Hey, did you know there was a World Cup this summer? I know, it was a surprise to me too, but there was, I promise! 48 national teams gathered in the United States, Canada, and Mexico for a big tournament. Maybe you saw some of it. And while many (including myself) thought the expanded number of teams would mean more weaker national teams that would get pounded into submission, that’s not at all what happened. In fact, there were numerous upsets in this tournament, and it turned out to be, at least from a viewing perspective, one of the more fun tournaments in recent history.
The other big thing to come out of World Cup 2026 was the behavior of the various national team fan bases, and I mean that in a good way. We saw the best out of the visiting nations during this World Cup, and one of the constant threads throughout the competition were how well behaved everyone was and how the host nations welcomed the hordes of visiting soccer fans, and how those fans brought their own traditions, color, and joy to the event.
So today’s theme after Tottenham’s scoreless draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday is about celebrating those fanbases. I chose some of my favorites. This is one of those themes where a the lower stars doesn’t mean they’re bad — just that others were more gooder. Yes, there surely was a whole lot of [gestures vaguely] OTHER stuff going on behind the scenes at the World Cup, but instead let’s look back at some of the good stuff that happened.
Here are your player ratings for Spurs’ 0-0 draw at Forest to the theme of 2026 World Cup fanbases.
Oh my god, where to begin? When you think of hordes of Scots invading your country you don’t usually consider that they’ll clean up after themselves. But they did. Scottish fans descended on Boston (and later Florida) en masse for this World Cup and while Scotland didn’t make it out of the group stage, the Tartan Army ingratiated themselves to their American hosts in the best way. From literally drinking Boston pubs out of beer to visiting a Red Sox game (and enjoying themselves despite not understanding the game), Scots were everywhere — chaotic, hard-partying, and friendly — and Bostonians LOVED them. They were loud, boisterous, but weirdly polite — descending to sweep streets clean after celebrations, putting traffic cones on statues’ heads, and gleefully interacting with their American cousins. The Tartan Army were the best thing about this World Cup.
No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.
Before this summer, Norway hadn’t been to a World Cup in 28 years. They made it pretty far, too! But their fans were absolutely delightful, but in a different way to Scotland — theirs was a fanbase of solidarity, as though they all (several thousand of them) got together beforehand and agreed what they were going to do as a group. This was epitomized by their crowd celebrations, including the viral rowing celebration (except for this one guy who said it was historically inaccurate because vikings SAILED.) The Norwegian fans were polite and gracious guests, and probably take the prize as the Hottest World Cup Fanbase too, despite coming from a cold country.
No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.
If the Scots partied and the Norwegians rowed, Dutch fans were known for their dancing. I can’t tell you how many viral videos I saw of North American streets positively crammed full of orange-clad soccer fans, all doing their signature “Hup Hup Holland” dance to “Links Rechts” by Snollebollekes in perfect synchronicity. And oh my god the orange — Netherlands orange is a particular day-glo shade, and when they all gather it’s quite the sight. The Netherlands were like an orange tidal wave, but friendlier and less destructive.
No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.
One of the cooler World Cup celebrations was by World Cup debutants the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and not the entire fanbase but just one guy — Michel Kuka Mboladinga, known as “Lumumba Vea,“ who bears an uncanny resemblance to Congolese independence leader and revolutionary Patrice Lumumba. At (nearly) every match, Mboladinga, dressed in incredibly tailored and colorful suits, would stand on a small platform, raise his hand to the air in imitation of the Lumumba statue in Kinshasha, and stand motionless for the duration of the match. He’s a celebrity in the DRC, and it was well-received in everywhere but the United States (who helped overthrow Lumumba in the 1960s and who denied Mboladinga a visa to enter the country for this tournament). One of the cooler fan traditions at this tournament.
Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 3.5): Tottenham midfield was… well, “flawed” is a gentle way of putting it, but if there was a standout performer it was Lolo, who was everywhere breaking up play and recycling the ball. He’s not creative and nearly gave away a penalty, but you can’t fault his effort.
Pedro Porro (Community — 3): Not a perfect performance — he had a number of crosses and long balls from the flank that were pretty wayward — but his delivery to Marmoush for one of Spurs’ biggest chances was spectacular and he got up and down the flank well.
Micky van de Ven (Community — 3.5): Had a couple of excellent defensive stops including a few sliding challenges that were pinpoint accurate. Can’t believe he didn’t head home what woudl’ve been the winner off a set piece from point blank range, but on the whole he was pretty good.
This isn’t one of the most dramatic examples of a national team finding synergy with a local community, but it is one of the cutest. Algeria did their pre-World Cup training in Lawrence, Kansas, a smallish college town outside of Kansas City and home to the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Lawrence has a small Algerian population, but the whole town instantly embraced their Algerian visitors, welcoming them with open arms and even packing out an opening training where the phrase “Rock, Chalk, Algeria” (Kansas’ chant goes “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk” — why? It’s Kansas, ya gotta ask them) was born and spread. There’s not much more to it than that, but it’s a charming example of cultures coming together in the most positive of ways.
Antonin Kinsky (Community — 3.5): Eh. He was fine.
Jan Paul van Hecke (Community — 3): Continued his form of excellent passing out of the back and handled Forest’s attackers pretty well in coordination with Micky van de Ven. No major mistakes.
Destiny Udogie (Community — 3): Destiny’s best match since returning from injury this season. Spurs seemed determined to attack through the left flank in this one, and Udogie tried to link up consistently with Mathys Tel. Subbed off for Andy Robertson’s crossing ability in the second half, likely dictated by the medical staff.
Sandro Tonali (Community — 3): Not a terrible performance by any means, but also not especially great. Pretty awful on the clearance that led to the Forest disallowed goal. Better overall from the opening two matches though he still can’t really pass. I’m struggling to think how he’s worth £100m.
Sávio (Community — 3): It was our first real good look at Spurs’ new signing and you could see why Spurs have been trying to sign him for a year. There were glimpses of that dynamic attacking ability, but too often he was dropping deep to cover for Porro and wasn’t especially effective going forward. I’d like to see him on the left, honestly, and with a proper 10 beside him.
Omar Marmoush (Community — 3): Shanked his one good scoring opportunity wide of the post. Worked hard in the press, but I don’t think he’s a particularly effective single striker; he seems to need someone to play off of. Frequently willing to drop deep and aid in the press and defensive duties.
Andy Robertson (Community — 2.5): Put in a few decent balls and had one great defensive stop in a second half cameo.
Mo Kudus (Community — 3): Had some tricky moments in attack and put a lovely cross to Solanke in the box late. Did I say this guy can’t cross well? He did that time.
Germany had a bad World Cup, but their fans sure enjoyed themselves while they were here. While there were plenty of examples of visiting fans from all over the world documenting their encounters with American food on TikTok and Instagram, for some reason the Germans seemed to be the most adept at it. One German fan documented his entire culinary journey, including stops at Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Waffle House, and he seemed to find something to love at every single stop. It was honestly pretty delightful watching foreign fans discover American culinary delights like “mayonnaise” and Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwiches. Shame that German guy didn’t get the TRUE Waffle House experience of watching several drunk guys fighting the serving staff at 3 a.m.
Conor Gallagher (Community — 2.5): It was one of his better performances in a Spurs shirt, honestly, but I’m still not sure what exactly he brings to this team besides industry. And he was a pretty ineffective 10.
Mathys Tel (Community — 2): Mathys was pretty decent on Saturday in all respects except his work in and around the box and his final ball, which was pretty appalling, especially considering how often Spurs focused their attacks down the left. I don’t think he’s done enough to keep his starting role, but neither do I think he deserves the piles of abuse he’s gotten from Spurs fans. He has the tools. He needs the consistency. I’m still a Tel-iever.
Roberto De Zerbi (Community — 2.5): Gets a two star rating from me for his post-match comments in which he said the decision to start Gallagher at the 10 over Mateus Fernandes was tactical, not due to injury. This is proving to be a team that simply doesn’t function without a passing central midfielder and a creative 10.
Mexico were ASTOUNDING hosts during this tournament, and we saw story after story about what an amazing experience it was to be south of the American border during this tournament. Weirdly, one of the coolest international bromances emerged between visiting Japanese fans and their Mexican hosts. For whatever reason, Mexican fans LOVED Japanese fans. If you were to culturally stereotype them, Mexicans tend to be gregarious while Japanese are more reserved. The incident that sparked this cultural bromance stemmed from an incident in Monterrey where a group of Mexican fans found a somewhat reserved Japanese fan alone after Japan’s 4-0 win over Tunisia, descended on him en masse, and spontaneously hoisted him on their shoulders in celebration, chanting “Ole, Ole, Ole, Japan, Japan”! This, of course, went viral in Japan, and the Japan national team ended up being most of Mexico’s preferred “second team” in the tournament.
Mykhailo Mudryk (Community — 2): His first competitive minutes in 18 months and… he didn’t really do anything. Had a couple of Actual Football Moves™ that were notable just because I don’t think anyone expected that from him.
I don’t have a good heartwarming story about Colombian fans at this tournament (I’m sure there are some, I just don’t know of any) but one thing that stood out is how incredibly well Colombia traveled. At every single match involving the Colombian national teams, the stadiums were DOMINATED by fans wearing the yellow, blue, and red of their teams’ jerseys. I came to find out that Colombia, somehow, has one of the largest and most rabid following of any national team in the world. The Colombian diaspora around the world and especially in North America is substantial, but more than that, this is a fanbase that just consistently turns out for every single Colombian match. It was truly impressive to see that wave of yellow everywhere you looked.
No Tottenham Hotspur players were as bad as other national team fanbases trying to compete with Colombia’s numbers.
Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating
