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

[tiCeR]

Wow, wow. The third-place match between England and France was incredibly exciting and entertaining. This is the first time a World Cup match has produced 10 goals in a single game.

In the England vs. France match, at least two new records were set. Mbappé successfully took the lead in the World Cup’s current top scorers list with 10 goals, and at the same time became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals, surpassing Messi. Olise became the player with the most assists in a single World Cup tournament, breaking Pelé’s record.

It was exciting and entertaining, I agree, but I would not want that to be a standard in the highest level professional football. Many goals usually means many mistakes. It is fun to watch and I understand that, especially when both teams participate in going back and forth without a break and have their shots on target, but it was a festival of mistakes on both sides and to be honest, the first halftime, despite the four goals, felt like France is boycotting the match. When I watch football, I prefer to see the best possible teams on both sides and France was not worthy of wearing their jerseys during the first halftime.

The second halftime England again miraculously fell apart. I don't know what that is, whether it is an endurance problem, a switch in their head that tells them to stop and try to preserve the result, it is strange how a team that plays so well one halftime can crash so hard the next halftime.

[meser#]

Ivan Barton has been named the referee for the France-Spain match. He officiated one of our matches as well, and he is a referee I really rate highly.
While top scorers usually grab the spotlight at the World Cup, this referee has really stood out too. I don't know if he'll officiate the final, but in my opinion, he is definitely an excellent referee.
I wish he would officiate in our country, too, because in the Turkish League, the referee is inevitably the topic of conversation after every match.
I predict that Slavko Vincic will be the referee for the final.

Bravo, my friend—it’s as if you were the one who appointed the World Cup final referee! 👏👏👏
You made this prediction nearly a week ago; congratulations.
Vincic is a good referee. I know he’ll officiate a high-quality match, even though he is European.
He’s a referee who calls the game exactly as he sees it.
If there were top-quality referees from Asia or Africa, a referee from one of those continents would have officiated the final.
The two teams competing in the third-place play-off are both from Europe, yet the referee was from Venezuela.

I followed the World Cup and the referees closely. I also made some predictions based on my intuition. Actually, I would have named the Salvadoran referee Iván Barton, but I didn't mention him because I didn't think they would assign him a match at this level.
Vinčić is a high-quality referee, and this will be his last World Cup; as far as I know, he has reached the age of 45.
I can say that the referees delivered the best performances at this World Cup; the biggest factor in this was certainly the use of chipped balls. With the chipped balls in play, there was very little need for VAR intervention.

[Synchronice]

I will never rate that match no matter what, it felt like a friendlies, like they didn't have anything to lose hence those stupid defensive plays from both side, the only time it felt like a competition was when Mbappe scored that first goal for France at the second half that France started feeling the urgency to come back.

I don't know why they even record goals and assist for third place matcup because they have already been knockout out and it's not fair that get to play again. Now Messi won't be able to get the golden boot because of freaking Mbappe

What kind of match was this? 10 goals in a world cup match, that's insane. England scored 4 goals in the first half like it was nothing, then France did the same but England scored another two. They were playing a friendly match, not a competitive match because honestly, does it matter whether you are 3rd or 4th? You lost anyway and there is nothing to fight for, so they scored lots of goals because nobody cared. I think that it's not fair to count these goals in the statistics. I'm really upset that because of those two easy goals, Messi can't win the golden boot.

Anyways, it is what it is. Let's see what happens today in the final. It will be very interesting final and we will finally see Lamine Yamal against Messi. Godson VS godfather. Interesting...

[alankasman]

This final game will be very interesting because I can't really tell who will become the winner. But looking at the performance of Spain since the beginning of the World Cup, it has been very impressive. I think in all their games it has been very interesting because they play the game with ease, and I don't see anywhere they are lacking.

Argentina is another team with good experience; they may be behind at the beginning of the game, but they know how to win big at the end. I truly believe in these two teams, and I think it will end in a draw, but penalties at the end of the game will determine who becomes the winner.

I think the same thing but I personally have more confidence in Spain. Since their group stage appearances, they've been a very consistent team. This is normal as they've often faced strong teams. However Argentina on the other hand has only faced England as their toughest opponent. Before that I think they've often faced teams ranked below 10th in the FIFA standings. However Argentina is one of the defending champions so this is a bit of a motivation for tonight's final.

That's true, especially since they have more experienced players in their squad. I think this will be their final match a match they must maximize. They also realize that playing Spain won't be easy but it's quite difficult considering Spain's solid defense forcing them to look for an early goal. I think so. If not it's possible they'll suffer their first defeat of the World Cup only in the final.

[knowngunman]

Wow, wow. The third-place match between England and France was incredibly exciting and entertaining. This is the first time a World Cup match has produced 10 goals in a single game.

In the England vs. France match, at least two new records were set. Mbappé successfully took the lead in the World Cup’s current top scorers list with 10 goals, and at the same time became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals, surpassing Messi. Olise became the player with the most assists in a single World Cup tournament, breaking Pelé’s record.

It was entertaining game even though some of us assumed both teams will play with unseriousness since there's no much to play for. There's a lot things for both teams to learn from that yesterday match and try to fix them ahead of future competitions. England made the same mistake they made against Argentina that led to their elimination. England can not withstand pressure, they can not defend their goals. The fact that they allowed France to get back into the game after sealing the game in the first half, is a prove that if France were serious enough, England could lose that game. The French side is the worst when it comes to midfield and defense. Apart from deadly attack, the French squad has nothing left.

[rdluffy]

It’s amazing how yesterday’s match was one of the best of the World Cup
The fact that it took most of the pressure off both teams, and that it was a third-place match, definitely helped the teams play more relaxed and focus on scoring goals
It was a pleasant surprise

More World Cup matches could be like this, instead of teams being so afraid of losing
Look at how strong England is, and unfortunately, Argentina’s fear of losing was greater
They could have been in today’s final

[BitBakerr1]

Today is the day everyone has been waiting for, this match carries a lot of expectations, Messi fans are expecting him to score 3 goals today so he can pass Mbappe in terms of goals so he can lift the World Cup golden boot or he should score 2 goals and give 1 assist.
In this match the strongest team is going to win, Argentina player’s usually put in their best effort to make sure they win and they give it their all, the only way Spain is going to win them is when they give in everything they have into this final.
As for me I’m not going to bet on this match because I want to enjoy the match, I have no expectation anymore anyone can win.

[Oluwa-btc]

Kylian Mbappe have just topped Messi and has become the highest goal scorer in the world cup as we speak. It is really iconic because he is still young and has more world cup matches to play. He has 22 goals to his name in all world cup competition he has played, and Mess has 21 goals to his name.

I don't know if Messi will score in tonight's game, but if he does and it's just a goal, they'll be in a tie but Messi will probably be ahead of him because of his staggering 12 assists.

Glad he was fortunate to put tw goals at the back of the net. He will be the first player to be the highest goal scorer in La Liga, Champions league competition and also the Fifa world cup competition.

Cheers to also Micheal Olise breaking legendary record of Pele and also the same to Jude Bellingham for being the midfielder with the highest goals in a Fifa world cup competition.
Bukayo Saka has also never scored a single hat trick in his life, but he was fortunate to do so last night.

[Ahli38]

Wow, wow. The third-place match between England and France was incredibly exciting and entertaining. This is the first time a World Cup match has produced 10 goals in a single game.

In the England vs. France match, at least two new records were set. Mbappé successfully took the lead in the World Cup’s current top scorers list with 10 goals, and at the same time became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals, surpassing Messi. Olise became the player with the most assists in a single World Cup tournament, breaking Pelé’s record.

It was exciting and entertaining, I agree, but I would not want that to be a standard in the highest level professional football. Many goals usually means many mistakes. It is fun to watch and I understand that, especially when both teams participate in going back and forth without a break and have their shots on target, but it was a festival of mistakes on both sides and to be honest, the first halftime, despite the four goals, felt like France is boycotting the match. When I watch football, I prefer to see the best possible teams on both sides and France was not worthy of wearing their jerseys during the first halftime.

The second halftime England again miraculously fell apart. I don't know what that is, whether it is an endurance problem, a switch in their head that tells them to stop and try to preserve the result, it is strange how a team that plays so well one halftime can crash so hard the next halftime.

The French national team’s performance in the first half was terrible, where they seemed to have a very hard time keeping up with England’s style of play. And they were completely crushed by France in the first half by conceding four goals. But the French national team’s style of play changed drastically after Deschamps brought in several substitutes at the start of the second half. France played very well after those substitutions managing to score several goals to close the gap against England. And I personally believe that Deschamps’ decision to bring in Ousmane Dembélé to strengthen their attack was spot-on. Barcola’s presence also played a key role in creating scoring opportunities for France. Mbappé also appeared more aggressive in the second half thanks to the substitutions, where it allowed France to play more freely by create numerous chances and even capitalize on those opportunities effectively. As for England they were initially overwhelmed by France’s attacks which repeatedly threatened their defense. However England refused to let their chance to defeat France slip away so they rebalanced their lineup to mount counterattacks against France. As a result they managed to score two goals in the second half to secure their victory. If England had continued to play a purely defensive game at that point then I’m sure France would have had a good chance of earning a draw or even staging a comeback. I was very impressed by the performances of both national teams which put on a very exciting match with their tactical battle.

[Joca97]

It’s amazing how yesterday’s match was one of the best of the World Cup
The fact that it took most of the pressure off both teams, and that it was a third-place match, definitely helped the teams play more relaxed and focus on scoring goals
It was a pleasant surprise

More World Cup matches could be like this, instead of teams being so afraid of losing
Look at how strong England is, and unfortunately, Argentina’s fear of losing was greater
They could have been in today’s final

The match was played without pressure and thats why we seen so many goals,the match was simply amazing from 0-4 to o most 4-4 and if France somehow was able to turn it around that would have been the biggest comeback ever in a world cup game. Still too bad all games arent like this so we can see so many goals and enjoy the football. Wondering what we will see in the final today.

[Cityhunter34]

It was indeed an incredible performance from England players. After losing the semifinal to Argentina, they decided to correct their mistakes with a huge win against Frence. If I'm not mistaken I think yesterday's match was England's best performance so far. They would have achieved something reasonable if they had started with this mindset against Argentina. But it's not bad since didn't go home empty-handed.

 Anyway, let's see if Argentina can make it back-to-back tonight.

[Showlove01]

Today is the day everyone has been waiting for, this match carries a lot of expectations, Messi fans are expecting him to score 3 goals today so he can pass Mbappe in terms of goals so he can lift the World Cup golden boot or he should score 2 goals and give 1 assist.
In this match the strongest team is going to win, Argentina player’s usually put in their best effort to make sure they win and they give it their all, the only way Spain is going to win them is when they give in everything they have into this final.
As for me I’m not going to bet on this match because I want to enjoy the match, I have no expectation anymore anyone can win.

With the way the game is, I don't think it will be possible for Messi to score 2 goals in this match talk more of 3 goals unless he is so lucky today which sometimes it can happen, who believed or imagined that Bukayo Saka would score a hat trick yesterday? But it happened that is luck and as for the winner in this game, that is really indecisive because Spain is good and Argentina is also good so we can not predict for sure who will win the game as mistake  can happen and any side can win.

[jakdanyel]

Mbappe is at the top of not only top scorers of this World Cup but also the all-time tournament scorers now... Messi has 21 goals in all-time and 8 goals in this one.

Mbappe said that he would prefer to play in the final match of the World Cup rather than finishing it as top scorer. It's a quite understandable statement.

But I think Messi won't finish the final match without scoring. I expect to see him at least sharing the goal record with Mbappe by the end of the tournament. 

[Catenaccio]

Mbappe is at the top of not only top scorers of this World Cup but also the all-time tournament scorers now... Messi has 21 goals in all-time and 8 goals in this one.

Mbappe said that he would prefer to play in the final match of the World Cup rather than finishing it as top scorer. It's a quite understandable statement.

But I think Messi won't finish the final match without scoring. I expect to see him at least sharing the goal record with Mbappe by the end of the tournament. 

Messi can take a first position back after the final match but even so he will lose it to Mbappe again because Messi is at the end of his career while Mbappe potentially might play in next 10 years as well as might be able to join 2 more World Cups. With his scoring ability, he will take a World Cup all time scorer record in the future as well as hold it for a while long time.

Mbappe finished this tournament and only waits for result from a final match between Argentina and Spain, as well as Messi performance today. If Mbappe wins World Cup Golden Boot (best goalscorer), he will be a first ever player who win best goalscorer from La Liga, UEFA Champions League and World Cup in a single season.

[Cossyblack]

Today is the day everyone has been waiting for, this match carries a lot of expectations, Messi fans are expecting him to score 3 goals today so he can pass Mbappe in terms of goals so he can lift the World Cup golden boot or he should score 2 goals and give 1 assist.
In this match the strongest team is going to win, Argentina player’s usually put in their best effort to make sure they win and they give it their all, the only way Spain is going to win them is when they give in everything they have into this final.
As for me I’m not going to bet on this match because I want to enjoy the match, I have no expectation anymore anyone can win.

This is exactly what we have all been waiting for. This match will be interesting because the both teams is full of stars so we are definitely going to find this match interesting.  Messi and yamal is going to play against eachother and only the best team will win this game.  Argentina has been very active from the very beginning of this competition. Messi has been their symbol of strength, his presence in this game will help boost their confidence and will send fear to Spain. Argentina is the favourite to win the match, most people is supporting Argentina over Spain because of Messi. I can think of anything that would happen but I will support anything that win.

[Shishir99]

Is it only me who thinks the last match between England and France was rigged?
We knew that the players would play carelessly in this match. But I never thought we would see a match like this, where they would make it almost obvious to detect. England had scored four goals before halftime, and it seemed like there was a deal between the players and the betting sites. The odds were changing drastically every few minutes, and I am sure that hundreds of betting sites made a million dollars yesterday. Bad luck for Messi, who is likely to miss the golden boot.

[Lucius]

What kind of match was this? 10 goals in a world cup match, that's insane. England scored 4 goals in the first half like it was nothing, then France did the same but England scored another two. They were playing a friendly match, not a competitive match because honestly, does it matter whether you are 3rd or 4th? You lost anyway and there is nothing to fight for, so they scored lots of goals because nobody cared. I think that it's not fair to count these goals in the statistics. I'm really upset that because of those two easy goals, Messi can't win the golden boot.
~snip~

For some countries, winning third place and getting a medal is a big deal, but for some countries like England or France, this is obviously not the case. If they wanted something to remember that semi-final, they definitely succeeded in that, but if you ask me, they made a mockery of themselves because it obviously didn't matter to them who would win.

Anyway, it fits perfectly into the Infant show and the announcement that WC 2038 may be in the US again (without Canada and Mexico).

[Marvelockg]

Wow, wow. The third-place match between England and France was incredibly exciting and entertaining. This is the first time a World Cup match has produced 10 goals in a single game.

In the England vs. France match, at least two new records were set. Mbappé successfully took the lead in the World Cup’s current top scorers list with 10 goals, and at the same time became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals, surpassing Messi. Olise became the player with the most assists in a single World Cup tournament, breaking Pelé’s record.

It was exciting and entertaining, I agree, but I would not want that to be a standard in the highest level professional football. Many goals usually means many mistakes. It is fun to watch and I understand that, especially when both teams participate in going back and forth without a break and have their shots on target, but it was a festival of mistakes on both sides and to be honest, the first halftime, despite the four goals, felt like France is boycotting the match. When I watch football, I prefer to see the best possible teams on both sides and France was not worthy of wearing their jerseys during the first halftime.

If france had their way, they will certainly boycot that game but there where some other things that are at stake like the fact that Mbappe needs to score goals in that game. i think that is the main thing that made the game entertaining if not, both teams where not too conscious of their defense as such. for England that has not won even the bronze modal for a long time coming, they needed the medal even more and we can just conclude that ENGLAND needed the win while France needed mbappe to score. both happened and everyone is alright. with the result, the huge responsibility is not Messi to score at least an hattrick in this finals to beat mbappe in the golden booth race. doing that in a final agaisnt the kind of solid defense that Spain has is almost like a mission impossible for Messi but guess he is called the greatest of all time for a reason.

[Hypnotizer]

It's more unbelievable to see France shown their weak defense again. Before World Cup 2026 start and even before the semi final, people thought France are like unbeaten team but only two last matches in the tournament reveal something opposite. Their midfield and defense systems are bad and can be exploited by strong opponents such as Spain and England.

France’s defense system is definitely a bit weak and their overall team structure wasn’t good especially in the first half against England, that was why they concede up to four goals in the first half. It could have been a very big disgrace if England fumble that 4-0 lead and lost that game.

This match makes English fans regret a lot, like what if they had played more proactively in the semi final match against Argentina after leading 1 - 0, they would have won that semi final match.

That’s why many people Blame Tuchel for that game against Argentina, with a Defense like England’s he doesn’t have any reason to try a defensive game against Argentina when he’s just with a one goal lead and he saw how Argentina pulled a comeback against Egypt.

The final is tonight, as many people have said including the Barcelona president Laporta, …… You know what I’m trying to say..lol

[Pandu Geddon]

Is it only me who thinks the last match between England and France was rigged?
We knew that the players would play carelessly in this match. But I never thought we would see a match like this, where they would make it almost obvious to detect. England had scored four goals before halftime, and it seemed like there was a deal between the players and the betting sites. The odds were changing drastically every few minutes, and I am sure that hundreds of betting sites made a million dollars yesterday. Bad luck for Messi, who is likely to miss the golden boot.

In terms of betting, that number of goals is a bit unbelievable. But I don't think there was any match that was fixed or rigged. From the perspective of match enthusiasts, the game put on by both teams was really interesting. It's a show for everyone watching to enjoy. Even if there was any fixing or rigging, I believe it wouldn't harm Argentina or Messi.