***** Official World Cup 2026 Round of 32 Thread *****

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EastSideAg2002
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1:16a, 6/30/26
How is our penalty kick game?
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TXCityAggie
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4:24a, 6/30/26
That was one of the best beginning to end World Cup days that I can remember. Every single match delivered cinema.
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wangus12
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7:13a, 6/30/26
After the first match today, we will officially be 3/4s of the way through the World Cup

Tuesday, June 30th:

Ivory Coast vs. Norway
12:00 PM CT
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
TV: Fox, Telemundo


France vs. Sweden
4:00 PM CT
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ (NYC)
TV: Fox, Telemundo


Mexico vs. Ecuador
8:00 PM CT
Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico
TV: Fox, Telemundo
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fightingfarmer09
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7:14a, 6/30/26
The Dutch are my favorite European team, so I am bummed out.

But I think Zlatan was right, you cannot go to the World Cup and change your identity. I hope the USMNT comes out playing to win.
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wangus12
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In reply to fightingfarmer09 • 7:26a, 6/30/26
Like someone said yesterday, outside of the USMNT, my 3 rooting interest teams all went home yesterday.

Hope Norway can right the ship
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AustinScubaAg
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In reply to wangus12 • 8:00a, 6/30/26
wangus12 said:
Like someone said yesterday, outside of the USMNT, my 3 rooting interest teams all went home yesterday.

Hope Norway can right the ship

I guess I need to root against the USA in the knockout round. Since ever single team I was rooting for has lost their knockout game.
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boogieman
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8:21a, 6/30/26
Mexico is S-E-C ready!

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LouisHerbertWong
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In reply to boogieman • 8:52a, 6/30/26
boogieman said:
Mexico is S-E-C ready!


Puto gonna puto. Hope Ecuador sends them all home crying and throwing piss everywhere.
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Z3phyr
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8:54a, 6/30/26
Mexico fans are the worst, God I hope they lose today
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Faustus
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In reply to The Ex Officio Director • 9:02a, 6/30/26
The Ex Officio Director said:
YokelRidesAgain said:
The Ex Officio Director said:
Out in Left Field said:
Take your betting screenshots to the Degenerate Board

Wouldn't that be all the boards on this site.

I don't know, does F15 have any lines on the Second Coming of Christ?

(Believe it or not, at least in the 1990s this was a wager you could place at several British books. 2000-1, IIRC.)

Have to ask the JWs, they are always moving the goal post when it comes to Armageddon

You find a site for betting lines of Christ Second Coming let me know, I've got a few pennies I can wager.


That makes cents.
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oragator
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9:05a, 6/30/26
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AustinScubaAg
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In reply to Z3phyr • 9:09a, 6/30/26
Z3phyr said:
Mexico fans are the worst, God I hope they lose today

And people ask why many of us hate Mexican fans.
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MAROON
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In reply to wangus12 • 9:10a, 6/30/26
wangus12 said:
After the first match today, we will officially be 3/4s of the way through the World Cup

Tuesday, June 30th:

Ivory Coast vs. Norway
12:00 PM CT
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
TV: Fox, Telemundo


France vs. Sweden
4:00 PM CT
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ (NYC)
TV: Fox, Telemundo


Mexico vs. Ecuador
8:00 PM CT
Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico
TV: Fox, Telemundo

Let's go Ecuador!!!
What do you boys want for breakfast BBQ ?.....OK Chili.
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zgolfz85
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9:15a, 6/30/26
I will be applying as much hate as possible to my hate watching el tri tonight
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oragator
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9:17a, 6/30/26
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Maximus_Meridius
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In reply to oragator • 9:30a, 6/30/26
It's a problem Germany has had since Klose retired...they really haven't had a go-to target man in front of goal, and I think that's ****ed their confidence as a whole (yes, you could maybe argue Mario Gomez or Thomas Muller, but Muller was never a striker and Gomez...well, that was a bit of step down, wasn't it).

They're as talented as anyone, but it just seems that they have to catch you on the counter or you have to royally screw up in defense to score. They will pass around the box but actually breaking down a defense...well, not so good...
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LB12MEEN
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9:41a, 6/30/26
I'm going for Mexico bc I want them playing England in Mexico!
Gig ‘Em Baby!
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Vox Clamantis
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9:42a, 6/30/26
The clamor over the unfairness of the penalty shootout of the way to determine the winner of the game is dumb. You've had 120 minutes to win the game and you haven't; if you don't want to go to a shootout, just win the game in regulation or extra time.

It's like when boxers complain that they were screwed by the scorecards; there has been some awful judging lately, but that's the risk you take when you don't knock your man out.
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MROD92
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10:48a, 6/30/26
I'm hoping Haaland puts on a show today. Our son (class of 18) and daughter are in attendance. Row that boat!!
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deadbq03
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In reply to Vox Clamantis • 10:49a, 6/30/26
And soccer is unlike all other sports that can simply just substitute more bodies more frequently and keep the game going. It would be terrible irresponsible to keep tacking on extra sessions.

And for as unsatisfying as a PK ending is - I don't think it's unfair at all in context of the sport itself. The sport itself has far more "wrong results" than other sports - and games that go to PKs are a tiny fraction of those seemingly unfair results.
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swc93
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In reply to Z3phyr • 10:50a, 6/30/26
Z3phyr said:
Mexico fans are the worst, God I hope they lose today

While I agree in general, they seem to be doing an excellent job of being great hosts and I have seen shots of many of them in the stands cheering and jeering with other countries. The video of the Mexican fan handing out all of the Japanese flags was really nice.

The World Cup, imho, is more exciting the longer the host(s) country(ies) are involved.
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zgolfz85
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10:51a, 6/30/26
was on my leadership team meeting this AM with the global office heads. We've got a guy who is as German as they come and his son actually plays in the junior leagues of the Bundesliga. He's a national team fan over club fan, but avid soccer fan in either case. One of our American execs popped on before the meeting kicked off and apparently didn't watch any soccer yesterday or bother to keep up and said "Hey XXXX, are your Germans gonna win the World Cup or what?"

whole zoom meeting went silent and dude's face turned red as a turnip. Amazing.
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wangus12
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10:52a, 6/30/26
Lineups for Ivory Coast vs. Norway





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Vox Clamantis
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In reply to deadbq03 • 10:53a, 6/30/26
deadbq03 said:
And soccer is unlike all other sports that can simply just substitute more bodies more frequently and keep the game going. It would be terrible irresponsible to keep tacking on extra sessions.

And for as unsatisfying as a PK ending is - I don't think it's unfair at all in context of the sport itself. The sport itself has far more "wrong results" than other sports - and games that go to PKs are a tiny fraction of those seemingly unfair results.

Yeah, I've heard suggestions of "sudden death/golden goals" in additional extra time periods but who's to say that it doesn't take another 150 minutes of play to get to that goal?

I'd much rather see teams going absolutely balls to the wall at the end of regulation or extra time trying to get that goal rather than hoping they can exhaust out the other team in quadruple extra time.
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bagger05
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11:23a, 6/30/26
Up until 1982 the format in elimination games was:

- If tied after 90, 30 minutes of extra time
- If still tied, replay the game the next day
- If tied after 90, 30 minutes of extra time
- If still tied, decide by drawing lots

This was the plan even for the championship game (I think in 1978 the plan was "for the championship we will figure something out" but it never came to that.

So penalties isn't ideal but it could be dumber…

Also just anecdotally the team that was playing above their head seems to win most of the time in penalties. I can't think of a lot of results after penalties where I thought it was total BS.
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bagger05
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11:25a, 6/30/26
I think the idea of doing penalties before extra time is interesting and would make extra time much more exciting because one team would be pressing like crazy.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to LB12MEEN • 11:25a, 6/30/26
LB12MEEN said:
I'm going for Mexico bc I want them playing England in Mexico!

Would be an amazing game. Really hope we don't **** it up.
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Infection_Ag11
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In reply to Vox Clamantis • 11:30a, 6/30/26
Vox Clamantis said:
The clamor over the unfairness of the penalty shootout of the way to determine the winner of the game is dumb. You've had 120 minutes to win the game and you haven't; if you don't want to go to a shootout, just win the game in regulation or extra time.

It's like when boxers complain that they were screwed by the scorecards; there has been some awful judging lately, but that's the risk you take when you don't knock your man out.


I really don't see how it's "unfair" since the better team usually wins shootouts. It's fairly uncommon that the better overall team doesn't have superior goal scorers and shootouts are largely determined by the skill of the shooters as opposed to that of the goalie.
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zgolfz85
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In reply to bagger05 • 11:32a, 6/30/26
bagger05 said:
I think the idea of doing penalties before extra time is interesting and would make extra time much more exciting because one team would be pressing like crazy.

but then the other team would just park the bus against a tired opposition. I don't see that as being a fix. I like the current system and think it's ok to end with PKs....just not when your team is in it. What does blow my mind is how many teams seem content to go to PKs and not try to drive their own destiny, especially as favorites.

What I'd prefer to see before messing with the current format is maybe another sub or 2 added for extra time. Currently, you get 5 in regular time and an additional one in extras. I would be ok with going to 2-3 in extra time to allow for more fresh legs against tired legs.
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CFTXAG10
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11:32a, 6/30/26
I think today will be boring in comparison to yesterday. All favorites win: Norway, France, and Mexico
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Infection_Ag11
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In reply to zgolfz85 • 11:34a, 6/30/26
zgolfz85 said:
bagger05 said:
I think the idea of doing penalties before extra time is interesting and would make extra time much more exciting because one team would be pressing like crazy.

but then the other team would just park the bus against a tired opposition. I don't see that as being a fix. I like the current system and think it's ok to end with PKs....just not when your team is in it. What does blow my mind is how many teams seem content to go to PKs and not try to drive their own destiny, especially as favorites.

What I'd prefer to see before messing with the current format is maybe another sub or 2 added for extra time. Currently, you get 5 in regular time and an additional one in extras. I would be ok with going to 2-3 in extra time to allow for more fresh legs against tired legs.


The fatigue at 120+ minutes makes cowards of most soccer players. Guys are more afraid of making a mistake with dead legs than anything else.
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THE_CHOSEN_ONE
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11:38a, 6/30/26
Current overtime and penalty shoot out rules are perfectly fine and enjoyable to watch.

Got my money on Ivory Coast today.
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deadbq03
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In reply to CFTXAG10 • 11:53a, 6/30/26
CFTXAG10 said:
I think today will be boring in comparison to yesterday. All favorites win: Norway, France, and Mexico
I think France will be the only boring game.

Other ones are solid matchups and I wouldn't be surprised to see upsets.
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LeonardSkinner
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In reply to oragator • 11:56a, 6/30/26
oragator said:

Is there corroboration for this? It would surprise the heck out of me if any high level national team didn't have a 1-26 list of who's taking the penalties. And to be asking "who wants to go next?" during the actual shootout? Whoa.
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YokelRidesAgain
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11:57a, 6/30/26
Yokel's anthem reviews
Ivory Coast's anthem is a nice little tune, but doesn't have the stately quality of a truly great anthem.

Norway's anthem sounds like a hymn that no one in the congregation really wants to sing.

I give this matchup to Cote d'Ivoire!

As to the game, Haaland with a late decider. Norway 2-1.
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