More Hosts! More Opening Ceremonies! – Alan’s World Cup Blog #3

Today’s focus turned to host nations USA and Canada. More on them later.

But Mexico continues to steal the show…and I’m glad that’s where I’m heading! I’m also glad that it’s not for a few days yet as I’m quite under the weather. So today I’ll keep it relatively short as I rest up and try to shake off a cold and sore throat.

Social media memes are now in full swing. The opening day game which featured an unusual three red cards meant that the referee was not going to escape lightly from the satirists.

Thanks to https://x.com/SimonAKENA for this cracker. It reminds a bit of Ganesha to be honest.

Some thought the head mounted camera on the on-field referee is a big much.

Roboref: the future of rule enforcement.

One of the lead-team-out mascots, which is just another part of the business, was caught on camera ‘giving a sign’.

It’s roughly what I think about the new ad-filled drinks breaks.

It was a tough day at the office for South Africa’s Yaya Sithole, who was caught napping for the first Mexican goal and then sent off in the second half. WhoScored award him the lowest outfield player rating in their tournament database with a 4.6 out of a possible 10, although it trended even lower during the game.

Bafana Bafana, then and now.

Meanwhile Italy, who didn’t qualify for the World Cup, is being trolled by advertisers.

Even if they suck at football these days, there’s still pizza.

The same theme was used again here, but taking aim at the expensive ticket prices.

Yep, cheaper to fly to another continent.

And of course we can’t talk about memes without there being cats, right?

And this gif is just cool although commits the usual sin of LEAVING TASMANIA OFF THE MAP.

Tweets are hard to embed these days but this animation of the second sending off is just superb. Click below to view on Twitter.

Wilton Sampaio’s English level. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/7cG13CnHoV

— Hamid sahari (@Hamidsahari20) June 12, 2026

So to the day’s games. Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina fought an absorbing 1-1 draw in Montreal. For the home side it was their first ever point at the World Cup after six straight losses. And if you want to get some idea of what it means to the Balkan team, check out this video of a B-H watch party when their side scored to take the lead:

In Los Angeles there was another opening ceremony, complete with inane and uninspiring pop songs following a generic ‘we are the world’ voiceover about the power of world football. But the game was the first in Australia’s group, featuring USA v Paraguay. This matters.

To my mind there are three levels of teams at the World Cup.

The top-level teams have an entire squad of stars who play at top clubs in the top leagues of Europe and South America. Only teams from this level have ever won the trophy: Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, England, Spain. They are realistically the only winning chances along with Portugal and Netherlands and perhaps, who also tick the right boxes.

The mid-level teams have a few stars but lack squad depth. They have to make up numbers with players from lower divisions of major leagues and from lesser leagues in the rest of the world. Occasionally teams from this level progress to the quarter- or semi-finals. Group D with USA, Paraguay, Australia and Turkey contains only this kind of team.

The lower-level teams have players unproven in tough leagues and are usually there for ‘colour’ to make up the numbers and flavour of a world tournament. They almost never progress beyond the first stage. Enjoy their fleeting appearances, but don’t expect to see them at the tough end of the tournament. Uzbekistan, despite having a former WC winner in Fabio Cannavaro as coach, is one of these teams with players almost exclusively from the Uzbekistan league. Which is nada.

As I write the USA game is about to start. I’ll update you later. Enjoy the football!

Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.

This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian despora let loose upon the world. 

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