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

[Sexylizzy2813]

Brazil won their game against Paraguay 1nil and that's the first win for the former Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and they have qualified for the World Cup come next year and it doesn't seem to me that Brazil are even ready to compete for the World Cup, they might drop out too quick, they haven't lived up to expectations, let's say in this qualifiers. They struggle at games they are suppose to show much dominance and I won't start praising Carlo Ancelotti that this is a new beginning and  a time for great things to happen (it can be) because the team is lacking so much and the work to be done is much so let's say they need to start playing as a complete team not what we're seeing with the quality players they have, is becoming uninteresting to watch them play, who's Ecuador to be at 2nd where you have Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, to be honest this young generation of the Brazil national team are not impressive.

[Jossque]

Romania managed to defeat Southern Cyprus. Romania won with 2 goals late in the first half and increased their points to 6. It seems difficult for Romania to finish even 2nd in this group but they will fight until the last match. They played a dominant game against South Cyprus.
Austria had no difficulty against an easy opponent. Austria, who defeated San marino 4-0, got their 2nd win in their 2nd match in the group and increased their points to 6. There will definitely be a race between them and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Whoever wins in the match between them will finish as the leader.

[AprilioMP]

The Netherlands in group g is relatively tight competition. Not Malta, Lithuania, but Poland as a strong team based on the victory that Poland has got although the two teams defeated by Poland according to us are also not tough teams.
Against Malta, the Netherlands can target a score over.

Netherlands already lead 3-0 after the first half and are likely to take the game to victory.
Depay made a double and now he has 50 goals for the national team as well as Robin Van Persie.
Apart from Poland Netherlands have no serious rivals and most likely Netherlands should come out of the group from the first place, because now the national team of Finland beats Poland with the score 1:0 and if Finland wins, it will take points away from Poland and thus will help Netherlands in their fight for first place with Poland.

8 goals were scored by the Netherlands against Malta. It's true what we say that the Netherlands can expect a big score.
The Netherlands have managed to unseat Poland and sit second with two games under their belt.
Another win against Poland in the third match will see the Netherlands top the group g table.
Poland's loss against Finland was very favorable for the Netherlands.
A 1-point difference with Finland is not a big problem for the Netherlands to target automatic qualification for the World Cup through group g qualification. Said to be lucky because the Netherlands is in group g, I think there is some truth in that too.

[JeffBrad12]

Brazil won their game against Paraguay 1nil and that's the first win for the former Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and they have qualified for the World Cup come next year and it doesn't seem to me that Brazil are even ready to compete for the World Cup, they might drop out too quick, they haven't lived up to expectations, let's say in this qualifiers. They struggle at games they are suppose to show much dominance and I won't start praising Carlo Ancelotti that this is a new beginning and  a time for great things to happen (it can be) because the team is lacking so much and the work to be done is much so let's say they need to start playing as a complete team not what we're seeing with the quality players they have, is becoming uninteresting to watch them play, who's Ecuador to be at 2nd where you have Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, to be honest this young generation of the Brazil national team are not impressive.

Appreciated Brazil's win against Paraguay. Although they win with narrow score, they have done it better compared to their last game. They created more chances, only bad in converting the chances. It feels so good to see them beat an opponent that extremely consistent. I see there is a hope for them to play like what they used to.
I also aware how Ancelotti does his job properly, and getting more optimistic with him to lead Brazil as a potential winner in WC.

On other hand, i also aware how Casemiro is not a finished player. He successfully blocked some vital crosses owned by Paraguay. Another plus is that he has very good connection to the Ancelotti. He deserves a spot as a starter.

[hyudien]

I totally agree with you, now Italy needs a very good and prepared technical guide, who cannot be a coach who could train at most in Serie C, so it must be a person who has already trained at high levels, and yes I think Ranieri is the right person to lead this national team

I don't agree with you!
Italy is done for! It will be the third world cup in a row that they don't participate in and I think it's fair given that the quality of the players and the game sucks
losing by 3 goals against Norway puts us in the same league as teams in the second division and not teams that have won a few World Cups

Italy have only played two games in Group I so I think they still have a chance to qualify automatically as long as they win all their remaining games and also catch up on Norway goal difference and hope Norway slip up a game or two. But in terms of play I agree they are very poor especially their defense is very fragile. I don't expect them to finish second because considering the last two editions it was a nightmare for them.

[Uruhara]

8 goals were scored by the Netherlands against Malta. It's true what we say that the Netherlands can expect a big score.
The Netherlands have managed to unseat Poland and sit second with two games under their belt.
Another win against Poland in the third match will see the Netherlands top the group g table.
Poland's loss against Finland was very favorable for the Netherlands.
A 1-point difference with Finland is not a big problem for the Netherlands to target automatic qualification for the World Cup through group g qualification. Said to be lucky because the Netherlands is in group g, I think there is some truth in that too.

The Netherlands actually beat Malta by a big score. 8-0 is a score that I never even imagined would be created in that match. Malta is not a strong enough national team. But I was still shocked by the crushing defeat. Because usually Malta is not that bad in defense. Against Finland we also saw that Malta lost only with a score of 0-1. Then when Malta faced Poland we could also see the result was only 2-0. But when facing the Netherlands the score was 8-0. And yes, that is clear evidence that the Netherlands is indeed the team that seems to be the most superior in group G. And yes, for the next match against Poland, maybe the Netherlands will indeed be the favorites to win. Moreover, the Netherlands will also be the host.

[Cossyblack]

8 goals were scored by the Netherlands against Malta. It's true what we say that the Netherlands can expect a big score.
The Netherlands have managed to unseat Poland and sit second with two games under their belt.
Another win against Poland in the third match will see the Netherlands top the group g table.
Poland's loss against Finland was very favorable for the Netherlands.
A 1-point difference with Finland is not a big problem for the Netherlands to target automatic qualification for the World Cup through group g qualification. Said to be lucky because the Netherlands is in group g, I think there is some truth in that too.

The Netherlands actually beat Malta by a big score. 8-0 is a score that I never even imagined would be created in that match. Malta is not a strong enough national team. But I was still shocked by the crushing defeat. Because usually Malta is not that bad in defense. Against Finland we also saw that Malta lost only with a score of 0-1. Then when Malta faced Poland we could also see the result was only 2-0. But when facing the Netherlands the score was 8-0. And yes, that is clear evidence that the Netherlands is indeed the team that seems to be the most superior in group G. And yes, for the next match against Poland, maybe the Netherlands will indeed be the favorites to win. Moreover, the Netherlands will also be the host.

The goals were massive but it didn't come as a surprise to me. When it's comes to World Cup, Netherlands have more experience and playing tactics than Malta.When I saw the fixtures I knew Malta are going to receive it very hot from Netherlands, infact the goals would have been more than 8-0 if not for some miss calculated chances from the Netherlands side. However I wasn't also  expecting Poland to be superior in that group when we also have Netherlands in that same group, besides Netherlands have more quality and experienced players that Poland and if both teams happens to meet,then it's obvious that Netherlands will surely come out victorious. I am not actually underestimating Poland but when it comes to World Cup,I can always vouch for Netherlands.

[Ahli38]

Appreciated Brazil's win against Paraguay. Although they win with narrow score, they have done it better compared to their last game. They created more chances, only bad in converting the chances. It feels so good to see them beat an opponent that extremely consistent. I see there is a hope for them to play like what they used to.
I also aware how Ancelotti does his job properly, and getting more optimistic with him to lead Brazil as a potential winner in WC.

On other hand, i also aware how Casemiro is not a finished player. He successfully blocked some vital crosses owned by Paraguay. Another plus is that he has very good connection to the Ancelotti. He deserves a spot as a starter.

Ancelotti seems to have succeeded in reviving Brazil's performance, as this team is actually blessed with quality players. So this team only needs the right coach to maximize its potential. And yes, I think Ancelotti has become the right coach for the Brazilian national team. And by looking at Brazil's current performance, I also think it is quite optimistic for the Brazilian national team in the next world cup. And it is indeed time for Brazil to return to its former glory.

But for the Argentina vs Colombia match, I felt a little disappointed. Because Argentina did not manage to win that match. But I don't blame the quality of their game. because Argentina is still playing well. It's just that losing one player due to a red card really meant that Argentina couldn't play more optimally. but just managing to equalize the score is already a good thing when this team is only playing with 10 players.

[Arenga pinnata]

The Netherlands actually beat Malta by a big score. 8-0 is a score that I never even imagined would be created in that match. Malta is not a strong enough national team. But I was still shocked by the crushing defeat. Because usually Malta is not that bad in defense. Against Finland we also saw that Malta lost only with a score of 0-1. Then when Malta faced Poland we could also see the result was only 2-0. But when facing the Netherlands the score was 8-0. And yes, that is clear evidence that the Netherlands is indeed the team that seems to be the most superior in group G. And yes, for the next match against Poland, maybe the Netherlands will indeed be the favorites to win. Moreover, the Netherlands will also be the host.

Malta's defeat by the Netherlands was not surprising. And the Netherlands winning with a big score is also quite normal. But with 8 goals without reply it is a bit surprising. Because even though Malta experiences defeats more often, Malta rarely loses with a score that is quite large like that. The Netherlands seems to be in its golden years again. So I think the Netherlands can be expected to be one of the favorite teams in the next World Cup. And what is very interesting about the Dutch national team is that the players they have are actually quite young and are also at an age where they can still play at their best. So I want to say that the Netherlands has succeeded in building a squad that I think is quite perfect.

[Volgastallion]

We just have a few more teams/countries confirmed for our next world cup, nothing new at all because some of them were virtually qualified but they need to confirm it in math terms.

Ecuador Paraguay and Brazil take his tickets for the next one in the Conmebol federation.

About Netherlands destroying Malta, it was interesting to see finally a huge team destroy a weak one after we see England and Bosnia for example in the past week strugling to score against Andorra and San Marino.

[babo]

Brazil won their game against Paraguay 1nil and that's the first win for the former Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and they have qualified for the World Cup come next year and it doesn't seem to me that Brazil are even ready to compete for the World Cup, they might drop out too quick, they haven't lived up to expectations, let's say in this qualifiers. They struggle at games they are suppose to show much dominance and I won't start praising Carlo Ancelotti that this is a new beginning and  a time for great things to happen (it can be) because the team is lacking so much and the work to be done is much so let's say they need to start playing as a complete team not what we're seeing with the quality players they have, is becoming uninteresting to watch them play, who's Ecuador to be at 2nd where you have Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, to be honest this young generation of the Brazil national team are not impressive.

well if Carlo Ancelotti lost against Paraguay I think they would have sent him home straight away! ahaha
their opponents are others, they are Argentina, Spain... maybe even some other nations but in the end these remain the favourites I think given that they play a good game of football.

[AprilioMP]

8 goals were scored by the Netherlands against Malta. It's true what we say that the Netherlands can expect a big score.
The Netherlands have managed to unseat Poland and sit second with two games under their belt.
Another win against Poland in the third match will see the Netherlands top the group g table.
Poland's loss against Finland was very favorable for the Netherlands.
A 1-point difference with Finland is not a big problem for the Netherlands to target automatic qualification for the World Cup through group g qualification. Said to be lucky because the Netherlands is in group g, I think there is some truth in that too.

The Netherlands actually beat Malta by a big score. 8-0 is a score that I never even imagined would be created in that match. Malta is not a strong enough national team. But I was still shocked by the crushing defeat. Because usually Malta is not that bad in defense. Against Finland we also saw that Malta lost only with a score of 0-1. Then when Malta faced Poland we could also see the result was only 2-0. But when facing the Netherlands the score was 8-0. And yes, that is clear evidence that the Netherlands is indeed the team that seems to be the most superior in group G. And yes, for the next match against Poland, maybe the Netherlands will indeed be the favorites to win. Moreover, the Netherlands will also be the host.

This means that the Netherlands is better than Poland and Finland, let alone Malta. Not to demean those other than the Netherlands who are in this group, but the current reality of the Netherlands does look like a team that is not at their level.
The proof will come later when the Netherlands face Poland. Poland should have been able to deny Finland full points yesterday but they first had to recognize Finland through their goals.

[Jossque]

Latvia draw with Albania Ikaunieks failed to convert a penalty in the 21st minute. Cernomordjs scored both an own and an opposition goal to end the first half 1-1. There were no goals in the second half and the match ended like this. It's a pity that Albania had more chances but couldn't find a goal.
Serbia defeated Andorra Mitrovic scored 2 goals in the first half and 1 in the second half to make it 3-0 in total. Serbia didn't give their opponent many chances and won the match comfortably. They increased their score to 4 with this win.

[Ale88]

For Ranieri it is amazing. I am sure he told them that is this old grandpa and he can't do it anymore and then they started begging and this gave him a very special feeling for a last time in his career. I mean seriously when a coach is at the end of his career and then there is one more World Cup around the corner and the bosses of your home country, which by the way is not a bad country in football, show up and ask you if you want to do it for a last time and they need you so badly. If my health allowed for it, I would do it definitely. The World Cup in the USA / CA is going to be a huge event in all regards and what other event could be the best point in life to actually end a career? I wish him personally good luck with that.

I really hope it's going to be Ranieri because today some Italian medias were also mentioning several former players such as Cannavaro, Gattuso, and De Rossi. With all due respect for them this is not the time to experiment with coaches with minimal experience, we need someone who knows exactly what is doing, and that person would be Ranieri. I just don't understand how it's possible that nowadays ex football players with minimal coaching experience have so much trust from both clubs and national teams.

I think it is wrong to generalize skills and experience when it is about younger coaches. If you see what Zidane has done with Real Madrid when practically he didn't have much experience with great clubs, he is an example for a young or new coach who can get things done. In his case it was mainly his aura and the respect players had for him. I don't think he is a tactical genius because most of what he has done in his career as a player was extraordinary intuition. Of course he understood the gameplay very well, but he is not the Guardiola type, making strategies all the time.

I haven't been following Cannavaro and Gattuso lately, but the bad thing about his career as a coach is that he really only took on jobs with C-level teams except for Udinese, but that was over quite quickly.

Gattuso has some more experience with good teams and he has spent a lot of time in Italy as a coach. I don't like Gattuso much as a character, but speaking of experience he would probably be the better choice.

De Rossi doesn't have great experience either. Under these circumstances Ranieri might indeed be the best coach for the national team.

I don't want to generalize but until a few years ago usually coaches had to start from below and build their way up, just like anybody else in the football world. Then Barcelona took a risk promoting Guardiola from Barcelona B to the main team and, needless to say, he did a fantastic job. The problem is that not every former football is like Guardiola, he is almost unique, but many other teams thought they could do the same, and usually they failed. Just because you were a great football player doesn't mean you have what it takes to be a great coach as well, they are two very different roles. Guardiola was already a coach when he was still playing but we could say the same for people like Seedorf, Xavi, and Pirlo, and yet they didn't obtain any notable result.
Zidane won 3 CL, it's true, but he also had the best team in the world, and after that he didn't coach anymore. I'd love to see him coaching again but maybe he's also afraid that expectations on him are very high after what he did.

[Jossque]

Japan won without difficulty against Indonesia. In this match, Japan continued to lead with 6 goals. He didn't even give a chance to his rival Indonesia.
Australia took a big advantage by defeating a tough opponent. Australia, who won a very important victory against Saudi Arabia, can go to the World Cup.

[doomloop]

Italy have only played two games in Group I so I think they still have a chance to qualify automatically as long as they win all their remaining games and also catch up on Norway goal difference and hope Norway slip up a game or two. But in terms of play I agree they are very poor especially their defense is very fragile. I don't expect them to finish second because considering the last two editions it was a nightmare for them.

Italy needs to work hard on their attack if they want to qualify for next world cup as they had start against Norway it's going to be not easy for them having defeat with score like 3–0 is shameful for them while their second game against Moldova was also not impressive their attack not able to have something special against weak side.

Coming games are going to be challenging for them and Norway is surely having good advantage to going through as top team from this group 4 wins with 13 goals already scored clearly indicating they are well-prepared and have good chance of staying at the top Israel is also well experienced team which can give surprise in coming games which could be surely problem for Italy which is having not world cup in last two attempts and now this could be third as well if they fail to have some improvement into their attack.

[Velvet78]

Spalletti has put his achievements and image at risk. Leaving Napoli as champions seemed like a smart move for a "cushy" job with the Italian national team, but now Conte has managed to repeat that success, while Spalletti has failed with the national team. A sad story (especially for Italy haha). I wonder what kind of job Spalletti will be able to find, it is unlikely to be a top club.
As for Ranieri, I am not thrilled with this idea, it is a temporary option, why can't they find a coach with prospects.

It seems like you won't need to worry about it anymore.    Because Ranieri turned down the offer already. And yeah if he accepted it then it would be a temporary solution for Italy. He is 73 years old.

But now I wonder who they will bring... An Italian manager it would be again I assume. How many such good manager is available now? I only see Mancini as free agent for now.

[Polkeins]

The Netherlands in group g is relatively tight competition. Not Malta, Lithuania, but Poland as a strong team based on the victory that Poland has got although the two teams defeated by Poland according to us are also not tough teams.
Against Malta, the Netherlands can target a score over.

Netherlands already lead 3-0 after the first half and are likely to take the game to victory.
Depay made a double and now he has 50 goals for the national team as well as Robin Van Persie.
Apart from Poland Netherlands have no serious rivals and most likely Netherlands should come out of the group from the first place, because now the national team of Finland beats Poland with the score 1:0 and if Finland wins, it will take points away from Poland and thus will help Netherlands in their fight for first place with Poland.

8 goals were scored by the Netherlands against Malta. It's true what we say that the Netherlands can expect a big score.
The Netherlands have managed to unseat Poland and sit second with two games under their belt.
Another win against Poland in the third match will see the Netherlands top the group g table.
Poland's loss against Finland was very favorable for the Netherlands.
A 1-point difference with Finland is not a big problem for the Netherlands to target automatic qualification for the World Cup through group g qualification. Said to be lucky because the Netherlands is in group g, I think there is some truth in that too.

The Netherlands had one of the biggest wins in their history and I don't remember the Netherlands scoring so many goals in official matches and it was scored by different Dutch players.
Poland certainly gave a gift to the Netherlands when first the coach quarreled with Lewandowski and removed him from the team and then when they lost to Finland.
I think that the coach of Poland with such a game will not be given many chances and if there are no victories in the next matches, he will be fired, because with such a game as Poland showed yesterday the Netherlands will not be beaten, and therefore the first place in the group will not be taken either.

[SquallLeonhart]

The Netherlands actually beat Malta by a big score. 8-0 is a score that I never even imagined would be created in that match. Malta is not a strong enough national team. But I was still shocked by the crushing defeat. Because usually Malta is not that bad in defense. Against Finland we also saw that Malta lost only with a score of 0-1. Then when Malta faced Poland we could also see the result was only 2-0. But when facing the Netherlands the score was 8-0. And yes, that is clear evidence that the Netherlands is indeed the team that seems to be the most superior in group G. And yes, for the next match against Poland, maybe the Netherlands will indeed be the favorites to win. Moreover, the Netherlands will also be the host.

This means that the Netherlands is better than Poland and Finland, let alone Malta. Not to demean those other than the Netherlands who are in this group, but the current reality of the Netherlands does look like a team that is not at their level.
The proof will come later when the Netherlands face Poland. Poland should have been able to deny Finland full points yesterday but they first had to recognize Finland through their goals.

Netherlands is always better team then Poland and Finland in Europe these both are not near them due to their superior quality and consistency in their first two games they already score 10 goals with 2 clean sheets. Poland is going to have challenging time after this break as they are going to face Netherlands and Finland and Finland is also going to lose their top spot because it's never been easy for them to hold Netherlands and Poland on road in coming games.

In last game, Finland completely dominate and been never allow Poland to have any chance of three points in this game Finland was looking impressive with their attack was in good touch and this give them good advantage to secure win and have three points from this important game.

[Richbased]

Brazil won their game against Paraguay 1nil and that's the first win for the former Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and they have qualified for the World Cup come next year and it doesn't seem to me that Brazil are even ready to compete for the World Cup, they might drop out too quick, they haven't lived up to expectations, let's say in this qualifiers. They struggle at games they are suppose to show much dominance and I won't start praising Carlo Ancelotti that this is a new beginning and  a time for great things to happen (it can be) because the team is lacking so much and the work to be done is much so let's say they need to start playing as a complete team not what we're seeing with the quality players they have, is becoming uninteresting to watch them play, who's Ecuador to be at 2nd where you have Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, to be honest this young generation of the Brazil national team are not impressive.

Considering how the Brazilian National team have performed in the world cup, we cannot really applaud them for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup because their previous performances is not appealing but not until they perform better in the world cup even if they don't win it but they should be able to make it to at least the semis or the final stage only then we can commend them and Carlo Ancelotti because it will be visible that they have improved under the managerial watch of the former Real Madrid coach, Ancelotti. Brazil is one of the best countries in the world in terms of football but i wonder why they have declined so much in performance and finds it difficult in competitions even when they have fairly good, young and talented players in the quad