World Cup 2026 (Part 8) Final and 3rd Place

The final two games of World Cup 2026

France and England both blowing out in the Semi Finals meet on Saturday for the meaningless Bronze medal match.

Maybe a chance for Mbappe, Kane and Bellingham to catch Messi for the Golden Boot, but possibly a couple of reserve teams to play it out.

Sunday is the World Cup Final Argentina vs Spain

Spain have quietly got there without looking anywhere near as good as they did in the 2024 Euros, but are really hard to beat.

Argentina have done just enough to get through the last four rounds, but even the most unbiased fan would say it must have been with FIFA's help, so many fouls by their players going unpunished when everyone else was getting red's and yellow's for less.

 

Hopefully Spain put an end to it, but you never know?

 

France v England

Spain v Argentina

England

Got that empty feeling I seem to get every couple of years.
Every tournament I start out hoping England do well, then they get through to the latter stages and hopes start to rise.
After France's non performance on Tuesday, I started to dream of an England win.
An ageing Argentina team who had scraped through the last couple of games, followed by Spain which if we were at our best was a possible?
But once again we blew it.

Tuchel went from hero to zero after 70 minutes, could not understand why he took Gordon off for a defender when he has pace to burn and would have given us and out ball if Argentina started to dominate play.
Then it got worse with Rice and James taken off for more defenders leaving six at the back inviting pressure.
Obviously the game ended up being played in our half with nobody to take the game to Argentina, Kane was knackered, Bellingham couldn't be everywhere and the inevitable happened.

Overall a few great moments, but never looked like World Champions.
The Mexico win was the highlight, the second half against Croatia was good, did just enough in the other games
Bellingham, Spence, Kane, Anderson, Gordon and maybe Stones come out of it with credit.
Saka, Rice and James were all playing with injuries so not at their best.
Watkins got less than ten minutes, Toney got about three, Mainoo didn't get any, and no idea why Challobah was called up to be a bench warmer?

I think things will get awkward for Tuchel from now on, looked like the master tactician when we defended a lead with ten men against Mexico, but trying the same tactics in this game when we still had eleven on the pitch and could have brought on some fire power (Watkins, Rashord, Saka) to take the game to Argentina just seemed like a coach with limited ideas.

I guess I'll go through it all again in 2028 ?

World Cup 2026 (Part 7) Semi Finals

World Cup Semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

France through in a low key game against Morocco.
Spain having a harder game against Belgium with a late winner by supersub Merino.
England making us all sweat in the heat of Miami against Norway.
Kept Haaland quiet but had to rely on Bellingham's two great strikes to see us through in extra time.
Argentina also scraping through in extra time against the ten men of Switzerland, after Embolo's two dumb yellow cards. Great winner by Alvarez but less than impressive overall and again aided by some more dubious officiating.

I think England on a good day should be able to beat Argentina, although injuries and fatigue and FIFA's love of Argentina could go against us.
Rice and Saka nowhere near their best, Kane looked shattered against Norway but hopefully 3 days rest will see them recovered.
France still looking the favourites, although Spain who haven't really been in top gear will make it tough.

France v Spain
England v Argentina

World Cup 2026 (Part 6) Quarter Finals

The World Cup winds down as we get to the Quarter Finals starting Thursday at 9pm.
France survive Paraguay's dirty tricks to take on Africa's remaining team Morocco.
Spain haven't really been firing yet but haven't conceded any goals go up against the Trump inspired Belgians.
England who were excellent against Mexico meet Norway who have Haaland so not a certainty.
Argentina with a ref assisted win over Egypt, meet Switzerland who scraped through a dull 0-0 over Colombia to win on Penalties.

France v Morocco
Spain v Belgium
Norway v England
Argentina v Switzerland

England vs Mexico

Well that was the most enjoyable and also most stressful England game in many years.
Although I expected (or just hoped) England would win, the various factors involved were arguing against it. High altitude, 90,000 passionate Mexican fans with only a few thousand rich England fans, the fact Mexico had only lost twice in 89 previous games at the Azteca.
Also that England hadn't really clicked in the first four games.

Rice picking up a booking in the first minute didn't bode well, but after that it was a proper performance with Bellingham again the stand out.
Kane, Gordon, Pickford all having top games, and the late subs after the sending off all playing blinders even though having a ten man defence with no one in the Mexican half was nerve wracking for the last 30 minutes.

Quansah had been playing well before the sending off, but I assume King Charles will be on the phone to Infantino to get the red card suspended (as that's the new rule?).

Just got to deal with Haaland on Saturday now  😟

World Cup 2026 (Part 5) Last 16

Round of 16 time, games running from tonight till Tuesday.

Most of the big hitters still in it, only real shock was Germany losing to Paraguay on penalties!!, 

near shock was Argentina scraping through against Cape Verde.
Netherlands going out was a shame, but unluckily drawn against the higher rated Moroccans. 

Will miss their colourful fans.
Belgium somehow coming back from 2-0 down with minutes to go after being totally outplayed to beat Senegal.
Croatia robbed of a last minute equaliser against Portugal because the English VAR ref decided to use the cricket style 'Snicko' to rule the ball had brushed the Croatian players hair to prove offside, although when it hit the Portugal player on the back it didn't move?
England less than impressive again, two late goals by Kane getting them through against Congo. 

Mexico away looks like a tall order but have to hope.
The logic of calling up Challobah to replace one of the injury prone right backs could cost Tuchel, I'm sure Kyle Walker would have happily jumped on a plane?

Paraguay v France
Canada v Morocco
Brazil v Norway
Mexico v England
Portugal v Spain
United States v Belgium
Argentina v Egypt
Switzerland v Colombia

Think I've blown my effort to beat the AI and the Football "expert" on the predictions, got level after the England game but fell apart in the final 8 games. 😒
(88 Games Played) - BBC-AI 74, Sutton 72, Lee 64

Transfer News

Mateus Fernandes

August 2024 Sporting Lisbon to Southampton - £13 million - Got relegated
August 2025 Southampton to West Ham - £38 million - Got relegated
July 2026 West Ham to Tottenham - £85 million - ?

Really hoping he gets his hat-trick  😁

World Cup 2026 (Part 4) Last 32

A first ever Last 32 round in the World Cup
Matches start Sunday 28th June and finish Saturday 4th July.

African teams getting 9 of the 10 into the next round, Cape Verde the shock but 3 draws enough.

Europe getting 13 of 16 through, Turkey unlucky despite beating hosts USA.
Scotland unlucky to have been drawn in a group with the 6th and 7th ranked teams in the world, so no embarrassment this time. Czechs only managing a draw in their group, a worrying serious looking injury to Soucek is a concern from a West Ham point of view.

Only one South American team going out Uruguay, with Bielsa probably into retirement after that.

So far Asian teams struggled with 7 of 9 out already, Australia who aren't asian plus Japan the only ones through. Unluckiest was Iran (which the hosts will be pleased about), despite all the aggro of having to be flown in and out of the US on the day of the match they ended up unbeaten.
Only a toe nail offside decision in their last game denying them a win, then the crazy injury time draw between Algeria and Austria where both teams were playing keep ball for the agreed draw for 20 minutes before Mahrez scored in the 4th minute of 5 added. Extra time added to allow Austria an equaliser keeping all happy.

Host nations all had pretty easy groups, only Canada had a top 20 rated team (19th ranked Switzerand) who they lost to. America had one hard game against underperforming Turkey which they lost.
Mexico looking good on home soil, if they beat Ecuador in the next round they could play England in Mexico city.

England who have looked impressive for 45 minutes of their 3 games doing enough, Bellingham stepping up to live up to his hype. Kane taking the chances in 2 of the 3 games.
Best players have been Anderson, Bellingham, Rice and Kane. Rashford OK but a bit predictable, Saka not fit and most others looking tired. Hopefully things wil improve.
Next up is Dr Congo, with the fullback duo of Wan-Bissaka and Arthur Masuaku.

Last 32 matches - Final  score not including penalties for predictions.

Current Scores after 72 games
Me 53, Chris Sutton 58, BBC-AI 57

South Africa v Canada
Brazil v Japan
Germany v Paraguay
Netherlands v Morocco
Ivory Coast v Norway
France v Sweden
Mexico v Ecuador
England v DR Congo
Belgium v Senegal
United States v Bosnia Herzegovina
Spain v Austria
Portugal v Croatia
Switzerland v Algeria
Australia v Egypt
Argentina v Cape Verde
Colombia v Ghana

Nostradamus

 No One ?

World Cup 2026 (Part 3)

Final group games

Many teams already through, and a lot of teams already out.

Bosnia Herzogovina v Qatar
Switzerland v Canada
Morocco v Haiti
Scotland v Brazil
Czech Rep v Mexico
South Africa v South Korea
Curacao v Ivory Coast
Ecuador v Germany
Japan v Sweden
Tunisia v Netherlands
Paraguay v Australia
Turkey v USA
Norway v France
Senegal v Iraq
Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia
Uruguay v Spain
Egypt v Iran
New Zealand v Belgium
Croatia v Ghana
Panama v England
Colombia v Portugal
DR Congo v Uzbekistan
Algeria v Austria
Jordan v Argentina

World Cup 2026 (Part 2)

The second set of fixtures start on Thursday (Thursday 18th June to Wednesday 24th June).
Good starts for Germany, Sweden, France, Argentina, USA and some others.
A few of the bigger names will need a result like Brazil and Spain.

Czech Rep v South Africa
Switzerland v Bosnia Herzogovina
Canada  v Qatar
Mexico  v South Korea
USA v Australia
Scotland v Morocco
Brazil v Haiti
Turkey v Paraguay
Netherlands v Sweden
Germany v Ivory Coast
Ecuador v Curacao
Tunisia v Japan
Spain v Saudi Arabia
Belgium v Iran
Uruguay v Cape Verde
New Zealand v Egypt
Argentina v Austria
France v Iraq
Norway v Senegal
Jordan v Algeria
Portugal v Uzbekistan
England v Ghana
Panama v Croatia
Colombia v DR Congo

Just me versus BBC-AI and Chris Sutton in the predictions, I got 3 points in the first game but rubbish in the next 19 ... long way to go 😀

World Cup Week One

Not too bad so far (posted before England play) 🤞

A lot of the games have been near full houses, but a few half empty. 

The indoor stadiums do look good, especially Dallas.

Not heard of any major trouble so far from the US law who have been keeping in the background up till now once people and players have managed to get into the country, but it's early.

.

The big name players making an impact yesterday, Messi, Haaland, Mbappe and apart from Spain being held by Cape Verde no real shocks.

The Dutch, Japanese and Scottish fans have probably been a good advert for FIFA to gloss over the lack of fans of certain countries.

Not sure how many of these fans can stay on if their teams get through, as I guess a lot wanted to experience a World Cup for the first time and felt it was worth the expense to see at least one game, but with most teams having to travel to multiple states and countries meaning more flights and hotels it would rule out a lot?

 

This AI video did amuse me 😁

 

World Cup 2026 (Part 1)

Predictions Time    🌎   🏆   ⚽   🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿   🇲🇽   🇨🇦   🇺🇸

If anyone wants to join in, usual rules
3 points for correct score, 1 point for correct result.
90 (or 120) minute rule for knockout games, penalties count as a draw

Assuming it all goes ahead it will be 104 games, so I'll just keep a running score for the next 6 weeks.

Part 1 - First games for each country (Thursday 11th June - Thursday 18th June)

Mexico v South Africa
South Korea v Czech Rep
Canada v Bosnia Herzegovina
USA v Paraguay
Qatar v Switzerland
Brazil v Morocco
Haiti v Scotland
Australia v Turkey
Germany v Curacao
Netherlands v Japan
Ivory Coast v Ecuador
Sweden v Tunisia
Spain v Cape Verde
Belgium v Egypt
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay
Iran v New Zealand
France v Senegal
Iraq v Norway
Argentina v Algeria
Austria v Jordan
Portugal v DR Congo
England v Croatia
Ghana v Panama
Uzbekistan v Colombia

Footy News

Well that's the end of that little era.

David Sullivan stood down due to accusations of abuse, he was a porn baron so not really a total shock.

Although Panorama have a history of making stuff up so we shall see.

Lady Brady left in April and David Gold sadly died three years ago.

Not sure where this leaves West Ham? I guess Daniel Kretinsky might buy Sullivan out, or Gold's daughter Vanessa might have a say.

Hopefully we won't get taken over by some dodgy foreign asset stripper or hedge fund.

Southend have appointed Keiron Dyer as the new manager after the shock sacking of Kevin Maher, wish him well but hope the treatment room is up to scratch 😁

Enzo Maresca who is the likely to be the new Man City manager, has hit a stumbling block.

It seems he wasn't sacked by Chelsea he just left, meaning Chelsea want a compensation fee?

World Cup stuff - some of the Iran staff are not being allowed into the US where they play all their games, their team has to fly in and out of the US on the same day they play.

One of FIFA's own referees has been denied access, plus several other players from other countries also having Visa problems.

 

Maybe they should move it all to a more open country like North Korea 😁

 

World Cup 2026

The latest World Cup, Starting soon on the 11th June.

World Cup 2026 - America Mexico Canada
Not sure why Mexico has it for the 3rd time and America the 2nd since England last had a go, I guess it's as Millwall are fond of saying "No one likes us" 😖

I was trying to remember anything about the 1994 tournament held in the USA, the least memorable World Cup in my lifetime.
Managed to come up with 3 things.
Diana Ross missing the goal in the overblown opening ceremony, Ray Houghton's goal for Ireland against Italy, and Maradona's manic staring at the camera before he got his drugs ban.
That's about it.

This one is not looking promising.
An overblown tournament with 48 teams meaning 104 games, with 44 of them kicking off after midnight in the UK.
Very few of the opening fixtures look that appealing.
I will probably watch the England games and maybe France, Scotland, Spain and a few others, but waiting up for Uzbekistan v Dr Congo sounds like a cure for insomnia.

Most games are made better by real fans, thinking of the colour explosions at games featuring the Netherlands, Brazil, Senegal and others.
Brazil have travel restrictions, Senegal fans are banned, and the chance of seeing the Orange army is pretty slim due to the costs involved.
Iran, Haiti, Senegal, Iraq and the Ivory Coast are not allowed any fans plus a host of others have limited travel options.

Trump's immigration restrictions mean that anyone going to the US has to go through intense screening at the airport even if you have managed to get a travel visa, with a risk of being detained for a long period.
If you get through the airport you're faced with huge price gouging on transport, hotels, food and many other things, with trains buses and car parks charging up to ten times the normal prices.

The match ticket prices are the highest of any World Cup in history.
The reported high demand for tickets appears to have mostly been driven by people looking to make quick money? with tickets then being offered on offical FIFA resale sites for huge profits (some Final tickets going for over £2 million each).
So it looks like only the rich can attend  🙄

It's a shame that this World Cup is more than likely to be played in front of half empty stadiums with virtually no atmosphere?
I've seen enough of those videos of American fans trying to comprehend the atmosphere generated by European and South American fans, the chances of anyone having a good time look slim with heavily armed Police and ICE agents waiting to pounce on anyone showing a bit of passion.

Another thing after watching the Club World Cup last year is the weather, with chances of extreme temperatures in many of the games means teams possibly having to play in over 100ºF heat. Every game is going to be interrupted by cooling breaks (even the roofed temperature controlled ones) giving American broadcasters chance to play more adverts. Plus many games were delayed for hours due to their being a thunderstorm 20 miles away, America the Brave???
Also hoping we don't have all that long winded player introductions, and Trump crashing the Trophy celebrations.
Reading reports of a Super Bowl style half time show, I can't imagine that will turned around in 15 minutes, meaning more unnecessary delays.

A lot of the big football nations won't be there, Italy (my 2nd favourite country), Nigeria, Denmark, Cameroon, Hungary, Georgia and others meaning we won't see some of the World's best players.

I think BBC and ITV are showing all the games which means having to put up with some pretty dull annoying presenters and pundits like Poogash, Rooney, Murphy, Cates, Neville and others. No Lineker this time as independent opinions are not allowed.

No doubt VAR will have a big impact again, when it was introduced in Russia 2018 it seemed like a good thing
But in the 8 years since it has gone from a useful tool to taking over the games, the excitement of a goal being scored is now being ruined by knowing everything is going to be scrutinised for reasons to disallow it.
Every VAR (referee) official seems to have their own interpretation of the rules, seemingly influenced by who is playing.

Obviously hoping England do well, but that seems dependent on Harry Kane staying fit as we seem lost without him.
Winners likely to come from France, Spain, Argentina, Netherlands, Brazil, Germany or just maybe England?

Although if by some miracle we do win, I suppose we'll look back on it being a great World Cup 😁

England World Cup Squad

England World Cup Squad 2026

Goalkeepers: Pickford, Henderson, Trafford

Defenders: James, Livramento, Guehi, Konsa, Stones, Quansah, O'Reilly, Burn, Spence

Midfielders: Rice, Anderson, Bellingham, Henderson, Rogers, Mainoo, Eze, Madueke

Forwards: Kane, Toney, Watkins, Saka, Rashford, Gordon

Reserves: Scott, Ngumoha, King, Nwaneri, Steele

Unlucky to miss out: Bowen, Arnold, Wharton, Gibbs-White, Calvert-Lewin

Thought Jarrod Bowen had done enough to make the squad, Adam Wharton surely better than Henderson.
Not a huge fan of Terence Trent Arnold but surely a better option than injury prone Livramento and James?
Gibbs-White and Calvert-Lewin in form so unlucky, Palmer and Foden not done too much lately so not a surprise.

Matches
6th June - Friendly vs New Zealand (Tampax Bay)
10th June - Friendly vs Costa Rica (Orlando)
17th June - World Cup vs Croatia (Dallas)
23rd June - World Cup vs Ghana (Boston)
27th June - World Cup vs Panama (New Jersey)

Predictions Final Table 2025/26

The full table for the Predictions competition 2025/26

Winner was Paul with 13 weekly wins
9 of those in the first 17 weeks, so it was catch up for the rest of us after that.
Paulo got 9 wins in the 2nd half of the season.
Paul won week 31 with just 4 points, the lowest ever

Weeks played - Lee and Paulo 38, Paul 37, Biopunk 16, Gibbo 6
The best points were by the (non counting) BBC-AI with 255 (3 points correct score, 1 point correct result).

Highest weekly score - 13 Paulo, one of the BBC Guests did get 14 and Paul's Model got 13

The Table

 The Table if Sutton, BBC Guests, AI etc were all included

 

Fantasy Football

Fantasy Premier League 2025/26

The Nothing Better Than Football League

Usually get around 40 players but decided to advertise it on Social Media (Twitter and Bluesky) this year.
Started with 112 players (4 dropped out) so 108 left at the end of season.
8 family and friends, 100 people I don't actually know

Winner was newcomer Izzul a Malaysian Chelsea fan, congrats to him. 🏆
But I do know the people in 2nd and 3rd.

Table below shows Top 12 because I dropped from 5th to 12th in the last month  😢

 

Good quality this year with 4 players in the Top 1%, 16 in the Top 5% and 28 players in the Top 10%.

Family and friends
2nd Dave R - Over Land And Sea - 2,374 - 24,804
3rd JB - Muppets - 2,334 - 81,984
6th Sean - Voodoo Jazz Hat - 2,295 - 202,976
10th Tim - X Force - 2,258 - 399,180
12th Lee - Chip Shop Boys - 2,249 - 460,027
42nd Gary - Action Heroes - 2,105 - 2,190,325
90th Paul S - Artificial Stupidity - 1,866 - 6,515,828
103rd Dave J - Quizland Dave - 1,682 - 9,350,135

The other competition the Telegraph Fantasy Football only attracted 5 players with 5 teams each possible.
Winner was Dave with a top thousand finish in 718th

Managerial Merry Go Round

Arne Slot the latest managerial sacking? I thought with a League title and Champions League qualification he might have got more time.
They have been poor this season by the high standards of his first season, but losing players like Diaz, Jota, Nunes, Arnold would make any team struggle. I don't know if he was the driving force behind the players brought in for an eye watering £460m last summer but apart from a few bright moments none of them have lived up to the price tags.
Star player Salah doesn't seem to have shown any form since signing his mega money deal last year. Maybe Isak should have been avoided after going on strike at Newcastle showing he has a dubious character.
With Jabby Alonso now signing for Chelsea I thought he would get more time.
Iraola seems to be favourite but got the impression he was leaving Bournemouth because he wanted to go back home to Spain, but money talks.
So many managers who have done great things at smaller clubs with limited budgets have failed when they've gone to big clubs, thinking of Frank, Amorim, Potter and many others.
Iraola had a terrible start at Bournemouth but they held their nerve and he turned them around, would he get the same treatment at Liverpool where one bad result usually turns the fans against their managers.

Relegation

Relegated, so who is saying goodbye?

No doubt the vultures will be after Bowen, Fernandes, Summerville and Diouf.
Maybe now Bowen's been overlooked for England, the Dyer family might persaude him to stay.
Castellanos has been pretty good so someone will probably pick him up.
Love Soucek but I guess he'll be off, same with Wilson and Areola.
Disasi and Traore on loan so will go back to their clubs.

Hoping we get rid of Kilman, Pablo, Magassa and Todibo who haven't done much so won't be missed.
On loan players Alvarez, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug and Cornet should also go.

Hopefully the up and coming players will get a chance next season, don't expect many of the regulars to still be there. Maybe a chance for Kante, Earthy, Orford, Ajala, Fearon, Marshall, Kodua, Mayers and Golambeckis to get some game time if they stay.
Not sure about manager Nuno Santo as he's not that inspiring, so don't know if we'll get a new guy although I can't think who?


For West Ham fans, Next seasons Championship trips

London - Charlton, Millwall, QPR, Watford
East - Lincoln, Norwich
South - Portsmouth, Southampton
West - Bristol City, Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham
Midlands - Birmingham, Derby, Stoke, West Brom, Wolves
North - Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Middlesborough, Preston, Sheff Utd