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

[Volgastallion]

Anyone still following the AFC qualifiers? So far 6 teams have qualified from this confederation: Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan and Australia. Two more teams will qualify from the fourth round, while one additional team will gain entry to the Inter-confederation play-offs. 6 teams have progressed to the fourth round. They are United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. IMO, out of these six teams, the ones with brightest chances are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

I dont follow it at all because the gap between teams is pretty big so you already know who is gonna be in the nexct world cup, now with more spots for them some other teams can achieve going into a world cup but you already know most of them much before.

Australia was a really good add for this to compensate.

[Adiljutt156]

Anyone still following the AFC qualifiers? So far 6 teams have qualified from this confederation: Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan and Australia. Two more teams will qualify from the fourth round, while one additional team will gain entry to the Inter-confederation play-offs. 6 teams have progressed to the fourth round. They are United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. IMO, out of these six teams, the ones with brightest chances are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

Iraq national football team played very well in the third round and they did 1 goal in this match. Jordan national football team Could not do any goal in the third round when they played match against Iraq  football team. Iraq team could qualify for the 4th round because players have capability to perform well on that place . But thrt have to work hard and have to learn from their mistakes. There are many players who need to improve their game and thst is reason they are losing matches.Rest of the teams are not looking impressive but that team will win the next matches which is active and players are giving hundred percent to win the match.

[baeva]

Moreover, it will be very difficult to judge on one match, and the result is expected as a rule immediately, fans are not patient

True. Fans are the worst judges there are. That being said, judging a national team coach is quite difficult because the number of games is limited, unlike a club where they can see the progress every week or every transfer window. A national team needs to produce results befitting their image in most competitions. Then again, that's the job of a functioning sports association. The bad news is we don't even know if the guys running the association are competent or not, most of the time (at least in my country).

Yes, here we need either a whole tour of friendly matches so that the coach can build a normal tactics of the game, or a few games at the official level within some tournament. Honestly it's hard for me to imagine what a new coach should do when he is expected to produce results in the first game, considering that the players are assembled a week before the national team game. What should he teach them? This is not the national championship, this is the national team level, there is too little training.

The issue about friendly matches is that you can never create the same tension and atmosphere for the players. It is either because your own players don't take it seriously enough or because the opponent doesn't play their best game. If you really want to know whether a certain strategy or formation works well against good teams, the only way is to find out to test it during at least the qualification games for the big international events. In friendly games you can see weird things happening that do not very well reflect what should be expected in important games.

In any case, this is something that will allow the first time to better understand the team and how the players interact with each other in combat conditions, it's better than immediately play a match in their league and do not know how the players will behave, it can banally lead to defeat, because what happens in training it is a completely different level

[Tipstar]

Moreover, it will be very difficult to judge on one match, and the result is expected as a rule immediately, fans are not patient

True. Fans are the worst judges there are. That being said, judging a national team coach is quite difficult because the number of games is limited, unlike a club where they can see the progress every week or every transfer window. A national team needs to produce results befitting their image in most competitions. Then again, that's the job of a functioning sports association. The bad news is we don't even know if the guys running the association are competent or not, most of the time (at least in my country).

Yes, here we need either a whole tour of friendly matches so that the coach can build a normal tactics of the game, or a few games at the official level within some tournament. Honestly it's hard for me to imagine what a new coach should do when he is expected to produce results in the first game, considering that the players are assembled a week before the national team game. What should he teach them? This is not the national championship, this is the national team level, there is too little training.

The reason why friendlies are not as hyped is because they are not linked to anything. The result don't matter. Winning or losing don't matter.
As the result of the game doesn't matter, teams are more willing to experiment things. Players and teams can practice their own way but friendly match makes them know more about the team they are playing with. For that teams may try to hide their specific strategies and skills in order to use them as a surprise when they play real matches.
If its a tournament they are playing be it a league or knockout, they'd give all they have to win those games.

[Platinumys]

Moreover, it will be very difficult to judge on one match, and the result is expected as a rule immediately, fans are not patient

True. Fans are the worst judges there are. That being said, judging a national team coach is quite difficult because the number of games is limited, unlike a club where they can see the progress every week or every transfer window. A national team needs to produce results befitting their image in most competitions. Then again, that's the job of a functioning sports association. The bad news is we don't even know if the guys running the association are competent or not, most of the time (at least in my country).

Yes, here we need either a whole tour of friendly matches so that the coach can build a normal tactics of the game, or a few games at the official level within some tournament. Honestly it's hard for me to imagine what a new coach should do when he is expected to produce results in the first game, considering that the players are assembled a week before the national team game. What should he teach them? This is not the national championship, this is the national team level, there is too little training.

The issue about friendly matches is that you can never create the same tension and atmosphere for the players. It is either because your own players don't take it seriously enough or because the opponent doesn't play their best game. If you really want to know whether a certain strategy or formation works well against good teams, the only way is to find out to test it during at least the qualification games for the big international events. In friendly games you can see weird things happening that do not very well reflect what should be expected in important games.

Every match in the main stage of the World Cup is as exciting as it is, but in the qualifying matches, there is no such excitement. Basically, the main stage matches of the World Cup create a different excitement among the spectators, due to which the performance of the players is already good, but when the qualifying matches are held and there is a match between two teams, if it is already easy for both teams to make it to the main stage of the World Cup, then those matches do not seem interesting to us. Because at that time, it seems that the big teams will definitely qualify for the main stage of the World Cup.

[MAAManda]

6 teams have progressed to the fourth round. They are United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. IMO, out of these six teams, the ones with brightest chances are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

It seems like everyone underestimates Indonesia, no wonder because they can be said to be a weak team, even though they were able to be in their current position from the first round. Even though you said that the biggest chance belongs to Saudi Arabia & UAE, I would say it should belong to Indonesia. Miracles do happen, let's see how the fourth round end.

[babo]

I don't have much expectation from Gennaro Gattuso to be honest. He doesn't have a successful history with any team as far as I'm concerned. He got sacked most of the time because of not meeting the expectations.

I wonder whether they tried to convince a better coach instead of him. For example I would have liked to see Mancini. He is without team since October 2024. He won a Euro championship with Italy earlier as you know.

I don't think anyone has one
not even him
But in the end he was the only one who said yes, the others all said no

Changing at this point was not a very wise move in my opinion, but we know very well that sometimes managers make really stupid choices
they had to fire them.

[tiCeR]

In any case, this is something that will allow the first time to better understand the team and how the players interact with each other in combat conditions, it's better than immediately play a match in their league and do not know how the players will behave, it can banally lead to defeat, because what happens in training it is a completely different level

What you are saying isn't wrong and if a coach has his own philosophy about football and wants to implement it, yes it takes time.

But all of these players are on the highest level and most of them know each other anyway. It shouldn't take too long to play well. What I am asking here is if the players were asked whether they want 3 more weeks for recovery during this summer (because they have World Cup next year, Nations League finals this year, Euro and other continental cups), what would they say? Would they say it's awesome to play all these additional games because it is the CWC and it is a revolution and they want to be part of it, or would they say it is tome to tune down and get some rest?

I think all of those who followed some of the games at this CWC could literally see that some of the players are exhausted or lack motivation.

[Sithara007]

I dont follow it at all because the gap between teams is pretty big so you already know who is gonna be in the nexct world cup, now with more spots for them some other teams can achieve going into a world cup but you already know most of them much before.

Australia was a really good add for this to compensate.

If you are talking about teams such as Japan and Iran, then yes. The gap between them and the other teams are quite huge within the confederation. But these are well established teams. I was happy to see Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I don't know how they are going to perform, but their inclusion will add more diversity and enthusiasm for sure. The two most populous nations lost out (India and China). If they can't qualify with so many available slots, then I don't know what to do with these two teams.

[stompix]

~

I don't think anyone has one
not even him
But in the end he was the only one who said yes, the others all said no

The moment nobody wants to coach a team or the only ones that would want are having a better deal right, is the moment you know it's not worth trapping yourself in this situation. The team and the players suck, that's known to eveyone, you need a completly new strategy, you need a change in the palyers without angrying top teams that would see that as an insult and a money loss, you need to navigate your ways around the higher ups that have created this but funny enough they are not takign the blame but still the ones that can fire you and much more..

Unfortunately, the team now needs a manager who would be hard to go against, someone loved by the fans, someone with achievements that would be hard to say even a word to when he says you're out of the team, next! And Gattuso is not this man!
 

[jaberwock]

If you are talking about teams such as Japan and Iran, then yes. The gap between them and the other teams are quite huge within the confederation. But these are well established teams. I was happy to see Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I don't know how they are going to perform, but their inclusion will add more diversity and enthusiasm for sure. The two most populous nations lost out (India and China). If they can't qualify with so many available slots, then I don't know what to do with these two teams.

In last few years just three Asian teams able to perform consistently South Korea, Japan and Iran relatively others are having huge difference of quality which making them problematic in FIFA World Cup, but Uzbekistan is going to be good as well because they are having good depth.

Jordan is surely going to be have not good results but still they needed to be work hard for having better results missing out of teams like China and India is surely huge setback for mega event, but sadly both countries fail to develop their structure and also have good skilled players which can bring good results for them. No doubt it's matter of shame for them country like Qatar is having chance if world cup with Iraq which is facing serious internal issues also having chance, but these big countries fail to bring good results and also have no chance of participation even now 48 countries are allowed.

[Sithara007]

In last few years just three Asian teams able to perform consistently South Korea, Japan and Iran relatively others are having huge difference of quality which making them problematic in FIFA World Cup, but Uzbekistan is going to be good as well because they are having good depth.

Jordan is surely going to be have not good results but still they needed to be work hard for having better results missing out of teams like China and India is surely huge setback for mega event, but sadly both countries fail to develop their structure and also have good skilled players which can bring good results for them. No doubt it's matter of shame for them country like Qatar is having chance if world cup with Iraq which is facing serious internal issues also having chance, but these big countries fail to bring good results and also have no chance of participation even now 48 countries are allowed.

Uzbekistan is the most populous Central Asian country (if I am not wrong, they are more populous when compared to Afghanistan). The demographics are tilted towards the younger generations (unlike the case with countries such as South Korea, Japan and China who are breeding themselves out to extinction). Iraq also has a very young population, and the same is the case with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Only time will tell whether these teams will make it big in the near future.

[retreat]

If you are talking about teams such as Japan and Iran, then yes. The gap between them and the other teams are quite huge within the confederation. But these are well established teams. I was happy to see Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I don't know how they are going to perform, but their inclusion will add more diversity and enthusiasm for sure. The two most populous nations lost out (India and China). If they can't qualify with so many available slots, then I don't know what to do with these two teams.

Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 world cup is historic for them, as it is the first time for these two countries to qualify for the world cup. Maybe these two countries are playing mediocre and will also be eliminated quickly, but at least there is a new country from Asia that can qualify for the world cup. As for Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Iran, these are Asian countries that have already qualified for the world cup, so we don't need to talk about them because they are on a different level.

[Sithara007]

Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 world cup is historic for them, as it is the first time for these two countries to qualify for the world cup. Maybe these two countries are playing mediocre and will also be eliminated quickly, but at least there is a new country from Asia that can qualify for the world cup. As for Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Iran, these are Asian countries that have already qualified for the world cup, so we don't need to talk about them because they are on a different level.

At least Uzbekistan is not mediocre. I have seen the highlights from a few of their qualifier matches, and they look very promising. Technically they are in Central Asia, but a few decades ago Uzbekistan was part of the USSR. And the former Soviet Union always held very high standards in sports. Japan is one of the strongest teams from Asia. But recently they have stagnated quite a bit, perhaps due to the unfavorable demographics. The same can be said about South Korea as well.

[tiCeR]

Uzbekistan and Jordan qualifying for the 2026 world cup is historic for them, as it is the first time for these two countries to qualify for the world cup. Maybe these two countries are playing mediocre and will also be eliminated quickly, but at least there is a new country from Asia that can qualify for the world cup. As for Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Iran, these are Asian countries that have already qualified for the world cup, so we don't need to talk about them because they are on a different level.

At least Uzbekistan is not mediocre. I have seen the highlights from a few of their qualifier matches, and they look very promising. Technically they are in Central Asia, but a few decades ago Uzbekistan was part of the USSR. And the former Soviet Union always held very high standards in sports. Japan is one of the strongest teams from Asia. But recently they have stagnated quite a bit, perhaps due to the unfavorable demographics. The same can be said about South Korea as well.

It depends what you define as an achievable goal for them, but considering the FIFA ranking, they are right now ranked 57th between South Africa and Saudi Arabia. it is not bad for a small nation, or they are not that small with their population of 35 million, but they are considered rather small in the football business.

Whether there acceptable ranking has to do with their USSR past, I don't know, but it is true that countries from that region put a lot of emphasis on sports. I personally didn't know football is a big thing there.

The FIFA ranking is misleading sometimes I think because when you argue that Uzbekistan is enthusiastic about football and sports, China is as well, but they are only ranked 94th. 

[LUCKMCFLY]

look i tell you that you are right with regret, we are really in bad shape. It is not just a question of coach, the players are poor and the management is also very poor.
I can't change and fix things, that's the worst thing. For real, we miss 4 world championship

For me, Italy's problem starts with the children Now, children only want to be on their electronic devices and sports, If their parents don't take them along or encourage them they won't be able to develop it like before I don't think it's just in Italy, now this is a worldwide problem That's why children's education must be comprehensive, so that countries around the world have good representation in football.

[Ale88]

I agree. On one side we must admit that many national teams grew a lot compared to the past because I remember that growing up results like 6-0, 7-0 or even 8-0 would happen quite often during the qualification phase; nowadays even a match against a smaller team is tough. At the same time the quality of many countries with a lot of history dramatically plummeted: there are no more players like Pirlo, Totti, Zidane, Henry, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Ballack, Lahm, etc. Football is changing, and not in a positive way.

I thought I'm the only one that has observed this recent trend in football history, even recently I had some discussions with fellow football enthusiasts and I raised this issue of declining rate of world class players we used to have in the past, and that very discussion was specifically on the issue of Champions league, where all the big teams/clubs we used to know as of 2015 backwards used to have at least 5 world class players in a particular team, ranging from defenders ,midfielders to classic strikers. BARCELONA for instance,  Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Eto, Puyol etc, in the same team,  but today hardly you see this kind of players in one club, and same thing when it comes national or country Football. Football seems to have reached its highest level in the era of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

Unfortunately this trend is very notable for anyone who is at least 30 years old. Nowadays you find younger generations saying that players like Zidane or Iniesta were hugely overrated because Bruno Fernandes has a better G/A ratio than them. How can you even compare football legends like Zidane and Iniesta to Bruno Fernades?!

And for example let's also take a look at the players that may win the Golden Ball: 10-20 years ago you had at least 6-7 players who could win, now, if you ask my opinion, I can't even come up with one name. The fact that Ousmane Dembele is the main candidate to win speaks volume, I mean, no disrespect to him, he had a wonderful season, but if we look at the player and his carrier is he actually worth the Golden Ball? Let's not forget that players like Maldini, Del Piero, Totti, Iniesta, Henry, Lewandowski, Ribery, just to name a few, never won it. I wouldn't even place Dembele next to those players, they are not playing in the same category. I'm sorry but football's technic and fantasy is long gone.

[Ryu_Ar1]

Anyone still following the AFC qualifiers? So far 6 teams have qualified from this confederation: Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan and Australia. Two more teams will qualify from the fourth round, while one additional team will gain entry to the Inter-confederation play-offs. 6 teams have progressed to the fourth round. They are United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. IMO, out of these six teams, the ones with brightest chances are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

I'm seeing some slightly unfavorable news for Iran because there are some things that could disqualify them due to geopolitical issues and hopefully that doesn't actually come true.
For round 4 I'm still waiting for this because I'm from Indonesia and my country is still there, of course this gives a good condition and interest because this is our best achievement so far.

I'm aware that maybe my country won't have much to say even if it qualifies but of course when it gets to this stage then there's obviously a hope for my country which is still struggling to get a much better result because after all this is a good progress regardless of the slanted rumors or bad stigma about my country making naturalization a reference but I'm happy with this condition.

[Lillominato89]

I kind of disagree with that part because at the end of the day the manager doesn't play, the players do. You can be the best manager in the world but if the players are mediocre probably you're going to fail. Italy could even hire Guardiola (hypothetically of course) but that wouldn't mean that we're going to the world cup. Do you remember Ancelotti with Napoli and Everton? Great coach, mediocre players, mediocre results.

Currently the Italian national team is filled with mediocre players, there are no outstanding players, unlike their era in the 2000s. So it is very difficult to be able to revive the Italian national team now, even when it is the most experienced coach, because as you said the role of quality players is very important, and then we discuss the manager. Because now the problem of the Italian national team is very complex, so changing the coach alone will not be able to solve the problem, there needs to be a total overhaul from the roots of the Italian football system, and the process can take years.

Italy has won the World Cup four times but if we look at the current Italian team, it doesn't look like they have won four World Cups. Italy's golden age can be said to have been until 2000 because Italy played excellent football until 2000 but Italy could not achieve anything significant after 2000. In one World Cup season, Italy did not qualify for the main round of the World Cup. Think about it, a former four-time World Cup winner performed so badly in one World Cup season that they did not qualify for the main round. Anyway, Italy has recovered from their bad situation and now at least they are playing decent football but they are not yet able to play the kind of good football that we can see them playing in the semi-finals or finals of big tournaments like the World Cup. Italy should work on these issues and bring about a change in the team's situation again.

we are very far from the Italy of the golden years Unfortunately the management was very unsuccessful in this respect, very little focus was placed on trying to grow new talents, but even if we look at the current players individually, some are defined as top players. for example Donnarumma, Bastoni, Barella but they are not enough on their own, the difference with the other players is enormous and meant that we had to watch two World Cups from home. at the same time the other nations have invested a lot in young players and have achieved better results than us.
italy should invest much more in young people, even the under 21 national team now has serious problems and in the last European Championship it had to include non-quota players

[Sithara007]

It depends what you define as an achievable goal for them, but considering the FIFA ranking, they are right now ranked 57th between South Africa and Saudi Arabia. it is not bad for a small nation, or they are not that small with their population of 35 million, but they are considered rather small in the football business.

Whether there acceptable ranking has to do with their USSR past, I don't know, but it is true that countries from that region put a lot of emphasis on sports. I personally didn't know football is a big thing there.

The FIFA ranking is misleading sometimes I think because when you argue that Uzbekistan is enthusiastic about football and sports, China is as well, but they are only ranked 94th. 

Uzbekistan has hardly played against any teams outside the AFC confederation. So the current rankings doesn't really take in to account their present form. Only when they play against the top teams in tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup, their performance and prospects can be accurately measured. But I would like to repeat one thing. Performance in international football seems to have some correlation to demography. Countries with a young population are the ones who are advancing the most now.