OT: The 2026 World Cup Thread

Huckleberry1 · Jun 14, 2026

Sect140 said:
The game I’m going to is at Gillette, England vs Ghana.

Go Ghana

XLIX · Jun 14, 2026

Mike the Brit said:
The BBC is a publicly-funded service with no advertising so the licence fee is a dedicated tax to pay for it. What's so strange about that?

I still don’t understand…. Do you mean your tax dollars go to pay for public TV…? Because we have that in America.

But the video I saw made it seem like you have to pay for an actual license and if they catch you watching TV without a license, you could be fined.

Mike the Brit · Jun 14, 2026

XLIX said:
I still don’t understand…. Do you mean your tax dollars go to pay for public TV…? Because we have that in America.

But the video I saw made it seem like you have to pay for an actual license and if they catch you watching TV without a license, you could be fined.

Absolutely. The point I'm making is that not every tax comes out of a general pot. Some are in the form of licences. In the U.S. you have to pay tax on cars in the form of a registration fee, tax for parking in the form of a Resident's Permit, tax on hunting and fishing in the form of a licence. It's just the same thing.

ScottishPatriots · Jun 14, 2026

XLIX said:
I still don’t understand…. Do you mean your tax dollars go to pay for public TV…? Because we have that in America.

But the video I saw made it seem like you have to pay for an actual license and if they catch you watching TV without a license, you could be fined.

If you don't pay £180 a year you can't watch live TV in the UK, £1000 fine if they catch you without one.

You have to pay for all your TV subscriptions on top of that too, that just gives you a couple of free channels that basically don't have any sports bar the World Cup, Wimbledon and a handful of games every now and then.

You're paying another £120+ a month for what you'd call cable if you want to watch any Premier League, NFL, NBA ect.

ScottishPatriot · Jun 14, 2026

ScottishPatriots said:
My god we were brutal but when you're Scotland at a World Cup you'll take any win you can get.

I can only half agree, my similarly-named friend.

Relieved we won, but a couple more goals - which was totally achievable in the game - would’ve given us an excellent chance of going through.

As it is, we’ve left ourselves needing a point against either the 6th or 17th ranked teams in the world…

Sect140 · Jun 14, 2026

Triumph said:
Indoors

The roof opens.

DoubleDeluxe · Jun 14, 2026

Dec54 said:
The NFL is popular yes, but soccer is by far and away the most popular sport in the UK

And the world for that matter.

One-If-By-Sea · Jun 14, 2026

XLIX said:
But the video I saw made it seem like you have to pay for an actual license and if they catch you watching TV without a license, you could be fined.

This is correct. There is a specific TV Tax, not part of any general tax. By law all citizens with a television have to pay it because it is a federal law. When I lived there in the 80s, people called it the Telly Tax.

h0c2000 · Jun 14, 2026

TB12 enjoying the other football.

Actual Pats Fan · Jun 14, 2026

JayNM said:
While most of you have nothing look forward to for July, us real football lovers come together again to celebrate the biggest sport spetacle of the world

World Cup babyyy

And this time is being held in your (well most of "your") home country. And Mexico. And Canada. Do you think the USMNT has any chance of going far? Pulisic will have to work extra time to carry you all.

I think, of all teams, Portugal is my pick. I just love their midfield. Spain, France and (homer-take) Brazil come next

Whilst as a Brazilian I can't contain my excitement for when it comes around, this world cup has had already many strange things occurring:

-the US barred from entry Africa's best referee.
-Senegal's national team was stripped while arriving at airport.
-Iraq has to land, play and depart from games in US soil in 24 hours.
-International supporters having a hard time coming to support their team, making some games still being empty. For the World Cup.

48 teams for first time. Kinda cool to see Cape Verde, Curaçau and Uzebekistan in the tourney. They really shouldn't be playing the World Cup, though.

It is a bit funny that after Russia hosted the games, then Qatar, it is the US who has least "freedom" optics, but hey, it is 2026, we are all living in a dystopian reality.

As of now, Mexico and South Africa are playing, to begin the show.

Are you excited for it? Because it is being held in the US, are some of you more interested in the games?

Let's get this **** going. VEM HEXA

PatsWickedPissah · Jun 15, 2026

Can't say I'm big on soccer but my night nurse one evening when I was briefly hospitalized with a punctured lung said he was from Haiti. Hard to tell cause he sounded like he was from New Hampster. He was psyched about his fav team finally making the World Cup playoffs. He looked like he could play strong safety for the Patriots. I was gonna ask him in the morning, "Have you met the other black guy from NH?" but he was gone when I woke up.

borg · Jun 15, 2026

ScottishPatriots said:
If you don't pay £180 a year you can't watch live TV in the UK, £1000 fine if they catch you without one.

You have to pay for all your TV subscriptions on top of that too, that just gives you a couple of free channels that basically don't have any sports bar the World Cup, Wimbledon and a handful of games every now and then.

You're paying another £120+ a month for what you'd call cable if you want to watch any Premier League, NFL, NBA ect.

I'm curious how much tax is included in the price of petrol in Great Britain.
At 2 pounds / liter ($7.50/gal)........

ScottishPatriots · Jun 15, 2026

borg said:
I'm curious how much tax is included in the price of petrol in Great Britain.
At 2 pounds / liter ($7.50/gal)........

About 55% of it is tax, it's taxed twice.

There's a fuel duty tax of 52.95 pence per litre then there's a 20% tax on top of the total cost.

Triumph · Jun 15, 2026

Actual Pats Fan said:

I really cant see how soccer is going to takeover as the # 1 sport in the US.

If baseball is too boring soccer will never make it.

Triumph · Jun 15, 2026

I wish they would list the overall ranking by each country and the host stadium where the score is shown.

The length of the game is already a mystery.

patman12 · Jun 15, 2026

I love how the Japanese fans bring trash bags to games to help clean up the stadium post match.

borg · Jun 15, 2026

Triumph said:
I wish they would list the overall ranking by each country and the host stadium where the score is shown.

The length of the game is already a mystery.

Imagine the info you could ascertain during the time it took you to type your wish list

Triumph · Jun 15, 2026

borg said:
Imagine the info you could ascertain during the time it took you to type your wish list

The rankings fluctuate every few days. Just cut to the chase and list them each match for the fans new to the game.

The stadium location is likely mentioned at the beginning, but some folks tune in late.

Guts · Jun 15, 2026

historical draw
Cape Verde ties vs Euro champion Spain

sb1 · Jun 15, 2026

Spain - CV 0-0 draw. Wow

1	622

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