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

[LUCKMCFLY]

Unfortunately, the Italian national team doesn't have a squad with the same high quality as the national teams of France, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal. Take Portugal for example; the Portuguese league is inferior to the Italian league (Serie A), but even so, the Portuguese national team's squad is far superior to Italy's.

This happens because the great Serie A teams don't have many Italian players, and Italy hasn't exported many players to other leagues. So, that generation of good players from the past has died, and no more good players have emerged in the present. I sincerely don't expect Italy to achieve great things, especially with the coach they have.

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

[cande86]

I really hope to see some underdogs going a long way in the next World Cup, for me that is the most interesting part of the competition! It's always nice to see big teams playing against each other but when we have a team that surprises the whole world is even better.

This has happened in the last two World Cups, in the 2022 World Cup we saw Morocco qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup while big teams like Germany, Belgium, Brazil and Portugal were eliminated. Japan and South Korea performed quite well in the 2018 World Cup. Something similar may happen in the 2026 World Cup, we may put some known teams in the favorite position considering the performance and team strength but even then we will see some teams that we did not consider as favorites but qualified for the quarter-finals or semi-finals. When relatively less strong teams go to a good stage of a big tournament like the Football World Cup, they have to be praised and it is very nice to see them celebrate that achievement.

Yes, but it was a coincidence and I don't think it can be repeated every year. It's true that football is changing and it certainly won't be the same as before, but the fact that there are these outsiders who then progress in the tournament is just a coincidence. It must be said that Morocco was actually really strong and wasn't exactly a poor team.

[Sithara007]

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

This is the age pyramid for Italy:

As you can see, the most populous group is those between 50 and 60 years old. The generation of those in 0-9 age group is less than half in number when compared to the largest group. In England, France and Germany, this is being offset by massive immigration from the Maghreb and the Sub-Saharan Africa. But in case of Italy, there is no large scale immigration. And this means that the player pool gets smaller with each passing year.

[BitArtisan]

I like that tthere is more team this time

[LUCKMCFLY]

Regarding the national team there are 0% chances for Italy to even think about winning the World Cup. And I'm Italian.

I have not followed the U15 and U16 national teams, but I think that if there is talent there they can use those kids, for me those kids are very good and they are ready to gain experience at a professional level, Italy's forward line is a little higher, Daniel Maldini is a player who has a legacy behind him, I don't know to what extent he is good and can take Italy far, Totrti's son gave up football because of the pressure, so it's difficult because now the kids think about other things, it's difficult, but Serie A is going up a level and that says a lot.

[jaberwock]

I really hope to see some underdogs going a long way in the next World Cup, for me that is the most interesting part of the competition! It's always nice to see big teams playing against each other but when we have a team that surprises the whole world is even better.

This has happened in the last two World Cups, in the 2022 World Cup we saw Morocco qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup while big teams like Germany, Belgium, Brazil and Portugal were eliminated. Japan and South Korea performed quite well in the 2018 World Cup. Something similar may happen in the 2026 World Cup, we may put some known teams in the favorite position considering the performance and team strength but even then we will see some teams that we did not consider as favorites but qualified for the quarter-finals or semi-finals. When relatively less strong teams go to a good stage of a big tournament like the Football World Cup, they have to be praised and it is very nice to see them celebrate that achievement.

In last few year's soccer is completely changing and things are going on good level for many countries those are involved in this game for years getting good results Morocco is surely surprised from Africa while Japan and South Korea are a consistent performer from Asian region.

Now just one year left in coming world cup which could be the biggest soccer event with 48 teams and 3 countries are going to host this is going to be another entertaining event I am also expecting some surprises from few countries because big countries fail to bring expecting changes. Portugal and Argentina could be on front but it's never been easy for them to go through easily because any underdog can give surprising performance and show them early exit.

[Ale88]

Regarding the national team there are 0% chances for Italy to even think about winning the World Cup. And I'm Italian.

I have not followed the U15 and U16 national teams, but I think that if there is talent there they can use those kids, for me those kids are very good and they are ready to gain experience at a professional level, Italy's forward line is a little higher, Daniel Maldini is a player who has a legacy behind him, I don't know to what extent he is good and can take Italy far, Totrti's son gave up football because of the pressure, so it's difficult because now the kids think about other things, it's difficult, but Serie A is going up a level and that says a lot.

The young Italian national teams are doing quite well, during the last years they reached some great achievements but the problem is that, in their clubs, they barely play for the first team, so there is no real growth, that's why more and more youngster are moving abroad, mainly to Germany but also Spain and England. I really don't know why so many Italian managers struggle to play with young players.

[Mr Reporter]

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

This is the age pyramid for Italy:

As you can see, the most populous group is those between 50 and 60 years old. The generation of those in 0-9 age group is less than half in number when compared to the largest group. In England, France and Germany, this is being offset by massive immigration from the Maghreb and the Sub-Saharan Africa. But in case of Italy, there is no large scale immigration. And this means that the player pool gets smaller with each passing year.

From what a have seen so far this has resulted in a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on the pensions systems, and also the median age in Italy is 48.2 years and the total fertility rate is 1.2 children per woman, which is below replacement level, pulse i think the demographic crisis is indeed a pressing concern. From the little research I made i think the litany has one of the highest median ages in the world, with significant proportion of its population aged 65 and above.

[m4r1o]

The young Italian national teams are doing quite well, during the last years they reached some great achievements but the problem is that, in their clubs, they barely play for the first team, so there is no real growth, that's why more and more youngster are moving abroad, mainly to Germany but also Spain and England. I really don't know why so many Italian managers struggle to play with young players.

This gives me hope that these young guys can once again make the first team great, which at the moment is truly laughable if not tearful.
Then Gattuso as a coach, i love him but in my opinion it's not his job to be a coach.
He is a good motivator and a good guy

[pewboy]

Regarding the national team there are 0% chances for Italy to even think about winning the World Cup. And I'm Italian.

I have not followed the U15 and U16 national teams, but i think that if there is talent there they can use those kids, for me those kids are very good and they are ready to gain experience at a professional level, Italy's forward line is a little higher, Daniel Maldini is a player who has a legacy behind him, i don't know to what extent he is good and can take Italy far, Totrti's son gave up football because of the pressure, so it's difficult because now the kids think about other things, it's difficult, but Serie A is going up a level and that says a lot.

Unfortunately, as an Italian, i also agree with Ale88, the times when Italy could play good football are really over due to many factors, i see kids who play more with their cell phones than with the ball
in this context we will always get worse

[SuperBitMan]

Unfortunately, the Italian national team doesn't have a squad with the same high quality as the national teams of France, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal. Take Portugal for example; the Portuguese league is inferior to the Italian league (Serie A), but even so, the Portuguese national team's squad is far superior to Italy's.

This happens because the great Serie A teams don't have many Italian players, and Italy hasn't exported many players to other leagues. So, that generation of good players from the past has died, and no more good players have emerged in the present. I sincerely don't expect Italy to achieve great things, especially with the coach they have.

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

It is not only in Italy other countries are facing this same thing children this days really don't want another thing apart from being an influencer and the reason why they want this is because those they are looking up to that are influencers are doing very well for them self and are very rich most of them didn't even go to school so the younger generation see no reason of going to school anymore.
Generally no human on earth love stress and they see school as stress the only way for the government or the society to make things go back the way they where before is to give a very good reward to those who are going to school and studying things that will help the society.
In my country getting a job after going to school is very difficult and that is why young people are now wanting to be influencers because they are making huge amount of money from it.
I really don't know how Italy government treat those who went to school if they are not giving good jobs then I won't plan those who are going into being an influencer.

[banana33]

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

This is the age pyramid for Italy:

As you can see, the most populous group is those between 50 and 60 years old. The generation of those in 0-9 age group is less than half in number when compared to the largest group. In England, France and Germany, this is being offset by massive immigration from the Maghreb and the Sub-Saharan Africa. But in case of Italy, there is no large scale immigration. And this means that the player pool gets smaller with each passing year.

Well, you're not entirely wrong, what you wrote makes perfect sense to me, obviously fewer young people, fewer young people playing football so less chance of someone becoming a champion, your point is flawless so i agree with you.
in fact other strong nations are emerging

[verdinio]

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

This is the age pyramid for Italy:

As you can see, the most populous group is those between 50 and 60 years old. The generation of those in 0-9 age group is less than half in number when compared to the largest group. In England, France and Germany, this is being offset by massive immigration from the Maghreb and the Sub-Saharan Africa. But in case of Italy, there is no large scale immigration. And this means that the player pool gets smaller with each passing year.

From what a have seen so far this has resulted in a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on the pensions systems, and also the median age in Italy is 48.2 years and the total fertility rate is 1.2 children per woman, which is below replacement level, pulse i think the demographic crisis is indeed a pressing concern. From the little research I made i think the litany has one of the highest median ages in the world, with significant proportion of its population aged 65 and above.

I don't think the problem is the pension but rather a system in collapse, and many Italians here can confirm that the clubs are only letting children with very strong bodies play to win the minor championship, leaving behind strong players who can give much more than the man. Here you only play if you are 1.70m tall at 14 years old.

[cande86]

The truth is a little worrying, Italy is a country that I want even my child to go to because its schools are very good, in fact Italy and Spain are for me the best for children's education, however what affects Italy the most is that now children like to be other things, they like video games more, PCs, they want to be influencers, all of that has its cost with the next generation.

This is the age pyramid for Italy:

As you can see, the most populous group is those between 50 and 60 years old. The generation of those in 0-9 age group is less than half in number when compared to the largest group. In England, France and Germany, this is being offset by massive immigration from the Maghreb and the Sub-Saharan Africa. But in case of Italy, there is no large scale immigration. And this means that the player pool gets smaller with each passing year.

Little by little we will surely recover, the birth rate is falling and there are fewer and fewer children, but I don't think that with immigration we can find young talents for Europe, surely there are many talented and young Italians who have been given the chance to play, it's the system that doesn't work unfortunately

[LUCKMCFLY]

In regards to the Italian national team, I think 0% is too pessimistic. I agree tha they are not one of the biggest favorite teams, there is no disagreement about that. But I think large events like the World Cup are always good for surprises and I would not count Italy out when it is about pulling a surprise. It's not like they only have low quality players.

Almost everyone who comments on Italy does so in a way that they don't see much hope for it, is it really that bad? I don't know, Italy has always been a very good team, in fact they should be on par with Spain at that level, it's time for Italy to do some good work with their football, because they have a very good league, they reach finals with their clubs, that indicates that it is a strong league, but Italian players need to be a little faster, I lean much more towards speed appealing to the fact that their technique is the same as always, but now football has a lot of speed.

[Volgastallion]

Italian couples needs to start to pumping out more babies NOW, they need them and the world need them, i dont like to see Italy full of inmigrants which are not italian, that pyramid seem very troublesome for the pension system, so all the pèople who can have a babie please start to have.

And so also italian football can have new footballers.

[Sithara007]

Little by little we will surely recover, the birth rate is falling and there are fewer and fewer children, but I don't think that with immigration we can find young talents for Europe, surely there are many talented and young Italians who have been given the chance to play, it's the system that doesn't work unfortunately

There is no doubt that the player pool is getting smaller with each generation. But in case of Italy, they have a very strong advantage which they haven't yet used so far. There are tens of millions of ethnic Italians in Latin America (there are tens of millions more in the United States, but I guess it will be difficult to convince them to move to Italy). These ethnic Italians from Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil can be encouraged to move to Italy. And given how strong are these guys in football, it will definitely benefit the Italian team.

[Ale88]

Italian couples needs to start to pumping out more babies NOW, they need them and the world need them, i dont like to see Italy full of inmigrants which are not italian, that pyramid seem very troublesome for the pension system, so all the pèople who can have a babie please start to have.

And so also italian football can have new footballers.

The birth rate is plummeting in the whole westerner world, not only in Italy. Cost of living is becoming too high, salaries are not high enough, many people think 10 times before having kids because they know they can't give a good life. On the other hand the immigrants don't think like that, they simply come, have 3-4-5 children and ask the government for money. I'm generalizing a but the actual situation is not that different, and that is true for Europe, North America, Australia...

[Lidger]

Regarding the national team there are 0% chances for Italy to even think about winning the World Cup. And I'm Italian.

I have not followed the U15 and U16 national teams, but i think that if there is talent there they can use those kids, for me those kids are very good and they are ready to gain experience at a professional level, Italy's forward line is a little higher, Daniel Maldini is a player who has a legacy behind him, i don't know to what extent he is good and can take Italy far, Totrti's son gave up football because of the pressure, so it's difficult because now the kids think about other things, it's difficult, but Serie A is going up a level and that says a lot.

Unfortunately, as an Italian, i also agree with Ale88, the times when Italy could play good football are really over due to many factors, i see kids who play more with their cell phones than with the ball
in this context we will always get worse

Yet this team has won the World Cup trophy four times. The Italian Football Federation is basically responsible for the bad times of Italian football. When Italy played good football, the Football Federation may not have given much importance to finding the next player, due to which the previous generation played good football, but the current generation is not able to play good football for Italy. If this continues, Italy may be dropped from the list of the best teams for a while.
Those who are working on Italian football should take the matter much more seriously and find good quality and talented players from the field level who can be trained and transformed into better quality players and represented for their team. The Italian Football Federation must do this effort for the good of the team.

[Ale88]

Regarding the national team there are 0% chances for Italy to even think about winning the World Cup. And I'm Italian.

I have not followed the U15 and U16 national teams, but i think that if there is talent there they can use those kids, for me those kids are very good and they are ready to gain experience at a professional level, Italy's forward line is a little higher, Daniel Maldini is a player who has a legacy behind him, i don't know to what extent he is good and can take Italy far, Totrti's son gave up football because of the pressure, so it's difficult because now the kids think about other things, it's difficult, but Serie A is going up a level and that says a lot.

Unfortunately, as an Italian, i also agree with Ale88, the times when Italy could play good football are really over due to many factors, i see kids who play more with their cell phones than with the ball
in this context we will always get worse

Yet this team has won the World Cup trophy four times. The Italian Football Federation is basically responsible for the bad times of Italian football. When Italy played good football, the Football Federation may not have given much importance to finding the next player, due to which the previous generation played good football, but the current generation is not able to play good football for Italy. If this continues, Italy may be dropped from the list of the best teams for a while.
Those who are working on Italian football should take the matter much more seriously and find good quality and talented players from the field level who can be trained and transformed into better quality players and represented for their team. The Italian Football Federation must do this effort for the good of the team.

As Italian I am extremely pissed off with the current situation but every big team had its bad periods in history, there is not a single team that has been getting results for 50-60 years in a row, it's simply not possible, things change, just like there are golden generations there also are bad generations, it's like a wheel. National teams, clubs, it doesn't matter, it's like that for everyone.