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

[criptoevangelista]

This was possibly also one of the reasons, but due to the good relationship between the parties and the ethics of negotiation, Neymar and his team will never touch on this subject... after all, it would be controversial and unnecessary wear and tear... the official version is that he wanted to play with his friends and also that he didn't want a possible leading role at Barcelona... anyway... I think that's it... and there's speculation... but it was probably due to Barcelona's financial difficulties.

While the reason why he left Barcelona could be about money, we also need to realize that Barcelona got paid the most amount of money for a transfer ever too. So that provides proof that Barcelona wasn't really unhappy with sending Neymar away neither, they made like 220 million on that deal if I don't remember it wrong, and also PSG got Mbappe too, for 180 million, combine those two together, they spent 400 just on two players.

Neymar went to PSG for money too, there is no doubt about that, but at that price range, everyone was happy and it wasn't a secret thing. The PSG thing was different, he got injured there a lot, so eventually PSG just wanted to get rid of him, and at Arabic league he just couldn't show himself enough, and was getting worse.

His injuries and his market value made him unviable for any of the big teams in Europe. After all, who would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a player who was constantly getting injured and in physical and technical decline? It would be a bad deal. The only one left at the time was Arab football, which has infinite money and aims to become a football powerhouse.

I think Neymar is the best Brazilian still active, but compared to what he once was, he has fallen a lot. It is not worth anyone spending money on him. The only market left for him is Brazilian football or football in the United States.

[Rampagoe004]

When a player is injured, usually in the national team announcement, the injured player is excluded and then the team is announced. Injury problem is usually a big problem for every team and every player and no matter how big a star a player is if he is not fit for full game then he is not allowed to play as well as he is not selected in the national team announcement. But now Neymar is performing regularly for a prestigious club in Brazil and his game looks like he is back in good form. If Neymar can perform like this up front, I believe he will definitely be included in the Brazil national team again. Maybe Neymar is still playing football just to play one more World Cup for Brazil. The World Cup isn't long until the start, but Neymar will want to stay fit before the World Cup squad is announced.

After the reign of Neymar in Brazil National team, Brazil has never been the same again. They look like an average country in football currently, because the current players are unable to maintain the standard of the country when it comes to football. It will be lovely to see Neymar back to the National team in good form if possible.

The collapse of the Brazilian national football team does not depend on Neymar being in charge of the squad, but in my observation there are many factors that cause the Brazilian national team to become as usual. Brazil, which was supposed to be the strongest team in the world cup, is now just a memory, since 10 years ago, twice in the world cup competition, Brazil is no longer a squad that is feared by opponents.
The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

[Akbarkoe]

.........................

Yeah.. Group C is the key battleground. I want Australia to qualify, but given the strength of the other teams, that is not guaranteed. And at the moment, Saudi Arabia is at no.4 position in this group. And then they have China and Bahrain as well in this group, and both of these teams do have a chance of qualifying to the 2026 World Cup with a direct slot. Right now, Australia is slightly ahead of the rest with 7 points, with the other four teams with 6 points each. Japan is at the top with 14 points. Next round of matches will start in 3 weeks from now.

In addition to the Japanese National Team, two other teams, namely the Australian National Team and Saudi Arabia, are teams that are always favored to be able to win tickets to the World Cup. But surprisingly, whether their performance has declined or the other teams are strong enough, what is certain is that in this year's qualifying round, Saudi Arabia and Australia really performed badly.

On the other hand, in group C there is a newcomer from Southeast Asia, for the first time the Indonesian National Team has succeeded in breaking through to the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifying round, and usually teams from Southeast Asia do not get special attention and are always looked down on, because previously, teams from Southeast Asia have always been goal barns and bottom of the group. But it seems not with Indonesia, they have a squad depth that cannot be underestimated at all. This is one of the national teams that makes me shake my head because the team naturalizes almost every month, and even at this time almost the entire squad is filled with diaspora players.

[bitgolden]

I don't really care why he was at Barcelona, why he was at PSG, why he was at Saudi Arabia, and to be fair, I do not care why he is at Santos neither. The whole thing is about him getting older and his body is not holding up anymore, dude is just not as good as he used to be. Sure he still has the "skills" he can do, but he can't even run properly, and when you can't run, you are not getting to national team level.

I understand he has fame, and he could be even put into the squad just based on his fame, because leaving him out would be a risk. But he doesn't deserve it, not with this body, he needs to realize that he can't do anything on the field anymore and he is hurting his team more than he is helping them.

[khiholangkang]

On the other hand, in group C there is a newcomer from Southeast Asia, for the first time the Indonesian National Team has succeeded in breaking through to the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifying round, and usually teams from Southeast Asia do not get special attention and are always looked down on, because previously, teams from Southeast Asia have always been goal barns and bottom of the group. But it seems not with Indonesia, they have a squad depth that cannot be underestimated at all. This is one of the national teams that makes me shake my head because the team naturalizes almost every month, and even at this time almost the entire squad is filled with diaspora players.

It is not a problem when a national team is filled with diaspora players, because in reality many national teams have squad depth filled with diaspora players, such as Francis. Yes, but I was also quite surprised because to be able to bring in diaspora players requires a fairly long and slightly complicated process, but the Indonesian national team is able to do it almost every month.

I don't really care why he was at Barcelona, why he was at PSG, why he was at Saudi Arabia, and to be fair, I do not care why he is at Santos neither. The whole thing is about him getting older and his body is not holding up anymore, dude is just not as good as he used to be. Sure he still has the "skills" he can do, but he can't even run properly, and when you can't run, you are not getting to national team level.

I understand he has fame, and he could be even put into the squad just based on his fame, because leaving him out would be a risk. But he doesn't deserve it, not with this body, he needs to realize that he can't do anything on the field anymore and he is hurting his team more than he is helping them.

Like other Brazilian players, he was unable to maintain his performance well, so he could not last longer at a higher level. This is very unfortunate because in terms of skill, he has a very great talent in playing football, he always dances when he is on the field, but he was unable to maintain it well. And maybe now he is trying to return to his performance with Santos, so that he can still get a place in the Brazilian national team.

[irhact]

The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

Brazil has always had talent in the country but it's their poor professionalism that have made the current squad in the Brazilian team not to be as good as the old players. The recent players are just dancing on the field and not playing great football. There wasn't also some old players to train the new players on how to play better as a team to win games. Too many individual talents are in the squad without them playing together as a team. Neymar was one of the problem as he holds the ball too much and doesn't give out pass when necessary, the players should play less of Brazilian football that has to do with humiliating their opponents and play more progressive football.

[shogun47]

The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

Brazil has always had talent in the country but it's their poor professionalism that have made the current squad in the Brazilian team not to be as good as the old players. The recent players are just dancing on the field and not playing great football. There wasn't also some old players to train the new players on how to play better as a team to win games. Too many individual talents are in the squad without them playing together as a team. Neymar was one of the problem as he holds the ball too much and doesn't give out pass when necessary, the players should play less of Brazilian football that has to do with humiliating their opponents and play more progressive football.

The most recent example for their lack of professionalism and modesty is Vinicius Junior. He is a great player, but he is to a certain degree undermining his own career because he is freaking out all the time and shows disgusting behavior. He is not a world footballer to me. He is great, but it takes more than that. Can you imagine El Fenomeno behaving the same way as Vinicius Junior? Never, he would have never done that. I am sure that the Brazilian Ronaldo had some angry or stupid moments, but Vinicius Junior has these moments every game. I hope this guy never gets another individual reward again ever and his opponents need to notice that they must provoke him. He behaves like a little child and it takes to make him go crazy what otherwise a 5 year old would handle superiorly.

[AmoreJaz]

The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

Brazil has always had talent in the country but it's their poor professionalism that have made the current squad in the Brazilian team not to be as good as the old players. The recent players are just dancing on the field and not playing great football. There wasn't also some old players to train the new players on how to play better as a team to win games. Too many individual talents are in the squad without them playing together as a team. Neymar was one of the problem as he holds the ball too much and doesn't give out pass when necessary, the players should play less of Brazilian football that has to do with humiliating their opponents and play more progressive football.

They should not rely on Neymar alone when it comes to performance inside the field. They should indeed work together and work on their flaws. Otherwise, they won't achieve harmonious relationship inside the arena. Knowing their respective strengths and weaknesses will also be an advantage as they can work around about such imperfections and turn it into positive aspect of their team. They can have inspiration that Neymar is in their team, however, they need such inspiration to do their best foot forward as well. Working as a team will surely go a long way for them.

[Donneski]

The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

Just as time and generations come and go, history have it that Brazil does have football stars in all of them. I think that's why they're the most successful football nation. Before the names you listed above started representing the Selecao, there were greater Brazil national team players existed and after they retired from professional football, their also will continue to be star players in the Brazil national team. At the moment, I don't think Neymar has the strength and agility to that of Vinicius Jr or even Rodrygo so I find it to be out of point when you think that they Brazil national team will be relying on Neymar to win big trophies. I think Neymar Jr have gone past his peak but can still be part of the team but not the Neymar that the Brazil national team was built around.

[uneng]

Just as time and generations come and go, history have it that Brazil does have football stars in all of them. I think that's why they're the most successful football nation. Before the names you listed above started representing the Selecao, there were greater Brazil national team players existed and after they retired from professional football, their also will continue to be star players in the Brazil national team. At the moment, I don't think Neymar has the strength and agility to that of Vinicius Jr or even Rodrygo so I find it to be out of point when you think that they Brazil national team will be relying on Neymar to win big trophies. I think Neymar Jr have gone past his peak but can still be part of the team but not the Neymar that the Brazil national team was built around.

Brazilian national team has very good players, individually speaking. But once they play together, side by side, nothing really happens. The team struggled against almost every south american national teams last tournament. They have to improve a lot cooperatively if they want to take seriously the idea of competing the next World Cup. An average national team which plays as an organized communicative group can easily beat Brazil, just like it has been happening in previous World Cups.

[retreat]

The collapse of the Brazilian national football team does not depend on Neymar being in charge of the squad, but in my observation there are many factors that cause the Brazilian national team to become as usual. Brazil, which was supposed to be the strongest team in the world cup, is now just a memory, since 10 years ago, twice in the world cup competition, Brazil is no longer a squad that is feared by opponents.
The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

This problem has indeed been faced by Brazil for the past few years. In addition to not having a senior player who can be a role model anymore, like Neymar in the past, many young Brazilian talents have been brought in by big European teams to be educated, and have made them not have the traditional Brazilian football playing style because they have been abroad for a long time. They do not have enough playing time in the country and cause the younger generation not to have good skills to inherit from the older generation. This causes the structure of Brazilian football to gradually erode and decline in quality. If they want to return to their glory days, they need to evaluate their transfer system in a big way, limit more young talents abroad and prioritize creativity, flair, and tactical instincts characteristic of Brazilian football to their younger generation.

[death69]

The collapse of the Brazilian national football team does not depend on Neymar being in charge of the squad, but in my observation there are many factors that cause the Brazilian national team to become as usual. Brazil, which was supposed to be the strongest team in the world cup, is now just a memory, since 10 years ago, twice in the world cup competition, Brazil is no longer a squad that is feared by opponents.
The reason why all this happened, Brazil does not have a successor like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho and also several other senior players, so I don't think the Brazilian national team will return with the best performance if just rely on Neymar.

This problem has indeed been faced by Brazil for the past few years. In addition to not having a senior player who can be a role model anymore, like Neymar in the past, many young Brazilian talents have been brought in by big European teams to be educated, and have made them not have the traditional Brazilian football playing style because they have been abroad for a long time. They do not have enough playing time in the country and cause the younger generation not to have good skills to inherit from the older generation. This causes the structure of Brazilian football to gradually erode and decline in quality. If they want to return to their glory days, they need to evaluate their transfer system in a big way, limit more young talents abroad and prioritize creativity, flair, and tactical instincts characteristic of Brazilian football to their younger generation.

Brazil developed the stars for Europe, but now their clubs are rich enough to bring them back! Memphis Depay, Jamal Lewis, Felipe Anderson. Now, European teams are dumping players in Brazil! Though it starts with young development rather than only imports, the power is shifting.

Clubs won't have to sell teenagers to survive if their financial growth maintains. Imagine if Endrick, Estevão, or Vitor Roque stayed in Brazil until 23, as Viníça Jr. should have? The league would exploded! The model is keep stars, draw European dropouts, rule Copa Libertadores, then take back the globe. The "Brazil as a feeder league" era needs to die.

[Hirose UK]

Without realizing it, we have talked lot about Neymar and in less than month the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will start again, also curious about the Asian zone which is quite hot for group C because the second to bottom ranked team are only 1 point apart so this will trigger really fierce match in fighting for victory in order to save points and outperform each other.
At the beginning of the first match of this qualifiers round, Australia will meet Indonesia and this is the first match for Patrick Kluivert who replaced STY to lead Indonesia in the Asian zone World Cup qualifiers, besides that Indonesia is reported to have received additional naturalized players, one of whom is Emil Audero and now they are in the process of naturalization to become Indonesian citizens.

Well.. Asian qualifiers are on fire. For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, an all time record of 8 Asian teams will get the direct qualification (in addition to one team qualifying for the Inter-confederation play-offs. As of now, the top two teams in three groups are as follows - Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Iraq, Japan and Australia. Out of these teams, two (Japan and Iran) have already secured their qualification. Group C is where the most fierce competition happening. We have Australia with 7 points, and then four other teams with 6 points each.

True and for Japan they are team that can always excel in the Asian zone and become one of the strongest team in the World Cup qualifyiers phase, Japan has been guaranteed and they are unbeaten in these 6 match.

5 team are in the same condition now for group C, they are filled with pressure and worry because after this it will be clearly seen which team can be superior by getting win, between Australia vs Indonesia if the result is not draw it will be new competition again because after all the number of goal between the others is almost the same on average.

[fullhdpixel]

This problem has indeed been faced by Brazil for the past few years. In addition to not having a senior player who can be a role model anymore, like Neymar in the past, many young Brazilian talents have been brought in by big European teams to be educated, and have made them not have the traditional Brazilian football playing style because they have been abroad for a long time. They do not have enough playing time in the country and cause the younger generation not to have good skills to inherit from the older generation. This causes the structure of Brazilian football to gradually erode and decline in quality. If they want to return to their glory days, they need to evaluate their transfer system in a big way, limit more young talents abroad and prioritize creativity, flair, and tactical instincts characteristic of Brazilian football to their younger generation.

Brazilian performance in national level is currently having many deep facts which bring them to this level, and now they are facing problems in qualifiers as well which is big setback for them even they are having many big stars, but they fail to keep things on level in Brazilian national team.

CBF is one of the most corrupt sports organizations which also have political influence and many other things which are not suitable for keeping Brazilian soccer at top quality players are coming in team due to influence and things are surely not going on quality which was their brand in the past. Still they are having too many big players those can give their best and this team can take changes, but it's not easy until CBF is having professional approach and positive management, but this is also not easy because system is not strong enough for doing this quickly and easily.

[Pandu Geddon]

True and for Japan they are team that can always excel in the Asian zone and become one of the strongest team in the World Cup qualifyiers phase, Japan has been guaranteed and they are unbeaten in these 6 match.

5 team are in the same condition now for group C, they are filled with pressure and worry because after this it will be clearly seen which team can be superior by getting win, between Australia vs Indonesia if the result is not draw it will be new competition again because after all the number of goal between the others is almost the same on average.

Compared to the other two groups in the Asian zone qualifiers, Group C is indeed the most competitive. It is still difficult to predict, but based on the strength of the team, I think Australia has a greater chance of accompanying Japan. And there will be two other teams that must enter the next round. There are still four matches left and two of them will be held this month. We will see how the situation may start to become clear in Group C after the two matches this month.

[irhact]

The most recent example for their lack of professionalism and modesty is Vinicius Junior. He is a great player, but he is to a certain degree undermining his own career because he is freaking out all the time and shows disgusting behavior. He is not a world footballer to me. He is great, but it takes more than that. Can you imagine El Fenomeno behaving the same way as Vinicius Junior? Never, he would have never done that. I am sure that the Brazilian Ronaldo had some angry or stupid moments, but Vinicius Junior has these moments every game. I hope this guy never gets another individual reward again ever and his opponents need to notice that they must provoke him. He behaves like a little child and it takes to make him go crazy what otherwise a 5 year old would handle superiorly.

That's why he lost the last ballon d'or to Rodri as his behaviour caused him the title and he isn't performing well this season to get a chance at winning the trophy again. He needs to watch his behaviour because the people that organized this reward need better ambassadors that'll teach the younger generations how to act well and be good sport men. It was due to this behaviour that Messi always gets favoured to win even when he didn't have a good season and others had a better season than him. Brazilian players are beginning to lose their relevance in football and things need to change unless they'll be forgotten so quick as other nations are coming up.

[Slow death]

I don't really care why he was at Barcelona, why he was at PSG, why he was at Saudi Arabia, and to be fair, I do not care why he is at Santos neither. The whole thing is about him getting older and his body is not holding up anymore, dude is just not as good as he used to be. Sure he still has the "skills" he can do, but he can't even run properly, and when you can't run, you are not getting to national team level.

I understand he has fame, and he could be even put into the squad just based on his fame, because leaving him out would be a risk. But he doesn't deserve it, not with this body, he needs to realize that he can't do anything on the field anymore and he is hurting his team more than he is helping them.

Neymar is still a good player, and it's true that there was a period when he didn't give much importance to his profession. He would party while he was injured, but when he recovered he deserved a chance to play in the Saudi League. The Al Hilal coach made a serious mistake by not registering Neymar. Today it can be proven that Neymar could have helped the team.

We just need to see that Neymar has currently played 6 games, scored 2 goals and made 3 assists. I think that the Al Hilal board could have reduced Neymar's high salary and kept him playing. I believe that he can still help the Brazilian national team a lot. The problem with the Brazilian national team is the coaches, not the players.

[criptoevangelista]

I don't really care why he was at Barcelona, why he was at PSG, why he was at Saudi Arabia, and to be fair, I do not care why he is at Santos neither. The whole thing is about him getting older and his body is not holding up anymore, dude is just not as good as he used to be. Sure he still has the "skills" he can do, but he can't even run properly, and when you can't run, you are not getting to national team level.

I understand he has fame, and he could be even put into the squad just based on his fame, because leaving him out would be a risk. But he doesn't deserve it, not with this body, he needs to realize that he can't do anything on the field anymore and he is hurting his team more than he is helping them.

Neymar is still a good player, and it's true that there was a period when he didn't give much importance to his profession. He would party while he was injured, but when he recovered he deserved a chance to play in the Saudi League. The Al Hilal coach made a serious mistake by not registering Neymar. Today it can be proven that Neymar could have helped the team.

We just need to see that Neymar has currently played 6 games, scored 2 goals and made 3 assists. I think that the Al Hilal board could have reduced Neymar's high salary and kept him playing. I believe that he can still help the Brazilian national team a lot. The problem with the Brazilian national team is the coaches, not the players.

Exactly.. Neymar at a certain point in his life stopped being an athlete to become a celebrity, paying more attention to his personal entertainment than taking care of himself as a professional athlete.. I wonder... if Neymar had behaved like Cristiano Ronaldo, he would certainly be the best player in the world in at least 3 seasons. It's a shame, but these are choices.. financially it was certainly worth it for him.

[LUCKMCFLY]

I don't really care why he was at Barcelona, why he was at PSG, why he was at Saudi Arabia, and to be fair, I do not care why he is at Santos neither. The whole thing is about him getting older and his body is not holding up anymore, dude is just not as good as he used to be. Sure he still has the "skills" he can do, but he can't even run properly, and when you can't run, you are not getting to national team level.

I understand he has fame, and he could be even put into the squad just based on his fame, because leaving him out would be a risk. But he doesn't deserve it, not with this body, he needs to realize that he can't do anything on the field anymore and he is hurting his team more than he is helping them.

I understand what you say, in part you are right, wherever Vinicius, Rodrigo, even Endrick himself were, I tell you YES, but Ney is different, he is the only player who has the "Joga Bonito", do you know what that is? The same game as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, those Brazilians who are and have been at another level, a level that the aforementioned players and no one in the current world reach, not even CR7 or Messi have it, so despite his resistance, his body is not the same as when he was 19 or younger (obviously) he is still better than many. For me he is an essential piece in the Brazilian national team. I don't know if I explain myself, if you play soccer in real life, then you will understand me.

[retreat]

I understand what you say, in part you are right, wherever Vinicius, Rodrigo, even Endrick himself were, I tell you YES, but Ney is different, he is the only player who has the "Joga Bonito", do you know what that is? The same game as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, those Brazilians who are and have been at another level, a level that the aforementioned players and no one in the current world reach, not even CR7 or Messi have it, so despite his resistance, his body is not the same as when he was 19 or younger (obviously) he is still better than many. For me he is an essential piece in the Brazilian national team. I don't know if I explain myself, if you play soccer in real life, then you will understand me.

That is the problem that many young Brazilian talents do not have the famous Brazilian "Joga Bonito" playing style. Neymar on the other hand, although he is not as sharp as he used to be, has the characteristics of a true Brazilian player. That is what is needed by young Brazilian players today, a role model who has playing characteristics that are more in line with the Brazilian football tradition which is rich in talented players with extraordinary individual abilities. Not like the European style of play which is more structured, tactical, and focuses on ball possession and efficient teamwork.