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

[Sithara007]

It seems the world cup hosts are getting ready to host the world cup and there is some information about the stadiums hosting the world cup. But the increasing thing for me is about Canada and Mexico, because Canada will have only two stadiums and Mexico will have three stadiums for the world cup while all other games are going to be hosted in America.


http://stadiumdb.com/tournaments/world_cup/2026

We have already discussed it manytimes. 80% of the matches are being hosted by the United States. Canada and Mexico are being allowed a handful of matches each, to showcase the "North American brotherhood". Most of the spending on infrastructure is being done by the United States (and given the precarious economic situation in the other two countries I am not sure whether they can afford anything similar). And fans are not too happy about being made to travel thousands of miles across different countries to watch these matches. So the number of venues in Canada and Mexico sounds logical for me.

[1714681550]

1714681550

[1714681550]

1714681550

[Strongkored]

Well, we are just speculating about his future in this sport and just basing by his words as he announced last week that he already has no plans in joining the team and play for the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Now, many of us here thinks that what's with the rush because just joined the Inter-Miami and a few couple of weeks ago and now he's saying that he's not inclined to play in the next WC. I particularly don't believe that what he said was final because he still have 2 more years to decide.

In any case, Messi did not say that the decision not to play at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is final and all his recent statements are at the level of assumptions. A lot will depend on the physical health of Messi himself, and if you think sensibly, then the player may well play until that time. Well, if he still continues to play for the club until this deadline, then I think the issue of participation in the final part will be resolved. Another question is that, after all, for sure a football player will not participate in all the qualifying matches of his national team, especially in friendly matches, because age is age.

He just needs to no longer be involved in the many matches that his country's national team has to play especially if it's not an important match, Messi will certainly be expected to be able to continue playing at the world cup later but even though he really will no longer defend his country Argentina still has others young players, maybe his skills are not like Messi's but because this is a team sport of course teamwork will play the most important role for success, and because after all and no matter how great he is there will be a moment when he finally has to stop and start a different career path and Messi is heading for that.

[bitgolden]

Yeah, I think that's a fair thing to do. Messi already conquered everything there is to conquer in football, now it would be great if he gives the opportunity to the next generation.

If he wants to continue playing he will take the spot for the next great player being recognized.

Agreed. He has a lot to lose if he keeps on playing and the performance goes down. The example of Cristiano Ronaldo is in front of us, and we have seen how he was humiliated during Qatar 2022. I want Messi to be remembered by the Argentines as the player who won them the world cup, and not as the player who failed to retain the world cup trophy. The responsibility of defending the trophy will be with Emiliano Martínez, Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul and the younger generation players such as Julián Álvarez and Alexis Mac Allister.

I feel like that's not really on him, he would be playing and not really be responsible for any of the loss they might get, Ronaldo played decently this world cup as well and after all the deal he had to go through with United that was normal that he didn't play like he used to but at least took Portugal to a point and that was good enough, I do not blame Ronaldo for any loss they had, and I applaud him for playing as well as he did at that age, most players are retired by that age and we discussed him being starting striker or not at that age, that's a talent.

Same goes for Messi, I think he will play too and no matter how "bad" he gets, he will still be better than anyone else as an option and he will not be responsible for their loss. These two players are the best players that ever played this game, I would never blame them.

[Sithara007]

I feel like that's not really on him, he would be playing and not really be responsible for any of the loss they might get, Ronaldo played decently this world cup as well and after all the deal he had to go through with United that was normal that he didn't play like he used to but at least took Portugal to a point and that was good enough, I do not blame Ronaldo for any loss they had, and I applaud him for playing as well as he did at that age, most players are retired by that age and we discussed him being starting striker or not at that age, that's a talent.

Same goes for Messi, I think he will play too and no matter how "bad" he gets, he will still be better than anyone else as an option and he will not be responsible for their loss. These two players are the best players that ever played this game, I would never blame them.

How can you say that he will not be responsible? He captained the Argentine squad in 2022 during Qatar World Cup. And if he reverses his decision and takes part in the 2026 edition, then obviously he will be the captain. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Messi stated that he won't be part of the squad for 2026 World Cup. If something goes wrong, then he will end his international career on a bad note. And by 2026, he maybe well past his prime and I am not sure whether he will be able to play as good as he is doing now.

[Leviathan.007]

It seems the world cup hosts are getting ready to host the world cup and there is some information about the stadiums hosting the world cup. But the increasing thing for me is about Canada and Mexico, because Canada will have only two stadiums and Mexico will have three stadiums for the world cup while all other games are going to be hosted in America.


http://stadiumdb.com/tournaments/world_cup/2026

We have already discussed it manytimes. 80% of the matches are being hosted by the United States. Canada and Mexico are being allowed a handful of matches each, to showcase the "North American brotherhood". Most of the spending on infrastructure is being done by the United States (and given the precarious economic situation in the other two countries I am not sure whether they can afford anything similar). And fans are not too happy about being made to travel thousands of miles across different countries to watch these matches. So the number of venues in Canada and Mexico sounds logical for me.

I'm sure Canada and Mexico both like to host more games because the benefits they can earn from the visitors are good enough for them. However, If they were going to host most of the games instead of America, I don't think Mexico or Canada are in a situation to host the games. Because the sports facilities they have in America are much better than what they have in Mexico.

[puloweh555]

about Brazil, there's a point too that in 2002 Brazil's team was much better than the teams that came afterwards
of course this counts too

since them we had 5 cups...
yes, it's been a while.

let's see what happens in the next one

It will be interesting if you see Brazil's chances at the 2026 World Cup, can they bring the trophy for the sixth time? Because the news circulating is that coach Carlo Ancelotti will coach the Brazilian team after his contract at Real Madrid ends. I think He has really won everything there is to win at club level throughout his career, he won 4 league titles, and was a league winner in 5 different countries so he has won everything in his club managerial career and coaching the Brazilian national team.

Can he finally end their World Cup drought in 2026 he is an elite manager and has longevity as head coach and lots of success too mostly in champions league and he is expert in knockout football and his managerial experience can help Brazil with studded squad star.

So far I see Carlo Ancelotti coaching Brazil is the right choice because he's the perfect manager with what he does in knockout football.

[Bananington]

So far I see Carlo Ancelotti coaching Brazil is the right choice because he's the perfect manager with what he does in knockout football.

Brazil is a team with talent but need a very good manager to manage them to win a trophy and Carlo Ancelotti can be the solution. They played well in the last world cup and were even one of the teams expected to win it at one point, maybe that is why FIFA put them high up in the ranking for this year. If Carlo decides to join the Brazilians, Brazil will have a good chance in the next world cup to become world champions again and dominant soccer after a very long time.

[slapper]

Well, we are just speculating about his future in this sport and just basing by his words as he announced last week that he already has no plans in joining the team and play for the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Now, many of us here thinks that what's with the rush because just joined the Inter-Miami and a few couple of weeks ago and now he's saying that he's not inclined to play in the next WC. I particularly don't believe that what he said was final because he still have 2 more years to decide.

In any case, Messi did not say that the decision not to play at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is final and all his recent statements are at the level of assumptions. A lot will depend on the physical health of Messi himself, and if you think sensibly, then the player may well play until that time. Well, if he still continues to play for the club until this deadline, then I think the issue of participation in the final part will be resolved. Another question is that, after all, for sure a football player will not participate in all the qualifying matches of his national team, especially in friendly matches, because age is age.

Your thoughts on Messi's potential involvement in the 2026 World Cup pique intrigue. Yet, consider Messi as a torchbearer for Argentina's next generation. Even if his physical ability declines with age, his rich reservoir of knowledge stays unmatched. Messi's involvement might be sparing but pivotal in shepherding Argentina's 2026 dreams. The notion of a "swansong" tournament isn't unfamiliar in football. Should Messi maintain a satisfactory level of fitness, the 2026 World Cup could serve as his fitting farewell from the international football stage.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Brazil were really a big disappointment in last World Cup by not even being able to go beyond the quarter finals. They had technically much stronger players than Croatia but they still couldn't. In my opinion that's because of not having a good management. Tite couldn't bring any significant success to the team despite being the coach for 6 years.

His only achievement is a Copa America trophy in the 2018/2019 season. I don't even have any idea why Brazil board didn't even sack him much before. Maybe the World Cup title would have been achieved with a great squad like this. Ramon Menezes must be the temporary manager now because he was managing the U20 team.

I hope they can find the right coach for themselves to get prepared really strongly for next World Cup.

I think it is not having good management but also not having all the players healed and there as well. Brazil were lacking a 100% Neymar, he came back from an injury, they lacked Jesus as well, and a few others if I am not mistaken. They were not a "team" neither, a group of very talented individuals getting together doesn't make them a team suddenly, it means that you are all good but you are not a team.

I always supported that Croatia ended up playing and being a lot better because they may not be individually better in many positions but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have anything that would be bad, because they were much better at being a team and that is how they ended up winning and they are still winning at nations league as well.

Well, the case of Brazil was something that can always happen, they can have a great team but if something fails the whole team fails, that's what happened in BRAZIL, they have their technique, their style and their way of playing games, such Perhaps the strategy that was imposed on them did not work and that was what affected it, due to the quality of football they did not lose, here all the responsibility falls on the technical director, because how can we blame the players? They do the work assigned by the coach and if the coach did not do it well, well, he took the entire team with him, for me it was a total and generative error of the technical director, because the players here did their job.

[Die_empty]

We have already discussed it manytimes. 80% of the matches are being hosted by the United States. Canada and Mexico are being allowed a handful of matches each, to showcase the "North American brotherhood". Most of the spending on infrastructure is being done by the United States (and given the precarious economic situation in the other two countries I am not sure whether they can afford anything similar). And fans are not too happy about being made to travel thousands of miles across different countries to watch these matches. So the number of venues in Canada and Mexico sounds logical for me.

The US can host that world cup without any need to co-host with Mexico and Canada. But like Sithara007 it will promote brotherliness in the continent. Shuttling between countries to watch games will be expensive because of transportation, hotel bills, and other logistics. Fans will find it expensive and it might discourage people from going to the world cup. But I am predicting that from the second round to the finals, matches might only be played only in the US. It might be that only group games will be played in Canada and Mexico.

Your thoughts on Messi's potential involvement in the 2026 World Cup pique intrigue. Yet, consider Messi as a torchbearer for Argentina's next generation. Even if his physical ability declines with age, his rich reservoir of knowledge stays unmatched. Messi's involvement might be sparing but pivotal in shepherding Argentina's 2026 dreams. The notion of a "swansong" tournament isn't unfamiliar in football. Should Messi maintain a satisfactory level of fitness, the 2026 World Cup could serve as his fitting farewell from the international football stage.

Except he decides to retire from international football maybe because of some unforeseen circumstances like injuries, Messi will be welcomed to the Argentine national team for the world cup. His wealth of experience will be handy for the younger player and he would motivate the players to succeed. Age is really affecting his performance but I assume Messi still has at least more three active years in football. The world cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico will be his last.

[Sithara007]

I'm sure Canada and Mexico both like to host more games because the benefits they can earn from the visitors are good enough for them. However, If they were going to host most of the games instead of America, I don't think Mexico or Canada are in a situation to host the games. Because the sports facilities they have in America are much better than what they have in Mexico.

I will not agree if you are going to argue that the facilities in the United States are much better than those in Mexico (I don't know much about Canada, BTW). Mexico has some of the largest and most beautiful football stadiums in the world and they hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1986 all by themselves. Back then, the final was played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which had a capacity of 114,600. And most of the stadiums in the United States are those used for NFL and MLB. It takes a lot of effort to convert these facilities to host football matches.

[Strongkored]

It will be interesting if you see Brazil's chances at the 2026 World Cup, can they bring the trophy for the sixth time? Because the news circulating is that coach Carlo Ancelotti will coach the Brazilian team after his contract at Real Madrid ends. I think He has really won everything there is to win at club level throughout his career, he won 4 league titles, and was a league winner in 5 different countries so he has won everything in his club managerial career and coaching the Brazilian national team.

Can he finally end their World Cup drought in 2026 he is an elite manager and has longevity as head coach and lots of success too mostly in champions league and he is expert in knockout football and his managerial experience can help Brazil with studded squad star.

So far I see Carlo Ancelotti coaching Brazil is the right choice because he's the perfect manager with what he does in knockout football.

Brazil has not produced good achievements in 5x the World Cup, even when they hosted it in 2014 it became one of the worst records for them because of the crushing defeat to Germany, quite surprising that there are many choices of players with good skills but Brazil has not been able to to become champions for quite along, although it is not the first time they have taken a long time to become champions again because in 1970 when they became champions it took more than 2 decades to lift the trophy again, namely in 1994 at the United States World Cup.
With the inclusion of Carlo Ancelotti as a coach later, it is like giving a breath of fresh air because this coach has been successful at the club only as a national team coach he has no experience, but Ancelotti will be expected to bring big changes for Brazil to be able to become champions again.

[Kasabus]

I'm sure Canada and Mexico both like to host more games because the benefits they can earn from the visitors are good enough for them. However, If they were going to host most of the games instead of America, I don't think Mexico or Canada are in a situation to host the games. Because the sports facilities they have in America are much better than what they have in Mexico.

I will not agree if you are going to argue that the facilities in the United States are much better than those in Mexico (I don't know much about Canada, BTW). Mexico has some of the largest and most beautiful football stadiums in the world and they hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1986 all by themselves. Back then, the final was played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which had a capacity of 114,600. And most of the stadiums in the United States are those used for NFL and MLB.

Considering that FIFA is now introducing the new format that will happen in 2026, Mexico and Canada will seriously have some hardships in catering these games as we know that even if they have some stadiums that can withstand and allocate the audience, it is still not enough compared to the USA where they can host the games simultaneously.

The games that each country will hold has been surely discussed by both three countries before they announced it as I'm certain that if only Canada and Mexico can do the same thing as the USA, then I think they already did it.

It takes a lot of effort to convert these facilities to host football matches.

But it will be worthwhile considering the revenues that they could generate after.

[Leviathan.007]

I'm sure Canada and Mexico both like to host more games because the benefits they can earn from the visitors are good enough for them. However, If they were going to host most of the games instead of America, I don't think Mexico or Canada are in a situation to host the games. Because the sports facilities they have in America are much better than what they have in Mexico.

I will not agree if you are going to argue that the facilities in the United States are much better than those in Mexico (I don't know much about Canada, BTW). Mexico has some of the largest and most beautiful football stadiums in the world and they hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1986 all by themselves. Back then, the final was played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which had a capacity of 114,600. And most of the stadiums in the United States are those used for NFL and MLB. It takes a lot of effort to convert these facilities to host football matches.

Maybe you are right and Mexico got lots of good stadiums but I don't think if the stadiums they have are better than what Americans got, because the capacity of the stadium can't be the reason to say the stadium is good enough or not.
On the other hand, having stadiums is not the only thing, and we know the visitors also need hotels to stay there, and that's what they got in America.

[justdimin]

I feel like that's not really on him, he would be playing and not really be responsible for any of the loss they might get, Ronaldo played decently this world cup as well and after all the deal he had to go through with United that was normal that he didn't play like he used to but at least took Portugal to a point and that was good enough, I do not blame Ronaldo for any loss they had, and I applaud him for playing as well as he did at that age, most players are retired by that age and we discussed him being starting striker or not at that age, that's a talent.

Same goes for Messi, I think he will play too and no matter how "bad" he gets, he will still be better than anyone else as an option and he will not be responsible for their loss. These two players are the best players that ever played this game, I would never blame them.

Obviously these huge names are hard to replace, even if you get a young player who "may" replace these players, they are usually not as great. Ronaldo finally reached an age where you could put another player in that position, he used to play on wing a lot but for the past few seasons he has been a pure striker due to getting older and not being that much faster, and Messi used to play on the wings a lot as well but moved to center a bit more as well.

So when you are talking about things like this, it becomes evident that we are not going to see such simple changes but it does happen. Ronaldo got replaced on the last world cup, and Messi may end up getting replaced this one too, if they get too bad, that's how it just starts to happen slowly.

[Juggy777]

I feel like that's not really on him, he would be playing and not really be responsible for any of the loss they might get, Ronaldo played decently this world cup as well and after all the deal he had to go through with United that was normal that he didn't play like he used to but at least took Portugal to a point and that was good enough, I do not blame Ronaldo for any loss they had, and I applaud him for playing as well as he did at that age, most players are retired by that age and we discussed him being starting striker or not at that age, that's a talent.

Same goes for Messi, I think he will play too and no matter how "bad" he gets, he will still be better than anyone else as an option and he will not be responsible for their loss. These two players are the best players that ever played this game, I would never blame them.

Obviously these huge names are hard to replace, even if you get a young player who "may" replace these players, they are usually not as great. Ronaldo finally reached an age where you could put another player in that position, he used to play on wing a lot but for the past few seasons he has been a pure striker due to getting older and not being that much faster, and Messi used to play on the wings a lot as well but moved to center a bit more as well.

So when you are talking about things like this, it becomes evident that we are not going to see such simple changes but it does happen. Ronaldo got replaced on the last world cup, and Messi may end up getting replaced this one too, if they get too bad, that's how it just starts to happen slowly.

@justdimin if these two are planning to play international matches then it’s really bad for their respective countries because they’ll slow the team down and block the path of young player’s. Lastly in my personal opinion both should be given a farewell match and then the coaches should prepare to groom new player’s and if they yet stick to these two then it’ll be a perfect recipe for disaster.

[KTChampions]

How can you say that he will not be responsible? He captained the Argentine squad in 2022 during Qatar World Cup. And if he reverses his decision and takes part in the 2026 edition, then obviously he will be the captain. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Messi stated that he won't be part of the squad for 2026 World Cup. If something goes wrong, then he will end his international career on a bad note. And by 2026, he maybe well past his prime and I am not sure whether he will be able to play as good as he is doing now.

The fact that the peak of Messi is far behind is already visible now (it has been seen for a long time lol), and not participating in the World Cup 2026 is a reasonable decision. The problem is that he is a big brand and his participation will be beneficial for the organizers and everyone in general (except for the Argentinean national team), so one way or another he can be persuaded to participate.

[Silberman]

How can you say that he will not be responsible? He captained the Argentine squad in 2022 during Qatar World Cup. And if he reverses his decision and takes part in the 2026 edition, then obviously he will be the captain. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Messi stated that he won't be part of the squad for 2026 World Cup. If something goes wrong, then he will end his international career on a bad note. And by 2026, he maybe well past his prime and I am not sure whether he will be able to play as good as he is doing now.

The fact that the peak of Messi is far behind is already visible now (it has been seen for a long time lol), and not participating in the World Cup 2026 is a reasonable decision. The problem is that he is a big brand and his participation will be beneficial for the organizers and everyone in general (except for the Argentinean national team), so one way or another he can be persuaded to participate.

Even the Argentinian team benefits as I am sure that even now his jersey is the one that is the most sold by a wide margin, especially now that he finally won a world cup, now I have said it before but I think that taking Messi to the 2026 world cup even if his skill level was lower than what it is now is not such a bad idea, as long as you can keep him on the bench then you could always put him on the field when you expect a penalty shootout to happen and basically secure a score in this way, which is a massive advantage when a match gets to those instances.

[darewaller]

Considering that FIFA is now introducing the new format that will happen in 2026, Mexico and Canada will seriously have some hardships in catering these games as we know that even if they have some stadiums that can withstand and allocate the audience, it is still not enough compared to the USA where they can host the games simultaneously.

The games that each country will hold has been surely discussed by both three countries before they announced it as I'm certain that if only Canada and Mexico can do the same thing as the USA, then I think they already did it.

I agree that the stadiums in USA is a lot better and that's why it is more heavily there, it makes sense in the end because they have the population, the money, the infrastructure and everything else ready. Mexico is not a rich nation neither, and we all know about cartels too which is already enough of a trouble. I know not enough people talk about this because media doesn't want it to be talked about and they all zip it before it starts, but we need to talk about it.

Cartels are a big trouble and just like Paris incident at UCL finals, we could have a lot of people attacking visitors for money, it is not going to be a shameful thing, it happens, France is "middle of the western block" nation, and yet in Paris we had the issues, same could happen in Mexico and cartels for sure.

[Oneandpure]

I agree that the stadiums in USA is a lot better and that's why it is more heavily there, it makes sense in the end because they have the population, the money, the infrastructure and everything else ready. Mexico is not a rich nation neither, and we all know about cartels too which is already enough of a trouble. I know not enough people talk about this because media doesn't want it to be talked about and they all zip it before it starts, but we need to talk about it.

Left three years later before FIFA World Cup 2026 begin and seems host countries have enough time for preparing their stadium for World Cup, no doubt with United State has better stadium than two host countries Canada or Mexico but almost United State stadium seems not better than last host World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

But Canada and United State are rich countries and seems easy for them in short time for renovation the stadium and Mexico have submitted with their stadium used for World Cup 2026. But difference with next World Cup on 2026 because not any bad news publishing until right now because last edition before World Cup 2022 begin many bad news publishing by European player and many of the not agree Qatar as the host for World Cup 2022.