2026 Rokslide World Cup Thread

[CJ19]

The 2026 World Cup is set to kick off Thursday, June 11, In Mexico. This World Cup will see games hosted in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. If you are a sports fan or have children, attending a World Cup game is a unique experience that may not occur again for many years in North America. Team USAs games are all west coast and the tickets are very expensive (ie USA v Australia cheapest tickets ~1700$ presently; Opener v Paraguay ~1000$ still available). I imagine tickets for some of the later group games with teams that do not have large traveling fan bases will be more affordable and available; however, they are still expensive with many tickets in the 280$ range.

Team USA Group game schedule is the following:

• June 12, 9:00 PM ET: vs. Paraguay at SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, Los Angeles, California).
• June 19, 3:00 PM ET: vs. Australia at Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington).
• June 25, 10:00 PM ET: vs. Türkiye at SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, Los Angeles, California)

The United States has a very good team with several stand out players including Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie. It is expected that the United States will progress from their group but world soccer is incredibly competitive these days. All the teams in their group are at a relatively similar level with none standing out as head and shoulders above the others.

I know there are plenty of Canadians on the forum as well but you guys will have to find your schedule yourself. The Canadian team is also good with Alphonso Davies being a truly world class player.

Here is a little taste of what the USA is capable of. This is the goal they scored in their final warm up game, a 2-1 loss to Germany on 6/6/2026.

Enjoy the games.

 

[Esteban]

I dunno man, I don't think that's really football...looks more like soccer to me

 

[MarlinMark]

It is soccer. Did you know the name soccer originated in England?

 

[Aussie Dan]

100%

I dunno man, I don't think that's really football...looks more like soccer to me

Not enough padding or use of hands for your tastes?

 

[CJ19]

100%

Not enough padding or use of hands for your tastes?

I can not believe i forgot about the aussies on the site. I would imagine the USA v Australia game is going to be a good game. Probably a physical game.

 

[Aussie Dan]

Theres a couple of us here haha.
Hopefully its not a typical soccer p*ssyfest where grown men are diving over love taps

 

[butcherboy]

My house is a soccer house. I played for roughly 10 years. My wife played for 15 years. My son is on the high school varsity team. My two younger girls play. My wife coaches the girls highschool varsity team as well. We will be watching but I’ve never kept up on players or their careers. My son has so he tells me all about it. All three kiddos are big into basketball as well. I can’t stand the flopping on the ground nonsense just to get the foul call. When I played we made sure to be the first one up off the ground just to show you were tougher than the other guy. Never complained about being kicked, tripped, poked, elbowed, etc. it was just part of the game.

 

[velvet muley]

My house is a soccer house. I played for roughly 10 years. My wife played for 15 years. My son is on the high school varsity team. My two younger girls play. My wife coaches the girls highschool varsity team as well. We will be watching but I’ve never kept up on players or their careers. My son has so he tells me all about it. All three kiddos are big into basketball as well. I can’t stand the flopping on the ground nonsense just to get the foul call. When I played we made sure to be the first one up off the ground just to show you were tougher than the other guy. Never complained about being kicked, tripped, poked, elbowed, etc. it was just part of the game.

I almost think NBA may be the floppiest these days. LOL.

 

[CJ19]

My house is a soccer house. I played for roughly 10 years. My wife played for 15 years. My son is on the high school varsity team. My two younger girls play. My wife coaches the girls highschool varsity team as well. We will be watching but I’ve never kept up on players or their careers. My son has so he tells me all about it. All three kiddos are big into basketball as well. I can’t stand the flopping on the ground nonsense just to get the foul call. When I played we made sure to be the first one up off the ground just to show you were tougher than the other guy. Never complained about being kicked, tripped, poked, elbowed, etc. it was just part of the game.

There is no doubt that soccer suffers from exaggeration and simulation at times. I personally think that players should get a 1 game suspension if it is demonstrated that they are simulating. Exaggeration is a little different than simulation. Ridiculous at times for sure especially from some of the south americans, spaniards, and portugese. Having played both football and soccer, I can say that spectators that have not played soccer into their 20s may not be aware of just how painful some of the innocuous looking contact can be. Knees to thighs, foot to shins and calf, and getting stepped on are all extremely painful when done with force and speed. During my college years, I seldom had all my toenails and several where usually black. One of calf muscles is still permanently deformed from some of the hard tackles over the years. And no one ever forgets seeing someone's leg broken in front of them in a hard tackle which I was unfortunate to see and hear several times.

 

[dirtshooter]

I'll follow along and cheer for Germany. Canada doesn't stand a chance anyway lol

 

[mjh]

I'll be following the World Cup in a meager kind of way. Sure I'm interested but I don't live near any game venues. Not going to make a vacation out of going to any matches. Cost prohibitive--other priorities for my money. Not going to sign up for any streaming services that I don't already have just to watch a match or two. I hope people enjoy--players at the top level to be seen--should be fun.

 

[tater]

Denmark is the quiet team that has a great potential to take it all, while the diving will be minimal with the Italians failing to qualify.

England on paper should be strong with Kane as captain after his ridiculous year at Bayern, but they are the Minnesota Vikings of international football play.

Should be a great few weeks of the best of the best.

 

[butcherboy]

There is no doubt that soccer suffers from exaggeration and simulation at times. I personally think that players should get a 1 game suspension if it is demonstrated that they are simulating. Exaggeration is a little different than simulation. Ridiculous at times for sure especially from some of the south americans, spaniards, and portugese. Having played both football and soccer, I can say that spectators that have not played soccer into their 20s may not be aware of just how painful some of the innocuous looking contact can be. Knees to thighs, foot to shins and calf, and getting stepped on are all extremely painful when done with force and speed. During my college years, I seldom had all my toenails and several where usually black. One of calf muscles is still permanently deformed from some of the hard tackles over the years. And no one ever forgets seeing someone's leg broken in front of them in a hard tackle which I was unfortunate to see and hear several times.

Definitely. Those that have never played don’t understand the sheer force of those tackles. I ended my soccer days in Highschool with severely banged up and slightly fractured shins, cracked heels,
A few concussions and lots of black eyes. My teenage son just started summer practice and already has a sprained wrist, broken toes, and bad shin bruising.

 

[dirtshooter]

When I played what they call mens league (not beer league tho) 2 of my team mates broke their legs on challenges. In fact even playing youth there were various broken bones - legs, toes, fingers and a wrist