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

[Daniel91]

In fact, the Asian team, South Korea, played in the semi-finals of the World Cup back in 2002 and ended up fourth in the world, just like Morocco now.
At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Ghana played in the quarter-finals against Uruguay and in the last minute of the game did not use the penalty to win and advance to the semi-finals.
So, it was obviously only a matter of time before an African national team played in the semi-finals of the World Cup and finally Morocco managed to do it last year at the World Cup in Qatar.
In the future, I expect that the difference in quality between national teams from different continents will decrease even more and we will see even better results from African and Asian national teams.

During the last world cups usually, we had at least one Europian team in the final match and most of teams they played in semi-final and above were Euopian teams but this time, and in last world cup in 2022 Argentina won the cup as an American team and it was signal to say teams from America are still powerful and we can hope on them like this new world cup which is going to be in America. But we didn't see a lot from Asia and being south Korea in the semi-final can be just an expectation.

There is no big progress from the Asian teams, Saudi Arabia won an unexpected win. As an African team Morocco reached the semifinals. Argentina finally won the finals. The involvement of Asian teams isn't that high, but the 2022 world cup hosted by Qatar have made more Asian people watch it. The same have made them follow football later on. This is positive thing and the same could reflect in the future.

I would not completely agree with you. At this world championship in Qatar, Japan defeated two major European teams, Germany and Spain, and unfortunately lost to Croatia in the knockout phase. South Korea also advanced to the knockout stage of the competition.
Morocco played very well in this World Cup, but other African national teams were not very successful in this World Cup.
In any case, I believe that all sincere football fans are happy that Messi with Argentina finally won the only trophy he was missing, the title of world champion.

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[rahmad2nd]

~snip~

~snip~

There is no big progress from the Asian teams, Saudi Arabia won an unexpected win. As an African team Morocco reached the semifinals. Argentina finally won the finals. The involvement of Asian teams isn't that high, but the 2022 world cup hosted by Qatar have made more Asian people watch it. The same have made them follow football later on. This is positive thing and the same could reflect in the future.

I would not completely agree with you. At this world championship in Qatar, Japan defeated two major European teams, Germany and Spain, and unfortunately lost to Croatia in the knockout phase. South Korea also advanced to the knockout stage of the competition.
Morocco played very well in this World Cup, but other African national teams were not very successful in this World Cup.
In any case, I believe that all sincere football fans are happy that Messi with Argentina finally won the only trophy he was missing, the title of world champion.

Yep I agree with you. at least Asia still has Japan and South Korea, the axis of Asian power has always been dominated by Japan and South Korea. the Japanese team are tenacious fighters, they have high spirits. I believe, if the Japanese government is more focused on improving football in the country. hence, Japan will be very much better than they showed in 2022 world cup Qatar. conversely, so did the South Korean team. for Saudi Arabia, they are now starting to focus more and to improve their football world to be more competitive, at least to keep up with Japan which always dominates the Asian Cup.

For the African continent, at least currently their world of football has been more developed than Asia. proven, there are many new talents who have emerged to become stars in big European clubs. but for the rest of Asia, I don't expect much. because their football world is very slow to develop. speaking of the Argentina squad, from the start I said that I was part of their fans. but at the 2026 world cup later, I doubt I can go far, like at the 2022 world cup Qatar. because, Argentina does not have a very shining generation.

[Zackgeno96]

The continent of Asia is not that bad with countries at all. It is also good that a number of countries from Asia are directly admitted to this tournament. Europe is of course the strongest continent and that will not change. It's just a long way off. In 3.5 years the entire composition of a team can change completely and I think that will happen with some teams. Belgium seems to me to be a good example of this. It is a pity that Belgium and Germany did so poorly at the last World Cup, they still have a lot of potential and had a great crop in recent years.

[gagux123]

The continent of Asia is not that bad with countries at all. It is also good that a number of countries from Asia are directly admitted to this tournament. Europe is of course the strongest continent and that will not change. It's just a long way off. In 3.5 years the entire composition of a team can change completely and I think that will happen with some teams. Belgium seems to me to be a good example of this. It is a pity that Belgium and Germany did so poorly at the last World Cup, they still have a lot of potential and had a great crop in recent years.

Europe is still a reference in world football and I believe that will not change.
South America has always had a few countries that are excelent teams, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and I believe this will remain so for a long time.

Regarding these countries that you mentioned, Belgium for me was one of the countries that most evolved in football, I believe, when Belgium eliminated Brazil in the 2018 World Cup, several countries began to look at Belgium with different eyes, because she managed to show the world that she has a good team and that she can improve in the near future

[Vaskiy]

The continent of Asia is not that bad with countries at all. It is also good that a number of countries from Asia are directly admitted to this tournament. Europe is of course the strongest continent and that will not change. It's just a long way off. In 3.5 years the entire composition of a team can change completely and I think that will happen with some teams. Belgium seems to me to be a good example of this. It is a pity that Belgium and Germany did so poorly at the last World Cup, they still have a lot of potential and had a great crop in recent years.

Europe is still a reference in world football and I believe that will not change.
South America has always had a few countries that are excelent teams, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and I believe this will remain so for a long time.

Regarding these countries that you mentioned, Belgium for me was one of the countries that most evolved in football, I believe, when Belgium eliminated Brazil in the 2018 World Cup, several countries began to look at Belgium with different eyes, because she managed to show the world that she has a good team and that she can improve in the near future

When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

[nullama]

~snip~
When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

It really is South America vs Europe.

Any other continent is way below in any kind of metrics you can possibly think of.

Football is slowly appearing in other countries, but even if they are more popular, they are simply not at the same level of South America or Europe, where it is like religion.

[Vaskiy]

~snip~
When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

It really is South America vs Europe.

Any other continent is way below in any kind of metrics you can possibly think of.

Football is slowly appearing in other countries, but even if they are more popular, they are simply not at the same level of South America or Europe, where it is like religion.

Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

[armanda90]

Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

South America and Europe always dominance in FIFA World Cup edition last several edition time and the best achievement from African national team are Morocco success lead until semifinal on last edition FIFA World Cup 2022. Asian national team still difficult reach until higher stage and 16th is the best stage available by Asian teams.

Depend with domestic league quality and how many football player population in South America and Europe become different level on national team, every World Cup edition between Europe or South America national team are the winner.

[nullama]

~snip~
Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

Yeah, it will take a long time, a couple of generations at a minimum.

Other continents are not really that competitive to be honest. For example, Oceania had Australia winning every time, so they moved them to the Asian Qualifiers, and it's still qualifying there, and Australia is by no means a great football nation.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

~snip~
Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

Yeah, it will take a long time, a couple of generations at a minimum.

Other continents are not really that competitive to be honest. For example, Oceania had Australia winning every time, so they moved them to the Asian Qualifiers, and it's still qualifying there, and Australia is by no means a great football nation.

Football in other regions like Asia, Africa and beyond can really get to the level where the European and South American are currently are if no long time as you people think, if these countries can learn and have the resources to do what Europe and South America does.
Many parts of Asia and almost all parts of Africa lack the ability to invest proper time and fund in football, take for example, there are many really talented players on the streets who do not know or have the resources to walk their way into the football team of their country where they can receive proper training to become world standard, and on the other hand, the government have no agencies set up to catch this talented player in their young age, this is one of the reasons why i think some countries are really lagging behind against other more developed countries.

[gagux123]

When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

Yes, in fact Europe has an impressive structure and there are always the best teams in the world.
To be more specific, I believe that to better clarify, some countries in South America (mainly Brazil), are a "granary", and export several players around the world, mainly to Europe.

But with the performance we have seen from some countries in the last world cups, it is clear that football is becoming popular, in Africa, the Middle East and especially Asia, the increase in quality and performance that some countries have had in the last cups is completely clear, year after year, they are improving and evolving!

[slapper]

~snip~
Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

Yeah, it will take a long time, a couple of generations at a minimum.

Other continents are not really that competitive to be honest. For example, Oceania had Australia winning every time, so they moved them to the Asian Qualifiers, and it's still qualifying there, and Australia is by no means a great football nation.

Football in other regions like Asia, Africa and beyond can really get to the level where the European and South American are currently are if no long time as you people think, if these countries can learn and have the resources to do what Europe and South America does.
Many parts of Asia and almost all parts of Africa lack the ability to invest proper time and fund in football, take for example, there are many really talented players on the streets who do not know or have the resources to walk their way into the football team of their country where they can receive proper training to become world standard, and on the other hand, the government have no agencies set up to catch this talented player in their young age, this is one of the reasons why i think some countries are really lagging behind against other more developed countries.

Wow! What a great vantage point! Football is the most inclusive sport since fans of all walks of life watch and participate. If your country isn't as good as others at soccer, take it as motivation to improve! They can adapt the most effective training methods and teaching styles from Europe and South America to create a system that works best for them. Mistakes? Have no apprehension! Take your newfound knowledge and apply it to accomplish amazing things. With football, people all around the world can have the same opportunities. Let's assume that the rest of the world will soon follow the examples of Europe and South America

[nullama]

~snip~
Football in other regions like Asia, Africa and beyond can really get to the level where the European and South American are currently are if no long time as you people think, if these countries can learn and have the resources to do what Europe and South America does.
Many parts of Asia and almost all parts of Africa lack the ability to invest proper time and fund in football, take for example, there are many really talented players on the streets who do not know or have the resources to walk their way into the football team of their country where they can receive proper training to become world standard, and on the other hand, the government have no agencies set up to catch this talented player in their young age, this is one of the reasons why i think some countries are really lagging behind against other more developed countries.

South American countries have almost no support in terms of funding these days, and it was basically zero back in the days. You can still see Brazilians playing with no shoes kicking a ball made of trash at the favelas, and yet they produce extremely talented players.

Of course money helps, but we all saw that Qatar, who poured a lot of money into the world cup, had a horrible performance.

At the end of the day you need the passion. Money can help improve a bit, but it doesn't generate world class players.

[Tumanggor]

It really is South America vs Europe.

Any other continent is way below in any kind of metrics you can possibly think of.

Football is slowly appearing in other countries, but even if they are more popular, they are simply not at the same level of South America or Europe, where it is like religion.

Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

Countries from Asia and Africa have been waiting for a fair competition in the world cup for a long time, and in the 2022 world cup, clubs from the African and Asian continents performed quite well even though none of them managed to advance to the final

2026 is still 3 years away, and countries from the African and Asian continents still have long preparations. Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia are countries from Asia that have always been tough competitors in the world cup

[rahmad2nd]

When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

To be honest, I don't know much about cricket for most of Asia. however, that I know. asia has always been the best when it comes to badminton. At least, Asia is more prominent in this one sport than football.

Talking about football in Asia, there are many factors and problems that slow its development in these countries. Apart from infrastructure problems, the lack of qualified local trainers, poor competition quality, early childhood development, and the most problematic, is a bad system and weak regulations. but by the way, i didn't say for all countries in asia. there are some that are quite good, such as Japan, South Korea, and now Middle Eastern countries are starting to be interested in developing their football. but still, that europe has always been a reference for football.

[Slow death]

In fact, the Asian team, South Korea, played in the semi-finals of the World Cup back in 2002 and ended up fourth in the world, just like Morocco now.
At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Ghana played in the quarter-finals against Uruguay and in the last minute of the game did not use the penalty to win and advance to the semi-finals.
So, it was obviously only a matter of time before an African national team played in the semi-finals of the World Cup and finally Morocco managed to do it last year at the World Cup in Qatar.
In the future, I expect that the difference in quality between national teams from different continents will decrease even more and we will see even better results from African and Asian national teams.

During the last world cups usually, we had at least one Europian team in the final match and most of teams they played in semi-final and above were Euopian teams but this time, and in last world cup in 2022 Argentina won the cup as an American team and it was signal to say teams from America are still powerful and we can hope on them like this new world cup which is going to be in America. But we didn't see a lot from Asia and being south Korea in the semi-final can be just an expectation.

There is no big progress from the Asian teams, Saudi Arabia won an unexpected win. As an African team Morocco reached the semifinals. Argentina finally won the finals. The involvement of Asian teams isn't that high, but the 2022 world cup hosted by Qatar have made more Asian people watch it. The same have made them follow football later on. This is positive thing and the same could reflect in the future.

Unfortunately Africa and Asia has not progressed much when it comes to internal leagues, when we look at Europe for example we can see that they have several alloys and staggers and even when they are amateur games we can see people watching and we can see that they are games with Quality, but when they are high games from Africa and Asia the quality of games are bad, and because the quality of games in Africa and Asia and very low does not attract large TV channels and large companies to sponsor and as a result Players get little salary

Honestly it is sad when you see that a European player can take his salary of just 1 month and be able to pay a salary from an entire alloy from Africa, and a stark difference, as expected that Africa and Asia see World Cup way? At Asia particularly at least the players 'salary is better than African players' salary, but it also has no quality in the games, there was a time when I watched the South Korean League games, it was a disaster.

[tygeade]

When it comes to football,it is always Europe. For Asia right now it is cricket in my view, because most of the countries have cricket teams and few are the best in the World. Football is slowly making its way into the countries and infrastructure were getting developed. The importance cricket have got is high, and now people have begun to consider football and other games. This makes better future and good players emerging out of Asian countries too.

It's about monatery issues, if your nation spends the most money on cricket, then you end up with focusing on cricket and not football. Like for example Virat Kohli, you can check his instagram account, dude is followed by more people than Neymar or Lebron, which means why would India care about football when they can make a lot more money from Cricket?

I understand that football is a lot more liked by people all around the world, and the most liked instagram image is Messi with the world cup, these are all understandable, but you shouldn't check globally, just check locally for the amount of money that is involved and you will see why Europe cares more about football than other sports.

[shogun47]

~snip~
There is a reason that Europe has the largest lobby when it comes to international tournaments. I am not saying that I like that, but all these tournaments must be financed one way or another and you need countries that are able to stem the task. This is no easy endeavor.

Many African countries don't have the resources and also not the infrastructure to stem a World Cup. Qatar was an exception for one specific reason: they had the money and the access to make it happen.Whether it was right to have a World Cup in Qatar? No, in my opinion. But they could do it and they did. This is the difference to some countries around the world that are amazing countries but don't have the resources to pull it off.

Yeah, at the end of the day money talks. You actually need lots of resources to organize a world cup, and actually make it a reality. It's a gamble that many countries take hoping to get a better return from their investment.

And then FIFA of course gets a cut from it all as well.

At the end of the day, anything that is popular will attract lots of people that want to control it.

It depend on their intentions and what they want to achieve hosting a World Cup. Just see what Qatar is doing now. Some of the stadiums just get removed again. If you think about it that is insane, but their goal never was to build stadiums for the long-term. Their goal was to improve their reputation throughout the world and actually cover up some of the problems the country actually has.

I am not able to verify these numbers, but they are staggering. I didn't read the whole article but it is hard to imagine that this can be profitable in the end. That's even more the case for Qatar because they had to newly build the infrastructure whereas some other hosts would have stadiums available already.

I think Canada, Mexico and the United States are pretty well prepared anyway.

[nullama]

~snip~

It depend on their intentions and what they want to achieve hosting a World Cup. Just see what Qatar is doing now. Some of the stadiums just get removed again. If you think about it that is insane, but their goal never was to build stadiums for the long-term. Their goal was to improve their reputation throughout the world and actually cover up some of the problems the country actually has.

I am not able to verify these numbers, but they are staggering. I didn't read the whole article but it is hard to imagine that this can be profitable in the end. That's even more the case for Qatar because they had to newly build the infrastructure whereas some other hosts would have stadiums available already.

I think Canada, Mexico and the United States are pretty well prepared anyway.

Mexico has hosted the world cup already twice('70, '86), and the US once('94). It's only Canada the one that hasn't hosted the world cup, so I'm sure they will be OK in terms of infrastructure.

But sometimes it's not really a great investment. Brazil comes to mind:

"Brazil Soccer Stadiums: From World Cup Arenas to White Elephants"

Despite the sensationalist news about stadiums not being completed on time, chaos in airports, and the threat of urban violence, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was one of the greatest ever editions of soccer’s biggest tournament. Brazil’s love of the sport, their beautiful stadiums, the nation’s famous hospitality, and unflinching joie de vivre made the last World Cup unforgettable for every tourist that came to visit. However, three years on, the Brazilian taxpayers are not even close to paying off the most expensive tournament in history, and have received very little in the way of any positive lasting legacy. Of the 12 stadiums used, all but two are either unused, fraught with corruption allegations or have serious structural problems.

[Desmong]

Agreed, it is South America and Europe dominating the football. However there is better progress from the Asian countries for football compared to the past. To reach the level of European Countries and South American countries in terms of football quality isn't and easy thing and it won't happen shortly. Now only leagues from Asia is slowly getting popularity with the participation of European players, which too a positive signal for the progress of football in Asia.

Countries from Asia and Africa have been waiting for a fair competition in the world cup for a long time, and in the 2022 world cup, clubs from the African and Asian continents performed quite well even though none of them managed to advance to the final

2026 is still 3 years away, and countries from the African and Asian continents still have long preparations. Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia are countries from Asia that have always been tough competitors in the world cup

There is enough time for each countries to get prepared for the world cup so they can stand a chance to join other team in winning the world cup. The most regions that had been trying to compete well in the world cup are Asians and African including north American that are not so known for having an extra ordinary team..