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Across the Pond

A blog by Scotty in Football

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Random ramblings from Toronto

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World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - 6 days to go

So here we go (here we go, here we go) ... The competition starts in 6 days time and Scotland are firmly ensconced the USA preparing for their World Cup return in 8 days, albeit without Billy Gilmour, which is a big loss to the side, but we are nonetheless at our first World Cup since France '98 and the Tartan Army will be there in force, tickets or not. I remember France 98, we got beaten by both Brazil and Morocco enroute to a bottom of the group finish. Let's hope history does not repeat itse
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - World Cup Approaching: Part 2

And now for the promised part 2 of the World Cup Approaching blog. For this part, I am going to review the Toronto Stadium now that I have had a chance to sit in the finished article for the world cup and also pass some good news (for me) on at the end. Thanks to my son's youth team, I was able to secure tickets for us to go along to Canada -Vs- Iceland as I mentioned in part 1. This was my first international game in 30+ years. My last time was at Hampden Park in the early 90s I seem to recall
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - World Cup Approaching: Part 1a

Well my last AI generated blog header aged well didn't it! Shows what can happen when you make assumptions. The World Cup playoffs yesterday certainly brought some surprises not least of which was Bosnia & Herzegovina deservedly beating out the Azzurri to reach the finals of the World Cup. I watched the match yesterday and have to say that this was a deserved victory for Bosnia & Herzegovina. They fought hard for every ball, looked like scoring on multiple occasions and deservedly equali
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - World Cup Approaching: Part 1

Doesn't seem like several months since my last post in this blog, but apparently it is! That means its longer since I last posted than it is until the first game at the Toronto Stadium in the World Cup. 77 days from now, on June 12th Canada will open the Canadian portion of the FIFA World Cup when they take on that famous team of "TBD". (that's apparently what it says on the electronic ticket - for those lucky enough to secure one). Yesterday morning, the identity of 'TBD' was between Northern I
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond: Perseverance

Oh well, as one door closes another opens as they say ... not sure who actually said that but that's what we all say that someone said isn't it. In my case, the door that closed was yet another advanced World Cup ticket window which ran until October 31st and should have seen those lucky enough to get selected receive a purchase time and date by November 7th. Having said that, this comes with a huge caveat in that there is actually no guarantee that even with a purchase time and date you will
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond: Ticketless (for now)

Ok, so September 30th came and went without an email from FIFA, unless you count the numerous emails offering a guaranteed ticket if I spend hundreds of dollars on some card pack or other. It was a longshot of course, but I was definitely hoping to be one of the lucky ones in the estimated 4.5m people who registered for the VISA presale for tickets for World Cup 2026. Alas it was not meant to be, probably also in part due to the fact that I restricted myself to only the games taking place in Tor
World Cup 2026

Across the Pond: Maple the Moose, Zayu the Jaguar, Clutch the Bald Eagle

Well, that headline is a bit of a mouthful isn't it! What does it mean? Well, it's the mascot names for next year's World Cup! For World Cup 2026, you get three mascots for the price of one since the event is being held across three countries. In a caricature of Canadians that would make our late great friend the @IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER proud, and give him many moments to wind me up, Canada gets Maple the Moose. Only thing better would have been Louie the Lumberjack or Bob the Beaver! According t
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - Toronto Stadium

A busy football week in Toronto! On Tuesday, the City of Toronto (owners of BMO Field) and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), the owners of Toronto FC and other franchises in the city, who are also the exclusive custodians of BMO Field, announced they had completed Phase 1 of the work for the upgrades to the stadium for next year's World Cup. Due to the continuing MLS football season as well as the Toronto Argonauts CFL season, Phase 1 was largely concentrated on unseen stuff other than
World Cup 2026

Across the Pond - Just the Ticket!

Its Ticket Time !! Almost there ... as the graphic says: 11mins and 50 seconds until I can officially apply for tickets for the 2026 World Cup courtesy of FIFA partner VISA's presale window. Having said that, all of this was after well over 90 minutes of the spinning dots tantalisingly telling me I was almost there, and then the countdown timer starting at 30 minutes! All the while while I was keeping my fingers crossed that my browser didnt crash or I had some other IT failure happen! The actua
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - World Cup Preparation

Seems my first blog on the World Cup was timely ... Earlier this week, FIFA announced the World Cup schedule of games for each venue and in Toronto it will kick off on day two of the competition with the Canadian National Team game at BMO Field. BMO Field is to be renamed Toronto Stadium for the duration of the World Cup due to sponsorship rights / FIFA No idea who Canada will be playing yet, what group it will be, or who makes up that group (fingers crossed for Scotland) but it's the World Cup
World Cup 2026

Across The Pond - World Cup Edition

Toying with the idea of reinstating this blog, not just as a Toronto FC blog for anyone interested but perhaps more relevant (assuming Scotland can qualify) a blog about the pre-World Cup 2026 preparations in Toronto where BMO Field will host several group stage games The current field is undergoing in-place upgrades as the MLS season continues and the new stadium will go from this .... to the images below with the addition of temporary seating. The stands on the left (West/Main) and right (Ea

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