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

[programmer3666]

Croatia are just doing enough to keep Portugal down in a goalless first half. Well, I guess it will end 0-0 at halftime because it's already 45 minutes played and honestly, it's been quite boring to watch. Portugal had 9 shots but only 1 on target, not good enough at all. All that hype about their quality and they can't even test the Croatian keeper properly. Croatia are defending smartly, sitting back and frustrating them. If Portugal don't change something in the second half, they might regret this.

[Joeboy]

Croatia are just doing enough to keep Portugal down in a goalless first half. Well, I guess it will end 0-0 at halftime because it's already 45 minutes played and honestly, it's been quite boring to watch. Portugal had 9 shots but only 1 on target, not good enough at all. All that hype about their quality and they can't even test the Croatian keeper properly. Croatia are defending smartly, sitting back and frustrating them. If Portugal don't change something in the second half, they might regret this.

Portugal should have capitalized this 1st half to their advantage, they controlled the the 1st half with their shots and higher possession, but they were able to do anything with it. The Croatian goal keeper was even struggling with the reflection of the sun, which made him to constantly cover his face, that may not be that way in the 2nd half... Even Ronaldo and co kept making series of back passes which just kept annoying me... Portugal, you guys really need to do better..

[JiiBs]

Croatia are just doing enough to keep Portugal down in a goalless first half. Well, I guess it will end 0-0 at halftime because it's already 45 minutes played and honestly, it's been quite boring to watch. Portugal had 9 shots but only 1 on target, not good enough at all. All that hype about their quality and they can't even test the Croatian keeper properly. Croatia are defending smartly, sitting back and frustrating them. If Portugal don't change something in the second half, they might regret this.

It’s being a boring game from these two, I have seen better matches today and not this Portugal vs Croatia where you have most of the the players standing on them pitch for an extended period of time, mainly from Portugal. They tend to stand crowd about the Leao wing and wait on the defense to approach. It’s not being an exciting one for sure and I’m hoping Ronaldo can be a lot more forward.
Portugal have missed some good chances though, but nothing is worth noting of this game yet.

[ArabBTC]

Croatia are just doing enough to keep Portugal down in a goalless first half. Well, I guess it will end 0-0 at halftime because it's already 45 minutes played and honestly, it's been quite boring to watch. Portugal had 9 shots but only 1 on target, not good enough at all. All that hype about their quality and they can't even test the Croatian keeper properly. Croatia are defending smartly, sitting back and frustrating them. If Portugal don't change something in the second half, they might regret this.

It’s being a boring game from these two, I have seen better matches today and not this Portugal vs Croatia where you have most of the the players standing on them pitch for an extended period of time, mainly from Portugal. They tend to stand crowd about the Leo wing and wait on the defense to approach. It’s not being an exciting one for sure and I’m hoping Ronaldo can be a lot more forward.
Portugal have missed some good chances though, but nothing is worth noting of this game yet.

I already anticipated that today’s game between Portugal and Croatia would’ve be very boring and it is actually currently playing out, most times when two big teams play against each other they are often extra careful and this makes the both teams to defend excessively and the match won’t produce any goal and would be very boring, the game already have too much of expectations from fans, especially because Ronaldo is on the pitch, i just hope that the second half will be a lot different from this goalless first half, let each team talk to themselves in the dressing room and come out with a more superior tactics in the second half, let Ronaldo also bring in the Ronaldo effect and change the game.

[promise444c5]

Portugal's team relies on Ronaldo the most, while Croatia also works hard, but the team that can score the first goal is the only one who can win.
But let's wait and see what happens in the end?

Dude, I'm not following this Portugal vs Croatia game, but man, it's despicable to see how Portugal plays, they waste so many chances, make silly mistakes, it seems like they avoid passing the ball to CR7, while Argentina works for Messi, it's no wonder Argentina is finally winning its World Cup decades later... the same goes for France, who work for Mbappé and Dembele...

Nope..
I’m watching and no , they are not avoiding him, neither are they depending on him but he's diving too deep in the game.. He was close to scoring two goals in first half and already scored a goal in second half half (offside). Croatia is majorly after Counter attacks in this game.  There’s enough time to still turn the game around , include the current possible penalty check.

[Sithara007]

Already injury time has crossed 15 minutes in the Portugal vs Croatia match, and still Croatia cannot win. They scored the equalizer in the 90+12 minute, but then it was ruled as an offside. Tough luck for the Croats, but it will be Ronaldo and his team who will qualify for the PQF stage. But it is going to be difficult for them during the next phase. They need to face Spain, who are the tournament favorites as per many of the Sportsbooks. Both Croatia and Portugal fans are a bit hyperactive now. Portuguese fans want the match to end, while the Croats are not happy with the offside.

[Solokan]

Source: https://sport.detik.com/juara-bola-dunia-2026/bola-dunia/d-8557652/hasil-spanyol-vs-austria-menang-3-0-la-roja-ke-16-besar
spain defeated austria 3-0 Unfortunately Austria couldn't score a single goal againstSpain Spain, had a strong defense and the Spanish players consistently controlled possession making it difficult for Austria to score Austria now faces a tough time in the 2026WorldCup and will not advance to the next round Many Austrian fans are undoubtedly disappointed by their loss Spain's victory in this match has secured their place in the Round of16 making Spanish fans happy as their team has advanced to the round of 16

Ienjoyed cucurella's performance in this match He played well had excellent passing provided twoassists and even scored a goal but unfortunately the referee disallowed the goal I also enjoyed Oyarzabal and Porro's performances as theywere the ones who scored against austria But fortunately in this match I bet on Spain to win and I ended up winning Do you think so too? Now Spain must preparefor their next match in the round of16 and it will certainly be even more excitinG

[Rgram]

Already injury time has crossed 15 minutes in the Portugal vs Croatia match, and still Croatia cannot win. They scored the equalizer in the 90+12 minute, but then it was ruled as an offside.

Croatia played one hell of a game in tonight’s fixture, they gave Portugal more tan Portugal would have hoped to get and all Portugal could do was hang on. This could have being Croatia’s win if they had maintained the pressure they did put Portugal on. After Perisic got Croatia their first goal, they relaxed a bit and that allowed them to come under pressure, with the Ronaldo offside goal and shortly after they conceded a penalty and Ronaldo scored.
The Portugal manager made an interesting substitute, bringing out Ronaldo to give way for Ramos and he got them their winning goal.
Croatia could have got a last minute equalizer but, football has got some interesting rules!

[Joeboy]

Already injury time has crossed 15 minutes in the Portugal vs Croatia match, and still Croatia cannot win. They scored the equalizer in the 90+12 minute, but then it was ruled as an offside. Tough luck for the Croats, but it will be Ronaldo and his team who will qualify for the PQF stage. But it is going to be difficult for them during the next phase. They need to face Spain, who are the tournament favorites as per many of the Sportsbooks. Both Croatia and Portugal fans are a bit hyperactive now. Portuguese fans want the match to end, while the Croats are not happy with the offside.

The Ref was really something else ,what did the Ref really aim to achieve with that delay to blowing the final whistle... The allocated time was actually 10 minutes.. After the 10 minutes was over he still decided not to blow the final whistle, that definitely looked planned to ensure that Portugal don't scale through to the Round of 16, but regardless if it all they still won it and scaled through.. Congratulations to C.Ronaldo, as well as Portugal.. Next on is to face Spain next week.

[Rruchi man]

Next on is to face Spain next week.

From the performance of the two teams, we see that clearly Spain is the better team going into that game, and Portugal has a higher chance of getting knocked out because they've not been very impressive in this competition and have had very poor performances.

The Spanish team has a better work ethic, and they really play really well even while off the ball; their recovery time is really very fast, as they are a hard-working team. We will see Yamal go against Mendes.

[Tonimez]

Next on is to face Spain next week.

From the performance of the two teams, we see that clearly Spain is the better team going into that game, and Portugal has a higher chance of getting knocked out because they've not been very impressive in this competition and have had very poor performances.

The Spanish team has a better work ethic, and they really play really well even while off the ball; their recovery time is really very fast, as they are a hard-working team. We will see Yamal go against Mendes.

The next round is not going to be an easy game at all for Portugal because Spain is excellently better than Portugal team. From the games the two teams displayed this few hours gone, it appears to be the end of the road already for Portugal. However, if Roberto Martinez can learn to make his changed earlier and also work on his midfield, he may stand a chance against Spain.

If it was in 2018, Portugal could have been trusting on Ronaldo but now, he is far gone due to age. Meanwhile, this VAR is a very bad technology and it's really spoiling the fun of football. Ronaldo's offside goal was too beautiful and close to be denied and it also happened to Croatia too. On the other hand, VAR was also the tool that helped end this game in 90 minutes if not, it could have possibly dragged into penalties. Congratulations to Portugal, next game they face it squarely.

[Sithara007]

Already injury time has crossed 15 minutes in the Portugal vs Croatia match, and still Croatia cannot win. They scored the equalizer in the 90+12 minute, but then it was ruled as an offside.

Croatia played one hell of a game in tonight’s fixture, they gave Portugal more tan Portugal would have hoped to get and all Portugal could do was hang on. This could have being Croatia’s win if they had maintained the pressure they did put Portugal on. After Perisic got Croatia their first goal, they relaxed a bit and that allowed them to come under pressure, with the Ronaldo offside goal and shortly after they conceded a penalty and Ronaldo scored.
The Portugal manager made an interesting substitute, bringing out Ronaldo to give way for Ramos and he got them their winning goal.
Croatia could have got a last minute equalizer but, football has got some interesting rules!

Injury time lasted 18 minutes and 51 seconds compared to the scheduled duration of 10 minutes. But I believe that it was justified. There were substitutions, one goal from Gonçalo Ramos for Portugal (assist from Rafael Leão), and the disallowed goal from Mario Pasalic for Croatia. Croatia just gave up after the goal was ruled offside, which I believe was a negative step. BTW, any guess on how the Spain vs Portugal match will turn out? I will root for Porugal. Anyway, in an hour the match between Algeria and Switzerland will start. I was checking Stake and they have Algeria at 4.10. I don't agree with these odds and I would say that everyone is underestimating Algeria. What about an Algeria vs Ghana match during the Round of 16?

[SuperBitMan]

Congratulations to Portugal even though they didn’t perform as I expected them to, I was very angry at them throughout the match, they have the best midfield players in the world but I’m not seen them in action, they were just taken the ball back in the first half, I don’t see Portugal lifting the world except they change and start playing better, congratulations to Ronaldo he has scored his first knockout stage World Cup goal.
Croatia did very well they would have actually won the match if not for the penalty that was give to Portugal, some people are saying that it was not suppose to be a penalty but that’s a lie because it was a clear penalty and referee did the right thing by given Portugal that penalty.

[Luzin]

Croatia did very well they would have actually won the match if not for the penalty that was give to Portugal, some people are saying that it was not suppose to be a penalty but that’s a lie because it was a clear penalty and referee did the right thing by given Portugal that penalty.

VAR and the referee's decisions might not always agree, but I think the penalty was valid. The reason is simple: you can clearly see the hand pulling the shirt, preventing the Portuguese player from moving. It might seem minor and simple, but with VAR, even a small mistake can make a big difference. Croatia did play well, creating lots of chances, but they were unlucky. There's always controversy and a feeling of being cheated, but this always happens in football – there are winners and losers.

[laijsica]

Croatia are just doing enough to keep Portugal down in a goalless first half. Well, I guess it will end 0-0 at halftime because it's already 45 minutes played and honestly, it's been quite boring to watch. Portugal had 9 shots but only 1 on target, not good enough at all. All that hype about their quality and they can't even test the Croatian keeper properly. Croatia are defending smartly, sitting back and frustrating them. If Portugal don't change something in the second half, they might regret this.

The match was full of excitement. Both sides were attacking for the goal but the last smile was on the faces of the Portugal players and their fans. The match referee had to take the help of VAR to make some decisions in the match and the overall management was perfect by the FIFA authorities. Neither side could score in the first half but the decisive goals in the second half changed the fate of the match. I expected more impressive performance from Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal have made it to the round of 16 where they will face strong opponents Spain.

[famososMuertos]

:://::

The simple 2–1 scoreline doesn't reflect the true nature of the match. Croatia played well and showed they deserved to win, but Portugal benefited from VAR's intervention twice. The penalty was debatable—it was one of those classic 50–50 decisions, where neither outcome would have been considered a clear mistake.

Portugal still hasn't reached its full potential, and unfortunately for them, they're now facing Spain. But in reality, we'll have two teams that haven't been playing particularly well. Spain won 3–0, but against whom? I don't even remember.

Great job by Modric, and good for Cristiano Ronaldo, who continues to keep the dream of winning the World Cup alive. It's an uphill battle, but he's still alive in the race.

[ottogary]

Congratulations to Portugal even though they didn’t perform as I expected them to, I was very angry at them throughout the match, they have the best midfield players in the world but I’m not seen them in action, they were just taken the ball back in the first half, I don’t see Portugal lifting the world except they change and start playing better, congratulations to Ronaldo he has scored his first knockout stage World Cup goal.
Croatia did very well they would have actually won the match if not for the penalty that was give to Portugal, some people are saying that it was not suppose to be a penalty but that’s a lie because it was a clear penalty and referee did the right thing by given Portugal that penalty.

Congrats Portugal now qualify to round of 16 and face the Spanish team, late goal from Goncalo Ramos make Portugal success eliminating Croatia and its time to show many people doubt with Portugal performance in World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo played around 8oth minutes for this match and score one goal from penalty kick, its great games for him have scored 3 goals of 4 appearances in World Cup and become the only one players always scoring goals every world cup participants. Focus for the next games against Spanish have good perform as the only team make clean sheet or not conceded goals last three matches in a row.

[Sithara007]

Congrats Portugal now qualify to round of 16 and face the Spanish team, late goal from Goncalo Ramos make Portugal success eliminating Croatia and its time to show many people doubt with Portugal performance in World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo played around 8oth minutes for this match and score one goal from penalty kick, its great games for him have scored 3 goals of 4 appearances in World Cup and become the only one players always scoring goals every world cup participants. Focus for the next games against Spanish have good perform as the only team make clean sheet or not conceded goals last three matches in a row.

I am a big supporter of Cristiano Ronaldo, but I am not fully satisfied with his performance so far in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Two of his goals came against Uzbekistan, while the third goal came from a penalty kick. Hopefully he will be able to perform well during the match against Spain. And it will be the first time in the tournament that the Portuguese team will take on someone who is ranked higher than them. If they win the PQF match against Spain, then in the next round (QF), they will be facing the winner from the match between Belgium and the United States.

[ruykeri]

I thought Portugal would lose today. After Croatia scored the first goal, I was even more sure. But I never thought the match would be so unpredictable. The last-minute goal was really good. And Ronaldo celebrated by wearing Diego Jota's 21 jersey after winning the match, it was really emotional. This time the World Cup is giving Ronaldo a good opportunity so far. Because despite being one of the best players in the world, he has not won the World Cup trophy so far, it is really sad for him. Even though I am not a Ronaldo fan, it is realistic and logical thinking that he deserves to win a World Cup.

[RaltcoinsB]

I thought Portugal would lose today. After Croatia scored the first goal, I was even more sure. But I never thought the match would be so unpredictable. The last-minute goal was really good. And Ronaldo celebrated by wearing Diego Jota's 21 jersey after winning the match, it was really emotional. This time the World Cup is giving Ronaldo a good opportunity so far. Because despite being one of the best players in the world, he has not won the World Cup trophy so far, it is really sad for him. Even though I am not a Ronaldo fan, it is realistic and logical thinking that he deserves to win a World Cup.

If we consider them individually, they deserve the World Cup, but the World Cup isn't awarded to one player alone. For them to win the World Cup, the whole team needs to play well. Portugal advanced to the next round again after the qualifiers. They usually don't have trouble advancing to the later rounds, but they can't reach the finals. Their quality only goes so far. Seeing Cristiano Ronaldo advance today made me happy. I hope they finally win the World Cup, but with this squad, it looks difficult, to be honest.