[Football] Road to World Cup 2026 - Official Thread

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Buzzing for the 1-0 at home to Andorra and goal-less draw with San Marino

Scotland fans would bite your hand off for that set of results

 

[Left Footer]

No left back again or am i missing something?

 

[rippleman]

Not a good sign when the new manager is already as bad as the old one. Selecting Slabhead over Dunk is criminal. Didn't he watch the game on Saturday? Highlights for me (apart from the goals and the 3 points) were Maguires look of confusion and bemusement after he was outclassed for both our goals.

Shame for Dunky. A real shame.

And we can look forward to that lumbering cheat Kane contributing absolutely nothing.............again.

 

[hart's shirt]

I'm curious if anyone here is planning on attending any of this appropriately SUPER SIZE World Cup - 4 games a day for a long time, 72 group games I think it is?

What will be different from Southgate's reign? What do you want to see happen?

With Southgate thankfully gone, I rejoined the England Supporters Travel Club as I said I would at the start of the Euros.

Tickets for Finland and Greece at Wembley booked. The American stadia are incredible, so it'll be quite a spectacle. I'm planning to be there.


What will be different and what do I want to see happen?

I'm expecting Carsley to fully utilize our riches in attacking midfield and take the game to the opposition playing attacking football with flair.

Hopefully we can finally see a system that gets the best out of Alexander-Arnold.

If we go a goal up, I want us to score a 2nd goal and 3rd before we consider sitting back and surrendering the initiative.

With the squad picked, young players to come through. No misplaced loyalty as Southgate showed to Maguire, Henderson and Phillips.

And this may well mean the end of Kane automatically starting.

It's time for purist football once again.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

King Potter will have the easiest of lifes getting you to the World Cup.

Logical progression from his stint as technical director for the Ghana women's team at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup

 

[Withdean South Stand]

No left back again or am i missing something?

It's remarkable isn't it? How we've only got Luke Shaw who is permanently injured and Ben Chilwell who isn't wanted at Chelsea (Despite being Captain for games last season). Livramento is probably guaranteed to start at left back with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back. It's not an amazing looking squad, but I am pleased to see Gibbs-White involved, I think he's incredibly talented. He hasn't had his big move yet though, so I wonder a bit about his character.

No idea why Grealish is doing there though, that's a poor one. I really hope Pickford doesn't play.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Not a good sign when the new manager is already as bad as the old one. Selecting Slabhead over Dunk is criminal. Didn't he watch the game on Saturday? Highlights for me (apart from the goals and the 3 points) were Maguires look of confusion and bemusement after he was outclassed for both our goals.

Shame for Dunky. A real shame.

And we can look forward to that lumbering cheat Kane contributing absolutely nothing.............again.

Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss

 

[Han Solo]

It's remarkable isn't it? How we've only got Luke Shaw who is permanently injured and Ben Chilwell who isn't wanted at Chelsea (Despite being Captain for games last season). Livramento is probably guaranteed to start at left back with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back. It's not an amazing looking squad, but I am pleased to see Gibbs-White involved, I think he's incredibly talented. He hasn't had his big move yet though, so I wonder a bit about his character.

No idea why Grealish is doing there though, that's a poor one. I really hope Pickford doesn't play.

Too bad Dan Burn is banned for life for being 20 cm taller than a left back should be.

 

[Mellotron]

It's remarkable isn't it? How we've only got Luke Shaw who is permanently injured and Ben Chilwell who isn't wanted at Chelsea (Despite being Captain for games last season). Livramento is probably guaranteed to start at left back with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back. It's not an amazing looking squad, but I am pleased to see Gibbs-White involved, I think he's incredibly talented. He hasn't had his big move yet though, so I wonder a bit about his character.

No idea why Grealish is doing there though, that's a poor one. I really hope Pickford doesn't play.

It could well be Colwill at LB - Carsley used him there in the Euros.

 

[Withdean South Stand]

It could well be Colwill at LB - Carsley used him there in the Euros.

I am so sick of reading Colwill's name on this forum that I didn't even see him in the squad! I think he should be starting at CB though - him and Branthwaite should be the left sided centre back for the next decade. Stop wasting time with Maguire and start blooding the youngsters who also happen to be better.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I am so sick of reading Colwill's name on this forum that I didn't even see him in the squad! I think he should be starting at CB though - him and Branthwaite should be the left sided centre back for the next decade. Stop wasting time with Maguire and start blooding the youngsters who also happen to be better.

Colwill is the one that got away. Could 'of' built the next generation defence around him in a football model. Or in a TB business model flipped him for a very healthy profit 18 months down the line. Wasted opportunity either way

 

[Withdean South Stand]

Colwill is the one that got away. Could 'of' built the next generation defence around him in a football model. Or in a TB business model flipped him for a very healthy profit 18 months down the line. Wasted opportunity either way

Nonsense, it was a crazy deal from the start. Loaning him put all the cards in Chelsea's hand which is not the sort of thing we've done before or since. He was always going to go back to Chelsea after a season with us and be a starter. That was never going to end a different way unless we'd bought him rather than loaned him, but they wouldn't have sold him and he wouldn't have come. I'm really sick of Levi Colwill, he was never our player and he was fine for us but nothing special and not a patch on JPVH.

 

[hart's shirt]

We've wasted the Nations league. It was an opportunity to pit ourselves against teams of our level so we don't get beat against the first ones we play against in a major competition which always used to be the issue. If we'd have won a Nations league it would have taken the monkey off our back regarding 66. Instead we failed to take it seriously and now have 6 largely meaningless games.

Quite so. Southgate's immediate legacy of relegation has now come home to roost. None of the 3 nations we're playing qualified for the Euros.

Still, that's what failing to win any of the 6 games last time round and 0-4 home Hungarian hammerings can do.

We'll no doubt qualify with ease for WC2026, but some tests against stronger footballing nations would have been infinitely preferable.

With the likes of Scotland, Israel and Serbia in the top Nations League tier, it's really where England should've been.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

We've wasted the Nations league. It was an opportunity to pit ourselves against teams of our level so we don't get beat against the first ones we play against in a major competition which always used to be the issue. If we'd have won a Nations league it would have taken the monkey off our back regarding 66. Instead we failed to take it seriously and now have 6 largely meaningless games.

Livramento and Gomes being English is a revelation for me. Maguire won't get another game for a while for Man Utd after Saturday. Perplexing.

Since when did a load of friendlies dressed up as a competition become a major competition?

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Since when did a load of friendlies dressed up as a competition become a major competition?

It's not a major competition - I'd obviously rather win the World cup and Euros in that order - but it is a competition nonetheless The Carabao cup of International football if you like. The latest winners of the Nations League? Spain. The other winners are France and Portugal. All 3 of those have picked up a major trophy since 2016.

The fact England don't seem to give a shit about it is part of the problem. That 0-4 against Hungary was as bad as anything we served up under Graham Taylor. Winning breeds winning. Maybe if we'd gone onto win the 2019 competition instead of folding against the Dutch the likes of Henderson, Stones, Rashford and the trophyless Kane who were all involved would have carried that mentality into the Wembley final we contrived to lose. We will never know.

 

[Farehamseagull]

Carsley must have looked at Maguire’s surname and assumed he was still representing Ireland, not England. It’s the only reason he can be picked.

Palace fans having a breakdown about Wharton’s exclusion is very funny though!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

It's not a major competition - I'd obviously rather win the World cup and Euros in that order - but it is a competition nonetheless The Carabao cup of International football if you like. The latest winners of the Nations League? Spain. The other winners are France and Portugal. All 3 of those have picked up a major trophy since 2016.

The fact England don't seem to give a shit about it is part of the problem. That 0-4 against Hungary was as bad as anything we served up under Graham Taylor. Winning breeds winning. Maybe if we'd gone onto win the 2019 competition instead of folding against the Dutch the likes to Henderson, Stones, Rashford and the trophyless Kane who were all involved would have carried that mentality into the Wembley final we contrived to lose. We will never know.

Maybe the three winners of the competition simply won it because they are/were good at the time and we weren't?

If England (the team and FA setup) don't regard it highly, that is mirroring most fans here as well. In a time when international football was already impinging on domestic competitions, annoyingly UEFA have increased internationals, to the detriment again of league football. It was far better a few years ago when internationals were played midweek without the need for the postponement of league football.

 

[Motogull]

Carsley must have looked at Maguire’s surname and assumed he was still representing Ireland, not England. It’s the only reason he can be picked.

Palace fans having a breakdown about Wharton’s exclusion is very funny though!

World class Wharton must be injured then? Mind you, he's that awesome he could probably be MOM with 2 broken legs.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

It is the beginning of the road to the World Cup ultimately - you are (of course) aware of how Nations League performance can affect World Cup qualification, so no, they aren't completely separate competitions.

I was intending this as the main thread for England games/chat between now and World Cup 26. Makes sense to keep it all in one place.

We need to get promoted to get seeded for groups.

Given it's not an everyone qualifies for the WC like the Euros, it's quite important

 

[Weststander]

Southgate’s gone. Ben White still makes himself unavailable. Wasn’t the NSC wisdom that Ben White would end the feud/sulk once we changed manager?