Did the 2026 World Cup exceed expectations?
Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros of The Cooligans rate the 2026 FIFA World Cup and its expanded 48-team field. Check out the full conversation on the "The Cooligans" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
So my, my score is gonna be influenced by the bias of the fact that we were, we're hosting the World Cup, right?
So we, we got to see a lot of that.
We went to every host city.
Yeah.
So we got to see what every city was like on match days an- and really kind of, experience that, those, tho- those fans.
So that part of it, you know, with, with, the backdrop of, like, the, the awful stuff going on politically and, and everything.
The, because the concern was that, you know, foreigners were, were gonna not have a good time, right?
Yeah, of course.
That, that was- Or they wouldn't be welcome, and Lawrence, Kansas is a good example.
Yeah, yeah.
So those, I think, those scenes br- brought a little bit of, of life.
Humanity got healed a little bit.
And humanity Yeah, and that was g- it was great to see because again, you know, the, the, the last few years the United States seems like it could be incredibly xenophobic, but it, when you meet the people on the ground you realize, like, oh, that isn't what, what the, the reality is.
And in a way I think a lot of the people that maybe were xenophobic before this World Cup, I'm sure there's a few of them that have had their minds changed.
So- Seeing how it, everyone came here to enjoy America in a way that I didn't expect to happen.
You know, you got- Yeah people trying ranch for the first time.
And so the, the- There's, there was a lot of good that came out of this in a way that where I look at the games and I look at the spirit around it, I'm gonna give it a nine out of 10, and the only reason I'm docking it a point is because the hydration breaks.
I don't- Wow, that's it.
Wow.
I don't think No, no.
Because I'm talking- the, the 90 minutes.
The 90 minutes- Right, right, right of people getting a chance to go see their, their nation in this country, I'm gonna give it a nine out of 10, and the hydration breaks was the only part of the game itself that I don't like.
And I, and there's already talk about MLS trying to implement this, and there's already talk about- Yeah, yeah other competitions trying to implement this, and I do not want this.
Okay.
I think a nine is- I'll just say- I think a nine is very high, but I will say, I, I, I'm gonna go, like, I'm gonna go with a seven because the There were, there were m- And this is just like the, like, I, I'm, I'm gonna have the, obviously the f- the, the beginning and the end, right?
And the, so the final.
The final I just felt wasn't super entertaining, wasn't as entertaining as the 2022, World cup final.
So it, it, it, the, I love the, the in- the inspirational moments, especially of these, like, quote-unquote, "smaller teams" having really good World Cups.
There was not, outside of, like, Panama, Haiti, a couple ones I just- Maybe Canada.
There, there was disappointment, but they, they, like- They did advance, yeah they, they, there weren't many teams that just got absolutely clobbered and, and- Yeah you know, what was it?
The Curaao had, uh- Qatar got clobbered like, the one bad game, but they, they got a result, and, like, there were just, like, really, really, like, cool moments.
But overall I, because you add more teams you're gonna have a f- couple more dud of games.
And then not to say that there were a lot, but it, it, it, it didn't sway me to the point where I'm like, "I love that there's 48 teams now."
I gotta be honest, I think it's a resounding success having 48 teams.
I'm not saying But I, I think it's successful.
I think it's successful from a business perspective.
It didn't necessarily lend itself to, to a guarantee of just, like, more exciting games.
I think we're- I don't know.
I disagree.
I think you probably will- There were a couple groups they j- not so much couple that- But there's always that.
There's always that.
I understand.
I'm just saying that, that, I, it's- I don't think you're completely wrong, but I think, I think maybe now there's a little bit of recency bias, or we've gone so far that we're not looking back and thinking about how inspirational some of those nil-nil draws were.
Anyway, I'm not taking anything away from that.
Yeah, yeah.
No, there were, like, incredible moments.
I just think, I think a seven is fair.
I think a nine is just like, man, that's almost a nearly perfect World Cup, and I don't think we were there
