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

[Jody.Drummer]

To straighten things out a bit, it's for 2034.
I'm starting to guess their direction, one of which is the breakthrough they've made lately which is bringing in a lot of star players to play in their league, I think it has something to do with this.
With them officially being appointed as the host of the 2034 World Cup, it makes me even more convinced that what they've been doing so far is their first step to being able to get host status.
I can only hope they can be good hosts and that they can successfully host the World Cup.

Given their resources, they can easily organise a good championship, of that I have no doubt, because it goes beyond the internal football organisation, when they were buying players to draw attention to their league. Now it's on a national level, because the World Cup brings tourism and investment. If they prepare well, tourism will blossom even more.

The World Cup is about everything, all sectors will be touched when a country hosts the World Cup, whether they lose or in financial terms, that is another matter.
Because they will also receive many benefits, such as tourism and investment as you said. We all know that almost all countries are competing to be able to host the World Cup, because they also see a good opportunity, especially when they successfully hold it.
Regardless of the pros and cons that are always present in the appointment of a host, such as bribery and others, the World Cup does have a good appeal, especially now that football has become commercial.

[lixer]

What we saw in 2022 is a clear indication. The gap between well established teams and relatively new teams is getting narrower. Morocco, Senegal, Australia and Cameroon are now capable of defeating superpowers such as Brazil and Portugal. And this actually justifies the expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 32 teams in 1998, and further to 48 teams in 2026. Football continues to expand and remains the most popular sport in the globe, and that too by a huge margin. And the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams reflect this reality.

Exactly and mostly teams like Morocco were doing great job in the World Cup and I strongly believed they are going to do wonderful team work in the 2026 World Cup. And there are some team we know will not do well in the group stages. If I am not mistaken Portugal was defeated by Morocco though I can't really recall every game again. But the World Cup was awesome and this coming one will be super awesome. In the World Cup, the strong teams thought they would beat the others like other Yes but things turn around. This World Cup we are going to see another dimension of games. Because more skillful players have been added to various teams.

Due to recent development now we have few exciting teams which can make their mark in FIFA World Cup which is surely interesting because now we have many big names like Brazil, Germany and Italy are going down so new arrivals will give something special to fans even as we have performance of the Morocco and few other countries from African region we can expect first time we will have new World Champion from other than Europe or South America which could be another huge landmark for them.

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

[Pandu Geddon]

Due to recent development now we have few exciting teams which can make their mark in FIFA World Cup which is surely interesting because now we have many big names like Brazil, Germany and Italy are going down so new arrivals will give something special to fans even as we have performance of the Morocco and few other countries from African region we can expect first time we will have new World Champion from other than Europe or South America which could be another huge landmark for them.

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

Japan is amazing, they have good players and coaches. In the previous World Cup, Japan even won the group if I'm not mistaken. Even when they were in a difficult group with Spain and Germany. Morocco also won the group if I'm not mistaken and managed to qualify even to the semi-finals before being defeated by France. Morocco might have the ability to repeat the good results in the previous World Cup. Even if the competition with European countries decreases, they can get better results in the next World Cup.

[KTChampions]

Nice, in 2018 we had 9 groups, in 2022 there were 10 and now we're reaching L with 12 groups!
I'm starting to think what we are going to run out of first, letters in the alphabet or teams!

This whole thing is ridiculous, we haven't had the same kind of qualifications for two consecutive years in two decades, every single time there must be a change, even the groups, the payoffs, now this whole Nation League, why don't they understand it makes things nauseating rather than entertaining?
Were they afraid nobody is going to watch San Marino vs Liechtenstein, now you have Feroe, Gibraltar, and Macedonia in groups L, they for sure will break records in viewership /s

Not to mention the genius who allowed Serbia to play against Albania!

The final part of the tournament is also inflated in an indecent way. If earlier all the big competitions (World Cup, European Championship) were big starting from the group stage of the final tournament, now even 1/8 is not always interesting. If we talk about qualifying tournaments, then this is a complete clown show and unclear murky "paths", tournaments for losers of losers, etc.

[bering]

Due to recent development now we have few exciting teams which can make their mark in FIFA World Cup which is surely interesting because now we have many big names like Brazil, Germany and Italy are going down so new arrivals will give something special to fans even as we have performance of the Morocco and few other countries from African region we can expect first time we will have new World Champion from other than Europe or South America which could be another huge landmark for them.

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

Japan is amazing, they have good players and coaches. In the previous World Cup, Japan even won the group if I'm not mistaken. Even when they were in a difficult group with Spain and Germany. Morocco also won the group if I'm not mistaken and managed to qualify even to the semi-finals before being defeated by France. Morocco might have the ability to repeat the good results in the previous World Cup. Even if the competition with European countries decreases, they can get better results in the next World Cup.

Japan has different level compared to other Asian teams who participate on world cup 2022 because at that time on group stages Japan can win from Germany and Spain so i think this proven Japan has equal level with European teams and for Morocco i think they are the most impressive team in world cup 2022 because they were not counted as strong team but surprisingly Morocco can reach to the semifinal match and i still remember on quarterfinal Morocco can bury Ronaldo's dream to gets world cup trophy because at that time they can beat Portugal and for Qualification stages Morocco has joined on Group E and so far they have collect 9 points from 3 matches and i think this Group is relatively easy for them and i am sure Morocco will finish at Group champion

[stompix]

Nice, in 2018 we had 9 groups, in 2022 there were 10 and now we're reaching L with 12 groups!
I'm starting to think what we are going to run out of first, letters in the alphabet or teams!

This whole thing is ridiculous, we haven't had the same kind of qualifications for two consecutive years in two decades, every single time there must be a change, even the groups, the payoffs, now this whole Nation League, why don't they understand it makes things nauseating rather than entertaining?
Were they afraid nobody is going to watch San Marino vs Liechtenstein, now you have Feroe, Gibraltar, and Macedonia in groups L, they for sure will break records in viewership /s

Not to mention the genius who allowed Serbia to play against Albania!

The final part of the tournament is also inflated in an indecent way. If earlier all the big competitions (World Cup, European Championship) were big starting from the group stage of the final tournament, now even 1/8 is not always interesting. If we talk about qualifying tournaments, then this is a complete clown show and unclear murky "paths", tournaments for losers of losers, etc.

It has all become about money and politics!
All the bs about diversion and stuff, and god forbid looking at the true numbers and actual football played, you have teams that are there just because of random quotas based on continents, like seriously who cares about that, just admit that some countries are not into football and stop trying to include them in anything!

We came up with a new idea about Europa League then stick to it, make it two groups that play like a normal championship and have the first ones automatically qualify and that's it, the lower-level teams can play between those damn one hundred matches, and be happy about, but don't end with things like group H and L for Europe, seriously who is going to watch those games?

[KTChampions]

The final part of the tournament is also inflated in an indecent way. If earlier all the big competitions (World Cup, European Championship) were big starting from the group stage of the final tournament, now even 1/8 is not always interesting. If we talk about qualifying tournaments, then this is a complete clown show and unclear murky "paths", tournaments for losers of losers, etc.

It has all become about money and politics!
All the bs about diversion and stuff, and god forbid looking at the true numbers and actual football played, you have teams that are there just because of random quotas based on continents, like seriously who cares about that, just admit that some countries are not into football and stop trying to include them in anything!

We came up with a new idea about Europa League then stick to it, make it two groups that play like a normal championship and have the first ones automatically qualify and that's it, the lower-level teams can play between those damn one hundred matches, and be happy about, but don't end with things like group H and L for Europe, seriously who is going to watch those games?

Quotas are cancer for sports. By the way, the only advantage of the inflated final part is that more teams from Europe get to the World Cup. Previously, when there were fewer participants in the World Cup and the European Championship, the average level of the Euro was several times higher than that of the World Cup, since only strong teams participated in the Euro.
Now both tournaments are almost equal in average strength, but the question of who watches all these incomprehensible garbage games is really unclear.

[dezoel]

The final part of the tournament is also inflated in an indecent way. If earlier all the big competitions (World Cup, European Championship) were big starting from the group stage of the final tournament, now even 1/8 is not always interesting. If we talk about qualifying tournaments, then this is a complete clown show and unclear murky "paths", tournaments for losers of losers, etc.

It has all become about money and politics!
All the bs about diversion and stuff, and god forbid looking at the true numbers and actual football played, you have teams that are there just because of random quotas based on continents, like seriously who cares about that, just admit that some countries are not into football and stop trying to include them in anything!

We came up with a new idea about Europa League then stick to it, make it two groups that play like a normal championship and have the first ones automatically qualify and that's it, the lower-level teams can play between those damn one hundred matches, and be happy about, but don't end with things like group H and L for Europe, seriously who is going to watch those games?

FIFA is one of the strongest sports organization with too much politics involved in this while now with this new format their money package is also going another level on this planet because no one going against countries like Qatar and Saudi Arab are holding events and eve we have too many concerns about their human rights record, but money shut down all, and they won their bids without any big problem.

In Europe is also things going as we have in FIFA with they are working on their strategy which give them good finances, and they will be able to bring strong structure which is helping them for having most teams in World Cup while we have few continents have better viewership and population, but they are not having structure and system like UEFA which can help them in near future we can expect African region could be vital as they are working on their system.

[Leviathan.007]

Due to recent development now we have few exciting teams which can make their mark in FIFA World Cup which is surely interesting because now we have many big names like Brazil, Germany and Italy are going down so new arrivals will give something special to fans even as we have performance of the Morocco and few other countries from African region we can expect first time we will have new World Champion from other than Europe or South America which could be another huge landmark for them.

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

Japan is amazing, they have good players and coaches. In the previous World Cup, Japan even won the group if I'm not mistaken. Even when they were in a difficult group with Spain and Germany. Morocco also won the group if I'm not mistaken and managed to qualify even to the semi-finals before being defeated by France. Morocco might have the ability to repeat the good results in the previous World Cup. Even if the competition with European countries decreases, they can get better results in the next World Cup.

Japan has different level compared to other Asian teams who participate on world cup 2022 because at that time on group stages Japan can win from Germany and Spain so i think this proven Japan has equal level with European teams and for Morocco i think they are the most impressive team in world cup 2022 because they were not counted as strong team but surprisingly Morocco can reach to the semifinal match and i still remember on quarterfinal Morocco can bury Ronaldo's dream to gets world cup trophy because at that time they can beat Portugal and for Qualification stages Morocco has joined on Group E and so far they have collect 9 points from 3 matches and i think this Group is relatively easy for them and i am sure Morocco will finish at Group champion

That's true and I already said that about Japan and their good performance. compared to the other teams in Asia. Japan invests money more than other countries fortyher talents to grow younger players and try to use these players to have a better team in the future. That's why we see many players from Japan playing in the top European teams while they can use these players to have even better performance inthe 2026 World Cup. Generally, I have more hope for Japan to shine in the World Cup than other teams in Asia.

[Hirose UK]

~snip~

Japan has different level compared to other Asian teams who participate on world cup 2022 because at that time on group stages Japan can win from Germany and Spain so i think this proven Japan has equal level with European teams and for Morocco i think they are the most impressive team in world cup 2022 because they were not counted as strong team but surprisingly Morocco can reach to the semifinal match and i still remember on quarterfinal Morocco can bury Ronaldo's dream to gets world cup trophy because at that time they can beat Portugal and for Qualification stages Morocco has joined on Group E and so far they have collect 9 points from 3 matches and i think this Group is relatively easy for them and i am sure Morocco will finish at Group champion

They are the lions of Asia, haha ​​no one can match Japan in Asia and they were able to play well when they were in the group stage, there is big chance for Japan to have it again in the future even though now some strong European team have been filled by young players who are really much more impressive in terms of playing quality.
For the 2026 World Cup I sure the competition will be different from 2022, at that time Morocco was able to play and compete very well but for the 2026 World Cup it is not certain that they will be able to repeat the same thing, I always favor the team from Europe Spain and England to be the strongest and have the opportunity to reach the final.

[Zlantann]

That's true and I already said that about Japan and their good performance. compared to the other teams in Asia. Japan invests money more than other countries fortyher talents to grow younger players and try to use these players to have a better team in the future. That's why we see many players from Japan playing in the top European teams while they can use these players to have even better performance inthe 2026 World Cup. Generally, I have more hope for Japan to shine in the World Cup than other teams in Asia.

Hopefully, the Saudi Arabian national team will one day become an Asian football powerhouse in the future considering the amount the government is investing in the local league. The government believes that putting money into football will help grow young players who will make an impact in the global football environment.  It is still early to conclude that the Saudi government has not achieved its aim of building a strong football system, so let us give them some time. However, I think money alone doesn't lead to good performance by national teams. There are so many underfunded countries in Africa and America that still make an impact in international competition because they have so much football talent. Japan is blessed with more talented footballers than most Asian countries this might be the reason for its dominance of Asian football.     

[Sithara007]

Hopefully, the Saudi Arabian national team will one day become an Asian football powerhouse in the future considering the amount the government is investing in the local league. The government believes that putting money into football will help grow young players who will make an impact in the global football environment.  It is still early to conclude that the Saudi government has not achieved its aim of building a strong football system, so let us give them some time. However, I think money alone doesn't lead to good performance by national teams. There are so many underfunded countries in Africa and America that still make an impact in international competition because they have so much football talent. Japan is blessed with more talented footballers than most Asian countries this might be the reason for its dominance of Asian football.     

The current administration under Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is focusing a lot on modernizing the Saudi society and one of his goals is to make Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub. As far as football is concerned, Saudi Pro League is now regarded as one of the strongest club competitions in the world. But that is not getting translated into the performance of the national team. It will happen eventually. By the time Saudi Arabia host the tournament in 2034, they will be one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

[stompix]

In Europe is also things going as we have in FIFA with they are working on their strategy which give them good finances, and they will be able to bring strong structure which is helping them for having most teams in World Cup while we have few continents have better viewership and population, but they are not having structure and system like UEFA which can help them in near future we can expect African region could be vital as they are working on their system.

Europe has UEFA, not FIFA, and UEFA is totally independent of FIFA, I don't know what you're trying to say but if it comes to FIFA Europe has always been screwed by them, FIFA always tries to push their agenda giving countries with basically no interest in football more power just because of bs politics.

Now both tournaments are almost equal in average strength, but the question of who watches all these incomprehensible garbage games is really unclear.

Nobody, the numbers are there, Germany Liechtenstein had the lowest viewership of every German match and lower than any Bundesliga match played before and after the match, a complete waste of time, EL Group 1 matches had an average of 700 spectators...
But they don't care., they have an agenda to push!

[CLS63]

After the groups for the qualifiers have been determined I can say our job is going to be really difficult. Because we can defeat Georgia and Bulgaria but the last team is going to be one of Spain and Netherlands. Both of these potential opponents are strong teams. Spain are the Euro 2024 champions. Netherlands also defeated us in the quarter finals of the same tournament.

But if you ask me to choose one I would go for Netherlands. Spain are way stronger than them.

[shogun47]

The current administration under Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is focusing a lot on modernizing the Saudi society and one of his goals is to make Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub. As far as football is concerned, Saudi Pro League is now regarded as one of the strongest club competitions in the world. But that is not getting translated into the performance of the national team. It will happen eventually. By the time Saudi Arabia host the tournament in 2034, they will be one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

Modernizing Saudi society and making Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub are two different things and I hope you know that. The goal is to get people to think that both things are one and the same. Because they sign Ronaldo and other players that have been former European players makes people think that they are aiming at becoming more modern, but the truth is that most things remain the same while these players can enjoy a lot of privileges. Or do you think the average woman in Saudi Arabia would be allowed to live the same life as Ronaldo's wife? Lol of course not, I don't even want to know what they would do with most of them. The deal is that Ronaldo improves their image and in exchange for that they make him richer and richer.

[Sithara007]

Modernizing Saudi society and making Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub are two different things and I hope you know that. The goal is to get people to think that both things are one and the same. Because they sign Ronaldo and other players that have been former European players makes people think that they are aiming at becoming more modern, but the truth is that most things remain the same while these players can enjoy a lot of privileges. Or do you think the average woman in Saudi Arabia would be allowed to live the same life as Ronaldo's wife? Lol of course not, I don't even want to know what they would do with most of them. The deal is that Ronaldo improves their image and in exchange for that they make him richer and richer.

May not be the same, but there is a lot of overlap between these two. Women's rights have improved by quite a lot in Saudi Arabia. It is a gradual process, but noticeable changes have been made. Obviously an ordinary woman in Saudi Arabia is still required to wear the Abaya while going out, but in recent times there have been revolutionary changes such as women being allowed into sports stadiums and lifting the prohibition on women drivers. Anyway, we are talking about the FIFA World Cup of 2034, and I am sure that by the time this tournament gets kicked off, Saudi Arabia will be an entirely different country compared to what it is right now.

[samuraijin]

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

These two countries are countries that must be watched, and both are successful in their respective continents. Japan always gets positive results and they are also undefeated in the third round of the World Cup. I also agree about several big countries that are in a decline phase, so it's time for non-seeded countries to be able to develop and compete with other big teams.

[indah rezqi]

Recently I am following few teams which are doing good job and have good chance of going through into this event as outsider Morocco and Japan are teams to watch for surprises with few top teams are now heading for end of their glory days.

These two countries are countries that must be watched, and both are successful in their respective continents. Japan always gets positive results and they are also undefeated in the third round of the World Cup. I also agree about several big countries that are in a decline phase, so it's time for non-seeded countries to be able to develop and compete with other big teams.

Indeed, I think Morocco and Japan will be able to talk a lot in the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Both countries currently have a golden generation, and the majority of them play in top European clubs, so they are must definitely teams to watch. We certainly still remember Morocco journey in the 2022 World Cup, where they were able to reach the semi-finals before finally losing to France. This could happen again, especially if the performance of countries that usually appear dominant continues to decline, such as Italy, Belgium and Brazil. Personally, I hope to see Asian and African countries become more dominant forces in the World Cup in the future.

[Leviathan.007]

The current administration under Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is focusing a lot on modernizing the Saudi society and one of his goals is to make Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub. As far as football is concerned, Saudi Pro League is now regarded as one of the strongest club competitions in the world. But that is not getting translated into the performance of the national team. It will happen eventually. By the time Saudi Arabia host the tournament in 2034, they will be one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

Modernizing Saudi society and making Saudi Arabia a global sporting hub are two different things and I hope you know that. The goal is to get people to think that both things are one and the same. Because they sign Ronaldo and other players that have been former European players makes people think that they are aiming at becoming more modern, but the truth is that most things remain the same while these players can enjoy a lot of privileges. Or do you think the average woman in Saudi Arabia would be allowed to live the same life as Ronaldo's wife? Lol of course not, I don't even want to know what they would do with most of them. The deal is that Ronaldo improves their image and in exchange for that they make him richer and richer.

Saudi Arabia changed a lot in the last 2-3 years. They have a new ruler in this country who cared about women more than others. and now Saudi Arabia wants to have good performance and have a better football team they bought many good players and coaches from top teams and Ronaldo was one good example also they built many expensive stadiums however Saudi Arabia is Saudi Arabia and they are a traditional country and Muslims which can make problems for them if they really host the 203 World Cup. But for the next World Cup and as a participator in this tournament, I don't think if can hope to see good performance from this team at all.

[hyudien]

But for the next World Cup and as a participator in this tournament, I don't think if can hope to see good performance from this team at all.

Saudi Arabia are in a downturn, they are not showing the football identity they usually show. Maybe the change of coach in a short time is the problem, or some of the players in the squad are not getting much playing time at club level as complained by their former coach, Mancini. Their latest defeat against Indonesia when they were in the World Cup qualifiers was something we could see directly. Many people who support them also complain about the unproductive attack line, scoring 3 goals in 6 games is clearly not good.