FIFA World Cup 2026

[_Arabia_]

To the American audience here.

I saw earlier that most of the stadiums are also used for American football (NFL). They supposedly have air condition and state of the art facilities. However many of the games I have watched - the pitches seem to be in an appealing condition. Not all games but too many of them from what I have seen.

I saw the KSA-Uruguay game that was played in Miami for instance (where it poured in the second half I believe), and it looked like there was a ton of water on the pitch and the ball moved very slowly and every shot from distance was dangerous because the ball bounced. A lot of basic technical mistakes that did not occur in the first half due to the condition of the pitch as well.

The extreme humidity and high temperatures were also felt. Many games are played in a very low tempo. How is that possible when there is supposedly air condition? I looked at some of the temperatures during the games and it is not as hot and humid as it could be. At least for some of the games.

People complained about playing a World Cup in Qatar in the middle of June and July (I agree) but the same thing could be said about most of the US during this time of the year and Mexico. Even Canada (Toronto).

Not sure If there is technology available (sufficient cooling in stadiums) to remove the negative impact of the weather completely.

Could be a problem in KSA in 2034 as well if held in the middle of the summer (more so dry heat which is generally more tolerable for the body rather than high humidity outside of Jeddah (which has very tolerable summer temperatures - and other coastal cities) so a solution should be found. Either that or playing all the games after at least 21:00.

It really "destroys" much of the product/potential to watch those type of matches played at such a slow speed and on such pitches IMO. Far cry from the top CL games in Europe.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

@_Arabia_ , the majority of the NFL stadiums are NOT domed. The only domed ones used for the World Cup are in:

- ATL (Atlanta)
- DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth)
- IAH (Houston)

The remaining 8 US stadiums are not including MIA. And, this time of the year, you can expect rain in MIA on a near-daily basis.

Additionally, the stadium in Vancouver, CA, is domed whereas the stadium in Toronto is not.

None of the Mexican stadiums are domed.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

@_Arabia_ , you posed an excellent question with me wondering why FIFA did not seek to hold the US-based games indoors. Here is the full list of domed NFL stadiums:



Five of these stadiums have been used for soccer matches. Would have to check but I've a feeling the other 5 could host soccer matches as well based on the standard dimensions of 105x68 meters.

Updated: I was able to answer my own question. FIFA rules regarding the playing surface.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

And just like that, it is raining in SEA.

Welcome to the PNW.

 

[313Ghazi]

Golden generation was - in fairness - the best group of footballers England have ever fielded at the same time, better than this lot. They failed because of their individual egos and rivalries in the dressing room. They still take digs at each other even today when they're all in their 50s.

Also shit tactics. Always trying 442, that team in a 433 or a 4231 would have been fantastic. They also lacked a natural left sided attacker.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Was it just me or could the refs make it any more obvious? Some of the fouls against Ghana where atrocious.

 

[_Arabia_]

Happy for Ghana. Remember how close they were to reaching the semifinals back in 2010 as the first African team in history. Until Morocco did it back in 2018 as the first Arab and African country in history.

Panama not doing bad though. Impressive from such a small country.

In general international football, which this World Cup has so far confirmed, is becoming more and more even. It is rare to see a huge gap in quality as once was the case.

The outliner so far has been the Germany-Curacao match but that was hardly a surprise. Curacao has a population less than 150.000 and I read that all of their players, except for one of them, were born in the Netherlands.

The only thing, having a cousin attending the World Cup in the US, that I think is unnecessary for a country like the US, is the pricing of not only the tickets (FIFA probably have a say here) but everything from transportation, hotels, food etc.

It is opportunistic, cheap and quite frankly desperate to have to pay 100 dollars for transportation from Manhattan to Metlife Stadium. Public transportation (subway) no less.

Which is a shame as the US is not an overly expensive country to travel within and dine in etc.

A lot of football fans from across the world have been prevented from attending for those reasons. Other reasons is the US denying them visas etc.

I don't recall (even though this was before my time) this being the case in 1994 from those who experienced that tournament.