FIFA expanded the World Cup to 48 teams promising us a massive festival of goals, and yesterday the entire tournament collectively decided to go on strike.
🇪🇸 Spain 0 - 0 Cape Verde 🇨🇻
🇧🇪 Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt 🇪🇬
🇺🇾 Uruguay 1 - 1 Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
Three high placed nations completely neutralized in a single day.
Every single accumulator ticket in the world was destroyed by dinner time. The bookmakers are literally ordering new yachts this morning. 🛥️
European fans completely underestimated the geographical and logistical nightmare of this US World Cup. 🌍📉
Just look at England's 🏴 exact group stage schedule:
Match 1 (TODAY): Opening against a battle-hardened Croatia 🇭🇷 in Dallas. Playing an absolute physical war in the suffocating Texas summer heat (35°C+).🥵
The Massive Shift: Flying roughly 4 hours across the country to Boston to face a highly athletic Ghana 🇬🇭. A complete shift in climate and environment in just a few days.✈️
The Concrete Jungle: Traveling to New York to finish the group against Panama 🇵🇦 in heavy East Coast humidity.🏙️
🚓 The Off-Pitch Chaos: To top it all off, having their tactical gear and boots literally stolen from a transport truck in Kansas City before a ball was even kicked.
Surviving this travel schedule, climate changes, and off-pitch chaos is an absolute endurance test. 🏃♂️💨🌡️
Spain drawing 0-0 to Cape Verde, Belgium held by Egypt, and the Netherlands dropping points to Japan...
If anyone thought this new 48-team World Cup format was going to be a walk in the park for European giants, they clearly haven't been paying attention. The gap is closing fast. 🌍⚽️
Jose Mourinho, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konaté, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella.
Still in June. 🤯
Don Florentino Perez, ladies and gentlemen.
He is back📷 👑
⁉️Did you know... while goalscorers get all the glory, the all-time World Cup assist record is actually held by Pelé with 10?
However, Lionel Messi holds an arguably harder record to break: he is the ONLY player in football history to register an assist in 5 different World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). If he provides just one assist in the 2026 tournament, he will extend this impossible record to 6 editions. Playmaking longevity at its finest. 🎯⚽️
⁉️Did you know... the 2026 World Cup is the first one in history where a team must play 8 games to win the trophy instead of 7? 🏆
Because of the expanded format and the new Round of 32, historical records are in serious danger. Miroslav Klose currently holds the record for the most World Cup goals in history (16). However, Kylian Mbappé already has 12.
With a potential 8 matches on his schedule this summer, the extra 90 minutes give Mbappé the perfect opportunity to break the all-time record. ⚽️📊
Will he break the record❔