OT: Men's Soccer World Cup 2026--no need to enter if you don't like it.

[Jorcus]

Last world cup was held in late fall or early winter. I can't remember it it was because of the heat in Qutar or Covid pushed it back. In between Thanksgiving and Christmas of that year we found a cheap all inclusive hotel to stay for a week in Playa Del Carmen Mexico. I guess it was because of the time of year we were probably the Only US citizens in the hotel. There were Mexican, Brits, Dutch, Canadians and some French who were had the help of the French Canadians. This was the week of the quarter finals and the pool bar was showing the games. The best part for me was hanging in the pool while many women in thongs were lining up to watch the matches. The Dutch seemed to win that battle at least even though they lost to Argentina. France vs the UK had a big crowd. It was a lot of fun. 

[Eleven]

4 minutes ago, Jorcus said:

Last world cup was held in late fall or early winter. I can't remember it it was because of the heat in Qutar or Covid pushed it back. 

It was because of the heat.  

[Huckleberry]

No one wanted to play in 50 degrees celsius summer last time around.    But the breaks are not for hydration, they are just commercial, but they have to spin it around so rest of the world not complain too much.   

What scares me more are the pitches being so thin, I think we will see a lot of injuries.

France / Spain are the favourites for me, followed by Ivory Coast / Germany / Portugal / Morroco / Brazil / Argentina / England / Belgium / Senegal  all with good chances for quarterfinals. 

As for the host nations , Mexico was bit underwelming against a weak South Africa team - Canada deserved more and USA had Paraguay who were underwelming for me too.

Have to look at these commercial / hydration breaks as if the NHL came out with full on adds on jerseys, that is how it feels to Football fans around the world.

[Sabres73]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Good Lord this is just so negative.   Most cities are honored to host these things and they make a lot of money doing it.   Along with money comes the global spotlight and a whole bunch of operational challenges.   You manage the challenges or you can point fingers and complain.  

I stayed in Vancouver just 2 years ago and hotel prices, for nice hotels in a nice areas, rates were typically $350 to $400 per night.  That included an amazing breakfast for two and that was competitively priced at the time and in the area where we chose to stay.  Loved it there and hope to go back someday.  

Hotel prices always increase when the demand to attend these major events is there.  Complain to Hilton, Marriot, etc.   If a hotel can't book rooms as priced guess what?  The prices will actually go down.   

And the local people typically do not need hotels right?   

These are just the facts. What, you don't think FIFA is corrupt? Really? Do you think people avoiding Vancouver because of the hotel rooms being quadrupled isn't a thing? When many of these hotel rooms are now sitting empty? Many tourists (including my family members) who were planning on vacationing here may never come back. Is that being "negative"? I will tell you the people that actually live here are not happy that we're paying close to a billion dollars on this corrupt nonsense that most locals couldn't afford to attend, money that could have been much better spent, and having our downtown fenced off from local residents. Good lord indeed.

Here's a story from our local newspaper - "A vast majority of Metro Vancouver resident think hosting World Cup not worth cost.

 https://vancouversun.com/news/world-cup-poll-metro-vancouver-residents-not-worth-cost 

[Nacho Libre]

That was a fun draw for Canada yesterday 

[Pimlach]

44 minutes ago, Sabres73 said:

These are just the facts. What, you don't think FIFA is corrupt? Really? Do you think people avoiding Vancouver because of the hotel rooms being quadrupled isn't a thing? When many of these hotel rooms are now sitting empty? Many tourists (including my family members) who were planning on vacationing here may never come back. Is that being "negative"? I will tell you the people that actually live here are not happy that we're paying close to a billion dollars on this corrupt nonsense that most locals couldn't afford to attend, money that could have been much better spent, and having our downtown fenced off from local residents. Good lord indeed.

Here's a story from our local newspaper - "A vast majority of Metro Vancouver resident think hosting World Cup not worth cost.

 https://vancouversun.com/news/world-cup-poll-metro-vancouver-residents-not-worth-cost 

I watched my first World Cup game from start to finish last night and I really enjoyed.   I do not know soccer, and I certainly do not have a clue as to whether FIFA is corrupt?  I don't follow it.  I don't know if the NFL, MLB, NHL, or NBA are corrupt but I suspect they all are to some level.  I suspect corruption in the Olympics too.   But I still watch all of it and I spend money on it.  So given that, it must not bother me.  

I would think that most World Cup games in most cities are attended by visitors, not locals.  And that these visitors would have hotels and tickets in advance and would be prepared to spend the money that the market demands.  I would think that the city/county gets a cut of the proceeds, making it profitable for the city and its businesses.  I would expect the negative impacts to normal city operation, impacts to normal local events, and impacts to local services would be known in advance, shared with the locals, and workarounds in place if possible.  

Sorry to hear that life is so hard in Vancouver.  It appears your local and provincial government did a bad job.  I thought Vancouver was a world class city with world class infrastructure.  They even hosted the Olympics in 2010.   So yes, the negativity surprises me.   Or is this not the same Vancouver in 2026? 

 

[JoeSchmoe]

I went skiing in Italy during the Milan Olympics. I worried about booking at that time even though the skiing wasn't at the same resort (we were 2 hours from Milan).

On a Euro ski forum, they assured me that history has shown the Olympics scares more people away that it brings in. I can't say for sure if that was the case for me... It was still decently busy, but it was also the Italian and British holiday at that time. 

[Eleven]

Brazil might be in trouble.

[steveoath]

28 years for that goal!!!!!!! C’mon Scotland. 

[Huckleberry]

28 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Brazil might be in trouble.

Was probably one of the few game sin first round I wanted to see, but they both relaxed in 2nd half.

Honestly two quarterfinal teams for sure, but those first 20 minutes Brazil looked lost.

[Eleven]

9 minutes ago, steveoath said:

28 years for that goal!!!!!!! C’mon Scotland. 

Why are they wearing red? This is confusing.

Edited June 14 by Eleven

[steveoath]

1 minute ago, Eleven said:

Why are they wearing red? This is confusing.

The pink has been part of Scotland’s colours for over 100 years.  However this is a homage to a popular 80s kit. 

[Big Guava]

9 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

No one wanted to play in 50 degrees celsius summer last time around.    But the breaks are not for hydration, they are just commercial, but they have to spin it around so rest of the world not complain too much.   

What scares me more are the pitches being so thin, I think we will see a lot of injuries.

France / Spain are the favourites for me, followed by Ivory Coast / Germany / Portugal / Morroco / Brazil / Argentina / England / Belgium / Senegal  all with good chances for quarterfinals. 

As for the host nations , Mexico was bit underwelming against a weak South Africa team - Canada deserved more and USA had Paraguay who were underwelming for me too.

Have to look at these commercial / hydration breaks as if the NHL came out with full on adds on jerseys, that is how it feels to Football fans around the world.

I don't care about Paraguay being underwhelming, that was the most dominant performance ever for a US team in a World Cup game.

Paraguay barely touched the ball in the first half.

[steveoath]

THAT’S an anthem

 

Edited June 14 by steveoath

[steveoath]

 

[JoeSchmoe]

37 minutes ago, steveoath said:

THAT’S an anthem

 

That's not an anthem. This is an anthem.

 

[steveoath]

Errr Y’arrrrr. First World Cup win since 1990! (And you thought sabres drought was bad haha). 

[steveoath]

Right. It’s after 4am. I’m off to bed! Best of luck to your team when they play - unless it’s Brazil or Morocco.  

[steveoath]

[Dr. Who]

8 hours ago, steveoath said:

Errr Y’arrrrr. First World Cup win since 1990! (And you thought sabres drought was bad haha). 

Too much Alamo mode in the second half, but I'm glad they got the win. 

[Eleven]

19 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

No one wanted to play in 50 degrees celsius summer last time around.    But the breaks are not for hydration, they are just commercial, but they have to spin it around so rest of the world not complain too much.   

What scares me more are the pitches being so thin, I think we will see a lot of injuries.

France / Spain are the favourites for me, followed by Ivory Coast / Germany / Portugal / Morroco / Brazil / Argentina / England / Belgium / Senegal  all with good chances for quarterfinals. 

As for the host nations , Mexico was bit underwelming against a weak South Africa team - Canada deserved more and USA had Paraguay who were underwelming for me too.

Have to look at these commercial / hydration breaks as if the NHL came out with full on adds on jerseys, that is how it feels to Football fans around the world.

Oh it's absolutely for commercial purposes this time around.

[Ctaeth]

Germany playing today at 1 vs curacao.  Wonder who will win? 😀

Netherlands-japan might be a good one at 4

[Huckleberry]

2 hours ago, Ctaeth said:

Germany playing today at 1 vs curacao.  Wonder who will win? 😀

Netherlands-japan might be a good one at 4

Never know, didn't think Qatar would Switzerland either.

Morroco vs Brazil was nice game, but was sometimes too much Samba, I think the Scottish defense will be tested but wonder how those two teams will react vs a Scotland who play good defense.

[Sabres73]

21 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I watched my first World Cup game from start to finish last night and I really enjoyed.   I do not know soccer, and I certainly do not have a clue as to whether FIFA is corrupt?  I don't follow it.  I don't know if the NFL, MLB, NHL, or NBA are corrupt but I suspect they all are to some level.  I suspect corruption in the Olympics too.   But I still watch all of it and I spend money on it.  So given that, it must not bother me.  

I would think that most World Cup games in most cities are attended by visitors, not locals.  And that these visitors would have hotels and tickets in advance and would be prepared to spend the money that the market demands.  I would think that the city/county gets a cut of the proceeds, making it profitable for the city and its businesses.  I would expect the negative impacts to normal city operation, impacts to normal local events, and impacts to local services would be known in advance, shared with the locals, and workarounds in place if possible.  

Sorry to hear that life is so hard in Vancouver.  It appears your local and provincial government did a bad job.  I thought Vancouver was a world class city with world class infrastructure.  They even hosted the Olympics in 2010.   So yes, the negativity surprises me.   Or is this not the same Vancouver in 2026? 

 

Really, that's your response, spewing nonsense? I thought you were better than that. I guess not, and I'm sorry to hear it.

[Nacho Libre]

This could get ugly. Perhaps an unprecedented blowout- maybe even upwards of 2-0