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

[bots1]

op you are right if messi is not physically fit he should retire from 2026 world cup if he can't play well. And if he is physically fit he can perform well then surely he can play 2026 World Cup. We all believe that having Messi in the team is equal to three new players. If he can perform well, even now, Messi has performed well. If we have seen the games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, we can understand that Messi is performing very well so far. So we don't know officially whether Messi will play the 2026 World Cup. If Messi plays the 2026 World Cup, it is very positive for the Argentina team.

Physical fitness is important for him if he wants to play in next world cup with as he is currently doing most chances he will be available for the next world cup because right now he is 36 and when we will have next world cup he could be 39 which mean still he will be able to perform but again if he has no injury or any issue which prevent him from playing soccer.

Now their next target is Copa América which is coming and as we read now tension with coach Scaloni is ended which is also good news for the team and Argentinian fans because this will bring good booster for them and presence of Messi will also give them good confidence hopefully all will be good for them in coming years, and they will be able to play their best in next world cup which is going to play with new format in three countries.

Lionel Messi is still very much active in football but it's obvious is that he's not performing at the top of his strength again. His last world class performance was in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and that's why he was recently awarded the FIFA Best Footballer.

Lionel Messi has won everything that's expected of a professional footballer including  the FIFA World Cup and that's why I think the it's the best time for him to retire from international football. Because of his status, he'll definitely be included in the next Copa America if he wishes to be a part of it.

If only the Confederations Cup was still held by FIFA, then Lionel Messi had the potential to win it because only the Confederations Cup has never been won by Messi in his entire career. Nevertheless, Messi status remains as a legend. I am sure that Messi will definitely be included in the Copa America because Messi is still really needed by the Argentina squad. Although as a person, Messi is no longer too ambitious to think about personal records because he has won everything. The highlight, of course, is winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup which Messi and the Argentine national team really dream of.

[synchronym]

Yeah, Argentina is clearly one of the favorites as they are the current champion.

But, I think that maybe Uruguay or Brazil will surprise everyone in the next world cup.

I would like to disagree with you about Brazil, but I went to see some odds from bookmakers and I confess that I was quite surprised because at the moment, Brazil is among the teams most likely to win the title in the 2026 World Cup. Seriously, Brazil has an odds of 6.50, the lowest among all teams only alongside France.
Regarding Argentina, in fact winning the last title does not seem to be that relevant as it only appears in fourth place, behind England and tied with Spain.

Are these probabilities (odds) actually real?

• Brazil (6.50)
• France (6.50)
• England (7.00)
• Argentina (10.00)
• Spain (10.00)
• Germany (12.00)
• Portugal (15.00)

Brazil might not be be currently on a good run but because of the football talents from the country, they'll always be my favorites team that can win the FIFA World Cup anytime, any day. The current problem of the Brazilian national team if you ask me is the coaching problem and whenever a good coach that can bring out the best from the current squad arrives, Brazil I think are definitely gonna return to their winning ways.

European teams will always top the list of teams that have more probability of winning the FIFA World Cup but when it comes to physical football, their South American counterparts are always better.

You are right we can expect Brazil team to return to their former form very soon Brazil team will be expected to perform very well. For quite some time now, especially since the 2026 World Cup Qualifier matches, the Brazil team has been criticized due to their poor performance. If Brazil team gets a good course then maybe every player of Brazil team will play well under his leadership. Ahead of the Copa America, every player in the Brazilian team will prove with their best performance that they can play well in bad times. Of course, best wishes for the Brazilian team.

[8rch7]

Brazil might not be be currently on a good run but because of the football talents from the country, they'll always be my favorites team that can win the FIFA World Cup anytime, any day. The current problem of the Brazilian national team if you ask me is the coaching problem and whenever a good coach that can bring out the best from the current squad arrives, Brazil I think are definitely gonna return to their winning ways.

European teams will always top the list of teams that have more probability of winning the FIFA World Cup but when it comes to physical football, their South American counterparts are always better.

Brazil have many youth talent but I don't sure with their opportunity for winning FIFA World Cup 2026 current poor performance in qualifier round, Brazil problem not only with manager or head coach exactly after Carlo Ancelotti withdraw his opportunity become manager but also Brazil has inconsistency performance in qualifier round. European national team such Germany, France and England have bigger opportunity than Brazil or Argentina with their level difference for upcoming World Cup, Lionel Messi likely not on the top performance right now and play on MLS League will make his level increasing down and players won World Cup 2022 will not be ready for next world cup.

[FanEagle]

Messi is a key factor in Argentina success in the 2022 edition of the World Cup. As he is still in his prime, it is unlikely that Argentina will be able to defend the trophy in the next edition without Messi. The Inter Miami star age factor is a big question mark, whether Messi will be fit and ready to play when he is 38 years old, I personally doubt that. Unless Messi plays in a more competitive league to maintain his skills and fitness until he is 38 years old. That is the real challenge and fact that all fans must accept, even though we understand that without Messi the appeal of the World Cup decreases, as does Ronaldo.

I am sure that the upcoming 2026 World Cup will bring out other favorite teams, and so will new young talents. The atmosphere will also be very different from before, and most of the players competing in the Qatar World Cup will no longer play for their national teams. Talking about favorite teams, I think teams from Europe will dominate, such as Portugal, Germany, France, Spain, England, and there are several more. Argentina and Brazil, as usual, are the favorite teams in every edition, and host powers such as America, Canada and Mexico are also worth considering. But what is clear is that the journey is still very far away, because currently the World Cup is still in the qualifying stage, Brazil itself is experiencing difficulties, but I am sure they will qualify.

Here are the FIFA rankings that were last updated in December 2023: https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men

I do agree that he will not be good enough to bring the cup all by himself, but Argentina is not a team that has only one star, they have many other players that are good as well. I think we should also realize that Di Maria helped them a lot, just remember the finals and you will remember how good he was, that dude scored one and he also got the penalty for the other, he was seriously good all game and he is old too and he will not be either that good or maybe not even play.

So they are all getting older, but if they can find some good young players that will do their best, they can still defend. Messi could still play, he may not be as good as he used to be, but others could be better than they used to be and cover the difference.

[synchronym]

Messi is a key factor in Argentina success in the 2022 edition of the World Cup. As he is still in his prime, it is unlikely that Argentina will be able to defend the trophy in the next edition without Messi. The Inter Miami star age factor is a big question mark, whether Messi will be fit and ready to play when he is 38 years old, I personally doubt that. Unless Messi plays in a more competitive league to maintain his skills and fitness until he is 38 years old. That is the real challenge and fact that all fans must accept, even though we understand that without Messi the appeal of the World Cup decreases, as does Ronaldo.

I am sure that the upcoming 2026 World Cup will bring out other favorite teams, and so will new young talents. The atmosphere will also be very different from before, and most of the players competing in the Qatar World Cup will no longer play for their national teams. Talking about favorite teams, I think teams from Europe will dominate, such as Portugal, Germany, France, Spain, England, and there are several more. Argentina and Brazil, as usual, are the favorite teams in every edition, and host powers such as America, Canada and Mexico are also worth considering. But what is clear is that the journey is still very far away, because currently the World Cup is still in the qualifying stage, Brazil itself is experiencing difficulties, but I am sure they will qualify.

Here are the FIFA rankings that were last updated in December 2023: https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men

I do agree that he will not be good enough to bring the cup all by himself, but Argentina is not a team that has only one star, they have many other players that are good as well. I think we should also realize that Di Maria helped them a lot, just remember the finals and you will remember how good he was, that dude scored one and he also got the penalty for the other, he was seriously good all game and he is old too and he will not be either that good or maybe not even play.

So they are all getting older, but if they can find some good young players that will do their best, they can still defend. Messi could still play, he may not be as good as he used to be, but others could be better than they used to be and cover the difference.

OP I agree with you. That's because every player of the Argentine team has contributed to the victory of the Argentine team in the World Cup in Qatar. Di Maria has performed exceptionally well alongside Messi. The Argentinian course, including  had a great performance from every player in Argentina, which led them to become the 2022 champions. Since becoming the champion, Argentina team has been in great form and they have performed very well in the qualifiers. It is expected that in the upcoming Copa America, however, Argentina team will perform their best.

[Renampun]

...

I do agree that he will not be good enough to bring the cup all by himself, but Argentina is not a team that has only one star, they have many other players that are good as well. I think we should also realize that Di Maria helped them a lot, just remember the finals and you will remember how good he was, that dude scored one and he also got the penalty for the other, he was seriously good all game and he is old too and he will not be either that good or maybe not even play.

So they are all getting older, but if they can find some good young players that will do their best, they can still defend. Messi could still play, he may not be as good as he used to be, but others could be better than they used to be and cover the difference.

Messi is still the mainstay of the Argentine national team, even though he is no longer young, but his talent and stamina do not fade easily. Apart from Messi, Di Maria is also a very good player for the Argentinian national team. It's a shame that both of them are getting old, even though the World Cup is still a few years away more, it is difficult to get a replacement for them in a short time.
However, if we compare it to the Argentinian national team, the Brazilian national team that I noticed is in trouble, they lack experienced players, and their young players are still unable to match the performance of the seniors, it seems that in the next world cup, Brazil's performance will still be disappointing.

[rdluffy]

Here's some recent news about the 2026 World Cup

Today, February 19, FIFA announced that it will release the cup schedule on February 4
They will probably stream here: https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus

--> There are unofficial comments that the city of Dallas will host the final, which will probably be the first world cup final to be held in an indoor stadium
--> The stadium will have to be adapted and renovated for the competition. They will have to put natural grass and there are possibilities of increasing the stadium's capacity. Maybe they can hold more than 100,000 people 

Dallas would be a good location for the final as it is more centrally located in the United States, so any team would be able to get around there more easily, not to mention that it is more likely that there will be no weather events to disrupt it. This is my personal opinion, nothing official

[temple]

Here's some recent news about the 2026 World Cup

Today, February 19, FIFA announced that it will release the cup schedule on February 4
They will probably stream here: https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus

--> There are unofficial comments that the city of Dallas will host the final, which will probably be the first world cup final to be held in an indoor stadium
--> The stadium will have to be adapted and renovated for the competition. They will have to put natural grass and there are possibilities of increasing the stadium's capacity. Maybe they can hold more than 100,000 people 

Dallas would be a good location for the final as it is more centrally located in the United States, so any team would be able to get around there more easily, not to mention that it is more likely that there will be no weather events to disrupt it. This is my personal opinion, nothing official

I don't know much about acoustics and whether there are any big relevant indoor stadiums in football these days, but man I can imagine what the heck must be going on inside that stadium when 100,000 fans go nuts about their teams. But I could be wrong and it doesn't change much as some stadiums can already be closed these days when the weather is bad I think. But I would assume that a fully closed stadium would have a significant impact on acoustics. I know that from some basketball games and how loud it can become when the crowd goes wild. It would be pretty cool to see a final in such a stadium.

[synchronym]

...

I do agree that he will not be good enough to bring the cup all by himself, but Argentina is not a team that has only one star, they have many other players that are good as well. I think we should also realize that Di Maria helped them a lot, just remember the finals and you will remember how good he was, that dude scored one and he also got the penalty for the other, he was seriously good all game and he is old too and he will not be either that good or maybe not even play.

So they are all getting older, but if they can find some good young players that will do their best, they can still defend. Messi could still play, he may not be as good as he used to be, but others could be better than they used to be and cover the difference.

Messi is still the mainstay of the Argentine national team, even though he is no longer young, but his talent and stamina do not fade easily. Apart from Messi, Di Maria is also a very good player for the Argentinian national team. It's a shame that both of them are getting old, even though the World Cup is still a few years away more, it is difficult to get a replacement for them in a short time.
However, if we compare it to the Argentinian national team, the Brazilian national team that I noticed is in trouble, they lack experienced players, and their young players are still unable to match the performance of the seniors, it seems that in the next world cup, Brazil's performance will still be disappointing.

Argentina team has been performing fairly well before the Qatar World Cup. For this good performance, the Argentina team has become the champion of the Qatar World Cup. Messi and Di Maria are definitely playing an important role in the Argentina team. These two will never be replaced by young players, but we all seem to be losing to age. At some point, they too will have to leave the field. But so far, Messi and Di Maria have been playing well enough. Especially Messi is performing very well as the 2026 World Cup is still a few years away, if Messi can maintain his game consistency and perform at his best, he can definitely play in the 2026 World Cup. On the other hand, due to the absence of a course for the Brazilian team, the team has been shuffled, especially in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Brazilian team has performed a lot of poorly, which is why so much discussion and criticism is focused on the Brazilian team. But very soon Brazil team will prove themselves by performing their best.

[FanEagle]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

[Godday]

You are right we can expect Brazil team to return to their former form very soon Brazil team will be expected to perform very well. For quite some time now, especially since the 2026 World Cup Qualifier matches, the Brazil team has been criticized due to their poor performance. If Brazil team gets a good course then maybe every player of Brazil team will play well under his leadership. Ahead of the Copa America, every player in the Brazilian team will prove with their best performance that they can play well in bad times. Of course, best wishes for the Brazilian team.

I think it will take a long time for Brazil to return to its best form and become one of the powers of world football. If you say they are doing well then that's true but if you say they are the favorites to win then I think we need to take Brazil out of the favorites for the next few years. I have liked Brazil since the Ronaldo era and have watched them since the 2002 world cup. They were favorites to win several world cups but since losing 1-7 to Germany in the 2014 world cup, I saw that in the 2018 and 2022 world cups they have experienced a decline in performance. and quality to this day.

[Weawant]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

Messi literally got the world cup trophy when he was almost getting pass the peak of his career but then it has become more valuable to him because he knew how long he had to stay before he was able to get hold of the trophy, a player like Ronaldo who isn't privilege to get hold of the world cup his entire career would understand better.

Mbappe well may understand the worth of the trophy he won at a very young age even if it may seem like he doesn't and I'm sure he at no point see it any less. Now mbappe is wanting to win other elite trophies such as the champions league which has been one of the reasons he's been making attempt for moves away from PSG so that he will further increase his chances of winning the champions league in any team he will be willing to go to after he must have left PSG.

[rdluffy]

I don't know much about acoustics and whether there are any big relevant indoor stadiums in football these days, but man I can imagine what the heck must be going on inside that stadium when 100,000 fans go nuts about their teams. But I could be wrong and it doesn't change much as some stadiums can already be closed these days when the weather is bad I think. But I would assume that a fully closed stadium would have a significant impact on acoustics. I know that from some basketball games and how loud it can become when the crowd goes wild. It would be pretty cool to see a final in such a stadium.

There are even music concerts in the stadium hehe
I have two observations:
1 - it is not certain yet that the stadium will have a capacity of 100,000 people, it will depend on the renovation of the stadium, but there is a possibility yes. It depends on FIFA too, but knowing the Americans and FIFA's current moment where they want to make entertainment, I'd bet they'll try to get as many people as possible to put on a mega-show for the world

2 - the acoustics could be favorable, because can you imagine a major final involving Brazil or Argentina, for example, with thousands of people singing and helping their team?
I don't know about the players, whether that helps or not 


Source

[temple]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

Messi literally got the world cup trophy when he was almost getting pass the peak of his career but then it has become more valuable to him because he knew how long he had to stay before he was able to get hold of the trophy, a player like Ronaldo who isn't privilege to get hold of the world cup his entire career would understand better.

Mbappe well may understand the worth of the trophy he won at a very young age even if it may seem like he doesn't and I'm sure he at no point see it any less. Now mbappe is wanting to win other elite trophies such as the champions league which has been one of the reasons he's been making attempt for moves away from PSG so that he will further increase his chances of winning the champions league in any team he will be willing to go to after he must have left PSG.

Messi's timing to win that trophy was amazing, but thinking about how all played out for him, it has something special in my opinion. Being in the uncertain for so long, not knowing if he will ever achieve his big dream and then in this World Cup he takes it home. It was an enormous triumph for him. And now everybody wants to know whether he will be going for another World Cup. But I think he would be less stressed. He could be able to show some magical moments without the pressure of making any mistakes.

[nullama]

~snip~
Messi's timing to win that trophy was amazing, but thinking about how all played out for him, it has something special in my opinion. Being in the uncertain for so long, not knowing if he will ever achieve his big dream and then in this World Cup he takes it home. It was an enormous triumph for him. And now everybody wants to know whether he will be going for another World Cup. But I think he would be less stressed. He could be able to show some magical moments without the pressure of making any mistakes.

I think he was waiting until Maradona was not with us any more to become the world champion.

In my eyes Messi will never be as big as Maradona, which by the way is sometimes compared to god in Argentina, they refer to him as D10S (god in Spanish spelt with his shirt number, ten).

[Leviathan.007]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

Messi literally got the world cup trophy when he was almost getting pass the peak of his career but then it has become more valuable to him because he knew how long he had to stay before he was able to get hold of the trophy, a player like Ronaldo who isn't privilege to get hold of the world cup his entire career would understand better.

Mbappe well may understand the worth of the trophy he won at a very young age even if it may seem like he doesn't and I'm sure he at no point see it any less. Now mbappe is wanting to win other elite trophies such as the champions league which has been one of the reasons he's been making attempt for moves away from PSG so that he will further increase his chances of winning the champions league in any team he will be willing to go to after he must have left PSG.

Mbappe doesn't have power like Messi and he can be an effective player like he is in Argentina. Mbappe was always playing in PSG where there were not many good players like other teams and On the other hand in the French League you can't find many superstar players while Messi won everything while he was racing with other high-quality players and that's why Mbappe couldn't help his team like Messi did in the last world cup.

[temple]

~snip~
Messi's timing to win that trophy was amazing, but thinking about how all played out for him, it has something special in my opinion. Being in the uncertain for so long, not knowing if he will ever achieve his big dream and then in this World Cup he takes it home. It was an enormous triumph for him. And now everybody wants to know whether he will be going for another World Cup. But I think he would be less stressed. He could be able to show some magical moments without the pressure of making any mistakes.

I think he was waiting until Maradona was not with us any more to become the world champion.

In my eyes Messi will never be as big as Maradona, which by the way is sometimes compared to god in Argentina, they refer to him as D10S (god in Spanish spelt with his shirt number, ten).

As for the first part of your post, it is complete nonsense and I would like to ask you to explain how you happened to know that. Maybe you got some email back and forth with Messi.

As for the second part of your post, that is your opinion and I respect that. I disagree with you and yet there is no right or wrong, which is quite cool.

I think Messi is the greatest of all time, but then again it might be easier these days to judge like that because we have all these fancy Youtube videos and a million angles preparing the games in the most spectacular ways.

[nullama]

~snip~
As for the first part of your post, it is complete nonsense and I would like to ask you to explain how you happened to know that. Maybe you got some email back and forth with Messi.

As for the second part of your post, that is your opinion and I respect that. I disagree with you and yet there is no right or wrong, which is quite cool.

I think Messi is the greatest of all time, but then again it might be easier these days to judge like that because we have all these fancy Youtube videos and a million angles preparing the games in the most spectacular ways.

  There it is, I forgot to add that smiley face when I posted, it was simply a joke.

Of course Messi just wanted to win the world cup at any time, just happened to get it after Maradona passed away.

I still believe most people in Argentina prefer Maradona over Messi.

Maybe it's because it was older, it has a bit more of mystery than current times where everything is recorded.

[KTChampions]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

Been the best player for over a decade? I would say that you exaggerated 10 times, but I’m not at all sure that there was a year in which Messi was the best. Messi is a PR project that stole all the achievements of such players as Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, etc.
And it’s always funny for me to read how Messi fanboys praise him for something (for example the World Cup) but in the case of other players (for example Mbappe, Iniesta, Xavi, etc.) these same achievements are suddenly not so important 

[Jody.Drummer]

When you are a player like Mbappe, a good, even great player but with a great team and end up winning the world cup at very very early age, even before you win UCL, you sort of think that World Cup is great, but it is not as special as some other players make it out to be, because you won it when you were like what 19-20 years old? It doesn't feel like it's that important, you do not grasp the value of winning something like that properly, even though he is probably aware how much it worths, he can't fully understand it like Messi can.

Messi won EVERYTHING before he won world cup, that dude has won everything he could ever win, he was the best player for a whole decade, even more, and of course when he finally won the world cup after winning everything else, that must have felt a lot better.

Been the best player for over a decade? I would say that you exaggerated 10 times, but I’m not at all sure that there was a year in which Messi was the best. Messi is a PR project that stole all the achievements of such players as Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, etc.
And it’s always funny for me to read how Messi fanboys praise him for something (for example the World Cup) but in the case of other players (for example Mbappe, Iniesta, Xavi, etc.) these same achievements are suddenly not so important 

I prefer to say he is one of the best players who can last for a decade or more. I agree that saying he was the best player in a whole decade is an exaggeration, I mean many other players also played well during that decade, one of them is Cristiano Ronaldo, so it's more accurate to just say one of the best players.
He has got it all now, most recently he was able to win the World Cup title which is a complement to everything he has achieved and the most was when he was at Barcelona. One thing that many people say is Messi's weakness, yes, many of them say that Messi is only good at playing at one club, namely Barcelona, while for other clubs he cannot meet the expectations placed on him. But that's just a difference of perspective in my opinion.