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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bayern's late equalizer was called off because they had three guys offsides.

Well done tbqh.

But now it's 11 on 9 in stoppage time for Bayern oh boy.

And that was a Dominant 9 on 11 goal holy shit.

Jamal Musiala got hurt bad and might miss the entirety of next season and the (international) world cup.

But yes, continue to stuff the calendar with additional fixtures all year around for our entertainment and your pockets.

The Danish league starts this coming weekend.

England once again come back from behind to win and have made the women's Euros final. Italy were moments away from winning themselves before that stoppage time goal.

This transfer window feels like more of an arms race than usual.

Probably cos Liverpool are swinging for the fences and Arsenal are upping the stakes alongside the usual suspects.

Partly but I think it's also concern at how strong Newcastle and Aston Villa (and Brighton & Forest to a lesser extent) were last season and the risk they could establish themselves in the top 5 in years to come. The big clubs know they need to strengthen to restablish a gap, and they have / can raise the money to do it. (I realise Newcastle are a bit of a different case given their ownership, but they're clearly still constrained by sustainable funding rules given their revenues aren't as big as Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Man United).

And Liverpool obviously face very sad circumstances and need to renew more of their frontline than they'd hoped.

Why does Spain keep subbing in Paralluelo she's so bad

And she does it again. Literally allergic to shooting at the goal regardless of how close or open

Spain needs to spend the next year practicing only penalties

Pretty much my thoughts watching the game. Paralluelo contributed nothing and the penalties were awful (but still better than those from the Sweden v England game, those were even worse). Women's game has come a fair way in the past 15 years but still has a lot of room for optimisation and development.

I don't like the FA all that much.

But on the sporting side things seem to be in a good spot for both men and women with solid results on the men's side and excellent on the women's.

Celebrate good times, come on!

Back-to-back Euros victories! Give Sarina Wiegman that statue.

I was certain Roony Bardghji would move away feom us to a semi big adress for a good sale. Instead he moved to a top shelf adress for not that much money. I doubt Barcelona has bought a player in Copenhagen before. I see he scored in their first preseason match. Maybe they do intend for him to be a backup to Yamal but I kinda expect them to just make a sale from him somewhat soon. Either way, pretty curious to see how he does and I'll remember him for that 4-3 goal against Manchester United to move on from CL two years ago.

In other Copenhagen related news that only I care about we will play the Swedish champions next CL round and it's the ones from the city just across the bridge from Copenhagen to Sweden. Basically gonna be a derby.

Honestly, I don't watch other leagues like I used to and with Ajax not in CL lately, got no clue who Hato is playstyle wise. I just see 100+ games by the age of 19, captain of a rather big time team and coming in as a backup LB/CB so will avoid being overplayed and burnt out.

Not exactly sure what to expect from Chelsea this year. Last year they made a lot of moves no one rated, aggregate pundit predictions had them down in 7th with a few notables having them out of Europe outright.

This summer, they've signed even more players than I don't think many would rate. Don't think Essugo, Gittens, Estevao, Delap, Pedro and Hato evoke any excitement.

Not when the competition got Ekitike, Frimpong, Kerkez, Wirtz or Gyokeres, Zubimendi and potentially Eze.

No idea where to predict as a result, think Liverpool, Arsenal, City are the expected top 3 in whatever order. Chelsea could be good, could be bad, some nice players on current squad, but think seen as 2-3 steps behind the more experienced sides.

Yeah I would guess Chelsea in fourth.

Ballon dor nominees out today. Most are expected. A few are only there because of their name alone but they aren't winning anyway. PSG dominates.

I feel like this window has been crazy, in the PL at least. It's telling that voltch mentioned the competition and then didn't even talk about Reijnders and Cherki going to City. Maybe not massive names, but Cherki is touted as a massive talent so. Still, Liverpool going all out with Wirtz and Ekitike, Kerkez and Frimpong and being in for Isak while they won the league last season, United linked to Sesko and Baleba, while having already signed Mbeumo and Cunha, Spurs strengthening a huge amount by signing a manager who actually knows what a tactic is, but also getting Palhinha, Tel, and Kudus, and we're going for it with Zubimendi, Gyokeres, Madueke,...

It's going to be very interesting what the league will look like once it kicks off.

I'm waiting until closer to Friday to post my full PL table predictions for this season, but right now it feels as if the top 4 will likely be Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea in some order. Chelsea I wouldn't be too surprised if they were in the title race midway into this season. They have recovered from their awful 22/23 and have been on the up since. They also have loads of players so they may not be as badly effected by the fixture congestion as, say, City (who already don't have a few key players entering the first week's fixture).

Crystal Palace just won the Community Shield against Liverpool on penalties just now, so at least Palace supporters have that given their UEFA problems.

And now City linked to Donnaruma and Rodrygo.
It seems those stories have popped up alongside talk of Ederson, McAtee and Savinho all leaving.

Based on summer window, this looks to be one where more fanbases than usual are going in with big hopes.
Normally you got more of the big sides on a period of transition or just retooling.
Here it just looks like everyon bar Aston Villa have gone guns blazing.

Not sure how much room there is for the usual midtable side is way up in the league table. It often rotates which side has that slot, but whoever does it this time fair play to em.
Except Forest.

We've had a great summer, but after briefing the media we were in for Eze last month, him ending up at Tottenham would be tragic.

The Premier League starts in two days with holders Liverpool up against Bournemouth. There's still a few weeks left in the transfer window before it closes so certain clubs may find themselves in better positions by the end of the summer, but as it stands these are my predictions for this season's table.

1 - Arsenal (Premier League Winners, Champions League RO16, Qualifies for UCL)
2 - Man City (Champions League QFs, Qualifies for UCL)
3 - Chelsea (Champions League SFs, Qualifies for UCL)
4 - Liverpool (Champions League Runners-Up, Qualifies for UCL)
5 - Tottenham (Champions League Playoffs, Qualifies for UCL)
6 - Brighton (Qualifies for Europa League)
7 - Newcastle (FA Cup Winners, Champions League RO16, Qualifies for Europa League)
8 - Aston Villa (Europa League Winners, Qualifies for UCL)
9 - Bournemouth
10 - Everton
11 - Crystal Palace (Conference League QFs)
12 - Man United (EFL/Carabao Cup Winners, Qualifies for Europa Conference League)
13 - Nottingham Forest (Europa League RO16)
14 - Fullham
15 - West Ham
16 - Wolverhampton
17 - Brentford
18 - Leeds United (Relegated)
19 - Sunderland (Relegated)
20 - Burnley (Relegated)

The top four will dominate the league with close to (if not more than) 80 points each. The fourway title race is decided in early May when Arsenal lead by enough points to secure their first league trophy in 22 years. Injuries plague Liverpool's squad which hurts their league title race, but they still reach the Champions League final by finally getting their revenge against Real Madrid in the Semi-Finals.

Tottenham do just enough to take the fifth Champions League spot from a very impressive Brighton side and Newcastle (who barely miss out in large part as consequence for their difficulties in the summer transfer window). Newcastle do manage to take home their second trophy in two years.

Unai Emery takes Aston Villa back into the Champions League by securing the Europa League trophy. Bournemouth also have another good season finishing in the top half with roughly 55 points. Nottingham's league performance suffers with Europa League fixtures and they fall back down to the lower half of the half, and Man United stay down there for a second consecutive season after an awful start to the season with the only bright spot being the League cup victory.

Brentford have a dreadful first half of a season and it looks as if the relegation race is back before the January transfer window happens and Brentford rebound to safety.

EXTRA BONUS PREDICTIONS
Promoted From Championship: Bristol City, Leicester City, Middlesbrough
La Liga: Real Madrid
Serie A: Inter Milan
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich
Ligue 1: PSG
Champions League: Barcelona
Conference League: Fiorentina
Top 5 European Teams That Fail To Qualify For The World Cup: Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales

Worst prediction there is Boro to go up. Not a chance I don't think, probably will be the three relegated teams back up, or whoever can beat them in the playoffs. Outside chance of someone like Coventry, Sheffield United, Millwall, Birmingham and maybe Bristol City, but Boro have very little depth and their forwards are somewhere between inconsistent and shite. Won 1-0 at home on the weekend and scored from their only chance, from a corner, then lost 4-0 to League One Doncaster's second team yesterday, in the cup.

Mostly agree with the Prem predictions though. I think Bournemouth will struggle a bit more (nowhere near relegation, but probably not close to Europe) due to needing an entirely new backline, Brighton will stagnate a bit, and I don't see Man United being bottom half again unfortunately, even if I don't think they'll get near the CL places either. Sunderland might actually be dark horses to stay up and if Burnley come bottom, I don't think it'll be due to being unable to compete. I'm backing one of the promoted teams to stay up or at least come close. Depends on how Brentford (and West Ham when Potter gets sacked in November) adjust, really. I'm not sure about Spurs either, but as much as I hate Thomas Frank, they should be comfortably top half as a bare minimum.

Gotta cheer for Spurs a little bit now because I want Frank to be successful.

Denmark isn't screwing up that Euros group.

Birmingham spent like a top championship side in League 1 last year, they're loaded, but no idea if that will instantly translate.
I'm surprised we're this deep into August and Coventry haven't gone after a pair of Chelsea youngsters, Lampard made it work with Derby when he grabbed Tomori and Mount.

I got Brentford not missing the departures too much, they bought well and have operated on a next man up basis for years. They lost big names in the championship days like Watkins, Benrahma, Gray, Maupay, Konza, Mepham and had to deal with that one time when Birmingham raided 3 of their starters.
The replacements have always done well. Even if they lose Wissa on top, I have faith Keane Lewis-Potter, Schade and the new guys will step up.
Though as long as Damsgaard is healthy, I think they can do things, that guy is to me their star player now and I'm shocked no traditional big side has gone for him.

If Chelsea didn't have a top 5 player in the role at that position, I would have wanted Damsgaard.
As it stands, of course I'm happy with Palmer.

Yeah, Brentford have an incredible analytics department and I think chances are they should be fine, but this is probably the most upheaval they've had in a single summer since promotion, with Frank gone. Wissa (probably), Mbuemo, Norgaard and Flekken gone is a lot of changes to central parts of the squad too. Schade feels like the only forward who's a proven product at Prem level, I think Igor Thiago was very highly rated but injured most of last season?

Dunno what to expect from Birmingham this season. I just know that there's a great atmosphere around the club, I rate a lot of players who were already in the squad and their signings look great on paper. Kyogo in particular looked far too good with Celtic to be playing for a mid-table Championship team, and most of their squad were mid-table Championship quality even last season down in League One.

Awful lineup from Man United. Such an imbalanced team and multiple clear weak links, no surprise they're already 1-0 down.

I'm obviously biased because I'm a United fan but I think United outplayed Arsenal by a significant margin and just couldn't score. Arsenal looked pretty awful considering what should be a supposed gulf between the 2 teams after last season

That being said, Arsenal doing what is necessary to be contenders by getting wins in games where they play shit. United are going to continue to have issues until they address the keeper situation (Heaton is probably the best of the 3 and won't get played) and get a box to box midfielder.

I think if United play like they did today all season then they won't be top 4 but will probably be there or thereabouts in the 5-7 range. But we have also seen this before where United look ok against good teams and then get torn apart by the lesser ones

Sheep007 posted...

Awful lineup from Man United. Such an imbalanced team and multiple clear weak links, no surprise they're already 1-0 down.

This sounds like you weren't watching the game at all. That 1-0 was a big keeper blunder after United had been dominating the game. I wanted Arsenal to win so I'm happy, but United deserved points today for sure.

ctesjbuvf posted...

This sounds like you weren't watching the game at all. That 1-0 was a big keeper blunder after United had been dominating the game. I wanted Arsenal to win so I'm happy, but United deserved points today for sure.

I wouldn't say it looked to me that after 15 minutes United were dominating, and my point was that it's kind of expected with some clear weak links that one of them will make a mistake. Bayindir clearly isn't up to Prem standards, and a Casemiro/Fernandes midfield can't play anywhere near a full 90 as seen last season. They definitely looked the better team overall especially in the second half, but I wouldn't ever say a team that failed to score deserved a win - only clear chance I could name you was that awful shot from Cunha in the middle of the first half. Good attempt from Dorgu just before but not enough to win a game, don't remember a single good chance they had in the second half.

All this talk about Man United being the better team when that squad could easily bottle 3 points next week against Fulham while giving a far worse performance than this week's.

Arsenal basically weren't putting passes together at that point. They're happy with the three points but not much else.

I actually thought this was a rare instance where Casemiro looked really good and I was expecting Arsenal to heavily dominate the midfield, which they didn't. I thought Ugarte did a lot worse. They definitely need a defensive midfielder though. And yes, Bayindir isn't good.

It's probably not right to use the word "deserving". But my point is 1-0 to Arsenal is a pretty misleading result to the match I saw. Kudos to them for keeping the clean sheet though.

paulg235 posted...

All this talk about Man United being the better team when that squad could easily bottle 3 points next week against Fulham while giving a far worse performance than this week's.

Wouldn't surprise me at all, they've been inconsistent for a while. This was just based on today.

Thoughts from games I watched:
United had several good indvidual performances (Cunha, Mbuemo, Amad, Casemiro) but they didn't combine together effectively in attack. Ugarte was shocking. To be fair Arsenal's defence + goalkeeper is the best in the league so we'll get a better sense over the next few games how they do against easier teams to break down. Otherwise Arsenal were poor.

Liverpool were laughably open but deadly in attack; their match was by far the most exciting. I'd expect them to score most goals but they can't win the league playing like that every week.

Man City gave the best performance, albeit against weaker opposition. Reijnders oozed calm and class and Bobb was effective. Haaland will remain the best striker in the league.

Forest totally dominated Brentford in the first half - something like their most possession at home in 45 PL minutes for a decade. I know they lost Elanga but they've added Ndoye (who scored a great header), Hutchison and McAtee. Could see them having another strong season. Chelsea were almost totally inert in attack and could've easily lost to Palace.

Newcastle / Villa I only watched parts of because it was so boring. Felt like they could've played 180 minutes and still been 0-0.

The thing that troubles me most about that Arsenal performance is that I just don't know if Arteta will do anything about it. It was the kind of poor performance we had last season as well, only now coupled with an apparent lack of fitness, as I felt a lot of the players looked pretty sluggish.

Like, it feels to me Arteta will look at this and go "we'll get better!" and maybe we will, but I hope he makes a proper analysis of what isn't working and why we never looked fully in control against a Manchester United side we, at the very least on a midfield level, should absolutely dominate. I guess that's why they were so quick to play the long ball and just skip the midfield but uh yeah, if that's our weakness Pool and City will eat us alive.

West Ham look pretty bad in these opening games.

As everyone thought might be the case, Man United play a lot worse against Fulham. Point fair for both sides

United's record away against Fulham was great. Bruno didn't look co concentrated at all. All these offensive investments while throwing Hjlund away and their only goal after two matches is an own goal.

This is exactly why I predicted United to have an awful season start. They turn it up against the big teams then fail to deliver the same level of performance against smaller teams. They have a midfield problem which they still haven't figured out and no additions to strengthen it. None of their goalkeepers feel reliable enough to not concede or create blunders (it looks like at least they're going to get Lammens to provide extra competition to the position though). Their captain Bruno is really not being utilized to his best. Players Amorin doesn't want to keep have openly/obviously been cast aside to push them to leave (and that's half a dozen players if not more). And Amorin himself appears too stubborn in his ways to adapt his system. His tactics got exposed last season and the other PL managers have taken notice and are exploiting his system's weaknesses.

Next week's Burnley game is a must-win game (they also face League 2 side Grimsby Town in a few days in the League Cup). They then go up against City and Chelsea after the international break.

Their midfield is if anything even weaker and less effective than it was last season, and their new forwards (except Mount when played there) don't contribute more in that regard than Garnacho and Hojlund. Can see them dominating the weaker sides but against mid and top table opposition they will struggle to control games. Clear Casemiro's not up to it physically and the manager doesn't rate Mainoo. Ugarte's been very poor.

Man City also got totally done by counter-attacks from Spurs. Quite alarmingly open.

Every time Ugarte has come on this season, the team has instantly looked worse.

It is absolutely mental that they let McTominay leave because that is exactly the type of player missing.

I also hate the style of play but this is more a broad problem across a lot of teams right now. This bullshit style of playing constantly across the back 4 and keeper and passing it back to reset is just awful to watch. Especially when you think back to the Ferguson days when the constant impetus was to attack. Nobody makes those runs now, nobody takes long shots, it's all this shitty short nothing passes hoping to open up space somewhere that never materializes.

It will never happen but passing back to the keeper should be fucking banned. It's a plague on the game. I'd rather watch dire route 1 lumping it up the field football that this constant passing across the keeper and back four bullshit.

The game is much more structured and heavily analysed now than it was even 15 years ago (never mind 25+) and I don't think the focus on retaining possession that's led to will ever change. The continued trend is towards more athletic players, more versatile players, and more discipline and structure.

What might change is that more teams could play high pressing styles which make it very hard to pass around the back. The risk with that approach is being exposed to balls over the top and/or between the lines, so it requires very quick and fit players throughout the team to execute safely. But when teams in their 'defensive shape' opt to drop deep into their own half there will almost inevitably be a lot of moving the ball around to try to create opportuntiies to safely go forward. I sometimes watch the odd game from many years ago and it's immediately obvious how much more space most teams left in the midfield, especially when they lost the ball high up the pitch.

The skills necessary to retain and circulate possession are also now a requirement of the modern elite goalkeeper skillset. If a GK can't receive the ball under pressure and make precise 30-yard passes (at least on his stronger foot) he won't be an elite 1st choice GK for a top side.

Scott was sold under Ten Hag. He was great offensively, much less so defensively. I don't think he would do good in this system unless the other of the two midfielders was like peak Rodri or peak Kante. This is also the problem now. Bruno has been the best player, but he doesn't really fit this system too well. If he is to play the role of the 8, which worked occasionally last season, he needs to not only stay in position despite enjoying the freedom. They also need a better player for the 6 next to him. Casemiro is way past his prime, he can't keep it up for a full match despite it being there in moments. Ugarte is a worse choice, those are the two options they have. Bruno can play both one of the 10s and the 8, but he cannot be immune to substitutions.

I fail to understand the priority of overspending on another 9 that they aren't gonna service well anyway instead of the good defensive midfielder, the lack of which has been their true biggest problem under Amorim. But United is still too big a club so the loud dumb fans will blame the lack of success on the attackers. The pressure is also too high on the players, they can barely have a bad moment without getting slaughtered in the press and on SoMe and that clearly affects them.

paulg235 posted...

West Ham look pretty bad in these opening games.

I've made my peace. We are a Championship quality team right now so... that's where we're going to be next year unless they make some VERY good signings very quickly. Also Potter out.

But don't worry, we're still good for 3 points from Arsenal away like always.

I kinda feel that had United gotten Frank instead of Amorim, based on his past with Brentford, he would have worked out a way to get Garnacho, Antony and Sancho to contribute and instead of revamping the attack this summer would have seen them go after more central midfielders.

Reputable sources had Thomas Frank on the shortlist to succeed Ten Hag.

But since I like Frank and am still mad at the misery years of Fergie piled on for the team I support, it's all worked out for the best.

Eh, the pressure is a lot higher when you're at United than in Spurs. Also not ready to sell everything in just two weeks. United fans said the same things when Spurs got Ange. Garnacho has ego issues, Sancho is way beyond saving grace in this club. Antony perhaps, he seemed to be a step below at times but who who knows. Idk, United has way deeper problems than a manager could fix imo.

Also, the September Qualification Window for the 2026 World Cup is looming fast. The schedule fits between:

September 3rd through 9th

The basic breakdown:
CONMEBOL: Main Round Part 9 of 9
CONCACAF: Round 3 Part 1 of 3
CAF: Round 1 Part 4 of 5
UEFA: For Round 1:
Groups A through F Part 1 of 3
Groups G through L Part 3 of 5

OFC is done for the year 2025, and the AFC has no matches scheduled until October 2025.

Qualified [13]
AFC [6]
Iran
Uzbekistan
South Korea
Jordan
Japan
Australia
CONCACAF [3]
Canada
Mexico
United States
CONMEBOL [3]
Argentina
Ecuador
Brazil
OFC [1]
New Zealand

There's playing down to opposition and then there's whatever the fuck United are doing right now

I don't think they will but this is the sort of performance that gets a manager fired

It could be worse, you could be Rangers right now.

Rangers are getting smashed, but that's by Club Brgge while being a man down from minute 8 and having lost the first one by a couple of goals.

This is some fourth tier team, what is going on. I am watching Copenhagen play, so haven't seen anything.