Board 8 > Soccer/Football Association Topic 2025-2026: Road To World Cup

(+) Yeah! (+)

Let's start up the topic again for the next year with World Cup qualifiers upon us. So far, hosts United States, Canada and Mexico will be joined by Iran, Japan, newcomers New Zealand, and current title holders Argentina.

Also, to quickly sum up the past season in club football;

• PSG have just beaten Inter Milan to finally secure the Champions League the year they finally stop relying on megastars such as Mbappe and Neymar.
• Tottenham Hotspur finally end their trophy drought by winning the Europa League and will be in the Champions League next season as well ass face PSG for the UEFA Super Cup later this summer. Despite this, manager Ange might still face the sack for the team's poor performance in the Premier League (17th).
• Chelsea won the Conference League and will be back in the Champions League, too.
• Liverpool won the Premier League in front of fans for the first time, then the celebrations got ruined by some driver who ran over people.
• Arsenal go trophy-less again but did reach the Champions League Semi Finals for the time in forever and finished 2nd in the Premier League again (this time above Man City).
• Man City somewhat recovered from their shaky season to finish 3rd but lost the FA Cup to Crystal Palace.
• Newcastle won their first trophy in many decades (EFL cup) and will be back in the champions League too. Yes, there will be 6 English clubs in next season's Champions League.
• Aston Villa and (the aforementioned) Crystal secured Europa League.
• Nottingham Forest had a surprisingly great season before slipping down to 7th, but still secured European competition for next season.
• Manchester United had their worst season in 50 years, finishing only 15th. Kicking out Ten Hag for Amorin did not improve their fortunes though they still reached the Europa League final.
• Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton easily got relegated. Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland have been promoted from the EFL Championship.
• Barcelona won the domestic treble (including La Liga), which left their rivals Real Madrid having a disappointing final season with Carlo Ancelotti despite Mbappe finally being in their team.
• Napoli won Serie A, while Bayern Munich returned to the top of the Bundesliga, meaning Harry Kane has finally won a major trophy.
• FIFA are desparately trying to get people interested in the Club World Cup.

Hotspur

Still time to edit it

XIII_Rocks posted...

Hotspur

Still time to edit it

*Thumbs Up

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/07c9219f.jpg

The next World Cup Qualification window is between June 4th through 10th.

AFC is the main one for June, as Round 3 will be coming to a close, where 4 more nations will be confirmed for qualification.

still can't believe this is the season spurs finally won a trophy

Confederations Cup >>> Club World Cup

paulg235 posted...

newcomers New Zealand

New Zealand has made it twice before, I think. I specifically remember them tying Italy 1-1 in 2010. In fact, I believe they were the only team to not lose a single game that year, drawing all 3 matches.

jcgamer107 posted...

New Zealand has made it twice before, I think. I specifically remember them tying Italy 1-1 in 2010. In fact, I believe they were the only team to not lose a single game that year, drawing all 3 matches.

Yeah, New Zealand did finish with 3 points, behind Slovakia[4 points] and Paraguay[5 points] in 2010. They did finish in 3rd ahead of Italy[2 points] though.

The other main thing happening is the Gold Cup in June as well.

15 CONCACAF Nations, and Saudi Arabia from the AFC as the 16th contender.

Saudi Arabia is in the same Group as USA in the Gold Cup.

Rumours gathering that Postecoglou is getting fired.

Honestly on the fence, but even if you believe him when he says he deliberately fucked the league after February to focus on the EL then we're still not finishing higher than 8th. Probably not going anywhere in the league under him, so might be time to move on. But also, fuck, man, it's cruel.

Based on the World Cup Qualification schedule, CONCACAF resumes Round 2 today. CONCACAF has had no matches scheduled since June of 2024, so it's a full year hiatus coming to an end.

30 Nations remain, and at the end of the June Qualification Window, that tally will be trimmed down to 12 Nations entering Round 3 in September 2025.

Additionally, the following confederations continue World Cup Qualification on...

June 5: AFC & CONMEBOL
June 6: UEFA

CAF has no matches scheduled until September 2025.

AFC: Australia defeats Japan 1-0.

Australia now has 16 points, and is very close to Qualifying.

didn't sweat the comeback for a second go spain

notdave posted...

still can't believe this is the season spurs finally won a trophy

It was the spursy thing to do.

Also Spain vs. France was a fantastic match for some reason.

What has your team of the season been?

Donnarumma
Kound Van Dijk Bastoni Mendes
Valverde Pedri Vitinha
Yamal Salah Dembele

I have to fit both Yamal and Salah there even if they're the same spot. Otherwise, Dembele goes to the 9 and Raphinha gets added. Or we could do 3-4-3 with no prober right back to have

Donnarumma
Van Dijk Bastoni Mendes
Yamal Valverde Pedri Vitinha
Salah Dembele Raphinha

Where I guess Valverde can play right back and the forwards can shuffle a bit. We'll, it's all just for fun.

AFC: Uzbekistan, South Korea & Jordan qualify for the world cup today.

1 slot remains for Round 3, which Australia just has to have a decent game against Saudi Arabia for the final matchday of Round 3.

Round 3 currently sees the following nations advancing to Round 4:
United Arab Emirates
Qatar
Iraq
Indonesia

2 slots remain for Round 4.

That's two newcomers as far as I'm aware.

ctesjbuvf posted...

That's two newcomers as far as I'm aware.

Yeah, it's a first time qualification for Uzbekistan & Jordan.

https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2025/june/club-statement-ange-postecoglou-departs/

Following a review of performances and after significant reflection, the Club can announce that Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties.

Ange joined us from Celtic in the summer of 2023 and oversaw a period of change on the pitch, returning us to the attacking brand of football that has traditionally been associated with the Club, while writing a new chapter in our history by leading us to UEFA Europa League glory in Bilbao last month - an achievement that will live with us all forever.

We are extremely grateful to Ange for his commitment and contribution during his two years at the Club. Ange will always be remembered as only the third manager in our history to deliver a European trophy, alongside legendary figures Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw.

However, the Board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the Club for a change to take place. Following a positive start in the 2023/24 Premier League (PL) season, we recorded 78 points from the last 66 PL games. This culminated in our worst-ever PL finish last season. At times there were extenuating circumstances - injuries and then a decision to prioritise our European campaign. Whilst winning the Europa League this season ranks as one of the Clubs greatest moments, we cannot base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph.

It is crucial that we are able to compete on multiple fronts and believe a change of approach will give us the strongest chance for the coming season and beyond. This has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make and is not a decision that we have taken lightly, nor one we have rushed to conclude. We have made what we believe is the right decision to give us the best chance of success going forward, not the easy decision.

We have a talented, young squad and Ange has given us a great platform to build upon. We should like to express our gratitude to him. We wish him well for the future - he will always be welcome back at our home.

News on the appointment of a new Head Coach will be announced in due course.

TLDR: Ange sacked from Tottenham because of poor league performance in the past 18 months and even with injuries and the Europa League win taken into consideration it was felt they needed to part ways.

Thomas Frank is currently being considered as his replacement.

We're obviously very proud of Frank for what he's done at Brentford here. I kinda hope he stays and continues that amazing story until some day managing Denmark.

Today's World Cup Qualifying includes various matchs from:
CONCACAF=Round 2 continues
CONMEBOL=2 more matches that relate to matchday 15
UEFA=Round 1 continues for groups G through L, groups A through F do not start until September 2025

Frank appears to be the #1 choice. I think he's at least a better prospect than Nuno was.

I'm really sad though. This is the saddest I've been about Spurs for a while, to be honest. It's brutal and cruel. But probably necessary? I'd be more on board with this if there was an obvious replacement we could get that was top-drawer and would come to us, but there aren't any obvious names that fit that bill.

I desperately don't want Frank to leave Brentford.
I been following Brentford pretty closely since the Martin Allen days, dark times when Rosenior took over.

At least everything changed when Benham took over the club as they went deep into the analytics. It's no surprise that they feel similar to Brighton as Benham and Bloom used to be business partners.

The big difference is Brentford have been operating with a bottom 3 wage bill for the duration of their stint in the EPL. Frank has done a fantastic job there.
Under his tenure, Brentford played differently based on who their best players are be it Benrahma, Toney, Watkins, Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard etc but Frank has been very effective at making them shine.

He's not been one of those managers that lives and dies by his system, its changed many times.
He's worked well with young talents and has handled headcases rather well. Tbh that flexibility is a huge plus given how much Brentford have to change as they're constantly selling their best players.

Might just be because I'm a Swansea fan but Frank always came off as insufferably smug to me. Hope he doesn't go to Spurs because I want to hear as little about him as possible.

Wow, Norway rolled past Italy, winning 3-0!

What is everybody's take on the club world cup? I kind of want to not watch it in principle.

ctesjbuvf posted...

What is everybody's take on the club world cup? I kind of want to not watch it in principle.

I'm genuinely excited to see my team (Auckland City) get annihilated by Bayern, Benfica and Boca Juniors. Though I really wish we could have somehow sent Auckland FC instead.

Overall the CWC qualification process could be improved. I like the approx. limit of 2-3 clubs per country, but it would be nice if they represented the current in-form teams from all confederations rather than some teams qualifying from trophies they won 2-4 years ago.

ctesjbuvf posted...

What is everybody's take on the club world cup? I kind of want to not watch it in principle.

I'll probably dabble in it. My guess is that the games won't be particularly high - quite cagey, I'd guess, since they're all tired. And they aren't going to want to take it too seriously, especially at the European clubs.

It sounds like it's a big deal anywhere but Europe.

Joelypoely posted...

Overall the CWC qualification process could be improved. I like the approx. limit of 2-3 clubs per country, but it would be nice if they represented the current in-form teams from all confederations rather than some teams qualifying from trophies they won 2-4 years ago.

This is a good point imo. Chelsea being there because they won CL in 2021 feels like the biggest thing when they've been outperformed by multiple other clubs since but CL titles take priority. To a lesser extent having Atltico instead of the Barca team that won everything domestic this year feels like a bit downgrade. Juventus being there I'm not sure about either. My club football knowledge is limited outside of Europe.

I'll be suprised if Spain doesn't win this, they're just the better team. But that solo goal from Mendes shows that both teams have stars that can decide games.

Quite stupid how many places I've seen brand this game as Ronaldo vs. Yamal.

Spain's weakness is their right back. Pedro Porro wasn't good enough in the semifinal, neither is Mingueza today. Perhaps they should've called up Eric Garcia, who played quite well there near the end of the season, including in some decisive games. Ideally Carvajal was available but that has been a while.

Spain decided to stop being the better team after 45 minutes, so I was wrong. I got my choice of Nuno Mendes as best left back validated though, easily the best player of the match. Top tier performance defensively, scores one dream goal and creates the other. I think de la Fuente kinda botched the substitutions as well. Still, 2-2 was a fair score.

Happy for Ronaldo. I'm sure the NA World Cup will be his last tournament.

He played well imo. Maybe he pushed himself extra due to it being a final.

Tuchel has managed the England team poorly this window. Beating Andorra by a single goal and losing 3-1 to Senagal (the latter was a friendly, but they should be showing a lot more after the poor showing last weekend) does not inspire confidence in the remaining qualifiers. We face Serbia away in September, so that will be a big game for Tommy.

jcgamer107 posted...

Happy for Ronaldo. I'm sure the NA World Cup will be his last tournament.

Ronaldo won't stop until he reaches that 1000 goal milestone. I could see him still being called up to matches past World Cup 2026 until that happens. The guy is still scoring against big teams like Germany at his age, too.

ctesjbuvf posted...

What is everybody's take on the club world cup? I kind of want to not watch it in principle.

Not watching, largely because I have no interest for most of the European teams involved. i can at least understand why non-European football fans are interested though (since it's a "big" competition involving the european clubs).

Hopefully, the one good that could come out from their participation is that it shakes up next season's leagues thanks to those teams not getting a summer break.

Not looking promising for team US right now, gotta say

USA down 0-4.

Switzerland is having a field day in this game.

Second half is a lot better for the USA.

Since it is the end of the June 2025 Qualification Window, here is where things currently stand:

2026 World Cup Qualified Nations [13]

AFC [6]
Round 3 Group A 1st: Iran
Round 3 Group A 2nd: Uzbekistan
Round 3 Group B 1st: South Korea
Round 3 Group B 2nd: Jordan
Round 3 Group C 1st: Japan
Round 3 Group C 2nd: Australia

CAF [0]

CONCACAF [3]
Co-Host: Canada
Co-Host: Mexico
Co-Host: United States

CONMEBOL [3]
1st: Argentina
Top 2nd - 6th: Ecuador
Top 2nd - 6th: Brazil

OFC [1]
Round 3 Final: New Zealand

UEFA [0]

My plan of only going to matches in Toronto next year is looking pretty good. USMNT has been bad before but I have never seen them this ass in my lifetime.

jcgamer107 posted...

My plan of only going to matches in Toronto next year is looking pretty good. USMNT has been bad before but I have never seen them this ass in my lifetime.

We will see how good/bad USA does when they play in the Gold Cup in the coming days.

USA schedule for the Group Stage:
June 15th: Trinidad and Tobago
June 19th: Saudia Arabia
June 22nd: Haiti

World Cup Qualification for CONCACAF had it's Round 3 Draw, and Round 3 itself starts in September.

Group A
Panama
El Salvador
Guatemala
Suriname

Group B
Jamaica
Curacao
Trinidad and Tobago
Bermuda

Group C
Costa Rica
Honduras
Haiti
Nicaragua

CONCACAF Gold Cup starts tonight. The opening match from Group A is:

Mexico vs. Dominican Republic

Haven't actually watched anything from the CWC, but I have noticed a lot of European teams struggling against the other continents (Porto, Dortmund, Chelsea, PSG). Obviously, it's hot out there right now, but some of the teams are using the heat as their main excuse for their struggles, which feels weak given the quality of their players (as well as the fact some of their players come from hotter continents).

It probably does affect them a lot though, so it's probably a valid explanation to some degree. In most countries that are hotter or just around the same they don't play in the middle of the day, so that doesn't really matter.

Not that I think it should be used as an excuse.

Crazy penalty shootout between Guatemala & Canada, almost got to the keepers. Really should've had 30 minutes of extra time before, but CONCACAF is pee-wee league. Definitely one of the best wins in Guatemala's history. Now will they get the US, or Costa Rica.........

Hooray the US is marginally better than Costa Rica

Terrible news to hear that Diogo Jota and his brother died in a traffic accident this morning. Apparently Jota just got married, too? Damn. RIP.

I still can't really believe it. Horrible news.