Fifa World Cup 2026

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Batman

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#324941 16-Jun-2026 17:24

I am absolutely astounded by the quality of the footy displayed in this year's WC. worth every NZD spent on the TVNZ WC pass.

I hope I don't jinx the footy but normally WC matches are boring where nobody wants to lose.

But this time round everybody wants to score.

So happy for NZ and Iran. I didn't realise NZ could actually play footy - are most of our team Phoenix players? And Iran was not completely match fit I don't think, due to political dramas leading up.

ALso plenty of empty seats in various matches thanks to the eye gouging ticket prices.

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#3503602 16-Jun-2026 18:57

Sure was an exciting and fast paced match. Am sort of glad it was a tie as felt a bit sorry for the Iranians who were put under so much pressure and not allowed to arrive early like all the other teams. They also had to leave after each match and return again for the next one but news just out says they can stay overnight.

Our team were exceptional and very professional. Looking forward to their next match on Monday with Egypt.

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#3503603 16-Jun-2026 18:58

The team are from everywhere, some in the starting lineup are ex Phoenix players and some off the bench are Auckland FC. Elijah Just has been banging them in Scottish Premier League all season and our 2x centre backs are MLS starters, Cacace ex Seria A now with Wrexham. Midfield with Stamenic at Swansea but he’s been all over Europe and played Champions League before and Joe Bell at Viking. Only 1x player in the starting lineup is at the nix I believe although Singh was on loan with the nix this season it wasn’t a productive spell.

This team has the core of the 2019 U20 NZ team that absolutely competed and at times could dominate teams at that tournament, played against a young Erling Haaland and got a result against them. We all thought this was gonna be our golden generation with Singh went to Bayern Munich at the time and Cacace carving up A-league all the players were destined to do well but football injuries and player development can be cruel at times.

I didn’t expect this result today because frankly we’ve been so inconsistent but I’m happy they showed some of their potential on the big stage, it’s never been easy for an OFC team to get to the senior World Cup.

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#3503605 16-Jun-2026 19:05

Batman:

I hope I don't jinx the footy but normally WC matches are boring where nobody wants to lose.

England play tomorrow..... 😝

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#3503658 17-Jun-2026 08:27

Not a football expert by any means but I thought the Mexican referee was excellent. Not seduced by theatrics and only one yellow card which was as much a professional foul to stifle the counterattack as it was foul play.

Also, is the reason Just had space in the goal area was because Iran identified Wood as the main attacking threat and concentrated on marking him? If so, Egypt and Belgium won’t make the same mistake.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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#3503666 17-Jun-2026 09:18

i even saw a yellow card reversed and giving to the player diving instead. i think it was USA Paraguay.

need all diving to be looked at by VAR and yellow carded.

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#3503704 17-Jun-2026 10:35

NZ vs Iran was a excellent game overall. Could have won, but not cant complain with a draw really. The crowd noise at the stadium was incredible on the TV.

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#3503714 17-Jun-2026 11:00

Overall, this has started as one of the most enjoyable WC's I have watched.
NZ unbeaten at a WC Finals tournament in 44 years, now. Got to be some sort of record!

The crowds have been amazing too...despite the location of many of these matches and ridiculous prices of tickets.

There have been some surprising and obviously unsurprising results, but the amount of attacking intent that is being displayed is awesome for the spectacle of the game.

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Batman

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#3503727 17-Jun-2026 11:42

Handsomedan:

Overall, this has started as one of the most enjoyable WC's I have watched.
NZ unbeaten at a WC Finals tournament in 44 years, now. Got to be some sort of record!

agreed. so far anyway. someone said until England shows up ...

the NZ record is not going to stand i don't think (on paper anyway)

don't we have Egypt and Belgium to face ...

Handsomedan

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#3503749 17-Jun-2026 13:13

Batman:

don't we have Egypt and Belgium to face ...

Pfft...they don't have Tim Payne.

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CYaBro

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#3503758 17-Jun-2026 13:49

Batman:

Handsomedan:

Overall, this has started as one of the most enjoyable WC's I have watched.
NZ unbeaten at a WC Finals tournament in 44 years, now. Got to be some sort of record!

agreed. so far anyway. someone said until England shows up ...

the NZ record is not going to stand i don't think (on paper anyway)

don't we have Egypt and Belgium to face ...

Iran is higher in the world rankings than Egypt so if we play as well as we did against Iran we may get a win there.
Belgium is a lot tougher though.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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#3503780 17-Jun-2026 15:13

Messi rolling back the years and scoring a hattrick, proving that he is almost as talented as Eli Just.

Big game for England tomorrow morning...

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#3503788 17-Jun-2026 15:44

CYaBro:

Iran is higher in the world rankings than Egypt so if we play as well as we did against Iran we may get a win there.
Belgium is a lot tougher though.

I said this to my 13yr old, and was politely told Egypt have Salah and Marmoush and we're gonna get cooked..

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#3503791 17-Jun-2026 15:52

World ranking doesn't matter. The ball is round. Form and mindset shown in the last match shows that Egypt wants to beat the world.

Handsomedan

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#3503800 17-Jun-2026 16:32

Batman:

World ranking doesn't matter. The ball is round. Form and mindset shown in the last match shows that Egypt wants to beat the world.

World rankings have never mattered.
Teams that aren't as good as others have higher rankings as they play against opposition that are higher ranked and therefore they gain more "ranking points" for a win or draw.

NZ cooks the opposition in Oceania, but because they are so lowly ranked as opposition, they don't gain the points they'd get if it were Asia, Afcon, Conmebol, Concacaf or UEFA.

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#3503801 17-Jun-2026 16:36

if anyone else thinks the TVNZ+ stream looks bad here is what i found. If you have your settings on best Quality then it will be only in HD [720] . You need to set it to Auto to get the full HD stream. Im not sure why maybe someone will explain it to me.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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