Starts tomorrow.
Any other fans out there? Any particular matches you won’t miss the next few days?
I’m not a super fan of soccer, but I’m happy to see Iceland in it for the first time. We really enjoyed our trip to Iceland last fall!
We’!l watch some with a friend couple who are SAms. Another couple we met through them left for Russia yesterday.
I’ve yet to decide which team I want to pull for.
Iceland had an awesome run at UEFA 2016. It will be fun to watch them, for sure.
I’m not a huge soccer fan, hardly ever see a game, but the worl cup is different for me. I’ll try to see all games.
I’ll like see this games.
June 15th POR - SPAIN
June 16th FRA - AUS
June 17th GER - MEX
June 19th COL- JPN
June 21th FRA - PER
June 21th ARG - CRO
June 22th BRA - CRO
June 24th POL - COL
June 28th ENG - BEL
I’ll be watching and taping as much as possible, at least the most interesting matchups. Although without the US, Italy or the Netherlands, I’m a bit disappointed. It’ll be different for sure.
Brazil is always worth watching for the sheer drama. From such a tiny little country, Iceland has some of the world’s best athletes. And now the world can appreciate them on the big stage. Argentina-Iceland should be a great matchup. Anything with Messi (or Ronaldo) will be awesome to watch. And then there’s Harry Kane and the Three Lions.
Germany-Mexico on Sunday should be exciting. And then Germany-Sweden should be a great match too. Group F is arguably the dreaded “Group of Death.”
I’m on overload. Too much.
I have a coworker whose husband is taking two of their three teenage children to Russia to see some of the games. I’m kind of nervous for them.
I am a huge fan of international soccer, so will watch as many games as possible (attended the 1994 World Cup when it was in the US and am super excited about World Cup 2026 being in North America!). But I am a bigger fan of the women’s game than the men’s.
Come on England! =D>
Just tell me which team has the hawtest boys.
We are a soccer family, both kids played through high school, and one plays in college. The schedule of matches is in our family calendar, and we will DVR every game of interest. We have wonderful World Cup memories from when the kids were young and we’d watch together, starting in ‘06. The heartbreak, the emotion, was unbearable. I couldn’t imagine how grown ups lived through it every 4 years, after watching my kids’ heartbreak. We were texting today about tickets for 8 years from now, will be so exciting to experience some match(es) somewhere, live in '26. That being said, we will cheer for any team that has players we admire, so this World Cup, that means, Egypt, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Croatia, France, Nigeria and more. It’s only when we get to the knock out stage that tempers flare as we root for different teams.
We’re a huge soccer family. I’m headed to San Diego next week with my youngest son for the US Soccer Development Academy Playoffs. I’ll watch Portugal v Morocco & Uruguay v Saudi Arabia on the flight, which should help the time pass. I’ll definitely find my way to a local soccer bar this Friday for Portugal v Spain.
I love that the World Cup brings out additional soccer fans - if only for the duration!
Our family has a World Cup bracket that about 12 of us participate in. It’s all good natured and very lightly competitive with S who is a huge soccer fan sending a group text after each day of games to highlight who is ahead in the bracket and who is failing miserably - along with game highlights, written in a very humorous/tongue in cheek way.
So I’ll be keeping my eye on the games! (though not ever likely to sit and watch until maybe near the end)
Whose predictions are you going with: Achilles, the “Psychic Cat,” or Spartak, the lemur? Achilles picked Russia to win the opening match; Spartak picked Saudi Arabia.
I haven’t watched much soccer recently but I will be embarking on my 2 year self flagellation exercise of watching England in their Euro/World Cup odyssey’s. If we run to form I fully expect to crash out of the competition in the last 16 on penalties as a million pound a week prima donna hoofs a penalty along with the dreams and expectations of an entire nation into the upper tier of spectators behind the goal.
Watching first match now. I think the Psychic Cat will be right, @rosered55. I think Russia had a fairly easy opening draw.
The octopus died, right?
FIFA ranks Saudi Arabia as #67 in the world and Russia #70, which from a quick glance, is the lowest ranked country in the WC. If I’m a Russian fan, and I’m not, I wouldn’t get too excited and go out and bet Russia to win. =))
Although I wouldn’t put it past Russia to fix the games in some form or fashion. :))
I’m a huge sports fan period, pretty much anything with a ball or even a shuttlecock. Which reminds me, no one started a thread on the 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup Finals from Bangkok, Thailand a couple weeks ago. It was televised on the Olympics Channel on my Cable. I guess no badminton fans here. :-bd
@sushiritto My husband was watching, at least part of it. 
@doschicos You gotta play sometime. Badminton is great fun and exercise. Here in the SF Bay Area, we have badminton clubs since it’s a huge sport in Asian cultures and we have a large Asian population here.
Tomorrow is the Spain vs. Portugal match. And I’m personally buzzed up about Argentina vs. Iceland on Saturday morning.
We’ll definitely be watching the Argentina match (all of them actually) as the Argentine team is a house favorite for decades. Spain over Portugal please.
Re: Badminton We’ve only had experience recreationally in backyard games. The competitive game is so quick! I admire their hand/eye coordination.