How the ‘Yanks have f***ed football’ at this World Cup | OneFootball

Spain were held by Cape Verde and that was exciting but there’s still a lot of cynicism around this World Cup.

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Cry more, Shearer

I’m sure multiple trophy-winning manager Thomas Tuchel will be devastated to learn that Alan Shearer, whose managerial record basically consists of getting Newcastle relegated, is shocked at his team selection. Ant MUFC (trying to remember the last time I saw a tv advert that didn’t have Peter Crouch in it)

Can England buck World Cup trend?

Well the pressure has got to many of the big guns at this World Cup so far. Brazil, Netherlands, Spain and Belgium all have underwhelmed. Let’s hope the pressure doesn’t get to England on Wednesday to. Dan, London

Chef’s kiss for F365

I must say that in the many, many years I have read your site, this paragraph may just be my favourite thing ever;

Just magnificent. Dave, Scotland

Let’s talk Belgium

No one in Belgium is under any illusions about this “bronze cohort” (I like that expression, by the way) and what it might achieve. 2022 was such a depressing tournament, Belgium eliminated at the group stage.

It has meant a new approach was needed and only a handful of players have stayed on from the 2018 tournament.

Rudi Garcia was appointed in 2025 and while asking a Frenchman to manage the Belgian national team is as unpopular as calling on a German to lead England, he has been able to get a tune out of this bunch of miscellaneous Aston Villa players and others.

We like it, and the country is excited.

The line-up yesterday was the same as started the most recent friendly, a 5-0 win against Tunisia. Egypt’s early goal, however, made the whole game more cagey.

Belgium have been suspect defensively for a while but Garcia is trusting the new pair of Ngoy and Mechele (5 and 10 appearances each) in the centre of his back four and it works. Further forward, he’s decided to start young De Kettelaere as a false nine, I’d prefer to see Lukebakio myself, but in doing that he’s counting on KDB, Doku, Trossard or Tielemans to chip in with goals, which is reasonable.

It’s football on the front foot, even if the quality is sometimes lacking. And having watched Slot-ball all season it’s nice to see a manager change the set-up mid game with early substitutions.

Egypt was the toughest team in the group. If Belgium get out of the group it will already be cause for celebration. Paul in Brussels

The Yanks have f***ed football

Props to ITV, their coverage is knocking spots off the beeb for a change (except for Matterface and Dixon that is!) Emma Hayes is brilliant and is easily the most enlightening pundit with actual insight.

But…

I think I’m going to find four-quarter football more depressing than Brexit.

What’s wrong with having bottles at the side of the pitch so players can drink when they have a chance to?

The Yanks have f***ed football. T A

…We are well into the first week of games at the 2024 World Cup and I’ve seen some positives and negatives.

On the positive side, after all the scare stories about ticket prices, from what I can see on TV every single game has looked pretty much sold out. This is almost unheard of, as normally there are a few games involving the less‑supported nations that have thousands of empty seats. I did see some media coverage about empty seats, but it seemed minimal.

Next on the positive side, there have seemingly been no issues between fans. There have been pictures of rival supporters mixing and enjoying themselves. And on that point, it seems that the stadiums don’t have segregated sections for different fans. Sure, there are sections with a much higher percentage of supporters from one team, but I’ve been shocked by how much mixing there appears to be in most parts of the stadium. This is completely opposite to how things work in club football and most other tournaments, where fans are separated by fences and police cordons. All my life I’ve heard about how rugby supporters are supposedly so much better than football fans partly because they can mix in the stands, which football fans never could.

However, on the negative side, because fans are mixed there seems to be far less of the traditional football atmosphere, including group singing and chants.

The stadiums are great, but they are modern, non‑football stadiums, so fans seem far from the pitch, and at some grounds there don’t even appear to be fans at pitch level. Again, all this seems to sanitise the atmosphere.

Finally, fully on the negative side, the North American football‑fan culture seems to have made its way into the World Cup. Fans seem to wander off during half‑time and don’t appear to realise that half‑time is only 15 minutes, hence there are lots of empty seats for the first 10–15 minutes of the second half. Also, supporters seem over the moon when they catch the ball — do they think they get to keep it or win a prize, as I guess happens in North American sports?

Then, as others have stated, the rehydration breaks are not needed in many stadiums where the temperature is not high or the stadiums are air‑conditioned. Clearly these breaks have been mandated to placate the North American sponsors. For the last 40 years we’ve been hearing that US TV channels wanted more breaks in football because they need more opportunities to sell advertising. We need to be really careful with this. No one wants the game split into four quarters. The current hydration breaks make no sense, including the fact that the clock keeps running, meaning by default it’s two 50‑minute halves. We need to stamp this out. National FAs need to push back on mandatory hydration breaks, or else we are likely to end up with two formats of football: the normal European two 45‑minute halves, and the North American/summer‑tournament format with four 22.5‑minute quarters.

As we’ve seen with VAR, adding new elements to football can lead to unintentional negative connotations, if there is a North American/summer-tournament format what other rule changes might they want for this format, stopping the clock, coach’s challenges, shootouts for all games because apparently the Americans don’t like draws, it’s a slippery slope…. Paul K, London

Hydration breaks and irony

Now, look. I’m all for a bit of outrage at excessive capitalism (See also: Musk, Elon) but the latest column written by Nestor Watach was doused in so much irony, it was hard to discern the point they were trying to make.

I get it – I really do – that football, as a concept and a sport, has been pushed to the brink of ruination by greedy corporations and individuals monetising the comparatively penniless; taking every available opportunity invent new ways to leech money from their support.

But… one cannot be so fundamentally involved in an enterprise, and then cry ‘foul’ when it doesn’t suit. Fans have the power in football; if the product is not supported, then the product does not survive. Evolution works in the commercial landscape, just like everywhere else. So, while football fans not only put up with – but by their actions (attending games, buying the merch, interacting with the product) encourage – the output, the race to bankruptcy, both personal and moral, will continue.

Local, lower league football is still the game almost universally beloved; so, too, the WSL and associated products. Anecdotally, I have noticed a significant drop in the interest of this world cup in comparison to previous iterations, for which I am thankful. Any reaction, however meagre, to the blatant corruption of The Tango Totalitarian and the sycophantic Infantino is to be praised. For me, what was once the joy of the game has been sucked out by the all-too-overt vehicle of audience farming, and by and large (with the exception of the odd drop onto these pages) I have moved away from active interest in top-tier corporate greed football, and found my life improved by doing so. I am yet to watch a minute of this world cup, and won’t be surprised if I don’t consume any of it.

If anyone wants to make any kind of difference, then that is how it must be achieved. Not by stamping feet, but by voting with them – not engaging with what is now a distasteful and crass display of being sold unnecessary items, where once there was a healthy and enjoyable activity. Does anyone else remember those days?

Finally, the cherry on top of this particular mound, was trying to read article between so many adverts as to make the endeavour almost impossible – with the main events being huge, full length side banner adverts for Red Bull, which between them take up almost ½ the screen. People in glass houses, eh? Ed the Grouch

The perfect World Cup exists

The perfect World Cup exists, just not in the men’s game.

The 2023 women’s World Cup in AUS and NZ was an example of what happens when people care about the event and not the money.

Record attendances, record viewership (even at unsuitable hours for European markets). And outside the costs of actually travelling that far to support, no exploitative pricing of tickets or accommodation. Team merchandise is always going to be a rip-off as that’s not relative to local pricing.

Prime example – As a local, I bought 4 tickets (2 adults, 2 children) for USA vs Netherlands in the group stages, one of the more prestigious fixtures, and it cost me around $90 NZ. That’s under £40 in 2026 money.

If you want an affordable authentic World Cup experience, may I suggest you investigate the Brazil 2027 Women’s World Cup. 32 teams, 64 matches, only 8 fixture locations. It’s how it used to be and may not be much longer. get it while you can. NorbuckNZ

World Cup ruined by woke

The World Cup has kicked of so I guess we all thought it could all be about the football now but no of course not because nobody is allowed nice things. Video assistant referee Shaun Evans has thankfully been cleared by FIFA but still had to explain why he involuntarily made ‘OK’ sign because the politically disabled who are still falling for a 9 year old internet troll needed an excuse to scream ‘white supremacy’. For some context below is an explanation anyone with access to an internet search engine can find (thankfully FIFA did):

“The association of the OK hand gesture with white supremacy originated as a hoax on 4chan in February 2017. Anonymous users launched “Operation O-KKK” to trick the media and liberals into believing the innocuous gesture was a secret symbol for “white power,” claiming the fingers formed the letters W and P.”

I’m just glad sanity won out on this one and FIFA made the right decision not to ruin an innocent man’s career over nothing. The BBC of course made this non-event one of their top stories because of course they would as p***ing your licence fee up the wall to push an already dated agenda is all they do these days.

Now back to football because even Scotland won a game (congrats!). William, Leicester

Fed up of Bellingham mum Henderson

“I’m sure he will have a big impact for us in this tournament. I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough. How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really. I had a good idea when I first saw him playing and training, and the way he was.

I think everybody forgets how young he is. We do rondos and it’s the youngest in, and there’s people that I think should be going in before him, but he’s always one of the first in the middle to go in. It just reminds us how young he is. I honestly couldn’t speak highly enough of him.”

We’ve not even played yet, and I’m already heartily sick of Jude Bellingham and his mum Jordan Henderson.

You can’t have it both ways, either he’s a poor baby who should be lauded for – gasp – going first at standing in the middle of a circle of players and trying to get hold of the ball, or he’s a grown man who has plenty of experience of playing at the most pressurised club in the world.

It’s really simple, he either does his talking with his feet and keeps his mouth shut, or he takes the bait/waves his arms at the ref, as is becoming increasingly usual. He’s not rescuing children who have fallen down an old well, he’s playing football, which he’s really bloody good at when he focuses on doing just that. RHT/TS x