World Cup 2026

[screenexile]

Lads how was that not a penalty???

[gallsman]

Lads how was that not a penalty???

He gets the ball.

[Captain Obvious]

Tough watch after watching All-Ireland Quarter-finals today.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Italy are not there because they're crap. No other reason. They're not missed either

Infantino and FIFA are an utter joke but "let's have more crap European teams" in it  is a solution to nothing. The WC has always had shite teams. An enlarged WC will have more shite teams.

Of the Asian teams that went out, Iran were utterly f**king screwed over by the US and still only went out because a toenail was offside and a 96th minute equaliser. Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the greatest WC upsets of all time against Australia in 2022.

Italy are crap but they would be better than about 20 teams there. I would rather have crap European teams there than even worse teams from Asia or wherever. Why should geographical location give you a massive unfair advantage in qualifying

Because it's the World Cup.

And nothing unfair about Italy failing to qualify three times in a row.

Look at Cape Verde. Only there because of an expansion, story of the tournament. Would Bulgaria have added more to the tournament?

Cape Verde is a good story especially with the Irish lad so fair enough and the African teams are doing really well, my main issue is with Asia, funny that you didn't mention any of the rubbish like Qatar or Uzbekistan that are stinking the place out. You are correct it is the world cup and teams from all over the world have been there for decades Korea were about in 66 so it already was global no need to try and over represent with pub teams.

[gallsman]

They're not over represented. 60% of the world's population lives in Asia.

[Hoof Hearted]

I would hold off until tomorrow...

Think I'll wait another few days yet

[mrdeeds]

Italy are not there because they're crap. No other reason. They're not missed either

Infantino and FIFA are an utter joke but "let's have more crap European teams" in it  is a solution to nothing. The WC has always had shite teams. An enlarged WC will have more shite teams.

Of the Asian teams that went out, Iran were utterly f**king screwed over by the US and still only went out because a toenail was offside and a 96th minute equaliser. Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the greatest WC upsets of all time against Australia in 2022.

Italy are crap but they would be better than about 20 teams there. I would rather have crap European teams there than even worse teams from Asia or wherever. Why should geographical location give you a massive unfair advantage in qualifying

Because it's the World Cup.

And nothing unfair about Italy failing to qualify three times in a row.

Look at Cape Verde. Only there because of an expansion, story of the tournament. Would Bulgaria have added more to the tournament?

Cape Verde is a good story especially with the Irish lad so fair enough and the African teams are doing really well, my main issue is with Asia, funny that you didn't mention any of the rubbish like Qatar or Uzbekistan that are stinking the place out. You are correct it is the world cup and teams from all over the world have been there for decades Korea were about in 66 so it already was global no need to try and over represent with pub teams.

Cape Verde topped their group that included Cameroon. They qualified on merit.

[gallsman]

Thank Christ for that. South Africa had looked more likely to score as well.

[imtommygunn]

Exactly. Just glad that's over.

[Mourne Red]

More happy don't have to sit through another 30 mins. Canada looked a bigger threat when Davies came on - SA very negative

[laoislad]

Didn't think it was that bad, even could say I enjoyed it 💁.

[Main Street]

Jesse seems to like making it about him as he encourages the applause for him to milk.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

They're not over represented. 60% of the world's population lives in Asia.

Ok so quality isn't a factor great, I'm looking forward to Africa getting their fair share at the next ice hockey olympics.

[thewobbler]

They're not over represented. 60% of the world's population lives in Asia.

Ok so quality isn't a factor great, I'm looking forward to Africa getting their fair share at the next ice hockey olympics.

Lots of silliness of both sides here.

2/3rds of that 60% live in either India or China. So your presentation of facts is quite Trumpesque.

But at the same time there is only one truly global sport. Much as I hate 48 team world cups, there is no need to fill a global celebration with a chunky percentage of mediocre European teams (like Scotland, Ireland and Wales) who have somewhere between 0.07% and 0% chance of winning the competition. If Italy can't find a way to climb past that mediocrity in qualifying, then arrivederci.

[Baile Brigín 2]

They're not over represented. 60% of the world's population lives in Asia.

Ok so quality isn't a factor great, I'm looking forward to Africa getting their fair share at the next ice hockey olympics.

If they meet the qualification standards they are in. But most countries don't have an ice hockey team.

There are more international sides than countries and every country has a soccer team.

What you are arguing is pick the top 48 ranked teams. OK- then Italy, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and Venezuela would replace South Africa, Tunisia, Saudi, Qatar, Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Iraq.

Slightly better quality, anti craic.