FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

[Jatiluhung]

I was surprised to learn that Sweden still has a chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, as they are in the top 4 (according to some special rating system) in the Nations League, and they still have a chance to win a ticket. Therefore, this game was not important to them at all, even as a friendly (respect for their own fans was apparently also absent).

The most surprising thing about Sweden is that they have not even won in their last five European World Cup qualifying matches. They even lost twice to Kosovo and could only manage a draw against Slovenia in their two meetings, placing Sweden at the bottom of Group B.
Sweden, which has a fairly deep squad, was actually expected to at least secure second place in Group B. However, the reality is that Sweden was completely unprepared for all the matches they played, leaving them to settle for the bottom spot. They actually have star players in their squad, such as Isak, Gyokeres, and Lindelof. However, to be honest, all their star players seem to have no significant impact on their national team.

[Mustang Shelby]

The FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers have been full of exciting developments. In particular, Scotland’s 4–2 victory over Denmark reflects the rise of Scottish football in recent years and symbolizes their return to the World Cup stage. The performances of players like McTominay and Ferguson showed how strong of an opponent Scotland can be.

Scotland's two goals in extra time against Denmark were magnificent. Perhaps the two best goals we saw this week were scored three minutes apart. The final goal, in particular, was magnificent, a perfect strike from midfield. Denmark led the group until extra time, but conceded two goals in extra time, sending them into the playoffs.

[ozgr]

The Spanish team wasn't motivated to defeat Turkey because Spain had already qualifies for the World Cup finals after five wins in a row.
Making conclusions about strong the Turkish defense was seems kinda funny to me. Why wasn't the Turkish defense so strong when Spain defeated Turkey by scoring six goals? Bulgaria won against Georgia in a pointless match, but they didn't deserve the victory and didn't have any control over the game.
What the hell did Wales do against North Macedonia? 7-1 seems too much. Why the Macedonians were so humiliated?
Great performance by Scotland beating Denmark 4-2. It seems that Norway is the strongest team from Scandinavia right now. Denmark and Sweden are mediocre.

Turkey went into this match with a mostly backup lineup, and considering that, the result was actually great.
There were a lot of key players missing, and not having arda on the pitch was a big loss. In the second half, barış alper played really well he could have scored at least one. Spain last goal felt unnecessary and turkey could have easily won this match.

[yudi09]

Even drawing 2-2 against Belarus was truly ridiculous. If they had won that match, a draw in this one would have been enough for them.

A draw was still enough for Denmark to finish first in the group and qualify directly for the World Cup.
Before the last round, Denmark were in first place of Group C with 11 points and Scotland were in second place with 10 points.

Even though Denmark managed to tie the game after Dorgu scored the second goal (2-2), unfortunately they couldn't hold on to the lead because in extra time, Scotland scored two more goals. 
But that's football, and I have to admit that Scotland has a better winning spirit than Denmark. Scotland is great, but Denmark isn't bad either.
Honestly, I'm happy with Scotland's victory. 
Denmark also has a chance to qualify for the World Cup through the playoffs.

[Distraction]

North Macedonia, Romania, Northern Ireland and Sweden all are lucky to have one last chance despite not being able to finish their groups in top 2.

That Nations League rankings will come to their rescue. However their job is so difficult anyway. Because they are Pot 4 teams and about to face ones from Pot 1 in the next round...

Can you imagine North Macedonia facing Italy and eliminating them once again just as it happened in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers? 

[banana33]

His team can't even win against Macedonia or Moldovia. He shall shut up, and back to his job to fix his club.

You're being a little harsh on this guy, a man who coaches with passion and dedication. He simply says what he thinks, and he's not entirely wrong if you think about it.
In the Champions League, for example, they make sure that two teams from the same country don't reach the final to make everything more entertaining.

[yslyv]

The Spanish team wasn't motivated to defeat Turkey because Spain had already qualifies for the World Cup finals after five wins in a row.
Making conclusions about strong the Turkish defense was seems kinda funny to me. Why wasn't the Turkish defense so strong when Spain defeated Turkey by scoring six goals? Bulgaria won against Georgia in a pointless match, but they didn't deserve the victory and didn't have any control over the game.
What the hell did Wales do against North Macedonia? 7-1 seems too much. Why the Macedonians were so humiliated?
Great performance by Scotland beating Denmark 4-2. It seems that Norway is the strongest team from Scandinavia right now. Denmark and Sweden are mediocre.

Turkey went into this match with a mostly backup lineup, and considering that, the result was actually great.
There were a lot of key players missing, and not having arda on the pitch was a big loss. In the second half, barış alper played really well he could have scored at least one. Spain last goal felt unnecessary and turkey could have easily won this match.

Montella has a great understanding of Turkish national team. In this match, Turkey kept taking shots against Spain nonstop. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Turkish team play this aggressively in other group matches. And on top of that, they managed to score 2 goals away against Spain, a team that no one else in the group has been able to score against.

[Adiljutt156]

Spain and Turkey drew 2-2 in a match where both teams fielded mostly substitutes.
Spain conceded their first goal in this group against Türkiye.
The Spanish fans showed little interest in the match. There was a lot of emptiness in the stands.
Goalkeeper Altay was the best player in Türkiye. He made some excellent saves, but a huge mistake in the final minute resulted in a goal, but the goal was disallowed because he was called offside.
Goalkeepers have the same situation. You can play well throughout the match, but if a mistake in the final moments changes the score, you're the worst player in the match. Altay had luck on his side yesterday.

That was two sided match because both teams played very well in this match and we saw two sided match as we saw two sided performance. Olmo was a person who gave good support to the team And he did goal at 4 minutes of the match when both teams were ready to play against each other. D. Gül was a second person who did goal in this match and he did goal at 42 minutes of the match.Aftet that goal , both teams were at same level because both teams did 1, 1 goal in the first half of the match and after that we saw goals in second half and S. Özcan was a person who did third goal of the match and he did this goal at 54 minutes.Oyarzabal was a person who did goal at 62 minutes of the match and that was last goal of the match and both teams performance was good in this match.

[Mustang Shelby]

The Spanish team wasn't motivated to defeat Turkey because Spain had already qualifies for the World Cup finals after five wins in a row.
Making conclusions about strong the Turkish defense was seems kinda funny to me. Why wasn't the Turkish defense so strong when Spain defeated Turkey by scoring six goals? Bulgaria won against Georgia in a pointless match, but they didn't deserve the victory and didn't have any control over the game.
What the hell did Wales do against North Macedonia? 7-1 seems too much. Why the Macedonians were so humiliated?
Great performance by Scotland beating Denmark 4-2. It seems that Norway is the strongest team from Scandinavia right now. Denmark and Sweden are mediocre.

Turkey went into this match with a mostly backup lineup, and considering that, the result was actually great.
There were a lot of key players missing, and not having arda on the pitch was a big loss. In the second half, barış alper played really well he could have scored at least one. Spain last goal felt unnecessary and turkey could have easily won this match.

Montella has a great understanding of Turkish national team. In this match, Turkey kept taking shots against Spain nonstop. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Turkish team play this aggressively in other group matches. And on top of that, they managed to score 2 goals away against Spain, a team that no one else in the group has been able to score against.

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

[Jewan420]

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

[Unsoldier]

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

Turkey really did show how much they’ve learned from that 0–6, and you could see it in every part of their performance — organized, aggressive, nothing like the team that collapsed in the first match. But the funny part is that the 2–2 draw didn’t change anything in the group anymore; Spain were already out of reach, and Turkey had long secured their top-two finish.
So this result is more about Turkey’s character and progress than about the standings. And yes — it’s pretty clear now that this team isn’t living in the past anymore. They’re improving, and it shows.

[Black Mbaye]

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

Turkey really did show how much they’ve learned from that 0–6, and you could see it in every part of their performance — organized, aggressive, nothing like the team that collapsed in the first match. But the funny part is that the 2–2 draw didn’t change anything in the group anymore; Spain were already out of reach, and Turkey had long secured their top-two finish.
So this result is more about Turkey’s character and progress than about the standings. And yes — it’s pretty clear now that this team isn’t living in the past anymore. They’re improving, and it shows.

As Turkey, our goal is to make it to the World Cup. I hope we can achieve this and make it to the World Cup. The last time we competed was in 2002, when we finished third. We're still proud of that achievement. 23 years have passed, and we're competing for the 24th World Cup. Increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup also paves the way for us to qualify. I hope we'll face an easy opponent in the playoffs and make it to the World Cup.

[IceLincoln]

Spain did not win against Turkey, so it cannot be said that Spain did not try to win. I assume that Spain's victory or defeat in this match will not have any impact on their qualification for the World Cup, so a team would never want to lose on its own or a team would not want to draw on its own. Spain performed well, but I liked Turkey's performance as well as Spain. Turkey defended well and they tried to attack several times, due to which the game ended in a draw. Spain took the lead against Turkey by scoring a goal at the beginning and at that time it seemed that Spain would secure a big victory, but from that time until the beginning of the second half, Turkey played well and they were able to score two goals in a row, Spain came back with Oyarzabal's goal, but no team could score after that, resulting in the match ending in 2-2.

Of course, the result of the match had different meanings for both teams. As you said, no team doesn't aim for victory in a match, even if the results sometimes don't go as expected. Spain dominated the group and played without any pressure. Meanwhile, Turkey's efforts deserve praise, even though it was quite difficult to get all three points, but they still worked hard in that match. Therefore, Turkey must face a Play-Off match to secure a World Cup ticket. It certainly won't be easy, but with fighting spirit, their chances are still very much there. Hopefully, Turkey will qualify for the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Exactly the point Spain had less motivation for the match and they weren’t as dominating as they would normally be, even if Turkey would have won they would have still remained second on the group table, Spain just had to play for formalities sake and Turkey tried to take advantage of that to add a National Pride or honour of beating Spain but was denied.
It was a good game nevertheless Turkey gave a good performance and a sign of what they can do when you underrate them. I’ll love to see them at the World Cup.

[BRINIRHA]

The FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers have been full of exciting developments. In particular, Scotland’s 4–2 victory over Denmark reflects the rise of Scottish football in recent years and symbolizes their return to the World Cup stage. The performances of players like McTominay and Ferguson showed how strong of an opponent Scotland can be.

Scotland's two goals in extra time against Denmark were magnificent. Perhaps the two best goals we saw this week were scored three minutes apart. The final goal, in particular, was magnificent, a perfect strike from midfield. Denmark led the group until extra time, but conceded two goals in extra time, sending them into the playoffs.

Scotland, with the players they currently have, certainly look quite impressive. However, I still think they will only qualify through the play-offs. As for the group stage, I think they will only finish second. But I was surprised by the result of that match. Denmark must have felt the most painful disappointment. Because, in fact, if they hadn't lost a player in the 61st minute due to a red card, Denmark might have won the match. The reason Denmark lost this match was because they only played with 10 players from the 62nd minute onwards.

[She shining]

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

This world Cup is quite different and competitive especially from countries that normally are not even among favorites. Past giants are getting weaker has cycles go by. In the past is quite easy to see favorite but this time anything can happen and I'm sure is not from previous title winners.

[Agbe]

Snip

Snip

Exactly the point Spain had less motivation for the match and they weren’t as dominating as they would normally be, even if Turkey would have won they would have still remained second on the group table, Spain just had to play for formalities sake and Turkey tried to take advantage of that to add a National Pride or honour of beating Spain but was denied.
It was a good game nevertheless Turkey gave a good performance and a sign of what they can do when you underrate them. I’ll love to see them at the World Cup.

Spain target was beyond winning this game as they were already secured a place in the world cup. Turkey in football is not a match to Spain that is a known fact. I just pray that going into the world cup next year that all the key Spanish players should no have any injuries and be in in their Best form because Spain is one country that has the players to win world currently.

[LGD2Business]

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

First of all, it's not Turkey, it's Türkiye. It's not right to draw so many conclusions from one match. Spain had already secured the lead, so the players couldn't focus too much. Otherwise, they could have scored more goals. They didn't seem to have any trouble converting the clear chances they found. Altay also played a good game, give him where credit is due. If a win had been absolutely essential for Spain in this match, they would have definitely won it. The play-offs will be very difficult for Türkiye. They should win, but sometimes they struggle against lower-level teams. This is due to Montella's poor game plan and player selections.

[Popkon6]

If we had played a similar game in the first match in Turkey, we might not have suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat, but everything was so bad in that match. At least in this match, we saw that we could compete well against a strong team like Spain with our rotation. If we make it to the World Cup after the playoffs, this match will provide us with valuable experience.

Turkey's improvement today is due to the mistakes of the first match. I will not point to the past, it was definitely a shameful defeat at home that could have been avoided. If they had performed the way they are performing today in the first match, they would not have had to face a shameful defeat against the powerful Spain. Today's team has proven that Turkey is no longer behind in football, they are improving and are moving forward to fight in the World Cup.

This world Cup is quite different and competitive especially from countries that normally are not even among favorites. Past giants are getting weaker has cycles go by. In the past is quite easy to see favorite but this time anything can happen and I'm sure is not from previous title winners.

Of course, this time the strength has been seen in all the weak teams who were not in form in the past. I will definitely see a different World Cup this time because where the strong teams and the teams that have made records in the past are losing to the weak teams. But I want to mention Portugal, they are in good form this time, every player in the Portugal team is ready to perform well. So I think the Portugal team has the potential to make a new record this time.

[CLS63]

You're being a little harsh on this guy, a man who coaches with passion and dedication. He simply says what he thinks, and he's not entirely wrong if you think about it.
In the Champions League, for example, they make sure that two teams from the same country don't reach the final to make everything more entertaining.

I agree. Gattuso is right about one thing here. Europe is sending really low number of teams to the World Cup. It is only 16 teams by the end of playoff stage.

The system has changed you know. Now there are 48 teams in total going to the main tournament instead of 32. Only one third of these teams are coming from Europe.

I don't think this is good for the prestige of the World Cup. Then they should have just kept it at 32 teams.

[Rikafip]

So were exactly is the lie in his statement when he said most countries in Europe are not footballing nations.

This thing about "most countries in Europe not being footballing nations"  is probably the most ignorant thing I read on gambling board in quite some time, and this says a lot because this board is full of shitposters writing nonsense.

I don't think this is good for the prestige of the World Cup. Then they should have just kept it at 32 teams.

As one my friends told me today, "I can't wait to get up at 3 AM to watch Haiti vs Uzbekistan".