for them and it would be relegation for the English/Welsh teams who would have to make spaces for them. It would be a hard sell to a lot of clubs as they wouldn't se any benefit to themselves.
Club football has now become more divisive than at anytime I can remember and I only see it getting worse with that, Real football fans are getting rarer, people follow teams or success and many are as happy to see rivals fail as for "their" club to win, I'm not against rivalry it's in the soul of all sport but it's gone too far with many.