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

[joniboini]

But the truth about these teams is they don't have the good coaches and good facilities they need to have.

I'm curious how good other Asian countries' football training facilities are, I'm pretty sure those who regularly play at the Asian Cup should be decent. It is hard to imagine that they don't have decent training facilities or coaches considering Japan or South Korea failed to win it every time they participated in it. On the other hand, if we're talking about developing or poor countries then that's understandable, considering winning football matches or qualifying for the world cup is probably not one of their priority. They should send their young players abroad if that is the case. I'm pretty sure this idea is not new and has been discussed many times in the media, the question is always whether there are academy/clubs that are interested in their talent or not. CMIIW.

[Kavelj22]

Italian legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti which is going to end his contract in 2026 could be 66 years old at the end of this contract and as he is already announced this is going to be his last job after this he loves to be stayed as retired which is not bad at all after having long list of successes which he achieves during his coaching career with no one having any hope he could be gone to Brazil for having any job because things are not ideal for working in this country with corrupt system is going to be collapsed which will bring more development ends, and we will have this team at their lowest level if they are not going to have fixed their problems.

It's almost more than two decades they are having no win which is surely going to be terrible with things are going more down day by day, and we are having no development for the better things here if this will be continued for some more time then surely we will be having another collapse.

If Real Madrid are interested in signing him again after his contract expires, he could serve Real Madrid for a few more seasons.  Instead of ending his managerial career with Real Madrid in 2026, it looks like he will take on a new challenge. He can take charge of the Brazilian national team before the 2026 World Cup, and if he takes charge of the Brazilian national team that has won the World Cup five times before the global tournament, Brazil can dream of winning the World Cup for the sixth time under his leadership. Now 2024-2025 are still enough time to wait and see what happens in the near future. Since the World Cup has not been held on the American continent for a long time, this tournament will certainly hold more surprises than what happened in Qatar during the last tournament.

I highly doubt that if the coach of real madrid had accepted the position of coach of the brazilian national team he would have been successful in the brazilian national team, this is because being a coach of a team like real madrid or any other big team requires a lot of money available to sign players, the person can sign players from many different countries, so they have many options to improve the squad. see a good example of what I'm talking about, at real madrid they have Vincius and Rodrygo in the attack, both are Brazilians, but even so the real madrid coach went to sign mbappe because he feels that real madrid's attack is not complete since the departure of benzene

So when you look at Brazil's attack with Rodrygo and Vinicius, you see that it wouldn't be complete either, so the Real Madrid coach would have to deal with other options like the Palmeiras player, the Arsenal player, the Barcelona player who are Brazilian attackers, but they would also be a headache for the Brazilian coach, so he would not be successful and would destroy his reputation. Being a coach of a national team is a very difficult and complicated task, mainly because you have to deal with the country's federation, which has made agreements with the players' agents to be called up, and it is a difficult deal for a coach to break, which makes the coach be limited to always calling the same players in the national team

I agree with you that coaching a local team, even the size of Real Madrid, is much easier than managing a national team like Brazil, despite the many options available. Our current analyzes are consistent with today's reality, where options are limited to know who is best suited to coach a powerful Brazilian team. The Real Madrid coach can be considered one of the best profiles that can be trusted, given all the achievements he has succeeded in achieving throughout his career, and his skill in managing teams that include senior players.

All current estimates indicate the advantage of both Brazil and Argentina to win the World Cup in its American version. Since Concello has extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2026, this reduces Brazil's chances of managing the national team under a wise leadership capable of achieving results.

[Oneandpure]

I'm curious how good other Asian countries' football training facilities are, I'm pretty sure those who regularly play at the Asian Cup should be decent. It is hard to imagine that they don't have decent training facilities or coaches considering Japan or South Korea failed to win it every time they participated in it. On the other hand, if we're talking about developing or poor countries then that's understandable, considering winning football matches or qualifying for the world cup is probably not one of their priority. They should send their young players abroad if that is the case. I'm pretty sure this idea is not new and has been discussed many times in the media, the question is always whether there are academy/clubs that are interested in their talent or not. CMIIW.

The winner of AFC Asian Cup difficult reach higher level phase on FIFA World Cup and every season of world cup the highest achievement reaching until knock out round or quarter final round only. After South Korea achievement qualified to semifinal phase on World Cup 2002 when becoming host there are several edition later never sees success of Asian teams participants in World Cup edition. Japan and South Korea have good facilities with training center and right now the most reach country Saudi Arabia and Qatar get most expensive facilities but always difficult when facing the teams from European, African and American.

I think most of Asian players can't adapt well for playing with top European club, need huge amount of Asian players get more minutes with top European teams if want make Asian national teams get higher round when participating in world cup.

[mv1986]

~

I agree with you that coaching a local team, even the size of Real Madrid, is much easier than managing a national team like Brazil, despite the many options available. Our current analyzes are consistent with today's reality, where options are limited to know who is best suited to coach a powerful Brazilian team. The Real Madrid coach can be considered one of the best profiles that can be trusted, given all the achievements he has succeeded in achieving throughout his career, and his skill in managing teams that include senior players.

All current estimates indicate the advantage of both Brazil and Argentina to win the World Cup in its American version. Since Concello has extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2026, this reduces Brazil's chances of managing the national team under a wise leadership capable of achieving results.

How do you draw the conclusion that it is much easier to coach a team like Real Madrid than a national team? Easier in what terms? I couldn't disagree more as I am sure the mental pressure for a coach is much higher in club football than it is with a national team. If you take Ancelotti as an example, he would be no more or less nervous when he now was the coach of the Brazilian team than being the coach of Real Madrid. And I don't understand how one of the two tasks would be easier than the other. The task is known beforehand, the players available are known beforehand. Expectations couldn't be higher when you are the coach of Real Madrid because the only thing that counts is titles and wins. Losing in the Copa del Rey? Better win both other competitions or get fired.

In Brazil people start realizing that the golden times are over for the moment when they had two world class players for every single position. It's not the same at the moment. They have a bit of an imbalance as their offense is still amazing, but throughout the team there is some inconsistency in quality.

[Rampagoe004]

I think most of Asian players can't adapt well for playing with top European club, need huge amount of Asian players get more minutes with top European teams if want make Asian national teams get higher round when participating in world cup.

The best team from Asia based on the 2023 FIFA rankings is Japan in 18th place in the world, followed by Iran and South Korea. The best team from Africa, Morocco is ranked 13th in the world according to the FIFA rankings. I agree with you but I think football in Asia will become more developed in the coming years. For now it is difficult to imagine they can go further in the world cup. I think there will be many Asian teams who will successfully qualify from the group phase at the 2026 World Cup.

[Franctoshi]

I think most of Asian players can't adapt well for playing with top European club, need huge amount of Asian players get more minutes with top European teams if want make Asian national teams get higher round when participating in world cup.

I don't think this is true as we've seen most of the players from the Asian football league adapted perfectly in the European competition,  I kindnof think that problem with them is that they don't have most of their players play here in the European competition,  But fo this world cup Japan would do incredibly well base on the previous performances in the past world cup competitions we've had, What they need is  good coach and that all I think.

[Kavelj22]

~

I agree with you that coaching a local team, even the size of Real Madrid, is much easier than managing a national team like Brazil, despite the many options available. Our current analyzes are consistent with today's reality, where options are limited to know who is best suited to coach a powerful Brazilian team. The Real Madrid coach can be considered one of the best profiles that can be trusted, given all the achievements he has succeeded in achieving throughout his career, and his skill in managing teams that include senior players.

All current estimates indicate the advantage of both Brazil and Argentina to win the World Cup in its American version. Since Concello has extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2026, this reduces Brazil's chances of managing the national team under a wise leadership capable of achieving results.

How do you draw the conclusion that it is much easier to coach a team like Real Madrid than a national team? Easier in what terms? I couldn't disagree more as I am sure the mental pressure for a coach is much higher in club football than it is with a national team.

Coaching any local team differ in many aspects from coaching a national team . With a local team, the coach has the opportunity to work with players he knows well, has good communication with and understands each player's abilities as well. While when training a national team, the coach needs to deal with players from different clubs (So from different cultures as well), and must work to encourage the national spirit by integrate players to achieve the best possible performance. A national team coach has additional pressure from the fans and the media, while the coaching pressure in local teams is relatively less.

Ultimately, and either for Ancelotti or any other coach, coaching a national team requires strong motivational and leadership skills as well as a deep knowledge of the game and playing strategies. It's not an easy task by all means.

[Iranus]

Cristiano Ronaldo was pretty devastated after his team lost the King Cup of Champions against Al Hilal. I can tell that he really wanted to win this match. Maybe he even deserved to win at least something in this season because he has performed really well in this season. Probably that's why he has actually contacted with Casemiro and Nacho to join Al Nassr. It is really great to see a man who is 39 years old still be so much competitive.

Well, he had two options after the whole world tried to defame him. He could either give up or die trying. And looks like he has chosen the second option. Maybe he is doing this because he still wants to play as the main striker of Portugal in the next World Cup. But that is still a long way away and who knows, Portugal might find a replacement for him who will be able to provide better results!

Portugal have Rafael Leao, Diego Jota, Joao Felix. So there is a very good chance that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be definitely replaceable in the next World Cup.

[Sunderland]

Maybe he is doing this because he still wants to play as the main striker of Portugal in the next World Cup. But that is still a long way away and who knows, Portugal might find a replacement for him who will be able to provide better results!

Portugal have Rafael Leao, Diego Jota, Joao Felix. So there is a very good chance that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be definitely replaceable in the next World Cup.

Ronaldo has confirmed that he wants to retire in 2027 with Al Nassr, its a sign that he still wants to play in the 2026 World Cup, because that is the only trophy he has never won.

Portugal still needs Ronaldo as a role model and a leader for its juniors in this Euro, also with his good stamina Im sure he can still play for 90 minutes.
Or he will play the role as Portugal super sub, even though he is no longer young - Ronaldo speed and instincts cannot be underestimated.

[criptoevangelista]

Maybe he is doing this because he still wants to play as the main striker of Portugal in the next World Cup. But that is still a long way away and who knows, Portugal might find a replacement for him who will be able to provide better results!

Portugal have Rafael Leao, Diego Jota, Joao Felix. So there is a very good chance that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be definitely replaceable in the next World Cup.

Ronaldo has confirmed that he wants to retire in 2027 with Al Nassr, its a sign that he still wants to play in the 2026 World Cup, because that is the only trophy he has never won.

Portugal still needs Ronaldo as a role model and a leader for its juniors in this Euro, also with his good stamina Im sure he can still play for 90 minutes.
Or he will play the role as Portugal super sub, even though he is no longer young - Ronaldo speed and instincts cannot be underestimated.

Some time ago his wife said that he would play for a maximum of two more years.... Today I was reading abrout the greatest scorers in the history of football (official FIFA count) and Cristiano Ronaldo would have to score another 150 goals to reach the 1,000 mark goals in official games... will he try to reach this mark? he's already 39 years old... it's a little difficult, but not impossible.

[ILuckyGuyI]

I believe Ronaldo and Messi both are unpredictable as for how much longer they would play at their national teams. I won't be surprised to see both of them in the next World Cup.

But would they continue longer than that? There is a big question mark there.    The end of an era is going to come sooner or later. I have grown up with watching these 2 legends in their primes. I guess my generation is the luckiest.    Of course there are always legends in different timelines. In the future people will probably call players like Mbappe, Haaland as new legends. They both are on this path for now also.

[SATWAT]

I believe Ronaldo and Messi both are unpredictable as for how much longer they would play at their national teams. I won't be surprised to see both of them in the next World Cup.

But would they continue longer than that? There is a big question mark there.    The end of an era is going to come sooner or later. I have grown up with watching these 2 legends in their primes. I guess my generation is the luckiest.    Of course there are always legends in different timelines. In the future people will probably call players like Mbappe, Haaland as new legends. They both are on this path for now also.

Now we are having almost 2 years left in next world cup which is going to play in Canada, USA and Mexico with starting date is 11 June 2026 and right now we are having Cristiano Ronaldo 39 years old and Lionel Messi 36 years old at the time of world cup Cristiano Ronaldo will be 41 years old, and Lionel Messi could be 38 years old mean both can stay if they have no injury and their body allow them for having playing time, or they can also go with their teams as mentors with player role which is also normal because both can do good for their teams and their presence will give good boost to their teams.
Now we are already having few stars for the future which can do good role and also having good name in soccer world with things are already set for the Kylian Mbappé and Eric Haaland as Haaland is having no entry into World Cup, but Kylian Mbappé already make his mark in this world's mega event.

[Leviathan.007]

I'm curious how good other Asian countries' football training facilities are, I'm pretty sure those who regularly play at the Asian Cup should be decent. It is hard to imagine that they don't have decent training facilities or coaches considering Japan or South Korea failed to win it every time they participated in it. On the other hand, if we're talking about developing or poor countries then that's understandable, considering winning football matches or qualifying for the world cup is probably not one of their priority. They should send their young players abroad if that is the case. I'm pretty sure this idea is not new and has been discussed many times in the media, the question is always whether there are academy/clubs that are interested in their talent or not. CMIIW.

The winner of AFC Asian Cup difficult reach higher level phase on FIFA World Cup and every season of world cup the highest achievement reaching until knock out round or quarter final round only. After South Korea achievement qualified to semifinal phase on World Cup 2002 when becoming host there are several edition later never sees success of Asian teams participants in World Cup edition. Japan and South Korea have good facilities with training center and right now the most reach country Saudi Arabia and Qatar get most expensive facilities but always difficult when facing the teams from European, African and American.

I think most of Asian players can't adapt well for playing with top European club, need huge amount of Asian players get more minutes with top European teams if want make Asian national teams get higher round when participating in world cup.

Winning the AFC Asian Cup is not something big at all. For any team in Asia, that's something they can win even if they are not a team strong enough to play the great tournaments like the World Cup. For example, we recently saw Qatar winning the title of the AFC Asian Cup while the other teams like Japan and South Korea missed the chance.
Still, after winning the AFC Asian Cup title, Qatar is not even strong enough to beat two or three teams in the World Cup and this shows the big difference between these two tournaments.
 

[AmoreJaz]

I believe Ronaldo and Messi both are unpredictable as for how much longer they would play at their national teams. I won't be surprised to see both of them in the next World Cup.

But would they continue longer than that? There is a big question mark there.    The end of an era is going to come sooner or later. I have grown up with watching these 2 legends in their primes. I guess my generation is the luckiest.    Of course there are always legends in different timelines. In the future people will probably call players like Mbappe, Haaland as new legends. They both are on this path for now also.

Now we are having almost 2 years left in next world cup which is going to play in Canada, USA and Mexico with starting date is 11 June 2026 and right now we are having Cristiano Ronaldo 39 years old and Lionel Messi 36 years old at the time of world cup Cristiano Ronaldo will be 41 years old, and Lionel Messi could be 38 years old mean both can stay if they have no injury and their body allow them for having playing time, or they can also go with their teams as mentors with player role which is also normal because both can do good for their teams and their presence will give good boost to their teams.
Now we are already having few stars for the future which can do good role and also having good name in soccer world with things are already set for the Kylian Mbappé and Eric Haaland as Haaland is having no entry into World Cup, but Kylian Mbappé already make his mark in this world's mega event.

I believe there will always be young blood that will come up in this sports. Mbappe is just one rising star. There will be more of them. Ronaldo and Messi will soon be the legends of this sports. But for sure, there will be new upcoming legends, not only in this sports but in other sports as well.

As to why Asian teams are having hard time to fight EU teams is maybe it is how they are being trained inside the field. Maybe the EU training is more rigorous than Asian training. For sure, there is a difference in their training technique. The strategies as well may be different.  

So radiotimes listed their best young players in the world - let us see if one of these names will be a reality in the future or can they follow the footsteps of Ronaldo or Messi ?
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sport/football/best-young-players-world/
10. Evan Ferguson (Brighton)
9. Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG)
8. Joško Gvardiol (Manchester City)
7. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
6. Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
5. Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
4. Gavi (Barcelona)
3. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
2. Pedri (Barcelona)
1. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

[mv1986]

Coaching any local team differ in many aspects from coaching a national team . With a local team, the coach has the opportunity to work with players he knows well, has good communication with and understands each player's abilities as well. While when training a national team, the coach needs to deal with players from different clubs (So from different cultures as well), and must work to encourage the national spirit by integrate players to achieve the best possible performance. A national team coach has additional pressure from the fans and the media, while the coaching pressure in local teams is relatively less.

Ultimately, and either for Ancelotti or any other coach, coaching a national team requires strong motivational and leadership skills as well as a deep knowledge of the game and playing strategies. It's not an easy task by all means.

It is not purely like that. Training a national team may on the one hand be a burden, but frankly, they earn a load of money and know that the pressure only comes sporadically during the month, or even the year. It is not that dramatic

[fuguebtc]

Maybe he is doing this because he still wants to play as the main striker of Portugal in the next World Cup. But that is still a long way away and who knows, Portugal might find a replacement for him who will be able to provide better results!

Portugal have Rafael Leao, Diego Jota, Joao Felix. So there is a very good chance that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be definitely replaceable in the next World Cup.

Ronaldo has confirmed that he wants to retire in 2027 with Al Nassr, its a sign that he still wants to play in the 2026 World Cup, because that is the only trophy he has never won.

Portugal still needs Ronaldo as a role model and a leader for its juniors in this Euro, also with his good stamina Im sure he can still play for 90 minutes.
Or he will play the role as Portugal super sub, even though he is no longer young - Ronaldo speed and instincts cannot be underestimated.

Some time ago his wife said that he would play for a maximum of two more years.... Today I was reading abrout the greatest scorers in the history of football (official FIFA count) and Cristiano Ronaldo would have to score another 150 goals to reach the 1,000 mark goals in official games... will he try to reach this mark? he's already 39 years old... it's a little difficult, but not impossible.

We all know that Cristiano Ronaldo has set unbelievable targets for himself and he has also said that he is going to play in the next 2026 World Cup. But that is heavily going to depend on how he performs in the 2024 euro. If he is able to perform well in this competition with Portugal, there is a chance that he will get himself ready to play in the 2026 World Cup.

By the way, he has actually played pretty well while Portugal qualified for the Euro 2024. So there is always a chance that he is actually going to play in the World Cup 2026. But the thing we have to remember is that he will be 41 years old at that time . So he will definitely not be able to perform as he is doing even now. 41 year old Cristiano Ronaldo can never be compared with the prime Cristiano Ronaldo. But Cristiano Ronaldo definitely still dreams about winning the World Cup with Portugal.

[Hirose UK]

~snip~

There is much more and better potential in the Asian countries to develop their teams and get better results in the great tournaments like the World Cup. But the truth about these teams is they don't have the good coaches and good facilities they need to have. Maybe that's because of the lack of investments in these countries but they are still far from the European teams and that's there are fewer slots for the Asian teams in the World Cup compared to the European teams.
I think the best they can do is to think more about the future of their teams and try to have better coaches from Europe to develop their teams. Just like what they do in teams like South Korea and Japan.

Yes, that true, but if the development of national teams in Asian countries is slow, it actually not because of things like lack of financial support because some of them also have very strong financial support, it could even be said to be able to match European countries.
Only thing is that Asian football games are still very far behind European countries, look at how these Asian countries play which clearly doesn't seem that dominantly competitive when they meet European countries.
But as time progresses, it is possible that Asian countries will be able to play well in every important World Cup competition, everything will depend on each country in every effort to develop the quality of their game.

Yesterday, Indonesia vs Iraq, it was clear that the game could be dominated by Indonesia, but unfortunately, Iraq had more advanced game where they were able to take advantage of every counter-attack very well, in fact Iraq was really able to overwhelm the Indonesian players in every position.
This defeat was heavy blow for Indonesia and there was only one more chance, if that also ended in defeat then it was clear that Indonesia would not be able to qualify for the next round.

[Oneandpure]

I believe there will always be young blood that will come up in this sports. Mbappe is one rising star. There will be more of them. Ronaldo and Messi will soon be the legends of this sports. But for sure, there will be new upcoming legends, not only in this sports but in other sports as well.

As to why Asian teams are having hard time to fight EU teams is maybe it is how they are being trained inside the field. Maybe the EU training is more rigorous than Asian training. For sure, there is a difference in their training technique. The strategies as well may be different. 

Some Asian national teams have build up good training center but the development of young players is still far behind both Europe and America. Most of youth European and America players success make senior debut on young age around 16 to 17 years old and become regular player for their teams. I think difficult to find any top Asian players success make debut on senior teams with European clubs and most of them playing for European teams above 24 years old.

For the next world cup edition although many youth star players but Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo keep become the most interested for watching, I believe both of them still has opportunity for next World Cup but looking their performance with each their team keep consistent or make them will announce retire from national team after Euro 2024 and Copa America.

[Sithara007]

Sunil Chhetri, the Indian captain played his last match this week during the Asian qualifiers. His team failed to give him a proper sendoff, as they drew 0-0 against Kuwait. With one more round of matches remaining, both India and Afghanistan are struggling with 5 points each in Group A of AFC second round. India's next match is against Qatar, so it will be difficult for them to qualify to the next round. In Group C, China has almost assured of qualification to the next round. The same can be said about Palestine, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

[Hewlet]

We all know that Cristiano Ronaldo has set unbelievable targets for himself and he has also said that he is going to play in the next 2026 World Cup. But that is heavily going to depend on how he performs in the 2024 euro. If he is able to perform well in this competition with Portugal, there is a chance that he will get himself ready to play in the 2026 World Cup.

By the way, he has actually played pretty well while Portugal qualified for the Euro 2024. So there is always a chance that he is actually going to play in the World Cup 2026. But the thing we have to remember is that he will be 41 years old at that time . So he will definitely not be able to perform as he is doing even now. 41 year old Cristiano Ronaldo can never be compared with the prime Cristiano Ronaldo. But Cristiano Ronaldo definitely still dreams about winning the World Cup with Portugal.

if Portugal have any plans of going far in the euros or world cup, they should factor out Christian Ronaldo out of there plans or he's going to be a serious distraction to the entire team. In my opinion, if christiano Ronaldo has retired from active international football earlier enough like kroos did, he would have been a strong support to his national team and help the young players prepare for the tournament rather than even having a thought of playing in the world cup.

He hasn't been doing that well at Al Nasir and almost appears as a minus one to his team and that's not what you need if you have any intention of going far in the world cup. Even if he's going to be given a playing time in the world cup, it shouldn't be more than bringing him in from the second half or playing him some few minutes in the first half to just spice up the team a bit and that should just be it. If they ever bring him into the world cup as there key player who's going to pose a serious threat, they will be shooting there selves on the foot in the process. At 41 he should have gone out of the limelight of major football leagues and not to even talk of playing in the world cup.