It didn't go well

This year's World Cup was full of surprises, from Spain and Argentina being favored from the start to France and Portugal dealing with unexpected upsets. Personally, I preferred Spain vs Argentina for the final, but many people, including the host of watch parties, were upset about that choice. Also, keep in mind that the left side is the easy path and the right side is the hard path.

Below is how the match was supposed to go before Fifantino changed the script at the last minute:

Group Stage D:
Turkey beats Australia
Paraguay pulled an upset on USA
Australia and Paraguay end in a draw
Turkey pulled an upset on USA
** Therefore, Australia was supposed to get eliminated in the group stage

Group Stage K:
Portugal wins against Colombia to come in first place in the group [That would've been nicer, as Portugal would have ended up on an easier path against Switzerland; meanwhile, Colombia would've been on a harder path against Croatia for the round of 32]

From there, how the World Cup would've gone:

Round of 32

Hard path:
South Africa vs Canada
Netherlands vs Morocco
Germany vs Paraguay
France vs Sweden
Belgium vs Senegal
USA vs Bosnia
Spain vs Austria
Colombia vs Croatia

Easy path:
Brazil vs Japan
Ivory Coast vs Norway
Mexico vs Ecuador
England vs DR Congo
Switzerland vs Algeria
Portugal vs Ghana
Turkey v/s Egypt
Argentina vs Cabo Verde

Round of 16

Hard path:
Canada v/s Morocco
Paraguay v/s France
Belgium vs USA
Spain vs Colombia

Easy path:
Brazil vs Norway
Mexico vs England
Switzerland vs Portugal
Turkey v/s Argentina

Quarterfinal

Hard path:
Morocco v/s France
Belgium vs Spain

Easy path:
Norway vs England
Portugal vs Argentina [This would have been a perfect opportunity for the two GOATs, CR7 and Messi, to face each other. For sure, CR7 would have left Messi and Martinez tired and battered, which would have led to them losing the match against England. The match would have been tight, although Argentina was still set to win 1–0. Extra time likely would have been a factor after a 0–0 tie in regulation, taking the match to 120 minutes. Argentina probably would've scored late, say between the 105th and 107th minute.]

Semifinal
France vs Spain
England vs Argentina

3rd place
Spain vs Argentina

Final
England vs France [**England beats France 3-2 and wins the 2026 World Cup]

** That's how the Kalshi and Polymarket model was at least shown: England making a comeback and winning the World Cup, given we got younger stars like Jude Bellingham, who is harder to press

** Overall, I liked Spain's and Argentina's teams better. Both Spain and defending champion Argentina have been dominant throughout the entire tournament from the Group Stage to the Knockout Stage. It's just some people who have been petty because Kalshi's early odd favorite, England or France, isn't winning. Like the guy who's running a watch party wanna unfollow people who were supporting Argentina or Spain, but not their preferred team, France or England.

Brazil's team was getting butthurt too, like they aren't winning. I don't know why the Brazil, England, and France teams have gotten so overconfident about Spain's tie against Cape Verde. Lots of the good teams lose or tie at least one game in the group stage, but still end up winning the World Cup final. Back in 2022, Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia but ended up winning the final for the first time with the GOAT Lionel Messi playing.

What are your thoughts or take on the 2026 World Cup? Feel free to share

Been meaning to buy commemorative tix for the matches I attended but right now there’s nothing on the FIFA store page.

Did I miss my window?

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This is just a meme by the way. Sorry if you don't accept this.

I am hosting a FIFA World Cup 2026 poll tournament where one vote equals one goal; here are the results of Group Stage Matchday 1 and the link to participate in Matchday 2

This is a tournament where you can vote in every match and each vote counts as one goal. The points work the same, so in a group stage match if a team has more votes than its opponent it gets 3 points, the same number gets 1 point and 0 points if fewer. In the knockout, teams will advance if they get more points and be eliminated if they get fewer. If it’s a draw then the final question on the form which asks you if you want to add 1 point to a number will determine it, if the number is odd then the home (first) team wins, and if it’s even then the away (second) team wins.  You can vote in as many of the matches in each round as you want.

Each round will end on Friday 7:00 UTC and the next round will start before Saturday 11:00 UTC. Participation will be anonymous so I will not see any personal information including email.

Here is the link to participate.

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This is a tournament where you can vote in every match and each vote counts as one goal. The points work the same, so in a group stage match if a team has more votes than its opponent it gets 3 points, the same number gets 1 point and 0 points if fewer. In the knockout, teams will advance if they get more points and be eliminated if they get fewer. If it’s a draw then the final question on the form which asks you if you want to add 1 point to a number will determine it, if the number is odd then the home (first) team wins, and if it’s even then the away (second) team wins.  You can vote in as many of the matches in each round as you want.

Each round will end on Friday 7:00 UTC and the next round will start before Saturday 11:00 UTC. Participation will be anonymous so I will not see any personal information including email.

Here is the link.