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

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Right now we are in 2023 and the 2026 world cup starts in 4 years, which is far away, and Lionel Messi is 35 years old. He indeed got reach many achievements with many teams while playing for Argentina and the clubs he was paying there but playing at age of 39-38 in the world cup is not something many players can reach even the most professional players can't perform like the early years and mostly these players prefer to retire before everyone sees them playing for poor performance level compared to other times and I guess Lionel Messi is one these players.

You are absolutely correct, Messi have achieved everything that is achievable in football, and so is Ronaldo as well, I personally can not find any reason why they should still be in the field of play by the age of 39 upwards, it is better to retire so as to give the younger players the breathing space to prove themselves, like I said in my previous comment, they can not play forever, even if they want to, so it is better for them to give themselves rest while the younger seize the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

[1714646046]

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[rahmad2nd]

You are absolutely correct, Messi have achieved everything that is achievable in football, and so is Ronaldo as well, I personally can not find any reason why they should still be in the field of play by the age of 39 upwards, it is better to retire so as to give the younger players the breathing space to prove themselves, like I said in my previous comment, they can not play forever, even if they want to, so it is better for them to give themselves rest while the younger seize the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

Especially Messi, he has won the trophy he has always wanted. Messi got everything he has ever wanted in his career, including a whole collection of trophies and individual awards from various prestigious events. slightly different from Ronaldo, he failed to present the world cup trophy for his country. however, Ronaldo is no less great than his toughest rival. these two megastars, it's time to let a new generation appear to carry the big names of their respective countries.

In the Portugal squad, there are lots of young talents who maybe in the next 4 years their skills and experience will be honed even more. meanwhile, Argentina will also regenerate. Reportedly even, Argentina already has a wonderkid who is predicted to be Messi's incarnation, namely Lucas Roman, who is currently rumored to have joined Barcelona. I'm pretty sure, both Messi and Ronaldo will soon retire from their football career before the 2026 world cup is held.

[Masplanc]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Right now we are in 2023 and the 2026 world cup starts in 4 years, which is far away, and Lionel Messi is 35 years old. He indeed got reach many achievements with many teams while playing for Argentina and the clubs he was paying there but playing at age of 39-38 in the world cup is not something many players can reach even the most professional players can't perform like the early years and mostly these players prefer to retire before everyone sees them playing for poor performance level compared to other times and I guess Lionel Messi is one these players.

You are absolutely correct, Messi have achieved everything that is achievable in football, and so is Ronaldo as well, I personally can not find any reason why they should still be in the field of play by the age of 39 upwards, it is better to retire so as to give the younger players the breathing space to prove themselves, like I said in my previous comment, they can not play forever, even if they want to, so it is better for them to give themselves rest while the younger seize the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

I doubt if Messi and Ronaldo will be able to participate in the next world cup. Even we call see the effect of age in their performance,  expecially that of Ronaldo.  In the very next four years their performance will be very terrible. They have done enough and achieved enough,  the best thing is to retire.

[noormcs5]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Right now we are in 2023 and the 2026 world cup starts in 4 years, which is far away, and Lionel Messi is 35 years old. He indeed got reach many achievements with many teams while playing for Argentina and the clubs he was paying there but playing at age of 39-38 in the world cup is not something many players can reach even the most professional players can't perform like the early years and mostly these players prefer to retire before everyone sees them playing for poor performance level compared to other times and I guess Lionel Messi is one these players.

Regardless of Argentina win or lose in this world cup,  Lionel Messi would not have been playing in the 2026 world cup. He will be too aged by that time.

Lets suppose, Lionel Messi had lost the 2022 world cup final or the Argentine team was not able to reach the finals, would he had not announced his retirement and will be playing in 2026 world cup ?

Although technically he can play, but that wont help the Argentina cause. They would be needing young legs to run around and score for their team. Experience does matter in football but at same time if you are too aged, you won't be able to leave impression on the game.

[nullama]

~snip~
Regardless of Argentina win or lose in this world cup,  Lionel Messi would not have been playing in the 2026 world cup. He will be too aged by that time.

Lets suppose, Lionel Messi had lost the 2022 world cup final or the Argentine team was not able to reach the finals, would he had not announced his retirement and will be playing in 2026 world cup ?

Although technically he can play, but that wont help the Argentina cause. They would be needing young legs to run around and score for their team. Experience does matter in football but at same time if you are too aged, you won't be able to leave impression on the game.

Yeah, he was already too old for Qatar.

It was great that he won the world cup because that was definitely his last chance.

That's also why Ronaldo was so upset when they lost, he knew it was his last chance. And signing up with Saudi Arabia was the last nail in the coffin for him.

[shogun47]

Friend  12 vs 10 titles?
12+10=22
22x4=88
Do you want to discuss a period of 88 years? 
I think the easiest thing is to take the last 5 championships (20 years is one or two generations at most) and see how many teams from Europe were in the top three and how many from COMNEBOL. I have a hunch that we won't see any superiority of COMNEBOL that supposedly should be there (since they're stronger lol).
Little hint for Sithara007: 13 places for Europe and 2 for COMNEBOL.

As i say:
1.Europe
2...
3...
4...
5...all others

The bolded part of you quoting me hopefully sufficiently summarizes what you then put into words again. Actually, my part points the dominance even more out than your post as 1 : 8 is 12.5% for CONMEBOL while 2 : 13 is 15.4% for CONMEBOL.

Still I think that the variance is still quite huge. Now it's true that Europe is dominant, but at times the dominant number of Europe having 29 appearances in the final doesn't sometimes quite reflect how close many of the games actually were. In the semi finals of 2006, who would actually blindly ever guess that Brazil faced Turkey and Germany faced South Korea and both games were decided by a single goal.

I think that in soccer there is sometimes more variance in the game than in tennis, for example. But this is a discussion that could go on forever.

As far as the statistics currently go, you are right in so far as if someone had to bet his or her life on the World Cup winner coming either from CONMEBOL or UEFA, one should of course bet on UEFA. But if it's all about a single team, lots of people would have said "France" last year and would have lost, even more so if they had the choice to choose between Argentina and France after the first group stage game!

Yes, you are right, but we can say that one event is statistically insignificant and the more events we take into account, the more accurate the result. In any case, both your methodology and mine, and any other will show the undoubted dominance of Europe.

I think everyone has their opinion and we must respect them.
Brazil was a strong team - I couldn't get Neymar off my mind for days when they lost to Croatia -after I saw him crying

You can have any opinion, for example that the Earth is shaped like a suitcase or that COMNEBOL can be compared with Europe and conclude that COMNEBOL dominates, but since this contradicts the facts, then you will look ridiculous with such an opinion. Nothing personal   

~
Total shots: ARG 20, FRA 10
Shots on target: ARG 10, FRA 5
Saves: ARG 2, FRA 7

You pretty quickly went from boldly saying that COMNEBOL is the strongest federation to counting statistics in one match (which ended in a penalty shoot-out) ... Did something happen? 

If I may once more my friend?

Generally, you would be correct that by expanding the data set, the significance of outcomes of statistical analysis will increase. HOWEVER (), we are talking about different stages of a tournament here. This means that the final is a better indicator for the strength of a team because luck decreases with every stage a team manages to pass. Luck maybe gets you from the round of 16 to the round of 8, maaybe also to the round of 4, maaaybe also to the final and maaaaybe also help you win the final. I would say that the luck factor decreases significantly, the further a team makes it into the tournament and the bigger the data set under consideration (meaning the more World Cups you take into account).

There is another important factor to keep in mind, and this is why the final is more significant statistically than the semi-final: the participating number of teams per continent (or association if you will):

AFC (Asia): 4 or 5
CAF (Africa): 5
CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean): 3 or 4
CONMEBOL (South America): 4 or 5
OFC (Oceania): 0 or 1
UEFA (Europe): 13
Hosts: 1

The X or Y rule applies when there is an inter-confederation play-off and this time it was Australia vs. Peru, which is why CONMEBOL ended up with only 4 teams at the World Cup 2022.

In summary, yes, both our analyses lead to the result that over the 20 year time span we considered, UEFA was significantly dominant, and taking into account that the significance of the luck factor decreases with every round of the tournament, the numbers I provided are even more telling.

But to round this up and still stay on topic with our discussion, this is how it is exactly going to change for 2026 and you can see that the goal obviously was to decrease the relative dominance of UEFA over all other associations:



If you take the whole World Cup history and compare CONMEBOL vs. UEFA and just look at the champions, one must say that CONMEBOL did a pretty good job!

There it is UEFA 12 to CONMEBOL 10. There were 11 finals where it was CONMEBOL vs. UEFA and out of those 11, CONMEBOL won 8.

Hope this was a bit interesting to read!

Looking forward to the World Cup 2026 now and how all of that plays out. Many people say that the World Cup is too bloated and I kind of agree, but after making this little analysis I must say that I do like the idea for other continents/associations to get a couple more spots.

[Sithara007]

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Messi will be 38 years old, when the next world cup starts. There is no point for him to play for so long. And it is not like Argentina is devoid of any promising younger players. They have Lautaro Martínez, Paulo Dybala, Ángel Correa and Julián Álvarez. Let Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María pass on the responsibility to these younger players in 2026. The advantage with Argentina is that their younger players are much more experienced when compared to those in the European teams, and doesn't have any problem in undertaking a greater responsibility.  

[Cryptock]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Right now we are in 2023 and the 2026 world cup starts in 4 years, which is far away, and Lionel Messi is 35 years old. He indeed got reach many achievements with many teams while playing for Argentina and the clubs he was paying there but playing at age of 39-38 in the world cup is not something many players can reach even the most professional players can't perform like the early years and mostly these players prefer to retire before everyone sees them playing for poor performance level compared to other times and I guess Lionel Messi is one these players.

you are right on that point - and we will keep discussing  Messi and Ronaldo age for the next four year and the mean while they will be working on their fitness and will look more younger.

[nullama]

~snip~
Messi will be 38 years old, when the next world cup starts. There is no point for him to play for so long. And it is not like Argentina is devoid of any promising younger players. They have Lautaro Martínez, Paulo Dybala, Ángel Correa and Julián Álvarez. Let Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María pass on the responsibility to these younger players in 2026. The advantage with Argentina is that their younger players are much more experienced when compared to those in the European teams, and doesn't have any problem in undertaking a greater responsibility.  

Yeah, and for Messi there's no need to go to the next World Cup. He can already retire at the top, having won everything. Wouldn't make too much sense to go back.

He can now simply get royalties from marketing, TV commercials, etc. Much simpler work and easy money, forever.

[Theones]

I think Ronaldo being in this one would be very very weird. Dude is already 37-38 years old, meaning by the time we are in 2026, that would make him at least 40, maybe 41 I don't know when it is. So that means he would be much worse than he is right now, and we have seen him not be that great this year already, so the fact that he could play on the next one would be insane, he would be much worse and not worth it at all.

I think it's quite important to remember that the best thing to do would be just making sure that he would be not hurting the team. You could end up with something much better if he was called but not played, it would be like a veteran legend out there helping the players psychologically at the very best case, but not playing.

The Portuguese coach might also not consider calling him into the world cup squad even though he is still playing, because no matter how great a player is age will reduce his ability and by forcing him to remain in the national team will waste opportunities for young players who are likely to be able to contribute better for the team, so a lot of consideration should be needed before deciding to continue to make him a core player or also a substitute player at the next World Cup.

had he be so happy staying in the Portuguese team he would not have left the country and would not have move to a new society altogether.
We don't know what is in the mind to Ronaldo - but he is not ready to give up his football career

[Gosgosking]

Regardless of Argentina win or lose in this world cup,  Lionel Messi would not have been playing in the 2026 world cup. He will be too aged by that time.

Lets suppose, Lionel Messi had lost the 2022 world cup final or the Argentine team was not able to reach the finals, would he had not announced his retirement and will be playing in 2026 world cup ?

Although technically he can play, but that wont help the Argentina cause. They would be needing young legs to run around and score for their team. Experience does matter in football but at same time if you are too aged, you won't be able to leave impression on the game.

If Argentina had not won the 2022 World  Cup it would have been a very  difficult decision for Lionel Messi to retire not to participate in 2026 World cup. Even if age will be of challenge to him he will force himself then to play the world cup, this the same issue of Ronaldo.  He thinks he hasn't achieve much that is why he sees it difficult for him to retire.

[Strongkored]

Yeah, and for Messi there's no need to go to the next World Cup. He can already retire at the top, having won everything. Wouldn't make too much sense to go back.

He can now simply get royalties from marketing, TV commercials, etc. Much simpler work and easy money, forever.

Even before, Messi had announced his retirement in 2016 from the Argentine national team when he failed twice in the Copa America, but he came back and finally managed to get the title he dreamed of and  the situation will definitely be very different at the 2026 world cup and at that age he will definitely experience a decline so stay in the Argentina national team may no longer be his target and usually the defending champion will have difficulty in the next WC so it would be very honorable for Messi to only as a spectator and give supports on young players from their countries who will play.

[Tumanggor]

~snip~
Regardless of Argentina win or lose in this world cup,  Lionel Messi would not have been playing in the 2026 world cup. He will be too aged by that time.

Lets suppose, Lionel Messi had lost the 2022 world cup final or the Argentine team was not able to reach the finals, would he had not announced his retirement and will be playing in 2026 world cup ?

Although technically he can play, but that wont help the Argentina cause. They would be needing young legs to run around and score for their team. Experience does matter in football but at same time if you are too aged, you won't be able to leave impression on the game.

Yeah, he was already too old for Qatar.

It was great that he won the world cup because that was definitely his last chance.

That's also why Ronaldo was so upset when they lost, he knew it was his last chance. And signing up with Saudi Arabia was the last nail in the coffin for him.

CR7 is no longer likely to play in the 2026 world cup but Messi is still possible because in 2026, Messi is only 38 and it seems that this is an age that is still very fit for Messi

but we'll see what the Argentina coach will do later, if there are other potential young players, it's not impossible that Messi will be on the bench even though I see the possibility that it will happen very little because Messi is still very much needed by the Argentina national team

[Masplanc]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

I see no reason why Messi would want play the next world cup, it doesn't make any sense to me. The truth is that by that 2026 he won't even have that strength to go for a competition like that. In the next two year I'm not sure Messi will be active the way he is right now, young players will take over the space of Messi.

[Kasabus]

Messi's current interview suggests he may not play in the next World Cup. In fact, this year's World Cup was organized historically. And witnessing this historic event, Messi's Argentina made history and secured the World Cup. Lionel Messi is now complete in all aspects.

Lionel Messi is very satisfied with his achievements so far in football, he has won almost all competitions either in the league or in international competition with Argentina. So even if he retires later everyone will always remember the historical moment about him. But the 2022 world cup is the pinnacle of his career and with that I think he is done.

Right now we are in 2023 and the 2026 world cup starts in 4 years, which is far away, and Lionel Messi is 35 years old. He indeed got reach many achievements with many teams while playing for Argentina and the clubs he was paying there but playing at age of 39-38 in the world cup is not something many players can reach even the most professional players can't perform like the early years and mostly these players prefer to retire before everyone sees them playing for poor performance level compared to other times and I guess Lionel Messi is one these players.

Might be true mate but you know that it also means that it might not be true to Messi's case because just like you've said, most of the players aren't willing to see themselves performing poorly at that age, that is why they want to retire first before any of that happens. But, you know Messi is not just your average player as he's one of the rarest species in football just like CR7, so that said, he might see him again in the 2026 defending their title.

[Sithara007]

Might be true mate but you know that it also means that it might not be true to Messi's case because just like you've said, most of the players aren't willing to see themselves performing poorly at that age, that is why they want to retire first before any of that happens. But, you know Messi is not just your average player as he's one of the rarest species in football just like CR7, so that said, he might see him again in the 2026 defending their title.

What will be the motivation for Messi to keep playing until 2026? For every player, the ultimate dream is like winning the FIFA World Cup. And in case of Messi, he has already achieved that milestone. So what will keep him playing on until 2026? In normal circumstances, players nearing retirement would rather pounce on opportunities which will give them financial security. And Messi already has an offer from the Saudi club Al Hilal. If he moves to Al Hilal, then in all probability he may not represent Argentina anymore. I am not saying that he will take up the Saudi citizenship (which Ronaldo is rumored to be considering). But he maybe part of the Saudi bidding team for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which may make him ineligible for the selection for Argentine national team.

[slapper]

You are absolutely correct, Messi have achieved everything that is achievable in football, and so is Ronaldo as well, I personally can not find any reason why they should still be in the field of play by the age of 39 upwards, it is better to retire so as to give the younger players the breathing space to prove themselves, like I said in my previous comment, they can not play forever, even if they want to, so it is better for them to give themselves rest while the younger seize the opportunity to show what they are capable of.

Especially Messi, he has won the trophy he has always wanted. Messi got everything he has ever wanted in his career, including a whole collection of trophies and individual awards from various prestigious events. slightly different from Ronaldo, he failed to present the world cup trophy for his country. however, Ronaldo is no less great than his toughest rival. these two megastars, it's time to let a new generation appear to carry the big names of their respective countries.

In the Portugal squad, there are lots of young talents who maybe in the next 4 years their skills and experience will be honed even more. meanwhile, Argentina will also regenerate. Reportedly even, Argentina already has a wonderkid who is predicted to be Messi's incarnation, namely Lucas Roman, who is currently rumored to have joined Barcelona. I'm pretty sure, both Messi and Ronaldo will soon retire from their football career before the 2026 world cup is held.

Watching talented young athletes is exciting. Messi and Ronaldo's success saddens everyone. It's intriguing to picture football and future players without these two giants. Lucas Roman, a Portuguese youngster, is impressive. These players must live up to Messi and Ronaldo, but they can also build their own history. As a football fan, I'm optimistic

[Sithara007]

There it is UEFA 12 to CONMEBOL 10. There were 11 finals where it was CONMEBOL vs. UEFA and out of those 11, CONMEBOL won 8.

Well.. this is a very interesting statistic. The conclusion I can draw out of this is:

1. There is a higher chance of an UEFA team winning the world cup, simply because far more teams from UEFA participates when compared to any other confederation (13 teams till 2022).
2. For CONMEOL, since 4.5 teams are allowed, the chances are considerably less.
3. But out of the 11 finals between CONMEBOL teams and UEFA teams, the former won on 8 occasions. This means that in one-to-one encounters (where UEFA doesn't have the numerical advantage), CONMEBOL dominates the scene completely.

[Zlantann]

There it is UEFA 12 to CONMEBOL 10. There were 11 finals where it was CONMEBOL vs. UEFA and out of those 11, CONMEBOL won 8.

Well.. this is a very interesting statistic. The conclusion I can draw out of this is:

1. There is a higher chance of an UEFA team winning the world cup, simply because far more teams from UEFA participates when compared to any other confederation (13 teams till 2022).
2. For CONMEOL, since 4.5 teams are allowed, the chances are considerably less.
3. But out of the 11 finals between CONMEBOL teams and UEFA teams, the former won on 8 occasions. This means that in one-to-one encounters (where UEFA doesn't have the numerical advantage), CONMEBOL dominates the scene completely.

The reason why South American teams perform well in the world cup is unexplainable. Brazil have won the world cup five times, Argentina three times and Uruguay 2. Comparing the sports facilities and economic conditions of UEFA and CONMEBOL member countries, the former is more advanced and better. I think South American players are more talented and they produce some of the best stars in football history, Pele and Maradona are good examples. But we have seen a lot of improvement by the African sides, their chance of winning the world cup is also high based on Qatar's performance.

[slackovic]

The reason why South American teams perform well in the world cup is unexplainable. Brazil have won the world cup five times, Argentina three times and Uruguay 2. Comparing the sports facilities and economic conditions of UEFA and CONMEBOL member countries, the former is more advanced and better. I think South American players are more talented and they produce some of the best stars in football history, Pele and Maradona are good examples. But we have seen a lot of improvement by the African sides, their chance of winning the world cup is also high based on Qatar's performance.

I would compare this with Croatia and their lousy football league, while their national team is among the top football teams in the world. If you look at it, Croatian football teams doesn't have shiny sports facilities and training camps. But also very few players in the Croatian national team actually plays in Croatia. It's similar with Brazilian and Argentinian football players. Very few of their national team players actually play in their home football leagues. Most of them play in top European clubs.