Fifa World Cup 2026

Cius said:
What I meant by our group being easy is that not a single team in our entire group is ranked top 10 in the world. We have no Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, England, Brazil, etc. Mexico is 14, South Korea 25, Czekia 40. Any of the top teams would have happily been in our group. Our group A and then Group B are the easy groups of this WC compared to all the others.
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Sure, but it has 14th placed Mexico, at home, which gives them a huge advantage but I get your point that there is no one "big" team. Group E, J and K are pretty easy imo.

To be fair, the way we are playing at the moment we wouldn't get out of even a handpicked easy group.
 
theratman said:
Sure, but it has 14th placed Mexico, at home, which gives them a huge advantage but I get your point that there is no one "big" team. Group E, J and K are pretty easy imo.

To be fair, the way we are playing at the moment we wouldn't get out of even a handpicked easy group.
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Mexico have lost 2 out of 85 matches in that stadium. They play twice there in the group stage (and already won one last night). We were always up against it.
 
The Voice said:
Mexico have lost 2 out of 85 matches in that stadium. They play twice there in the group stage (and already won one last night). We were always up against it.
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Yeah and its one thing to lose giving it your all and having a proper go. But that was like watching an impala roll over onto its back with an old sick lion approaching. The most dissapointing thing was just the lack of effort, and lack of anything even remotely close to half decent football.
 
TheChamp said:
Imagine someone hating you because they wanted to live in your house for free, eat your food and use your hot water as they please.
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Sometimes you can be very based, you know that? The more you post the more I think you are one of those dreaded right wingers.
 
TheChamp said:
So depressing, even if Yaya properly controlled the ball, he had nowhere to go, would have been closed down quickly, for someone who is supposed to be the captain and experienced, that's so disappointing.

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Disagree. He controls it properly he can pass to the rcb out wide who can then either pass forward or recycle the ball back to the keeper.
 
I'm not much of a soccer fan but was willing to give it a chance. But after the crap that Bafana served up last night, I won't watch them again. Will check back when the Quarter Finals start.
 
The Voice said:
You'd expect the players we have all over the country doing their best to try and play for those English teams, instead of sticking to the diski **** that only works in the PSL, and nowhere else in the world. Note how the best teams at the tournament all have players who play in Europe.
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Sorry, I have to disagree. Sundowns are the reigning CAF champions having beaten a team from Morocoo, the 8th best national team in the world on FIFA rankings. The talent is here and the only people who seem to thnk SAn football is schit, is many South Africans. But if they had the platform and the crowds and local enthusiasm to match, why woudln't local players get the big moves?

Brazillian and Argentinian top teams get massive crowds and profiles every week. People in Rio are not tuning in to satelitte TV to cheer on Chelsea on a weekend, they are bouncing up and down among 100,00 fans cheering Flamengo, raising the game, raising the money and raising the profile. Creating the stage.

Meanwhile, in South Africa people are moaning about how schit Bafana are and then not giving a damn about the local game or questioning why it's got a low profile on the international stage.

Sorry, I just find it a bit bizarre. That's all.
 
Werner1975 said:
I'm not much of a soccer fan but was willing to give it a chance. But after the crap that Bafana served up last night, I won't watch them again. Will check back when the Quarter Finals start.
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We doing better than Russia. They aren't even playing.
 
Spizz said:
Sorry, I have to disagree. Sundowns are the reigning CAF champions having beaten a team from Morocoo, the 8th best national team in the world on FIFA rankings. The talent is here and the only people who seem to thnk SAn football is schit, is many South Africans. But if they had the platform and the crowds and local enthusiasm to match, why woudln't local players get the big moves?

Brazillian and Argentinian top teams get massive crowds and profiles every week. People in Rio are not tuning in to satelitte TV to cheer on Chelsea on a weekend, they are bouncing up and down among 100,00 fans cheering Flamengo, raising the game, raising the money and raising the profile. Creating the stage.

Meanwhile, in South Africa people are moaning about how schit Bafana are and then not giving a damn about the local game or questioning why it's got a low profile on the international stage.

Sorry, I just find it a bit bizarre. That's all.
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Yeah, I get your point. But, the best Moroccan players play in Europe, and it's reflected in their national team's performance. Using your South American example, would anyone even have know who Messi was if he wasn't snatched up by Barca as a 15-year old? All the best players in the world do not play in their home countries. Every Brazilian star that's been idolised played for a European team. It's just facts. Even the best South African players in our history did: Bartlett, Masinga, Radebe, McCarthy, etc. Some of those actually won the AFCON.

Also, I don't think the CAF CL is that much of a benchmark outside of the continent. The pinnacle of club football is still the UEFA CL, which features Africans like Hakimi - not forgetting all the African immigrant French footballers, etc, who chose to play for France instead of the country of their parents - why is that? The gulf between African club football and, well, the rest of the world is still just enormous. It isn't just a South African issue.

I guess to get anywhere without that European help we'd need to follow the model of the Springboks: start at a primary school level, train, scout, build up, promote, etc. Club rugby in SA is mainly watched by a fraction of just 7% of the population. 80% of the country never played rugby growing up (number I pulled out of my butt), but 100% of the country cheers for the Boks when they play (actual figure). And not just because they have to, because the Boks are literally the best team in the world. If they played kak, no-one would bother. But, they're the best because of decades of work that has been put in behind the scenes to get them where they are. In a way, it's not unlike America: if they focused on and invested as much in football as they did the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, they'd be world champions (of the whole world) every four years.

The vast majority of South Africans absolutely love football - but not where it matters. Using the Boks as a benchmark again: we are the best team in the world, because only the best players in the country play for us. If what we saw last night was the absolute best players that we could find, we're in serious trouble, or our selection standards have just dropped dramatically.
 
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