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

[ILuckyGuyI]

I mean doesn't it make sense for Argentina to lead the world? They won 2 Copa Americas back to back, and in between they won the world cup. France won one world cup six years ago, and failed to win euro 2020 and 2024 as well, so what did they win to make them be the first? I think it's quite clear that we are going to see Argentina be much better ranked than France, hell even England had more "success" recently, two finals at euro, more than what France did, just not that good at world cup, which makes them stay lower I suppose.

Interestingly it's been feeling like Argentina aren't that successful. But in reality the situation is the opposite.    Especially that World Cup title has made a huge impact on Argentina to climb places in FIFA Men's Ranking to top. Messi has really achieved all the things he can at the same time, even more than one of each - except the World Cup.

In my opinion, France needs to get rid of Deschamps. His game is so boring to watch, just as Southgate's was. Now Southgate has left England and I would like to see the same action from Deschamps if possible. 

[Alpha Marine]

I mean doesn't it make sense for Argentina to lead the world? They won 2 Copa Americas back to back, and in between they won the world cup. France won one world cup six years ago, and failed to win euro 2020 and 2024 as well, so what did they win to make them be the first? I think it's quite clear that we are going to see Argentina be much better ranked than France, hell even England had more "success" recently, two finals at euro, more than what France did, just not that good at world cup, which makes them stay lower I suppose.

Except I'm missing something, Argentina are top of the rankings, aren't they? They won the Copa, then the world cup and won the Copa again. That has earned them the top spot in the ranking. France are second and I believe they deserve that. I agree that France have been bad in the Euros but don't forget that they got to the final of the world cup, that's got to count for something. And they also have been winning their games too. The world cup and Euro are not the only things they use to determine the rankings.

In fact, Belgium being that high is the one that makes the least sense, they haven't been good for a long time, what are they using to calculate this? They should realize that Belgium hasn't had any success for many years, and even with KDB and all, they are still not a good team, haven't done anything good for a long time. I believe that this rank is a little weird,

What has Brazil got achieved in recent years? The countries behind Belgium, how successful have they been I recent years? Only Italy where successful enough to win the Euros recently but they are a very inconsistent side and they're barely in the top 10. It's not just about trophies won, but the amount of games they have won. Points are added and subtracted using a model and I believe it's accurate.

[Jaycoinz]

I mean doesn't it make sense for Argentina to lead the world? They won 2 Copa Americas back to back, and in between they won the world cup. France won one world cup six years ago, and failed to win euro 2020 and 2024 as well, so what did they win to make them be the first? I think it's quite clear that we are going to see Argentina be much better ranked than France, hell even England had more "success" recently, two finals at euro, more than what France did, just not that good at world cup, which makes them stay lower I suppose.

Interestingly it's been feeling like Argentina aren't that successful. But in reality the situation is the opposite.    Especially that World Cup title has made a huge impact on Argentina to climb places in FIFA Men's Ranking to top. Messi has really achieved all the things he can at the same time, even more than one of each - except the World Cup.

In my opinion, France needs to get rid of Deschamps. His game is so boring to watch, just as Southgate's was. Now Southgate has left England and I would like to see the same action from Deschamps if possible. 

For France, I think there is problem somewhere because this is certainly not the french team that gave Argentina the scare of their life during the FIFA world cup finals and even the finalists that played with Portugal. I feel France problem is that they are actually missing someone very strong that can spread the ball so well like Paul Pogba because I remember the same french were very enjoyable to watch but for this Euro's competition they were completely poor and not interesting at all.

[iBaba]

For France, I think there is problem somewhere because this is certainly not the french team that gave Argentina the scare of their life during the FIFA world cup finals and even the finalists that played with Portugal. I feel France problem is that they are actually missing someone very strong that can spread the ball so well like Paul Pogba because I remember the same french were very enjoyable to watch but for this Euro's competition they were completely poor and not interesting at all.

Tables turn. It's not always juicy every time and that further exemplify the fact that they must continue to struggle hard to maintain their tempo at every season of the tournament else others will take charge. France really needs to work more on their squad and improve on the depth performance. Someone like Paul Pogba used to be instrumental in their game perticipation

[Leviathan.007]

I mean doesn't it make sense for Argentina to lead the world? They won 2 Copa Americas back to back, and in between they won the world cup. France won one world cup six years ago, and failed to win euro 2020 and 2024 as well, so what did they win to make them be the first? I think it's quite clear that we are going to see Argentina be much better ranked than France, hell even England had more "success" recently, two finals at euro, more than what France did, just not that good at world cup, which makes them stay lower I suppose.

Interestingly it's been feeling like Argentina aren't that successful. But in reality the situation is the opposite.    Especially that World Cup title has made a huge impact on Argentina to climb places in FIFA Men's Ranking to top. Messi has really achieved all the things he can at the same time, even more than one of each - except the World Cup.

In my opinion, France needs to get rid of Deschamps. His game is so boring to watch, just as Southgate's was. Now Southgate has left England and I would like to see the same action from Deschamps if possible. 

I think Messi is not tired yet, and if everything goes well like this for this player we can see even Messi playing in the 2026 World Cup for Argentina and this won't be surprising for us because he helped his team a lot in the last World Cup when won the title of this tournament.
I think regardless of age, Messi is a true leader for Argentina and he can even start helping the younger players and this can be another advantage of having Messi in the team for Argentina.
 

[Sithara007]

I think Messi is not tired yet, and if everything goes well like this for this player we can see even Messi playing in the 2026 World Cup for Argentina and this won't be surprising for us because he helped his team a lot in the last World Cup when won the title of this tournament.
I think regardless of age, Messi is a true leader for Argentina and he can even start helping the younger players and this can be another advantage of having Messi in the team for Argentina.

I have posted this previously. Will post again - Messi has a lot to lose, and nothing to gain if he takes part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a player. And recently he suffered a serious ankle injury during the Copa America final (while playing against Colombia). Although Argentina won that match (as a result of a goal from Lautaro Martínez during extra time), Messi was forced out due to injury. I am not sure whether his health and fitness will allow him to play for another two years.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Woah 257 pages on this and the tournament doesn’t start for 2 years. I guess we have qualifying to discuss though. It’s difficult to discuss who might win it because so much can change in two years. You would assume the usual suspects will have no problem qualifying though so we can still talk about who might win it.

Spain are a young team coming off the back of winning the Euros, they will be a force. Argentina are always there, will Messi still be playing though, at his age retirement must he close. Maybe this is his swan song and imagine going out after winning a second World Cup. The GOAT discussions would he over.

[tiCeR]

Woah 257 pages on this and the tournament doesn’t start for 2 years. I guess we have qualifying to discuss though. It’s difficult to discuss who might win it because so much can change in two years. You would assume the usual suspects will have no problem qualifying though so we can still talk about who might win it.

Spain are a young team coming off the back of winning the Euros, they will be a force. Argentina are always there, will Messi still be playing though, at his age retirement must he close. Maybe this is his swan song and imagine going out after winning a second World Cup. The GOAT discussions would he over.

You would think so, but when you look at the South American qualifiers for the World Cup, you will notice how bad Brazil is running there at the moment. So far they have only got 7 points out of 6 games and the next two games they will have their back against the wall. It is against Ecuador and Paraguay and if they don't win at least one of those two games, they will find themselves  probably in the last remaining play-off spot in that group, which means no instant qualification, but play-off games against a team from another zone.

Brazil isn't able to play consistently on a high level at the moment and that was probably the reason why Ancelotti backed down when there was some talk about him taking over the Brazilian team. It still looks as if Brazil would never mess that up, but I remember checking the results and they got into the mess deeper and deeper. After all there are 18 games to go though as it is 10 teams and two legs per matchup.

One of the problems I think could be that Brazil still hasn't realized how dangerous the spot is that they are in. They still have this superior feeling that they can't fail to qualify. They won the first two qualifier games and then lost three games and tied one game.

[Justbillywitt]

I mean doesn't it make sense for Argentina to lead the world? They won 2 Copa Americas back to back, and in between they won the world cup. France won one world cup six years ago, and failed to win euro 2020 and 2024 as well, so what did they win to make them be the first? I think it's quite clear that we are going to see Argentina be much better ranked than France, hell even England had more "success" recently, two finals at euro, more than what France did, just not that good at world cup, which makes them stay lower I suppose.

Interestingly it's been feeling like Argentina aren't that successful. But in reality the situation is the opposite.    Especially that World Cup title has made a huge impact on Argentina to climb places in FIFA Men's Ranking to top. Messi has really achieved all the things he can at the same time, even more than one of each - except the World Cup.

In my opinion, France needs to get rid of Deschamps. His game is so boring to watch, just as Southgate's was. Now Southgate has left England and I would like to see the same action from Deschamps if possible. 

You cannot compare Deschamps and Southgate in terms of achievements. If Southgate has achieved half of what Deschamps has achieved I don't think he would have lost his job. Sometimes the thrist for success makes to forget how far and how much we have accomplished. France were former world champion under Deschamps. He led them to another world cup finals which they eventually lost to Argentina in penalty shootout. Again they got to euros semi finals and lost to Spain who were demolishing every team on their path to glory. I don't see how Deschamps is a problem to the French national team. Let's give the man some credit, you might call his football boring but he is achieving results from it. France is doing well under Deschamps. England Fa wouldn't have sacked Southgate if he had delivered a trophy.

[criptoevangelista]

Woah 257 pages on this and the tournament doesn’t start for 2 years. I guess we have qualifying to discuss though. It’s difficult to discuss who might win it because so much can change in two years. You would assume the usual suspects will have no problem qualifying though so we can still talk about who might win it.

Spain are a young team coming off the back of winning the Euros, they will be a force. Argentina are always there, will Messi still be playing though, at his age retirement must he close. Maybe this is his swan song and imagine going out after winning a second World Cup. The GOAT discussions would he over.

It really is an infinite discussion   , this topic will probably go on for a thousand pages... I think that as it involves the World Cup qualifiers, people also talk about... And also the endless speculation about whether Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will compete what would be the last World Cup of their careers.

[jostorres]

Woah 257 pages on this and the tournament doesn’t start for 2 years. I guess we have qualifying to discuss though. It’s difficult to discuss who might win it because so much can change in two years. You would assume the usual suspects will have no problem qualifying though so we can still talk about who might win it.

Spain are a young team coming off the back of winning the Euros, they will be a force. Argentina are always there, will Messi still be playing though, at his age retirement must he close. Maybe this is his swan song and imagine going out after winning a second World Cup. The GOAT discussions would he over.

There is no doubt things are exciting for the world cup which is going to play first time with new format 48 countries are participating this even is going to hold in three countries and still we are having two years with most chances we will be touch nearly 1000 pages before this world cup because now as we are going close to this event things are heated up.


Hot topic currently is Brazil's decline in performance and Argentina which is doing their best in last few years and won two big events Spain is also now entered into favourite list because their young team is capable of having things well under control after winning Euro 2024 third important topic is Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Here I agreed if we have another title for the Argentina then we will have end of this topic and Messi is going to be GOAT which is surely well deserved.

[Rampagoe004]

It really is an infinite discussion   , this topic will probably go on for a thousand pages... I think that as it involves the World Cup qualifiers, people also talk about... And also the endless speculation about whether Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will compete what would be the last World Cup of their careers.

I think this is a really exciting topic of discussion. World cup qualification means we should be able to discuss qualifications from every continent such as Asia, Africa, Europe and America. This is going to be a long thread and I am also sure it will reach a thousand pages before the 2026 world cup starts. There is a lot to discuss on this topic. For now I think it's about Spain with their young players and Argentina who are still consistent and solid although I think some players will no longer play in the 2026 world cup. Di Maria has said he will retire and I think he has a very important role for Argentina become champion. Spain is my first favorite because Argentina will lose several players in the 2026 world cup.

[criptoevangelista]

It really is an infinite discussion   , this topic will probably go on for a thousand pages... I think that as it involves the World Cup qualifiers, people also talk about... And also the endless speculation about whether Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will compete what would be the last World Cup of their careers.

I think this is a really exciting topic of discussion. World cup qualification means we should be able to discuss qualifications from every continent such as Asia, Africa, Europe and America. This is going to be a long thread and I am also sure it will reach a thousand pages before the 2026 world cup starts. There is a lot to discuss on this topic. For now I think it's about Spain with their young players and Argentina who are still consistent and solid although I think some players will no longer play in the 2026 world cup. Di Maria has said he will retire and I think he has a very important role for Argentina become champion. Spain is my first favorite because Argentina will lose several players in the 2026 world cup.

I also really like this topic, there are always new things to read and discuss.

I still think that Di Maria made a very hasty decision, it may seem like there is a lot of time until the World Cup, but it turns out that time flies by! he would have the opportunity to win another world title...

There is also the dynamics of football, everything can change completely in a year or two, players can be good now and not so good in the future, there are injuries, transfers etc...

[Sithara007]

I also really like this topic, there are always new things to read and discuss.

I still think that Di Maria made a very hasty decision, it may seem like there is a lot of time until the World Cup, but it turns out that time flies by! he would have the opportunity to win another world title...

There is also the dynamics of football, everything can change completely in a year or two, players can be good now and not so good in the future, there are injuries, transfers etc...

Ángel Di María wanted to retire after winning the Copa America tournament. And his wish got fulfilled. He has a FIFA World Cup and Copa America to his name now. If a player has nothing left to achieve, then it is always better to retire and focus more on the family. I heard that he wants to return to his club (Rosario Central), but he had to cancel the plans due to complicated security situation in the province of Santa Fe (where Rosario is located). Anyway, without Di María, Argentina will not be the same.

[KTChampions]

It’s funny that in the top 10 it’s not the German team that looked better than England and France at Euro24.

Not really. Germany hasn't achieved any great success in the past few years.
In both 2018 and 2022 world cups, there were eliminated in the group stage. In EURO 2020, they were elimianated in round of 16 and in 2024, there were eliminated in quarter-finals.

I perfectly understand the scoring mechanism, but you should also understand that anyone is surprised when they see the difference between the inertial rating (which measures achievements over several years) and the current state of affairs.
By the way, in the future such imbalances will be even more pronounced due to the large number of garbage games. For example, in the League of Nations, large teams do not worry about results, while medium and small teams take them seriously. This will further distort the ranking of teams.

[Docnaster]

For France, I think there is problem somewhere because this is certainly not the french team that gave Argentina the scare of their life during the FIFA world cup finals and even the finalists that played with Portugal. I feel France problem is that they are actually missing someone very strong that can spread the ball so well like Paul Pogba because I remember the same french were very enjoyable to watch but for this Euro's competition they were completely poor and not interesting at all.

Looking at the performances and results of France in the last two major tournaments they participated without Paul Pogba, I think I quite agree with you that the team is missing the brilliance of Pogba who's currently serving a doping ban. Many football fans believe that France would've defeated Argentina in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final if they had Pogba with them and would've also had a better performance in the just concluded European Championship if he was in the squad. However, for a national team that's very talented like France, the absence of one player shouldn't be an excuse for not winning these trophies. They have the needed quality of players to conquer the world without Paul Pogba abd that I expect the manager of the team to understand and work towards improving the team.

[Leviathan.007]

I think Messi is not tired yet, and if everything goes well like this for this player we can see even Messi playing in the 2026 World Cup for Argentina and this won't be surprising for us because he helped his team a lot in the last World Cup when won the title of this tournament.
I think regardless of age, Messi is a true leader for Argentina and he can even start helping the younger players and this can be another advantage of having Messi in the team for Argentina.

I have posted this previously. Will post again - Messi has a lot to lose, and nothing to gain if he takes part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a player. And recently he suffered a serious ankle injury during the Copa America final (while playing against Colombia). Although Argentina won that match (as a result of a goal from Lautaro Martínez during extra time), Messi was forced out due to injury. I am not sure whether his health and fitness will allow him to play for another two years.

He is getting old and getting injured is something normal for a player at this age like him but the fact about Messi is he is trying very hard to have better performance and help his team.  He is a player who played in many world cups and I think this can be a good achievement for any player to be in the good form since he gets old like Messi.
Now he can even help his team as a leader and help younger players.
  

[Forsyth Jones]

I think Messi is not tired yet, and if everything goes well like this for this player we can see even Messi playing in the 2026 World Cup for Argentina and this won't be surprising for us because he helped his team a lot in the last World Cup when won the title of this tournament.
I think regardless of age, Messi is a true leader for Argentina and he can even start helping the younger players and this can be another advantage of having Messi in the team for Argentina.

I have posted this previously. Will post again - Messi has a lot to lose, and nothing to gain if he takes part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a player. And recently he suffered a serious ankle injury during the Copa America final (while playing against Colombia). Although Argentina won that match (as a result of a goal from Lautaro Martínez during extra time), Messi was forced out due to injury. I am not sure whether his health and fitness will allow him to play for another two years.

He is getting old and getting injured is something normal for a player at this age like him but the fact about Messi is he is trying very hard to have better performance and help his team.  He is a player who played in many world cups and I think this can be a good achievement for any player to be in the good form since he gets old like Messi.
Now he can even help his team as a leader and help younger players.
  

There is no doubt that with Di Maria's departure from the Argentine national team the absence will be large and there aren't many players at his level in Argentina.

Winning the 2022 World Cup was the pinnacle of the duo Messi and Di Maria. But the 2021 and 2024 Copa América rode this wave. But according to the coach, even without the duo, Argentina has life, they have already proven that they can win without the big stars.

[Sithara007]

There is no doubt that with Di Maria's departure from the Argentine national team the absence will be large and there aren't many players at his level in Argentina.

Winning the 2022 World Cup was the pinnacle of the duo Messi and Di Maria. But the 2021 and 2024 Copa América rode this wave. But according to the coach, even without the duo, Argentina has life, they have already proven that they can win without the big stars.

I disagree with the first part. Although Ángel Di María was an important player for Argentina, it would be wrong to state that his position can't be replaced. Argentina has a lot of younger players coming up through the ranks. They have some of the best emerging players in the world, such as Lautaro Martínez, Alejandro Garnacho, Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández, Valentín Carboni and Valentín Carboni. Other teams like England or France have 1-2 such players, but Argentina has half a dozen at least.

[Lidger]

Yes i agree with the guy above me.

Brazil and brasilian tams seems like they lose their soul, they play like a normal team now, its not more that super dance, and samba. All the former brasilian players say the same about this new generation so they have to be in the correct.

I agree with you about what the old Brazilian players said because I remembered that Ronaldinho said that he is not going to Germany to watch his country match or support them because he knows that they will disappoint him and the nation which was true. The absence of Neymar is a big problem to them because he was the one that was putting all his possible best to see that the team goes far. Currently, Brazil national team are like vegetables.

Brazil may well have understood in the last few matches how important Neymar is to the Brazilian team. I'm not just talking about the Copa America matches, but Brazil's poor performances in the World Cup qualifiers before the Copa America against lesser teams had many questioning whether Brazil could finally qualify for the main stage of the World Cup. 
Neymar was injured at the World Cup in Qatar and after treatment he returned from injury to score a last-minute goal against Croatia, but some managerial errors resulted in Brazil losing to Croatia in the quarter-finals on penalties. 

If Brazil wants to do well in the World Cup 26, Neymar must be included in their team, only then will every player in the team do well along with Neymar, and Brazil's dream may come true.