FIFA World Cup 2026

[AZ_HighCountry]

Best example of this in world football is the advantage that Bolivia almost always enjoys whenever they are playing World Cup qualifying home games in La Paz.

Estadio Municipal de El Alto - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.wikipedia.org

Brazil, Argentina and others regularly lose due to this Bolivian advantage.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

4.100 meters above sea level. I think it is the highest located stadium in the world. Somehow FIFA have accepted this Bolivian advantage as they could play their home games in many other cities and towns in Bolivia that are not located that high.

For instance Santa Cruz de la Sierra (their largest city).

This is what I dislike about football. That the stadiums are not equal in quality. It is not like NFL where most stadiums are very similar in terms of quality (altitude, size etc. are different of course) or even better example tennis courts or basketball courts.

In football the lesser teams often use bad pitches (that slow down the play and favor the team defending) etc. to their advantage.

Quito, Lima, and Bogota are similar. Bogota especially is at the same altitude as Mexico City.

 

[F-22Raptor]

This would be my lineup against Belgium. Pepi has looked bad

 

[_Arabia_]

Quito, Lima, and Bogota are similar. Bogota especially is at the same altitude as Mexico City.

Quito and Bogotá, yes, Lima not so much.

Speaking about Mexico City, a bit surprised that more knockout games are not being played there and in Mexico in general. Same with Canada. Only 3 knockout games being played in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver). Mexico City (Azteca stadium) only used 2 times in the knockout rounds. Once during the Mexico-Ecuador game and last time against England.

View attachment 204334

This would be my lineup against Belgium. Pepi has looked bad

The US has a good chance of advancing against Belgium. The Belgians looked really horrible in the group stage aside from the match against New Zealand. Very surprised by their comeback against Senegal. I did not watch that game though so they could have been very lucky. Playing in front of your own home crowd is a big advantage and the US have improved greatly compared to previous teams.

Intrigued to see how the US would perform against say Spain or Portugal (most likely on paper) in the quarterfinals if they advance against Belgium.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Quito and Bogotá, yes, Lima not so much.

Speaking about Mexico City, a bit surprised that more knockout games are not being played there and in Mexico in general. Same with Canada. Only 3 knockout games being played in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver). Mexico City (Azteca stadium) only used 2 times in the knockout rounds. Once during the Mexico-Ecuador game and last time against England.


The US has a good chance of advancing against Belgium. The Belgians looked really horrible in the group stage aside from the match against New Zealand. Very surprised by their comeback against Senegal. I did not watch that game though so they could have been very lucky. Home advantage is a big advantage as well and the US have improved greatly compared to previous teams.

Promotion of the US as the host nation even though the Mexican venues and attendance would be more appropriate and higher.

I actually like the idea of a few more games in Canada. Especially in Vancouver. The weather has been excellent.

 

[_Arabia_]

Promotion of the US as the host nation even though the Mexican venues and attendance would be more appropriate and higher.

I actually like the idea of a few more games in Canada. Especially in Vancouver. The weather has been excellent.

It makes sense that the largest (and wealthiest) country, of those 3, also the one with the largest stadiums, is going to host the majority of the games in the knockout stage, but the disparity is a bit too much for a World Cup which is hosted by 3 nations.

In particular Mexico should have had more games than just 2 knockout games in one sole location (Mexico City and Azteca).

Don't know this with certainty on top of my head but it might be because Mexico does not have many other stadiums with a capacity of at least 60.000.

 

[KAL-EL]

Loving this American terminology. I fully intend to use "Prevent defense" and "cover 2/3" in my workplace football discussions henceforth.

Glad I could contribute

 

[hasssanali8998]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

let it go man