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

[masulum]

As a European, I have never heard of an Indonesian footballer who is strong enough to play in important competitions like the European ones, and there are many even in the lower leagues. Here, football is something else, it is always played everywhere and there are strong players in every corner. They shouldn't naturalise people at random, but rather take them from their country of origin, and it will be a better world.

For us, even though they play in the second league, it's a European competition, and they'll have better physical conditions than playing in Indonesia. Why? The training and competition are different. The Indonesian top league is much worse, which is why Indonesian football hasn't developed till now. Selecting players from the second league in the Netherlands or the English league isn't a random choice, as the target isn't just the World Cup, but also ASEAN and AFC competitions. However, there's currently an effort to qualify for the World Cup, as there's a chance to achieve that.

[banana33]

Of course the majority of these players will go with the stronger team but there is a small change in this trend.

Yes, it is a fact that things are like that, the tendency now is for the feeling that the players have, the team that they like the most is the team for which they stay, the same has happened with players for example an Italian, he decided to play for Venezuela and not for Italy, although Italy is a very strong team he chose Venezuela.

You have a view that I must say is valid considering Indonesia population of nearly 286 million so finding high quality local players to strengthen the national team shouldn't be difficult however as a native, I must be honest the development of football infrastructure here is uneven and early childhood development is unstructured for one definite reason: the continued corruption of many politicians, I'm ashamed, but this is the reality, which is why they are do naturalization.

These problems always exist, i think the solution is to put them in clubs from a young age where their talents are seen , In Brazil there are so many People that the most outstanding players come from very poor Places i think that for things to improve , they have to hire a coach like Luis Enrique who can propose a good project for the development of Football.

Honestly, i am quite disappointed with how the national team is doing, but let's just say i am used to it now. i haven't seen good matches in a long time, and unfortunately, i haven't seen so many good players in a long time either.
We are now in an impasse from which it is difficult to escape.

[SuperBitMan]

No I don't think so because when you talk about football it depends on the country's priority if they are interested in investing in football or not there are lot of poor countries even in Europe that are doing well in sports because they have given priority to sports.


Not all countries in Asia is poor what you will say is that they have not invested well in sport that is why football in Asia is not as developed as that of European countries and off recent I think that Asian countries like China has made significant improvements in terms of investment in sport using football as an example

Almost all countries give priority to sports. But there are some countries whose economic condition is bad, they cannot spend the same amount of money on sports as all the other countries. If there is corruption in the management of a country, then that country will never be able to do anything good in sports. Because whenever a good player gets a chance in the national team, he will be called up from the team due to many problems. An incompetent person will be called up in his place. If corruption can be removed from the middle of the game, then maybe every country will play very well.

Yeah you are right, some countries that are not doing well when it comes to sport especially football is because of corrupt system, we all know that kylian mbappe is original country or root is Cameron, I heard a story that when he first started his career he went to his country Cameron so he can be listed in there country national team and instead of trying to test him and find out if his good enough to be in the team they asked him to pay some money as a form of bribe to them however kylian mbappe's father refused and he was very disappointed at them and that was how he went back to France and then joined there national team.
Some countries has good players but because of bad leaders who is in control of the team they push away the talented footballers and then bring in those once that can give them money, just like you said if corruption can go away from our sport a lot of countries will do very well.
It is true that not all country have the same amount of money to invest into sport but they can at least invest the little they can afford.

[Ale88]

I'm sorry but what you are saying has nothing to do with the national team: in the past foreign players chose to play in the Chinese Super League because they were offering a ton of money, ok, we know, and what difference did it make for Chinese football? None. Chinese players were bad back then, they were bad when foreigners were playing, and they are still bad after the foreigners left. Focusing only on bringing in foreigners is totally useless if you try to improve your local players. Foreigners won't play for your national team (with a few exceptions, like Elkeson / Ai Kesen). Japan never paid a ton of money for foreign players and yet we can clearly see that their model works, China's doesn't.

Chinese soccer needs significant changes into their system if they want improvement in soccer which is not easy even possible their big game with Super League almost fail which is big setback for them but still they are capable of having good structure and improvement.

At this point I'm sure that China (and its government) don't care too much about football: maybe there has been a moment when they thought that investing in football could somehow be a good marketing move but now, looking at how things are going, it looks like they completely changed their minds and stopped any kind of investment. I have no idea why they completely renounced.

Japan and Korea done good work which is paying good results, and they are consistent at Asian level with always having spots into FIFA World Cup but sadly not other country is capable of having same level consistency and performance in this region. Currently, Saudi Arab doing with their money which is also possible for China, but they needed to work out on their grass-root level which is always helpful for countries having academies and bringing youths into players pool always bring positive results, but miserably China fails in this for long time.

Saudi Arabia for the moment is just spending money on foreign players, that is "easy" to do. What is difficult is to actually grow local players. Saudi Arabia have been bringing in a lot of foreign players for, how long, at least 5 years now? And how many Saudi players are there playing in Europe? Zero. They still have a lot of work to do, a lot, and they need a lot of patience.

[8rch7]

Saudi Arabia for the moment is just spending money on foreign players, that is "easy" to do. What is difficult is to actually grow local players. Saudi Arabia have been bringing in a lot of foreign players for, how long, at least 5 years now? And how many Saudi players are there playing in Europe? Zero. They still have a lot of work to do, a lot, and they need a lot of patience.

Talking about Saudi Arabia national team, I have bad ideas for that team after easily become the host for AFC World Cup qualifier round fourth and have many day left taking rest than my national team Indonesia and Iraq. Its not fair how easily Saudi Arabia manage well for FIFA becoming the host exactly for team have many points at third round qualifying, big another not fair Saudi Arabia team have six recovering days after playing first match than Indonesia and Iraq only have two days.
AFC and FIFA easy manage by Saudi Arabia and Qatar team always prefer for both national team become the host indeed at third round qualifying have small points than other of fourth round team participants.

[$weetne$$]

Honestly, i am quite disappointed with how the national team is doing, but let's just say i am used to it now. i haven't seen good matches in a long time, and unfortunately, i haven't seen so many good players in a long time either.
We are now in an impasse from which it is difficult to escape.

Recently ther was a little jam-packed schedule for most players  where they had to answer the call from their national team and they had club world cup to attend to at club levels and some of them were yet to settle their transfer deals and even their preseason preparations for tour and the rest of it were at hand in successions so they are obviously going to have some sort of imbalance with their deliveries as they cannot deliver their exact best at all level and that is why at some point you get to see them perform the way they do and you do not have to blame the national team completely at this point.

[Volgastallion]

Saudi Arabia for the moment is just spending money on foreign players, that is "easy" to do. What is difficult is to actually grow local players. Saudi Arabia have been bringing in a lot of foreign players for, how long, at least 5 years now? And how many Saudi players are there playing in Europe? Zero. They still have a lot of work to do, a lot, and they need a lot of patience.

Talking about Saudi Arabia national team, I have bad ideas for that team after easily become the host for AFC World Cup qualifier round fourth and have many day left taking rest than my national team Indonesia and Iraq. Its not fair how easily Saudi Arabia manage well for FIFA becoming the host exactly for team have many points at third round qualifying, big another not fair Saudi Arabia team have six recovering days after playing first match than Indonesia and Iraq only have two days.
AFC and FIFA easy manage by Saudi Arabia and Qatar team always prefer for both national team become the host indeed at third round qualifying have small points than other of fourth round team participants.

Maybe im getting you wrong, but the Arabia Saudi world cup is on 2034 so what are you talking about? Maybe im not understanding it correctly.

The Saudi Arabia team was build much before they start this new super growth in their league, and yes for sure they have some favours from the FIFA, they give FIFA ton of money, and that is how the world works sadly.

[ShowOff]

Honestly, i am quite disappointed with how the national team is doing, but let's just say i am used to it now. i haven't seen good matches in a long time, and unfortunately, i haven't seen so many good players in a long time either.
We are now in an impasse from which it is difficult to escape.

Recently ther was a little jam-packed schedule for most players  where they had to answer the call from their national team and they had club world cup to attend to at club levels and some of them were yet to settle their transfer deals and even their preseason preparations for tour and the rest of it were at hand in successions so they are obviously going to have some sort of imbalance with their deliveries as they cannot deliver their exact best at all level and that is why at some point you get to see them perform the way they do and you do not have to blame the national team completely at this point.

It's very difficult for players to maintain stable performance when they have to compete in various competitions, even if they are quite talented. Even concerns about the increased potential for injury due to fatigue are often overlooked, because sometimes managers are unwilling to take the big risk of resting their best players. It's no wonder, then, that some big name players today often struggle to meet expectations across different competitions.

Overall, many managers find it difficult to navigate these issues, and sometimes they are reluctant to release their players for national team duty due to fear of injury. This is understandable, as the majority of key players at elite European clubs are also important parts of their respective national teams. I don't think there's anything to blame, it's just that the distance between one competition and another is so close.

[Hvdv]

Saudi Arabia for the moment is just spending money on foreign players, that is "easy" to do. What is difficult is to actually grow local players. Saudi Arabia have been bringing in a lot of foreign players for, how long, at least 5 years now? And how many Saudi players are there playing in Europe? Zero. They still have a lot of work to do, a lot, and they need a lot of patience.

Talking about Saudi Arabia national team, I have bad ideas for that team after easily become the host for AFC World Cup qualifier round fourth and have many day left taking rest than my national team Indonesia and Iraq. Its not fair how easily Saudi Arabia manage well for FIFA becoming the host exactly for team have many points at third round qualifying, big another not fair Saudi Arabia team have six recovering days after playing first match than Indonesia and Iraq only have two days.
AFC and FIFA easy manage by Saudi Arabia and Qatar team always prefer for both national team become the host indeed at third round qualifying have small points than other of fourth round team participants.

Maybe im getting you wrong, but the Arabia Saudi world cup is on 2034 so what are you talking about? Maybe im not understanding it correctly.

The Saudi Arabia team was build much before they start this new super growth in their league, and yes for sure they have some favours from the FIFA, they give FIFA ton of money, and that is how the world works sadly.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new team like Wildcard in the European Champions League soon. Saudi Arabia truly values football and spends a lot of money on it. They'll want to play in the European Champions League to gain more visibility. Considering that Israel also qualifies for and plays in the Champions League qualifiers in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia isn't far behind geographically. Perhaps, as I mentioned, we can even track them in European competitions through an app. However, regarding the World Cup, it's still unclear which teams will qualify after the qualifiers. More teams will be playing in this World Cup, and some may be making their debut in the World Cup.

[8rch7]

Maybe im getting you wrong, but the Arabia Saudi world cup is on 2034 so what are you talking about? Maybe im not understanding it correctly.

The Saudi Arabia team was build much before they start this new super growth in their league, and yes for sure they have some favours from the FIFA, they give FIFA ton of money, and that is how the world works sadly.

I am not talking about Saudi Arabia as FIFA World Cup 2034 house but asking why appointing as host for third round qualifying, its not fair with AFC and FIFA regulation when several regulation change for appointing both countries between Qatar and Saudi Arabia become the host. Surely Saudi Arabia spent out much money support all FIFA agenda and easily for them getting special place by appointing as host, another funny how the host national team have more than si days recovering than two national Iraq and Indonesia just get two days before playing second match qualifying.
I hope Indonesia and Iraq can defeat Saudi Arabia to make them eliminate for FIFA World Cup 2026 looking for not any drama any more later if both team between Qatar and Saudi Arabi are qualifying.

[Ale88]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new team like Wildcard in the European Champions League soon. Saudi Arabia truly values football and spends a lot of money on it. They'll want to play in the European Champions League to gain more visibility.

I really hope this will never happen. The day a Saudi Arabian team plays in the European Champions League is the day I will stop watching football because it would be ridiculous. Saudi Arabia is in Asia, they can't buy their participation in a competition played in another continent.

Considering that Israel also qualifies for and plays in the Champions League qualifiers in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia isn't far behind geographically. Perhaps, as I mentioned, we can even track them in European competitions through an app. However, regarding the World Cup, it's still unclear which teams will qualify after the qualifiers. More teams will be playing in this World Cup, and some may be making their debut in the World Cup.

Israeli teams (and the national team) play in Europe because they have problems with everyone in the Middle East. And considering what they keep doing they are having more and more problems also in Europe so Israel, both as a national team and clubs, shouldn't be playing in any competition: not for Asia and for sure not for Europe. They have nothing to share with Europe, they are there just because of politics. I'm European and I don't agree with Israel playing amongst us.

[Mr Reporter]

No I don't think so because when you talk about football it depends on the country's priority if they are interested in investing in football or not there are lot of poor countries even in Europe that are doing well in sports because they have given priority to sports.


Not all countries in Asia is poor what you will say is that they have not invested well in sport that is why football in Asia is not as developed as that of European countries and off recent I think that Asian countries like China has made significant improvements in terms of investment in sport using football as an example

Almost all countries give priority to sports. But there are some countries whose economic condition is bad, they cannot spend the same amount of money on sports as all the other countries. If there is corruption in the management of a country, then that country will never be able to do anything good in sports. Because whenever a good player gets a chance in the national team, he will be called up from the team due to many problems. An incompetent person will be called up in his place. If corruption can be removed from the middle of the game, then maybe every country will play very well.

Yeah you are right, some countries that are not doing well when it comes to sport especially football is because of corrupt system, we all know that kylian mbappe is original country or root is Cameron, I heard a story that when he first started his career he went to his country Cameron so he can be listed in there country national team and instead of trying to test him and find out if his good enough to be in the team they asked him to pay some money as a form of bribe to them however kylian mbappe's father refused and he was very disappointed at them and that was how he went back to France and then joined there national team.
Some countries has good players but because of bad leaders who is in control of the team they push away the talented footballers and then bring in those once that can give them money, just like you said if corruption can go away from our sport a lot of countries will do very well.
It is true that not all country have the same amount of money to invest into sport but they can at least invest the little they can afford.

In addition the system really look corrupt i most say this already way down the young talented player and undermine a team potential, just as you have mention in country many young players have the mindset of becoming greater footballers but they lack the opportunity of sponsorship either the country corruption get to them or the families members like there dream by telling them how its difficult out there, Kylian Mabappé story was really heart touching one his alleged experience with corruption in his country Cameroon's which have made influence in his decisions to play for France instead, and honestly speaking this has caused alot to fine honest players who are ready to play for the country because the country doesn't support their when they need it.

[yenerbatmaz]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new team like Wildcard in the European Champions League soon. Saudi Arabia truly values football and spends a lot of money on it. They'll want to play in the European Champions League to gain more visibility.

I really hope this will never happen. The day a Saudi Arabian team plays in the European Champions League is the day I will stop watching football because it would be ridiculous. Saudi Arabia is in Asia, they can't buy their participation in a competition played in another continent.

In the not-too-distant future, Arab teams will be in the Champions League.
I wouldn't want it either, but unfortunately, it will happen.
Because Arabs invest heavily in football.
If the Champions League were only for European teams, there wouldn't be teams from Israel, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
I believe that within five years at the latest, one or more Arab League teams will be in the Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.

[masulum]

If the Champions League were only for European teams, there wouldn't be teams from Israel, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.

I think you are wrong about this, its not because they are from Asia, but because of their football association under UEFA:
Israel: The Israel Football Association (IFA) became a full member of UEFA in 1994.
Kazakhstan: The Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) became a full member of UEFA on April 25, 2002
Azerbaijan: The Azerbaijan Football Federation (AFFA) became a full member of UEFA in 1994.

Source:
https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/ISR/
https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/KAZ/
https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/AZE/

while, Saudi Arabia till now under AFC, So, it is normal that many people do not agree if Arab team enter the UCL.

[pewboy]

In addition the system really look corrupt i most say this already way down the young talented player and undermine a team potential, just as you have mention in country many young players have the mindset of becoming greater footballers but they lack the opportunity of sponsorship either the country corruption get to them or the families members like there dream by telling them how its difficult out there, Kylian Mabappé story was really heart touching one his alleged experience with corruption in his country Cameroon's which have made influence in his decisions to play for France instead, and honestly speaking this has caused alot to fine honest players who are ready to play for the country because the country doesn't support their when they need it.

Unfortunately, money is the real downfall of things. When money is involved, everything becomes corrupted because people have no qualms about accessing it.
In fact, i don't even know how the assignment of a state for the World Cup takes place, given that the money involved is certainly enormous.

[Volgastallion]

Hahahaha guys, if we see it from an historycal view even Iran can be considered WESTERN and EUROPEAN since all of his history were based on each other and they fight against each other for centuries.

So dont talk without any knowledge, i know geographically it can seem weird, but its not that weird at all.

MIDEAST is more WESTERN than EASTERN

[alegotardo]

In the not-too-distant future, Arab teams will be in the Champions League.
I wouldn't want it either, but unfortunately, it will happen.
Because Arabs invest heavily in football.
If the Champions League were only for European teams, there wouldn't be teams from Israel, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
I believe that within five years at the latest, one or more Arab League teams will be in the Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.

Really?
Israel, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan play in UEFA competitions because they are affiliated members. It's because of this that, even though they are geographically Asian (whether fully or partially), they participate in these competitions, as I mentioned in another thread recently.... football has become an economic business these days, so than this is a political and strategic decision aimed at profiting from these competitions, not a just geographics limitation.

And I also agree wit hyou about the heavy investment of Arab nations in European football. They already have a hand in several major clubs like Manchester City (City Football Group – United Arab Emirates), PSG (Qatar Sports Investments), as well as other smaller clubs that also receive investment from them.

But, I must disagree with you that in the short and medium term, they will be participating in the Champions League. Only UEFA members participate there, and Arab countries are affiliated with the AFC (Asian Football Confederation). In order for them to participate in the UCL, they would have to change confederations... and let's face it... this is politically complex and unprecedented, as far as I know.

If you know anything concrete along these lines, that isn't just speculation, let me know and I'll change my mind.

[verdinio]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new team like Wildcard in the European Champions League soon. Saudi Arabia truly values football and spends a lot of money on it. They'll want to play in the European Champions League to gain more visibility.

I really hope this will never happen. The day a Saudi Arabian team plays in the European Champions League is the day I will stop watching football because it would be ridiculous. Saudi Arabia is in Asia, they can't buy their participation in a competition played in another continent.

In the not-too-distant future, Arab teams will be in the Champions League.
I wouldn't want it either, but unfortunately, it will happen.
Because Arabs invest heavily in football.
If the Champions League were only for European teams, there wouldn't be teams from Israel, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
I believe that within five years at the latest, one or more Arab League teams will be in the Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.

I don't think this will ever happen, it's something that can't be done because otherwise it wouldn't be called the European Champions League, but it would be called something else. Honestly, they're trying to do this by including these Arab clubs, but it's simply ridiculous, these clubs will never be able to compete with the most prestigious European teams.

[Sithara007]

Hahahaha guys, if we see it from an historycal view even Iran can be considered WESTERN and EUROPEAN since all of his history were based on each other and they fight against each other for centuries.

So dont talk without any knowledge, i know geographically it can seem weird, but its not that weird at all.

MIDEAST is more WESTERN than EASTERN

Not entirely true. Iran has more common with countries such as India and Pakistan, when compared to Western European countries such as Germany. If Iran is European, then so is Afghanistan. Because they have the same culture and religion. Only Asian country than can be considered as more European than Asian is Turkey. And they are already part of the UEFA. BTW, a number of Asian countries are represented in UEFA. To name a few - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan.etc.

[snipie]

I don't think this will ever happen, it's something that can't be done because otherwise it wouldn't be called the European Champions League, but it would be called something else. Honestly, they're trying to do this by including these Arab clubs, but it's simply ridiculous, these clubs will never be able to compete with the most prestigious European teams.

I don't know from where this opinion come? Why would UEFA include a Saudi Pro League or Emirates clubs to their competitions? Because they are too good to most of European teams? That is not enough?
Temporary inclusion might be possible due to wars or something like that but inclusion for more than a season is unlikely to happen in my opinion.
Members cited Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, they are already in Europe or have parts of the country in Europe just like Turkiye and Russia.
The solution to include them is by creating international competitions like FIFA Club World Cup or maybe sort of Super Cup..