why the 2026 world cup could be a calamity

With the 2024 Euro having passed us, it now means that the next major event in national soccer is none other than the 2026 world cup, which is being hosted in North America, Mexico and Canada. With each world cup giving us a treat – like 2018 being Russia making the quarter-finals, and Mbappe winning his first trophy and 2022 being Morocco making the semi-finals and Messi winning a world cup, many are expecting great things from this tournament to happen. But unfortuantely, just like the logo of this event, the 2026 world cup could turn out to be a huge distaster. Sure, there would be a surplus of fans becuase of more nationas being allowed to qualify, however the looming problems could make this tournament like the footballs that were used in the 2010 South Africa world cup. All of these examples have been taken from the recent things that have been happening in America, and also the Copa America tournament which was partially hosted by USA. So, how can this tournament turn out to be a catastrophy?

The first major, looming issue is the amount of security that will be present at the stadium. Security is one of the most imporatnt things to have so everything can stya in order and flow smoothy. However, the security at the Copa America, especially at the North American stadiums was simply, disasterous. The first issue can be shown when fans wanted to pack into the stadium early for the Colombia vs Argentina final. This was not allowed, and so the security stopped the fans from coming in. However, the fans barged through the gates, outbumbering the security guards, and they couldn’t do anything about it. This made some people injured, loose their families in the crowd, and could’ve easily caused a stampege. The game was even delayed for 30 minutes due to this situation. Even Argentinian Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister had to stop warming up and help his mother who was caught up with the riot.

Fans being pushed around after stampeging in the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, before the Argentina vs Colombia finals.

Another example of poor secuirty was in the game of Colombia vs Uruguay. After this semi-finals game, which ended 1-0 in favour of Colombia in an excrutiating 90 minutes of play, Uruguayan players families started getting attacked by colombian fans. This turned into pure chaos and even the players had to step in and fight. All of this was caused due to lack of security

Uruguayan players (R),Darwin Núñez, Ronald Araújo, and more defend their family members against Colombian Fans (L) after Uruguay’s 1-0 loss at the Bank of America stadium, Charlotte.

The fact is simple. Security were unprepared and outnumbered. I blame the security companies for this. They need to train their employees on how to deal with situations like this, and also send out more employers to various different places to help with these situation – sure the people shouldn’t have done this but if they do so, Security needs to step up and most simpley put – show why they are security. The security officers need to ramp up their stratagies and they only have less than two years to do so. Plus, the world cup is going to be even bigger than the Copa America, with 48 teams participating. 48. How, just how are the security going to handle crowds 3 times larger? Security need to get their act together.

It is one thing to see the security not doing their job, but it another thing to see that the pitches are not being pitches. Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez voiced his frustration over the bad quality of pitches. Same with Argentinian Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who described the pitch as being “very bump” and that the pitch “jumped on you as you ran”. Even USA midfielder Weston Mckennie voiced his approval over the matter The point is that the grass is not laied normally. the grass is not grown normally. The USA did not give the pitch time to grow grass, and therefore it can lead to achilies injuries. There were also various bumps and ridges in the pitches.

Lionel Messi (C), walks off holding one shoe on a pitch that is full of ridges, and unsafe to play on.

How will other teams play, let alone score when the pitches have been made to less that par standard? These stadiums are also very recently new, and also prepared very close to the match. Argentinian Coach Lionel Scaloni said that “they prepare the pitches around 48 hours until the match starts.” The pitch needs to have a better quality.

The last point will be about Guns. All over the world the news is ciruclating that Donald Trump has an Assasination Attemp on him. Althoguh he was fine, if Trump would’ve faced anywhere between a centimeter behind him, the bullet would’ve struck him in the head, most likely killing him. If this is the situation of a person running for a presidential election, not even a president, what will be the case for world famous soccer players? The secuirty haven’t been trained well enough, and guns are readily availible.

As I’ve said before and I’ll say now, the world cup can easily turn into a full blown calamity. Changes need to be made.