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

[Lidger]

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition.

In the first place, is their any rationale behind making a comparison between Ronaldo's visit to trump and trump playing any role in assisting Portugal in the world cup? for all we know, there is more to Ronaldo than just winning the world cup and so, even if he never wins the world cup, he will forever remain the GOAT of the game of football. even when you are looking that at some point, sports can be rigged, it is not possible for a game at the highest level like the FIFA world cup to be rigged from start to the finish. it is completely impossible.

Argentina won the last World Cup and FIFA contributed to Argentina becoming the champion, but many people said at the time, but there is no truth to it. Argentina played well and they were able to win the World Cup, but there were some controversial penalty decisions that were actually criticized. Ronaldo is the best player of this generation, there is no doubt about it and not only Donald Trump, there are many other big leaders and big celebrities who are fans of Ronaldo's football, so they can meet Ronaldo personally or give him some gifts. This does not mean that Trump will directly contribute to Cristiano Ronaldo winning the 2026 World Cup. We should put all these thoughts aside and enjoy the World Cup and support good players and good teams.

[martinom]

As a rule, if I am betting on who will become the champions in FIFA World Cup or the Euro Cup, I have always avoided teams such as Portugal, Norway, Belgium and Wales. The reason is that I don't think teams that are completely dependent on one player would be able to perform well in playoff phase and lift the trophy. And this rule has helped me in saving my money. I made a bet for Argentina in 2022, which clicked and I ended up with a substantial profit. I did so, because in Argentina they have good players such as Lautaro Martínez and Rodrigo De Paul in addition to Messi.

but in this case it is different because the players who are part of the Portugal team are proving to do very well even without Ronaldo who will certainly be the captain but might not be the undisputed protagonist as everyone thinks or expects from everyone

[pewboy]

But the rules are rules, so if federations of those leagues wants to send anyone, and have the finances for it, they can create the paperwork to send, just like how players are capable of going, the federation "workers" will too, and these could be hidden fans with no real work, just getting fake papers.

I don't agree, these rules are ridiculous and this only increases racism towards people who don't deserve it. Obviously the USA doesn't care about all this, UEFA should have thought carefully before assigning such an important tournament to them, all this for the mere gain.

[Volgastallion]

People always talk shit about every single champion, in some cases they are real when they are super clearly, but most of the times are just conspiracy theories. Argentina arrives to the world cup with one of the most longest ever unbeaten run, they lsot it at the first game but after it they smash every opponent, in some games they show some doubts but was made by themselves, in example to Netherlands they were 2 goals above and they let go that diference, against Croatia was a no game they destroy it, and in the final Argentina was far better than France for 80 minute.

[dollyamo]

In what way will Trump support Ronaldo? Ronaldo did not come to the meeting at the White House with Trump as an individual or as a representative of Portugal, but as part of a large Saudi delegation and as part of the promotion of Saudi football. 
Trump is not interested in football but in profit, and that is the reason for this meeting between the Saudi delegation and President Trump. The Saudi leader has long been isolated in the world due to human rights violations in his country, and now, through Trump, he is in a way being rehabilitated. 
Football is secondary in this whole story, and the most important aspect of the whole story is business, profit, and the promotion of Saudi Arabia as a country.

yes in fact he is doing the business of Saudi football at most, it doesn't seem to me that there is all this interest on Trump's part in making Portugal win, even if this is something that could change the fate of Portugal if only there was an episode of help it would be the end

[slapper]

There is a travel ban on Haiti and Iran travellers to the United States of America, which means the fans are ban from coming to United States of America to support there teams, that will definitely be a minus for both team,
But the question is since there is a travel ban on travellers the question is will both team be allowed to play in the United States of America in the 2026 world cup?

Due to FIFA rules, USA has to accept federation people, meaning that while it's true that travellers, like regular people, can't go, Iran could easily create credentials to a thousand people if they want to, and send them there. Not sure if they really want to, doesn't mean they may want to, they may feel okay with this, after all how many teams will have tens of thousands of fans in every game, only the big ones, smaller teams usually do not have that much, I remember in Qatar, there were many games where it was just Qatari people watching it.

But the rules are rules, so if federations of those leagues wants to send anyone, and have the finances for it, they can create the paperwork to send, just like how players are capable of going, the federation "workers" will too, and these could be hidden fans with no real work, just getting fake papers.

I believe you are underestimating how different this will be compared to Qatar. In Qatar, when one country did not bring 20-30k fans, then it was largely a matter of money, distance, or interest. They could go; the vast majority of them simply preferred not to. Here, for Iran and Haiti, it's the opposite: a chunk of people would literally sell everything to follow this team... and aren't allowed in the country at all

Federations can fool around with fake titles, all right. However that does not resolve the underlying emotional disconnect:
- Haitian fans on the island finally see their team back at a World Cup after 50 years and still have to watch from home while Little Haiti in Miami throws the party
- Iranian players strike in front of mostly diaspora who have been protesting the regime over the years. In Qatar the regime brought in 300 or more loyalists to drown that out. In the US, those guys are exactly who the system is built to filter out

Even if they bring a bus full of “staff”, the feeling stays the same: for people in Iran and Haiti, this World Cup is on TV only, not in real life at the stadium. The noise of the stadium will be there, yet so many of the people it belongs to are on the wrong side of a border

[sana54210]

In any case, as a player he has important experience, he is certainly not a fool.

He is not a fool for sure. He was a world class defender and on that merit alone he is making nice living as a coach.

Fools are those that sack someone who brought you the world cup, just to replace him with someone who knows absolutely nothing about your football, just to sack him few months after the world cup is over.

Also, not like this is his first coaching job or anything like that? I mean he has been a manager for a while, and yes he was a legendary player when he played but he didn't get the job on that alone, he was a manager for many years, over a decade now.

The famous Al Nassr that Ronaldo plays right now? Cannavaro managed them way before Ronaldo, so it is not like he is unheard of or untested as a manager. I wouldn't know what people think he did all these years since he retired, he even managed Udinese, probably biggest team he managed so far. I don't know why he never got his big break and went to even higher team, but I am assuming it's because in none of the teams he managed he did something amazing, so that's why Uzbekisten thing is great for him.

[Ale88]

There is a travel ban on Haiti and Iran travellers to the United States of America, which means the fans are ban from coming to United States of America to support there teams, that will definitely be a minus for both team,
But the question is since there is a travel ban on travellers the question is will both team be allowed to play in the United States of America in the 2026 world cup?

This has been explained in this article

The presidential proclamation restricts people from 19 countries from entering the United States, while including exemptions for players and their families, coaches and support personnel to participate in major sporting events. But the State Department confirmed to POLITICO on Friday that this exception will not apply to Haitian fans or spectators hoping to attend.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/21/haiti-world-cup-trump-administration-00665817

So basically the players will still be able to play and their families can still watch, but that doesn't apply to fans who want to support their team because the US won't give them access. So Haiti and Iran will play without support from their supporters.

With all due respect for Haitian people, how many fans could actually afford planes, hotels, restaurants and match tickets? The United States are very expensive, and for sure everybody will want to take advantage of the World Cup inflating prices even more; at the same time we have Haiti which is one of the poorest countries on Earth. Probably the majority of Haitians who could afford to live somewhere already left the country. And let's not forget that anyway the World Cup is going to be played in Mexico and Canada too, not everything is about the USA.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Let the young players represent their country because they still have enough time to play for Brazil. Ronaldinho time is gone so forget about him. Neymar is already 33 years, he did miraculous things for Brazil when he was reigning. His performance sucks because he was feasted upon by injury for a very long time. I don't think that his presence is important in the national team.

You're right, but tell me something, Brazil has always been known for playing differently , with a unique style. Now the players only play under a very tiki-taka system, a system that is good but kills the beautiful game Most of Brazil's players don't have that heart; the only one I see who still has it is Neymar, even though he's playing at a low level, but he has what's needed.