r/totaldribble

Only the 6th World Cup meeting between these two, but the history is wild. 1986 gave us the Hand of God and Goal of the Century in the same game, 8 minutes apart, Argentina won 2-1 right after the Falklands War. 1998 had the Beckham red card and a 4-3 penalty shootout loss for England. 2002 saw Beckham redeem himself with the winning penalty. Overall England's actually up 3-1 in this matchup.

But the wildest part I found digging around: this will be the first time Messi has ever played against England, official or friendly, in his entire career.

Only the 6th World Cup meeting between these two, but the history is wild. 1986 gave us the Hand of God and Goal of the Century in the same game, 8 minutes apart, Argentina won 2-1 right after the Falklands War. 1998 had the Beckham red card and a 4-3 penalty shootout loss for England. 2002 saw Beckham redeem himself with the winning penalty. Overall England's actually up 3-1 in this matchup.

But the wildest part I found digging around: this will be the first time Messi has ever played against England, official or friendly, in his entire career.

96 years, 22 World Cups, and every single winner had a coach from that exact country. Never once has a foreign manager pulled it off.

Only two even made it to a final. Raynor, an Englishman, took Sweden there in 58 and lost to Brazil with Pele. Happel, an Austrian, took Netherlands there in 78 and lost to host nation Argentina. A few others got to the semis, Hiddink, Scolari, Martinez, but nobody's gone further than that.

Now Tuchel's trying to break the streak with England. Asked about it, he just said he feels connected to England. Timing works out too, over half the teams at this World Cup have foreign coaches, more than ever before.

Would be wild if it actually happens now.

Now that the 2026 World Cup has wrapped up, it's time to look ahead. The 2030 edition will be the biggest in history geographically, spanning 6 countries and 3 continents to mark the tournament's 100th anniversary.

Main hosts: Morocco, Spain and Portugal, confirmed on December 11, 2024.

Opening matches, not one but three: to honor the centenary, three separate opening matches will be held in South America. Uruguay hosts one in Montevideo at Estadio Centenario, the site of the very first final in 1930. Argentina hosts one in Buenos Aires at Estadio Monumental, and Paraguay hosts one in Asunción.

City breakdown:

Morocco: 6 cities and stadiums, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, Rabat, Agadir and Tangier.

Portugal: 2 cities, 3 stadiums, Lisbon (two stadiums) and Porto.

Spain: 9 cities, 11 stadiums.

And the hot drama of the last 24 hours, the final's location: reports say the Moroccan federation believes it has already locked up 22 out of 37 votes on the FIFA Council in favor of the new Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca, which will be the biggest stadium in the world once finished, holding 115,000 fans. According to the reports, Morocco is picking up support from Africa, Asia, and even the Concacaf bloc. Sources inside the Spanish federation are already admitting this has become an uphill fight for them, even though their federation president still publicly insists the final "will be in Spain." Worth noting, this is not an official FIFA decision yet, but it's the strongest momentum we've seen so far toward Casablanca.

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