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

[armanda90]

Around 2.5 years to go for the next world cup. So it is too early to make these sort of predictions. One thing that you have posted is correct. Argentina is not a one-man army (unlike the case with Portugal or Norway) and they can win matches without Messi. But the big question is whether they can perform at the same level or not. Back in 2022 World Cup, Messi was one of the reasons why they were able to lift the trophy. But then again, Lionel Messi in 2026 may not be the same Lionel Messi that we saw during Qatar 2022.

Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.

[Sithara007]

Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.

I don't agree with this argument. Argentina is the no.1 ranked team at this moment, according to FIFA. I don't really care about past history and all. They look like the most balanced side and they have a lot of promising youngsters who are coming up through the ranks. On the other hand, teams like Brazil seems to be on the decline. With Neymar being injured again, they looks to be in very poor shape. The only team that can offer meaningful challenge to Argentina at the moment is France. But they are also being faced with the issue of injury to their key players.

[nullama]

~snip~
Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.

The next world cup will have a different setting, there will be so many more countries competing, so any previous data is not that relevant any more.

But, having said that, I think Argentina is always a candidate to win the cup, they are just very good. Same as Brazil, or Germany, Italy, France, etc. All the big names. They are big names for a reason.

[temple]

We had an older generation of players like Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar in the last years and they were performing pretty well during all these years, however, Ronaldo couldn't achieve the World Cup title with Portugal's national team even during the time when he was a younger player that's why we can't expect to see better performance from this 38-year player in the 2026 world cup when gets even older and I think the best thing they can do is to try finding other talents instead of Ronaldo.

You maybe onto something here by now because Ronaldo is indeed that old, but if your theory also applied to Messi, does that mean that less people thought he would win the World Cup in Qatar because he was in his mid 30s already? In his case it was a question of patience and dedication and it paid off for him eventually. If for some reason Ronaldo will participate in the World Cup 2026, I think that Portugal does have a pretty strong team at the moment. Maybe he won't win the title as someone who plays all games full time, but who cares if he is substituted in some games and Portugal wins it in the end, he would still have earned the title as well. Though winning a World Cup title is not only about who is the best team on paper and that is why the odds are against Portugal no matter what.

[borovichok]

We had an older generation of players like Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar in the last years and they were performing pretty well during all these years, however, Ronaldo couldn't achieve the World Cup title with Portugal's national team even during the time when he was a younger player that's why we can't expect to see better performance from this 38-year player in the 2026 world cup when gets even older and I think the best thing they can do is to try finding other talents instead of Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo is my GOAT; I have no disputations because he has excelled at club level and is always available to represent his country in games. He is an exceptional leader, and everybody who loves football knows that the impossible happens all the time. Ronaldo will be available for the 2026 World Cup and ready to face competitive opposition. Portugal has one of the most competitive squads in the world; why have they not won the World Cup? I believe they are not ready since there doesn't appear to any hint of seriousness in a handful Portugal players; these are the ones that are most likely impacting the team's poor performance.

[rdluffy]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid


Source

I would have preferred the 2034 World Cup to be in Australia, but it seemed inevitable that it would be in Arabia after all the investment they've put into soccer

[Patrol69]

~snip~
Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.

The next world cup will have a different setting, there will be so many more countries competing, so any previous data is not that relevant any more.

But, having said that, I think Argentina is always a candidate to win the cup, they are just very good. Same as Brazil, or Germany, Italy, France, etc. All the big names. They are big names for a reason.

Football World Cup usually has 32 teams, I think 32 teams have a chance to do well. In the 2022 World Cup, there were several other teams including Germany, Brazil, Belgium, England who were favorites to win the World Cup, but in the end, four teams qualified for the semi-finals, where Argentina, Croatia, Morocco and France. We saw the possibility of France Argentina playing the semi-final but we did not see the possibility of Croatia and Morocco playing the semi-final. Morocco became the first African country to play in the semi-finals and they proved that no team is small at the World Cup and every team can do well. 
The same will happen in the upcoming World Cup, Brazil-Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, England, Belgium, these teams will be favorites, but there are some teams outside of these teams who will definitely do well.

[alegotardo]

Football World Cup usually has 32 teams, I think 32 teams have a chance to do well. In the 2022 World Cup, there were several other teams including Germany, Brazil, Belgium, England who were favorites to win the World Cup, but in the end, four teams qualified for the semi-finals, where Argentina, Croatia, Morocco and France. We saw the possibility of France Argentina playing the semi-final but we did not see the possibility of Croatia and Morocco playing the semi-final. Morocco became the first African country to play in the semi-finals and they proved that no team is small at the World Cup and every team can do well. 
The same will happen in the upcoming World Cup, Brazil-Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, England, Belgium, these teams will be favorites, but there are some teams outside of these teams who will definitely do well.

I agree with you!
In the world of football, disparities between teams and players are getting smaller and smaller. We can no longer see "good football" as just what happens in Europe and South America, good players are spread all over the world and just need a chance to show their talent.

In the next football world cup, the number of teams that will compete for the cup will be much greater, and that is why I am sure that more unexpected talents will make the results of the games deviate from the pattern or favoritism initially predicted.

I've already learned... I'm not going to place bets hastily on the next World Cup.

[Sithara007]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid
✂✂✂✂

This is really huge news. Australia was never really in the race, due to the huge expenses involved in hosting the event. The 2018 edition hosted by Russia cost the country close to $50 billion, while the 2022 edition in Qatar was even more expensive with a price tag of $250 to $300 billion. Australia (or for that matter any of the other western nations) are not in a position to spend this much amount of money in hosting the tournament. Also, sports events have taken a lower priority in many of the nations. When Japan hosted the 2020 Olympics, there was a lot of criticism from the citizens, regarding the way money is being spent.

[fuguebtc]

Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.

I don't agree with this argument. Argentina is the no.1 ranked team at this moment, according to FIFA. I don't really care about past history and all. They look like the most balanced side and they have a lot of promising youngsters who are coming up through the ranks. On the other hand, teams like Brazil seems to be on the decline. With Neymar being injured again, they looks to be in very poor shape. The only team that can offer meaningful challenge to Argentina at the moment is France. But they are also being faced with the issue of injury to their key players.

Argentina is definitely very balanced at this moment. I am not talking about Argentina playing in the next World Cup. I am talking about the current performance of Argentina. Right now Argentina is the best and a lot of the teams that are called "big" opponents are actually not on the same level as Argentina. Right now I think France, England, and only a few other countries can actually give proper competition to Argentina. And Brazil definitely does not come into that conversation. Portugal is doing well currently. But I would still say that Argentina is far better compared to Portugal. 

[nullama]

~snip~
This is really huge news. Australia was never really in the race, due to the huge expenses involved in hosting the event. The 2018 edition hosted by Russia cost the country close to $50 billion, while the 2022 edition in Qatar was even more expensive with a price tag of $250 to $300 billion. Australia (or for that matter any of the other western nations) are not in a position to spend this much amount of money in hosting the tournament. Also, sports events have taken a lower priority in many of the nations. When Japan hosted the 2020 Olympics, there was a lot of criticism from the citizens, regarding the way money is being spent.

wow, indeed.

Saudi Arabia is definitely investing a lot of money in sports lately.

And Australia also recently withdrew the CommonWealth games in Victoria, so the inverse is happening there.

Interesting times ahead.

[Sithara007]

wow, indeed.

Saudi Arabia is definitely investing a lot of money in sports lately.

And Australia also recently withdrew the CommonWealth games in Victoria, so the inverse is happening there.

Interesting times ahead.

Saudi Arabia is wasting trillions of USD in wasteful projects such as NEOM and "The Wall", so there is no issue for them to spend a few hundred billions in hosting the biggest sporting event in the world. The crown prince (Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud) is quite open about his ambition to make Saudi Arabia a global sporting destination. I am not sure whether he will remain in power until 2034, but this is going to be one of his biggest achievements. Saudi Arabians were not very happy when Qatar won hosting rights for the 2022 event. This is going to make them really happy.

[Strongkored]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid


Source

I would have preferred the 2034 World Cup to be in Australia, but it seemed inevitable that it would be in Arabia after all the investment they've put into soccer

This is certainly good news for Saudi Arabia, which has spent quite a lot of money to start campaigning for their readiness to host the World Cup in fact, their selection is not surprising, because until the application deadline, only Saudi Arabia applied to host and it seems other Asian countries did not ready to host this big event.
Maybe another Asian country that has the ability to host is China but doesn't seem interested in hosting the World Cup
They still have a lot of time to make preparations, not only about infrastructure because this is not an obstacle for Saudi Arabia, which has abundant funds, but what is no less important is the readiness of their national team for the World Cup because if they don't qualify from the group phase, it's not a good thing.

[rdluffy]

In the next football world cup, the number of teams that will compete for the cup will be much greater, and that is why I am sure that more unexpected talents will make the results of the games deviate from the pattern or favoritism initially predicted.

I've already learned... I'm not going to place bets hastily on the next World Cup.

The World Cup is the coolest event to place bets on hehehe, at the time we get excited and place more bets
With 48 teams, there will be plenty of good opportunities to bet, and plenty of options, after all there will be 104 matches instead of the 64 matches of recent editions.
40 more matches to bet on, and of course there's more room to surprises like Morocco (I don't consider Croatia a surprise in semi-finals)

I usually get good results from my World Cup bets 

This is really huge news. Australia was never really in the race, due to the huge expenses involved in hosting the event

I believe that within FIFA, the entire management people should want Saudi Arabia for 2034 since they couldn't get it for 2030, it seems there was no chance for Australia anyway
I think the current billion-dollar sums for holding the World Cup are an exaggeration

[Juggy777]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid


Source

I would have preferred the 2034 World Cup to be in Australia, but it seemed inevitable that it would be in Arabia after all the investment they've put into soccer

This is certainly good news for Saudi Arabia, which has spent quite a lot of money to start campaigning for their readiness to host the World Cup in fact, their selection is not surprising, because until the application deadline, only Saudi Arabia applied to host and it seems other Asian countries did not ready to host this big event.
Maybe another Asian country that has the ability to host is China but doesn't seem interested in hosting the World Cup
They still have a lot of time to make preparations, not only about infrastructure because this is not an obstacle for Saudi Arabia, which has abundant funds, but what is no less important is the readiness of their national team for the World Cup because if they don't qualify from the group phase, it's not a good thing.

@Strongkored whoever said money can’t buy everything didn’t met the Saudi people because they have managed to get a very lucrative tournament and now more player’s will happily join their league. Furthermore I expect Ronaldo to be an key ambassador even in 2034 and I believe that his presence will definitely help Saudi people further strengthen their hold over this sport.

[Volgastallion]

With the confirmation of the 2034 World cup being hosted by Saudi Arabia we can say, Saudi Arabia has some serious football develop project on his hand, i dont know if they can ended be a good national team or a football of football, but they are putting a big effort on that, for me 2034 are 11!! years ahead, so many things can change and happen.

[marcous]

With the confirmation of the 2034 World cup being hosted by Saudi Arabia we can say, Saudi Arabia has some serious football develop project on his hand, i dont know if they can ended be a good national team or a football of football, but they are putting a big effort on that, for me 2034 are 11!! years ahead, so many things can change and happen.

Saudi Arabia ambition to build football is really serious, along with crazy investment in the Saudi Pro League. Previously they even submitted their candidacy for the 2030 edition, but FIFA did not agree and gave the quota in 2034. With a long time left, they will continue to strive to improve the quality of their players through the SPL, they have enough money to make things easier. If there are no changes in the appointment of the host, it means that ASIA has hosted the World Cup three times. First Korea-Japan in 2002, Qatar in 2022 and 2034 will be held in Saudi.

Slowly the ASIA region will become a place for great players in football, and will compete fiercely with Europe. I think the Asian Leagues will also become increasingly popular in the future, a step that is quite good for expanding the fan base.

[Leviathan.007]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid


Source

I would have preferred the 2034 World Cup to be in Australia, but it seemed inevitable that it would be in Arabia after all the investment they've put into soccer

I don't think if we are going to have a good World Cup and good times in Saudi Arabia. We saw a Muslim country like Qatar with lots of money they have hosted the World Cup before but the fact about these countries is they think they can have a good hosting just by spending lots of money and nothing is important for hosting the World Cup but the money they spend there while they are wrong and I think we can see that in 2026 world cup when the USA is hosting the world cup and they don't need to spend lots of money of the World Cup.
 

[Hirose UK]

Hey everyone
I'm not going to create a thread just for this and don't want to become off topic, mas this is huge news
FIFA has just announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after Australia withdrew its bid


Source

I would have preferred the 2034 World Cup to be in Australia, but it seemed inevitable that it would be in Arabia after all the investment they've put into soccer

This is certainly good news for Saudi Arabia, which has spent quite a lot of money to start campaigning for their readiness to host the World Cup in fact, their selection is not surprising, because until the application deadline, only Saudi Arabia applied to host and it seems other Asian countries did not ready to host this big event.
Maybe another Asian country that has the ability to host is China but doesn't seem interested in hosting the World Cup
They still have a lot of time to make preparations, not only about infrastructure because this is not an obstacle for Saudi Arabia, which has abundant funds, but what is no less important is the readiness of their national team for the World Cup because if they don't qualify from the group phase, it's not a good thing.

Actually, it still long time away and we will still go through the 2026 and 2030 World Cups before we really get close to the 2034 World Cup so who will host the 2034 World Cup can still change according to FIFA decision and the readiness of countries.
It too early to discuss it now.
But when Saudi Arabia becomes the host can be sure that it will be magnificent and even better than Qatar because the Arab people especially the billionaire families from the Arab kingdoms, will dare to spend a very large budget to prepare everything.

If we talk about finances, the Arabs will be much braver to take stand than Australia and it is even possible that the Arabs will spend a lot of money so that they can be place to hold the World Cup.

[nullama]

With the confirmation of the 2034 World cup being hosted by Saudi Arabia we can say, Saudi Arabia has some serious football develop project on his hand, i dont know if they can ended be a good national team or a football of football, but they are putting a big effort on that, for me 2034 are 11!! years ahead, so many things can change and happen.

It is really incredible to see the amount of money being poured from Saudi Arabia to sports like Football.

The world is clearly changing and Football will not look the same in the next decade.

Money talks.