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

[marcous]

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.

The Copa America will start in mid June 2024, I think with the appointment of Dorival Junior as their definitive coach, things will get better. There is hope that Brazil will be able to compete with teams like Argentinta in this competition, and for World Cup qualification they also still have a big opportunity to improve their performance. Neymar is likely to be available again when the Copa America rolls around, and that will certainly make Brazil bargaining chip even better. To be honest, Brazil doesn't lack quality players, in my opinion they just lack a good coach.

Indeed, I have to admit that Brazil is no longer the favorite, but their reputation and big name can still shake their opponents a little. Especially for the World Cup, now teams from Europe are even more favored, such as France, Germany, Spain and several other teams, and I think this is very understandable. Personally, I still believe that Brazil will improve themselves in the future, so that they can realize their dream of winning the Copa America trophy.

On the other hand, in the Copa America Brazil is in group D with Colombia, Paraguay and another person is still waiting for the qualifying results, in my opinion it is a tough group, but I am sure Brazil can qualify with the status of group winners.

[uneng]

On the other hand, in the Copa America Brazil is in group D with Colombia, Paraguay and another person is still waiting for the qualifying results, in my opinion it is a tough group, but I am sure Brazil can qualify with the status of group winners.

Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

[strunberg]

Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It's a shame if it's true as you say. To be honest, I don't know the Brazilian national team players this time. I don't know many of their names. From what I read some of the previous comments that Brazil is in bad shape. They seem to have lost a star player and are only left with players with average quality by the standards of the Brazilian players we know.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

I think Patriotism is not an issue for now. But they have lost the quality of their players. I don't know why that happened. Is it because there is no support from the Brazilian government for their football? To be honest, I used to know several clubs in Brazil such as Flamengo, Santos, Internacional and Sao Paolo. That's because they often appear in the inter-club world cup. And that can prove the quality of the Brazilian national team because I'm sure many of the players in the Brazilian league are Brazilian players because it seems impossible for European star players to decide to play in the Brazilian league.

[nullama]

~snip~
Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

Yeah, I don't think you can really compare those competitions.

A country usually don't send the same players to Copa America compared to the World Cup.

Also the players play very differently.

We'll have to see what Brazil does though.

[uneng]

I think Patriotism is not an issue for now. But they have lost the quality of their players. I don't know why that happened. Is it because there is no support from the Brazilian government for their football? To be honest, I used to know several clubs in Brazil such as Flamengo, Santos, Internacional and Sao Paolo. That's because they often appear in the inter-club world cup. And that can prove the quality of the Brazilian national team because I'm sure many of the players in the Brazilian league are Brazilian players because it seems impossible for European star players to decide to play in the Brazilian league.

Soccer is one of the most popular practices in Brazil. The government actually uses it on their favour by promoting the sport and investing on it. In 2014's brazilian World Cup, the government invested above 30 billion reais (about 6$ billion dollars) in infrastructure, services, support and other expenses for the international event execution. That is a lot of money, especially when considering the precariety the country faces in health sector.

Moreover, soccer is the main activity practiced since an early age at schools, at home and at spare time of the children. At gym's lessons, students mostly play soccer all the time... So as you can see there is huge investment and encouragement to the activity. To be a successful player is the dream of most young male children around the country.

How to explain the bad performance, then? Well, I think it has something to do with exccess of individuality. Everyone wants to be the most shining star in the sky, so they don't play collectively anymore, as a team is supposed to work, where each player knows its functions and stick to it, besides the focus of the players not being entirely on their jobs anymore, as there are tons of distractions calling for them outside the fields. Fame, parties, women...

For players who usually have come from the bottom classes of society, such distractions are highly tempting and might be fatal. It's a new world they belong, which they have never had access before. So they want to enjoy it the maximum as possible, and the focus on the career gets compromised.

[KTChampions]

Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

  Yes, yes, and the grass was greener and the trees were taller. Remember how many children Ronaldo has (from different women) and why he had a vasetomy. You can also remember that Ronaldinho openly lived with two women at the same time. If I'm not mistaken, modern players don't allow themselves to do this, not even close.
All this is nonsense, people are always the same and now the pressure from society is stronger than before, so at least there is more ostentatious “correctness”.
As for Brazil, now no team in the world (even the French) has such a strong generation of players to dominate as it was in those days, so there is a lot of confusion about randomness - the tournaments are short + - equal and many of the teams can win. Therefore, I see no reason to blame Brazil for anything, the only thing they are ossified about is that they do not hire Europeans. This is a serious mistake. A good European coach could achieve results with them.

[Leviathan.007]

On the other hand, in the Copa America Brazil is in group D with Colombia, Paraguay and another person is still waiting for the qualifying results, in my opinion it is a tough group, but I am sure Brazil can qualify with the status of group winners.

Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

I feel Brazil will not have a good time in the Copa America or the World Cup with the current situation they have because they prefer to stick to their plan and use only the Brazilian coaches which can damage the team because they could have much better options for their team.
Traditions can definitely damage Brazil because they have many younger players and good talents in this country but these young players need better coaching to give them a better plan.

[uneng]

All this is nonsense, people are always the same and now the pressure from society is stronger than before, so at least there is more ostentatious “correctness”.

How can people have always been the same if there is more ostentation nowadays, like you said above? If people are more ostentatious nowadays, consequently they aren't the same compared to previous times...

Human's nature has always been the same, although behavior patterns change depending the current moment and external influences. Right now we have an important phenomenon we didn't have in previous decades, at least with so much influence and contact with the masses: the internet. It has totally reshaped the tendencies, interests and behaviors of society, including soccer players, who are more like celebrities than anything else right now.

These players have never been moral standards on building a family and walking straight in life, but they did their jobs with excellency. However, now with internet they are more concerned about boasting a luxurious routine at parties, wearing fancy clothes, displaying a new hairstyle each new day, displaying how influent and connected they are with the world of celebrities in order to collect most likes, comments, shares and fans as possible.

On the other hand, in previous times, players did enjoy parties and messing around, but they didn't have the need of being idolized for that by the public. They had the conscience of having a responsability and a performance to be delivered to the nation. Nowadays, it looks like players don't care at all. If the game is lost, at least they will receive some million likes on social media crying in a picture, while receiving another million dollars from sponsor brands.

As for Brazil, now no team in the world (even the French) has such a strong generation of players to dominate as it was in those days, so there is a lot of confusion about randomness - the tournaments are short + - equal and many of the teams can win. Therefore, I see no reason to blame Brazil for anything, the only thing they are ossified about is that they do not hire Europeans. This is a serious mistake. A good European coach could achieve results with them.

They studied the possibility of hiring an european coach (Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid) for the national team, although decided recently for Dorival Jr., who has already worked previously with Flamengo and São Paulo. It looks like they have some resistance in picking someone who is not a brazilian to command the team. Brazilian players do have impressive skills, but don't have discipline and start losing self-confidence the further the championship reaches.

[Volgastallion]

The Carlo Anceloti to Brazil coaching was a big bait, i dont know from where, if from the proper circle of Anceloti or from the Brazilian federation of football, but ended up being a clown show.

I can think some words from the Anceloti representative to pressure Real Madrid, but i really dont know what really happen.

[KTChampions]

All this is nonsense, people are always the same and now the pressure from society is stronger than before, so at least there is more ostentatious “correctness”.

How can people have always been the same if there is more ostentation nowadays, like you said above? If people are more ostentatious nowadays, consequently they aren't the same compared to previous times...

Human's nature has always been the same, although behavior patterns change depending the current moment and external influences. Right now we have an important phenomenon we didn't have in previous decades, at least with so much influence and contact with the masses: the internet. It has totally reshaped the tendencies, interests and behaviors of society, including soccer players, who are more like celebrities than anything else right now.

These players have never been moral standards on building a family and walking straight in life, but they did their jobs with excellency. However, now with internet they are more concerned about boasting a luxurious routine at parties, wearing fancy clothes, displaying a new hairstyle each new day, displaying how influent and connected they are with the world of celebrities in order to collect most likes, comments, shares and fans as possible.

On the other hand, in previous times, players did enjoy parties and messing around, but they didn't have the need of being idolized for that by the public. They had the conscience of having a responsability and a performance to be delivered to the nation. Nowadays, it looks like players don't care at all. If the game is lost, at least they will receive some million likes on social media crying in a picture, while receiving another million dollars from sponsor brands.
~

You keep telling some crazy stories, how old are you? Read Rooney's memoirs about how he spent his leisure time: “If I had a free day, I locked myself in the room and drank.”  And Rooney was no exception, alcohol was a huge problem for football players. Do you think this is a professional approach to business? Why do you think modern players play longer and better than previous generations who were just recently? Not only because medicine is better now (although this is also one of the reasons), but because if you now violate the sports regime, you will simply be kicked out of the team or, for starters, deprived of the millions that are due to you under the contract. To drink and be unpunished you have to be at least Neymar.
As for showing off, it in no way cancels out human nature, but once again confirms that now football players are under stricter conditions and are forced to be more professional in all areas of life.

[Hanadawa]

How to explain the bad performance, then? Well, I think it has something to do with exccess of individuality. Everyone wants to be the most shining star in the sky, so they don't play collectively anymore, as a team is supposed to work, where each player knows its functions and stick to it, besides the focus of the players not being entirely on their jobs anymore, as there are tons of distractions calling for them outside the fields. Fame, parties, women...

I think the ego in playing football to be a shining star in the sky is something that Brazilian players didn't have in the past. If that happens I remember my country Indonesia. Of course it's not apples to apples to compare. But if we talk about excessive individuality, I think it's like some Indonesian players who want to dribble when they should be passing, or shoot when there should be a teammate who has a more open shooting space. But this can happen because there are some players who feel they have the qualities of European or American players.

But the Brazilian national team shouldn't have that. I mean of course people will think that Brazilian players are all good quality players. So prioritizing ego to look like a star is a big mistake that got Brazil to where it is today.

[uneng]

But if we talk about excessive individuality, I think it's like some Indonesian players who want to dribble when they should be passing, or shoot when there should be a teammate who has a more open shooting space. But this can happen because there are some players who feel they have the qualities of European or American players.

It's exactly what we have been noticing as well. Maybe the players who acted like that thought that was their chance to stand out among their teammates, and be recognized by an international league or major team, through impressive individual moves along the match. However, in fact, it just displays egoistical and selfish behavior, which inevitably prejudices the whole team after all in most cases. It's possible they don't do this with bad intentions, it's just that their mindset wasn't properly prepared previously by the support of the team during the trainings.

But the Brazilian national team shouldn't have that. I mean of course people will think that Brazilian players are all good quality players. So prioritizing ego to look like a star is a big mistake that got Brazil to where it is today.

Yes, the focus should be to win the matches, as a team, for the country they are representing, instead of seeing this as an opportunity of leveraging their personal careers to the next level. There is no problems if they succeed further on their careers as consequence of their outstanding performance, but that shouldn't be the focus in a World Cup, anyway.

[alegotardo]

I think the ego in playing football to be a shining star in the sky is something that Brazilian players didn't have in the past. If that happens I remember my country Indonesia. Of course it's not apples to apples to compare. But if we talk about excessive individuality, I think it's like some Indonesian players who want to dribble when they should be passing, or shoot when there should be a teammate who has a more open shooting space. But this can happen because there are some players who feel they have the qualities of European or American players.

But the Brazilian national team shouldn't have that. I mean of course people will think that Brazilian players are all good quality players. So prioritizing ego to look like a star is a big mistake that got Brazil to where it is today.

I disagree that ego was Brazil's main problem in the last World Cup.

They, in fact, went through the cup qualifiers with an excellent result and didn't even have a "star" on the field.
Neymar was not the center of attention as he was in the previous cup, Brazil had several talented and new players, but no one was seen as a "hero", in fact I saw that team as a team concept.
Anyway... the result wasn't the best, but I still disagree that the problem was the ego of one or another player, as I didn't see that on the field.

I can no longer find a reason why Brazil were eliminated so early, and in fact I stopped looking.
I'm looking ahead now, I hope that the new coach of the Brazilian team can structure the team well, win again in the cup qualifiers and achieve a good result.

[synchronym]

On the other hand, in the Copa America Brazil is in group D with Colombia, Paraguay and another person is still waiting for the qualifying results, in my opinion it is a tough group, but I am sure Brazil can qualify with the status of group winners.

Let's see how Brazil is going to perform on Copa America, so we can have a better understanding on what we can expect from the national team on the World Cup of 2026. Personally, I don't think they have great chances to impress anymore, like they used to do during the early 2000's and 90's decade. The new generation of players haven't been following the same pattern of the old ones which brought great achievements for Brazilian soccer.

It seems a long before players were more concerned about patriotism, while now they seek for fame, money, parties, women and trouble with the justice... So, all these aspects reflect on their final performance inside the fields. The commitment isn't the same when compared to players from another nations, which are heavily focused in bringing the title to their people.

I feel Brazil will not have a good time in the Copa America or the World Cup with the current situation they have because they prefer to stick to their plan and use only the Brazilian coaches which can damage the team because they could have much better options for their team.
Traditions can definitely damage Brazil because they have many younger players and good talents in this country but these young players need better coaching to give them a better plan.

op I agree with you the Brazil team needed a better course. Because the Brazil team is not able to perform well from the World Cup home stage due to lack of a good course. So the Brazil team management should employ better quality courses so that the future Copa America Brazil team can forget the gloom of their failure and perform well. Now it remains to be seen how well the Brazilian team can perform with their new course, we will know at the Copa America. If the Brazil team can perform well in the Copa America, then maybe they will do something better in the future through this course. And if there is a bad performance in the Copa America, then the team management will understand how wrong they have decided.

[dezoel]

I think the ego in playing football to be a shining star in the sky is something that Brazilian players didn't have in the past. If that happens I remember my country Indonesia. Of course it's not apples to apples to compare. But if we talk about excessive individuality, I think it's like some Indonesian players who want to dribble when they should be passing, or shoot when there should be a teammate who has a more open shooting space. But this can happen because there are some players who feel they have the qualities of European or American players.

But the Brazilian national team shouldn't have that. I mean of course people will think that Brazilian players are all good quality players. So prioritizing ego to look like a star is a big mistake that got Brazil to where it is today.

I disagree that ego was Brazil's main problem in the last World Cup.

They, in fact, went through the cup qualifiers with an excellent result and didn't even have a "star" on the field.
Neymar was not the center of attention as he was in the previous cup, Brazil had several talented and new players, but no one was seen as a "hero", in fact I saw that team as a team concept.
Anyway... the result wasn't the best, but I still disagree that the problem was the ego of one or another player, as I didn't see that on the field.

I can no longer find a reason why Brazil were eliminated so early, and in fact I stopped looking.
I'm looking ahead now, I hope that the new coach of the Brazilian team can structure the team well, win again in the cup qualifiers and achieve a good result.

I have to be agreed with your all view about Brazil and their soccer culture with now things are looking some poor on and off the field, but they can fight back in long run because they have potential and talent as well, but currently things are not going into their way as they needed to be which is surely problem, and they are having few extraordinary players which can do things with their own way but sadly their lack of leadership is the biggest problem then needed someone who can bring some depth which is important as team and Neymar era is now ended with now time for looking into future which could be give them better results as well.

Even mostly peoples are not hopefully for the Copa América but if they are able to manage things with their strong strategy then surely now we can expect better results in world cup with new coach.

[8rch7]

I think the ego in playing football to be a shining star in the sky is something that Brazilian players didn't have in the past. If that happens I remember my country Indonesia. Of course it's not apples to apples to compare. But if we talk about excessive individuality, I think it's like some Indonesian players who want to dribble when they should be passing, or shoot when there should be a teammate who has a more open shooting space. But this can happen because there are some players who feel they have the qualities of European or American players.

But the Brazilian national team shouldn't have that. I mean of course people will think that Brazilian players are all good quality players. So prioritizing ego to look like a star is a big mistake that got Brazil to where it is today.

Usually youth players have more ego than senior players, Brazil dominance with youth players last of FIFA World Cup edition and make them poor achievement result, its not only for Brazil but all national teams if want get good result the players have play as unity team not individual. Most important with manager each national team exactly have many youth players they should manage well how to play as one team not show individual skill or more ego.

Currently, Brazil squad dominance by youth player and depend with their manager can make games plan as one unity team or the same mistake will happen again on FIFA World Cup 2026, but Brazil have to focus on qualifier match firstly after several bad result and must secure top six position standings in CONMEBOL zone if want automatically qualify.

[temple]

~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.

There might be some truth to the idea that what is longer ago, is something that people better understand to value and to hold up. But it's also a question of taste. Some people will prefer Maradona over Messi for sure, and some see it the other way around. I think I am more of a Messi fan because it was part of my generation when he played and we got so many options to watch him play as I said. All these Youtube videos and other resources. There would never be as much material about a player from older generations simply because the technology wasn't there back then.

[Sithara007]

There might be some truth to the idea that what is longer ago, is something that people better understand to value and to hold up. But it's also a question of taste. Some people will prefer Maradona over Messi for sure, and some see it the other way around. I think I am more of a Messi fan because it was part of my generation when he played and we got so many options to watch him play as I said. All these Youtube videos and other resources. There would never be as much material about a player from older generations simply because the technology wasn't there back then.

I have never seen Maradona play on live TV. All I have seen are a few recorded videos on YouTube and TV. But back then, the TV coverage was of poor quality and it is quite difficult to get a real measurement of his skillset. In case of players such as Pele, such material is even more scarce. All we know about them is sourced from a few match reports and books. Given this, it is very difficult to compare someone in this generation such as Messi, to someone from the old generation like Maradona. Only someone like Claudio Caniggia can make that comparison, since he has seen both of them in action.

[Zigabel]

I feel Brazil will not have a good time in the Copa America or the World Cup with the current situation they have because they prefer to stick to their plan and use only the Brazilian coaches which can damage the team because they could have much better options for their team.
Traditions can definitely damage Brazil because they have many younger players and good talents in this country but these young players need better coaching to give them a better plan.

Indigenous coaches should be considered even better for national teams as this because of their knowledge of the traditional football style of their team, having been used to their style I was hoping they will understand the players much better than a foreigner would and capitalize on that to getting a perfect blend for the teas performance, the advantage the foreign coach have over indigenous coaches would be that they will be bringing exposure to the team and introducing a better pattern of Play thereby exposing their minds to been able to fit in in the international scene of football which is a very healthy move for young players who are still developing.

It's not okay to rule out the Brazilian coaches totally because out there other countries Who may even want to employ the service of such coach especially if such Coach is world class and have good a good track record and experience aswell

[PokerBetting]

The Carlo Anceloti to Brazil coaching was a big bait, i dont know from where, if from the proper circle of Anceloti or from the Brazilian federation of football, but ended up being a clown show.

I can think some words from the Anceloti representative to pressure Real Madrid, but i really dont know what really happen.

carlo anceloti coaching brazil is just a rumour. there has been no talk of a salary contract deal or contract duration.
And Anceloti's contract at Real Madrid is still long until 2026. If you want to take or break the contract, the Brazilian federation must spend more money for the transfer value of the coach. and it will be even more difficult for Anceloti to deal to train Brazil.