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

[DaNNy001]

Brazilian football has been suffering since and this world cup qualifying phases just brought it out so at this moment the Brazilian team should be given a good coach that will build and developed the Brazilian national team

Brazil issue for me is even beyond a good coach because there can be a good coach hired and then the football federation itself is still there to pose major setback for the coach in terms of call out of to the national team by the coach because I believe that's exactly where the issue is coming from as the Brazilian football federation is now fill corruption the results are now showing in the national team.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Well, as far as I know, Argentina and Brazil are the only countries that have really good football teams, now in Asian countries I don't think I'm that aware of which countries have talent
in Football sports. Maybe if there is, it's probably Indonesia, I'm just not sure.

As long as I know these two are really dominant in football. Then they've won the world cup title several times
and these Argentina and Brazil are also in the FIFA rankings, am I right?

Yes, of course, there are also some countries like Uruguay and Paraguay that have very good football, even Colombia, they are all within a FIFA ranking, what happens is that most people only watch Argentina and Brazil's games because they have very good players, the most famous ones, although in Europe we have players like CR7, Mbappé among others who are wow, but each country has something that is better than others, currently the level of football in South America has increased a lot.

[criptoevangelista]

The problem is that Brazil have a reputation to uphold as the world know them for their beautiful style of football and productivity of world class players but of recent that Brazil national is filled with merely guys that can't make an impact in terms of making things happen and this led Ronaldinho to say that this actually Brazil squad is one of if not even the worst ever as the player no longer have that Brazilian love and zeal for football and instead play for just money and other things.

We call England the birth place of football, but Brazil happens to be the home of football. You can literally find talents in every home. It's quite unfortunate that a country that has never lacked talent and will never lack talent in the nearest future, is struggling to make impact in competitive games. The players are brilliant individually, and  they even perform well in their various clubs, but the togetherness and what it takes to play as one is not there. That is the current strength of the Argentina squad. Their ability to stay humble and play together as one.

I think the Brazilian squad needs a manager that will threat everyone equally, and not necessarily prioritize one over the other. If a manager like pep happens to coach then, those boys will have no option than to humble themselves and play a very good football. Players are always available, even on the street. Brazil needs to move on from the era of Neymar, since they have a greater chance of becoming a good national team again.

What Brazil needs right now is a right coach that can develop Brazilian football because looking at the Brazil as a footballing country they have not been fortunate to have a good coach that bring out their best the Brazilian national team is playing more of an individual  style of football and you can develop with that kind of football



Brazilian football has been suffering since and this world cup qualifying phases just brought it out so at this moment the Brazilian team should be given a good coach that will build and developed the Brazilian national team

The news came out here in Brazil that Roger Machado is one of the possible candidates to coach the Brazilian national team... well, I think the CBF is completely lost and considering this name is the same as it was with Dorival Junior, a bad, incompetent coach and far below the gold standard that the Brazilian national team has always been... difficult times will come for the national team, you can be sure of that... what is bad can still get much worse.


(in portuguese): https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2025/04/20/cbf-coloca-roger-machado-entre-os-alvos-para-assumir-selecao-brasileira.htm

[Ale88]

The problem is that Brazil have a reputation to uphold as the world know them for their beautiful style of football and productivity of world class players but of recent that Brazil national is filled with merely guys that can't make an impact in terms of making things happen and this led Ronaldinho to say that this actually Brazil squad is one of if not even the worst ever as the player no longer have that Brazilian love and zeal for football and instead play for just money and other things.

In my opinion this a generalized problem because not only Brazilian players are not as good they used to be, it happens with many other teams: 20 years ago we had strikers like Ronaldo, Batistuta, Vieri, Henry, Klose, Raul, etc, now I don't see that type of quality. Sure, we have Vinicius, Alvarez, Mbappé, Haaland, but for me they are not the same. Many of today's international players are just very average. The good thing is that other international teams improved a lot, especially some Asian teams but at the same time others got worse, for example Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, Camerun, they all used to have so many good players...

[criptoevangelista]

The problem is that Brazil have a reputation to uphold as the world know them for their beautiful style of football and productivity of world class players but of recent that Brazil national is filled with merely guys that can't make an impact in terms of making things happen and this led Ronaldinho to say that this actually Brazil squad is one of if not even the worst ever as the player no longer have that Brazilian love and zeal for football and instead play for just money and other things.

In my opinion this a generalized problem because not only Brazilian players are not as good they used to be, it happens with many other teams: 20 years ago we had strikers like Ronaldo, Batistuta, Vieri, Henry, Klose, Raul, etc, now I don't see that type of quality. Sure, we have Vinicius, Alvarez, Mbappé, Haaland, but for me they are not the same. Many of today's international players are just very average. The good thing is that other international teams improved a lot, especially some Asian teams but at the same time others got worse, for example Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, Camerun, they all used to have so many good players...

I think this generation of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shifted the focus away from the classic center forward, players like Romário, Batistuta, and many others. Team formations started prioritizing wingers, trying to replicate clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, which were built around the stars of this generation. A similar thing happened in the past with the Brazilian national team that won the 2002 World Cup,after that, many teams began copying that tactical setup. Nowadays, that kind of system doesn’t really favor a traditional center forward, like you’d see in a typical 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

[Sithara007]

Yes, of course, there are also some countries like Uruguay and Paraguay that have very good football, even Colombia, they are all within a FIFA ranking, what happens is that most people only watch Argentina and Brazil's games because they have very good players, the most famous ones, although in Europe we have players like CR7, Mbappé among others who are wow, but each country has something that is better than others, currently the level of football in South America has increased a lot.

I don't agree with your argument. At least from what I can see, the quality of football in CONMEBOL has gone down, while that in UEFA has remained at the same level. And at the same time, AFC and CAF has made significant progress. The best example is that of Brazil. They are a shadow of their former self. Even teams such as Uruguay, Colombia and Chile have also gone down. On the other hand, in Europe France has maintained its dominant position, followed by England and Germany.

[armanda90]

The news came out here in Brazil that Roger Machado is one of the possible candidates to coach the Brazilian national team... well, I think the CBF is completely lost and considering this name is the same as it was with Dorival Junior, a bad, incompetent coach and far below the gold standard that the Brazilian national team has always been... difficult times will come for the national team, you can be sure of that... what is bad can still get much worse.

(in portuguese): https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2025/04/20/cbf-coloca-roger-machado-entre-os-alvos-para-assumir-selecao-brasileira.htm

Based on wikipedia information, Roger Machado only domestic league coach and his career so far for Brazil club only without manage any top European teams. Indeed still rumor about CBF will appoint Internacional's club head coach likely many public doubt about this appointing due Brazil need head coach have much experienced with top club. Since CBF sacked Dorival Junior after bad performance with Brazil and failed push Brazil national teams reach the higher standings at CONMEBOL qualifier, I think Brazil need appoint top manager if won't get another failure again in World Cup 2026.

Brazil national teams performance still not consistent in CONMEBOL match qualifier, I think if not appoint most experience manager get difficulty if qualify to World Cup and have been adopted with new format behind next edition have 48 national teams participants with have many matches than old World Cup matches format.

[retreat]

Even when Neymar comes in and plays for the Brazilian national team it has no impact whatsoever on Brazil’s performance in the World Cup. Because as some have said here, Brazil’s problems are more than just Neymar needing to play for his national team, they are more complex and go far beyond football. They include the football association, the coach, the corrupt internal structure, the lack of long-term vision, and the inability to build a style of play like it once was—and that has been going on for a long time, eroding Brazilian football over time.

There have been instances when a single player contributes to the success of a team. A close look at the Brazilian national team, shows that they lack a playmaker like Neymar. The teams lacks a creative player they can create chances. However, with his injury issue and drop in performance, I have to agree with you that even if he comes back to the team, there might be no visible impact. I would also accept that the Brazilian national team and even the Brazilian Football Confederation need to be overhauled.

They really need it. Because looking at the condition of the Brazilian national team which can be said to have failed to meet people's expectations, if there is no revolution in the structure and vision of football, then failure will continue to repeat itself. They need to solve the problem from the grassroots, not just about changing coaches or players, but from the academy system, returning to the true Brazilian style of play - not to the European style of play - and ensuring that the federation is managed professionally and transparently. If they succeed in doing this, then it will not be a problem for them to produce talented players like Neymar, Ronaldinho, or Kaka again.

[criptoevangelista]

The news came out here in Brazil that Roger Machado is one of the possible candidates to coach the Brazilian national team... well, I think the CBF is completely lost and considering this name is the same as it was with Dorival Junior, a bad, incompetent coach and far below the gold standard that the Brazilian national team has always been... difficult times will come for the national team, you can be sure of that... what is bad can still get much worse.

(in portuguese): https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2025/04/20/cbf-coloca-roger-machado-entre-os-alvos-para-assumir-selecao-brasileira.htm

Based on wikipedia information, Roger Machado only domestic league coach and his career so far for Brazil club only without manage any top European teams. Indeed still rumor about CBF will appoint Internacional's club head coach likely many public doubt about this appointing due Brazil need head coach have much experienced with top club. Since CBF sacked Dorival Junior after bad performance with Brazil and failed push Brazil national teams reach the higher standings at CONMEBOL qualifier, I think Brazil need appoint top manager if won't get another failure again in World Cup 2026.

Brazil national teams performance still not consistent in CONMEBOL match qualifier, I think if not appoint most experience manager get difficulty if qualify to World Cup and have been adopted with new format behind next edition have 48 national teams participants with have many matches than old World Cup matches format.

This is a major problem that exists in Brazilian football and the CBF, the insistence on appointing only Brazilian coaches to lead the national team... In Brazil, there are no top-level coaches, none who are sought after by major European clubs. Throughout the history of Brazilian football, only two coaches have managed to lead European teams: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who coached Real Madrid in 2005, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Chelsea and the Portuguese national team. Other than that, there have only been average coaches who have always relied on the talent of Brazilian players as a crutch in their careers.

[sana54210]

Based on wikipedia information, Roger Machado only domestic league coach and his career so far for Brazil club only without manage any top European teams. Indeed still rumor about CBF will appoint Internacional's club head coach likely many public doubt about this appointing due Brazil need head coach have much experienced with top club. Since CBF sacked Dorival Junior after bad performance with Brazil and failed push Brazil national teams reach the higher standings at CONMEBOL qualifier, I think Brazil need appoint top manager if won't get another failure again in World Cup 2026.

Brazil national teams performance still not consistent in CONMEBOL match qualifier, I think if not appoint most experience manager get difficulty if qualify to World Cup and have been adopted with new format behind next edition have 48 national teams participants with have many matches than old World Cup matches format.

CBF has never been easy place to manage things easily because political influence and many big investors are also had personal interest which are hurting this one of the most beautiful and skilled country in soccer.
In last 2 decades things are getting the worst day by day because they fail to bring improvement and their domestic setup is also failed to give them positive response which is the big problem for them few months back there were too much discussion about foreign coach, but it's not works due to their constitutional problems and many other which already mentioned.

Dorival Junior has never been able to bring improvement but still CBF go ahead with this gamble, and now they sacked him after humiliating defeat against Argentina hopefully things could be positive as new coach search is going on and many big names are under their radar now who could be next it's going to be announced soon.

[Fiatless]

This is a major problem that exists in Brazilian football and the CBF, the insistence on appointing only Brazilian coaches to lead the national team... In Brazil, there are no top-level coaches, none who are sought after by major European clubs. Throughout the history of Brazilian football, only two coaches have managed to lead European teams: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who coached Real Madrid in 2005, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Chelsea and the Portuguese national team. Other than that, there have only been average coaches who have always relied on the talent of Brazilian players as a crutch in their careers.

The rationale behind the decision to appoint only Brazilians to lead the national team is faulty. Historically Europe has the best coaches. I remember the days of Luiz Felipe Scolari in Chelsea which was not successful. The World Cup-winning coach spent just seven months in charge before he was sacked by Chelsea's former owner, Roman Abramovich. The Brazilian team needs to have an independent coach who would restructure the team without external influence. And I guess Ancelotti would be the ideal choice

[Volgastallion]

Which teams do you see as a favorite right now to become champion in the next world cup?

I only see two very clearly and other as a contenders, my two favorites are pretty easy to guess, Argentina and Spain, this not need any further explanation, an as contenders i see France, Germany, Italy and maybe England. And yes as today im not putting brazil as a contender, they are pretty bad nowadays.

[AmoreJaz]

This is a major problem that exists in Brazilian football and the CBF, the insistence on appointing only Brazilian coaches to lead the national team... In Brazil, there are no top-level coaches, none who are sought after by major European clubs. Throughout the history of Brazilian football, only two coaches have managed to lead European teams: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who coached Real Madrid in 2005, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Chelsea and the Portuguese national team. Other than that, there have only been average coaches who have always relied on the talent of Brazilian players as a crutch in their careers.

The rationale behind the decision to appoint only Brazilians to lead the national team is faulty. Historically Europe has the best coaches. I remember the days of Luiz Felipe Scolari in Chelsea which was not successful. The World Cup-winning coach spent just seven months in charge before he was sacked by Chelsea's former owner, Roman Abramovich. The Brazilian team needs to have an independent coach who would restructure the team without external influence. And I guess Ancelotti would be the ideal choice

If they will insist such strategy, it means, they are ready for whatever the results will be with this decision. They will know if such route is effective after their games. It is their team, so it is their own accord how to manage their team. And of course, they will be the one who will experience the consequences.
Maybe, they are also experimenting such technique if it will be beneficial for their team. And if not, they will now what to do next time around. I don't think they are just sitting around on this aspect. Definitely, they are also finding strategies on how to improve the performance of their team. Because every team has an end goal of getting that coveted trophy.

[Slow death]

This is a major problem that exists in Brazilian football and the CBF, the insistence on appointing only Brazilian coaches to lead the national team... In Brazil, there are no top-level coaches, none who are sought after by major European clubs. Throughout the history of Brazilian football, only two coaches have managed to lead European teams: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who coached Real Madrid in 2005, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Chelsea and the Portuguese national team. Other than that, there have only been average coaches who have always relied on the talent of Brazilian players as a crutch in their careers.

I think that perhaps there is some kind of scheme between the president of the federation and the coach, by choosing a coach without great achievements in international football, they gain someone who will obey the orders of the president of the federation and the shady business would continue. Now if they chose a foreign coach with a good reputation and achievements, then this coach could refuse meaningless orders or refuse to participate in dirty schemes.

A few days ago I read on LeoDias news about cameras that the president of the Brazilian football federation ordered to be installed to monitor players. I don't know if this is really true or if it's right or not. But it just shows that it needs to be investigated in depth because they always only hire national coaches.

[imamusma]

Which teams do you see as a favorite right now to become champion in the next world cup?

I only see two very clearly and other as a contenders, my two favorites are pretty easy to guess, Argentina and Spain, this not need any further explanation, an as contenders i see France, Germany, Italy and maybe England. And yes as today im not putting brazil as a contender, they are pretty bad nowadays.

Of the six teams, England have not won the World Cup for quite some time. The appointment of Thomas Tchel will probably bring a lot of changes to the team, and we know they have a fairly luxurious squad depth. It is possible that in the next World Cup England will be a strong competitor with Argentina and Spain. Brazil needs an experienced manager, and the more important thing they have to do is clean up the mess at the federation level. If that goes right, I think Brazil also deserves to be considered in the list of favorites.

[Fuso.hp]

Brazilian football has been suffering since and this world cup qualifying phases just brought it out so at this moment the Brazilian team should be given a good coach that will build and developed the Brazilian national team

Brazil issue for me is even beyond a good coach because there can be a good coach hired and then the football federation itself is still there to pose major setback for the coach in terms of call out of to the national team by the coach because I believe that's exactly where the issue is coming from as the Brazilian football federation is now fill corruption the results are now showing in the national team.

This problem of Brazil will be solved only after appointing a good coach, but this is not the case. Rather, after appointing a skilled and experienced coach, they should respect the decision of that coach and give the coach the freedom to create the team as he wishes. Many times after announcing the Brazilian team, we are surprised because Brazil announces its main team excluding all the players who are currently in good form. If this continues, then it is natural that Brazil will never do well in big matches.

Now many may ask why Brazilian players can't perform well for the national team even though they perform so well at the club level. Basically, most of the Brazilian players play for different clubs and as teammates, these Brazilian players play for Brazil in very few matches, due to which these Brazilian players cannot perform well as a team. Therefore, an experienced manager should bring all the Brazilian players together and create a good understanding between them so that they can use this understanding to do well on the field.

[criptoevangelista]

This is a major problem that exists in Brazilian football and the CBF, the insistence on appointing only Brazilian coaches to lead the national team... In Brazil, there are no top-level coaches, none who are sought after by major European clubs. Throughout the history of Brazilian football, only two coaches have managed to lead European teams: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who coached Real Madrid in 2005, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Chelsea and the Portuguese national team. Other than that, there have only been average coaches who have always relied on the talent of Brazilian players as a crutch in their careers.

I think that perhaps there is some kind of scheme between the president of the federation and the coach, by choosing a coach without great achievements in international football, they gain someone who will obey the orders of the president of the federation and the shady business would continue. Now if they chose a foreign coach with a good reputation and achievements, then this coach could refuse meaningless orders or refuse to participate in dirty schemes.

A few days ago I read on LeoDias news about cameras that the president of the Brazilian football federation ordered to be installed to monitor players. I don't know if this is really true or if it's right or not. But it just shows that it needs to be investigated in depth because they always only hire national coaches.

I hadn't thought about it that way, but what you said makes perfect sense. I know that there have been call-up schemes since the time when Emerson Leão was the coach, that was more than 20 years ago. That could really be the reason why they always put Brazilian coaches in and accept this kind of thing... because regardless of the coach, there have always been some call-ups that were at least questionable for the Brazilian national team...

[Ale88]

The problem is that Brazil have a reputation to uphold as the world know them for their beautiful style of football and productivity of world class players but of recent that Brazil national is filled with merely guys that can't make an impact in terms of making things happen and this led Ronaldinho to say that this actually Brazil squad is one of if not even the worst ever as the player no longer have that Brazilian love and zeal for football and instead play for just money and other things.

In my opinion this a generalized problem because not only Brazilian players are not as good they used to be, it happens with many other teams: 20 years ago we had strikers like Ronaldo, Batistuta, Vieri, Henry, Klose, Raul, etc, now I don't see that type of quality. Sure, we have Vinicius, Alvarez, Mbappé, Haaland, but for me they are not the same. Many of today's international players are just very average. The good thing is that other international teams improved a lot, especially some Asian teams but at the same time others got worse, for example Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, Camerun, they all used to have so many good players...

I think this generation of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shifted the focus away from the classic center forward, players like Romário, Batistuta, and many others. Team formations started prioritizing wingers, trying to replicate clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, which were built around the stars of this generation. A similar thing happened in the past with the Brazilian national team that won the 2002 World Cup,after that, many teams began copying that tactical setup. Nowadays, that kind of system doesn’t really favor a traditional center forward, like you’d see in a typical 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

The problem mainly began when everybody wanted to copy Guardiola, the problem is that Guardiola had Messi, the others didn't. And also the game is becoming more and more physical, nowadays we see players in the big leagues just because of their athletic abilities but technically they are pretty bad, before it was the opposite, way more technical players with less physical abilities. We lost the "fantasista" role, players now don't dribble anymore, there are a ton of useless horizontal passes, I don't know, maybe I'm just getting older but today's players don't create any emotion for me, they are just robots running like crazy.

[giammangiato]

They really need it. Because looking at the condition of the Brazilian national team which can be said to have failed to meet people's expectations, if there is no revolution in the structure and vision of football, then failure will continue to repeat itself. They need to solve the problem from the grassroots, not just about changing coaches or players, but from the academy system, returning to the true Brazilian style of play - not to the European style of play - and ensuring that the federation is managed professionally and transparently. If they succeed in doing this, then it will not be a problem for them to produce talented players like Neymar, Ronaldinho, or Kaka again.

They really need to make a revolution in Brazilian football. They should solve the problems from the bottom, not just by changing coaches or players, but by restoring the Brazilian style of play and managing the federation in a professional and transparent way.
For many years i have seen a constant decline in Brazil but i see that they are not investing in human capital, they are living off the reflections of the past and this obviously leads to a decline

[Hanadawa]

The problem mainly began when everybody wanted to copy Guardiola, the problem is that Guardiola had Messi, the others didn't. And also the game is becoming more and more physical, nowadays we see players in the big leagues just because of their athletic abilities but technically they are pretty bad, before it was the opposite, way more technical players with less physical abilities. We lost the "fantasista" role, players now don't dribble anymore, there are a ton of useless horizontal passes, I don't know, maybe I'm just getting older but today's players don't create any emotion for me, they are just robots running like crazy.

I think this is an adaptation that all teams must make. Football in the past relied more on the individual abilities of each player. That's why we can see star players in the past who were famous for their amazing techniques and skills. The ability to dribble and pass several players was important for players in the past. But since Pep Guardiola introduced tiki taka to the world, it really changed how football is played. Star players with great skills and dribbling are beautiful to watch. But the tiki taka game in the Pep Guardiola era made Barcelona a very difficult team to beat. Pep was even able to win 6 championship titles in one season with tiki taka. This forced all coaches and players to try to play more tactically because the fact is that tiki taka could not be stopped by tactics in the old era. And this is what makes football now more tactical and it is an adaptation of football that we must accept. I personally can still enjoy football in the current era.