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

[Die_empty]

There's no doubt about it, I know that many like you are Betting that Brazil will go with a younger generation because the current one is lacking something , but the truth is they can go with the U15s if they want, but they should take Neymar Jr , he's the only one who still has the Joga Bonito , that will make the difference.

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

[Victorybit1]

There's no doubt about it, I know that many like you are Betting that Brazil will go with a younger generation because the current one is lacking something , but the truth is they can go with the U15s if they want, but they should take Neymar Jr , he's the only one who still has the Joga Bonito , that will make the difference.

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

I think the validity of this statement of yours actually depends on the manager selection of the team because I know there are manager that would not dare play a player that's injury prone in their team especially when it has to do with huge competition like the world cup, for me I think the statement should be every player in Brazil is replaceable, I mean come to think of it there are lots of abundant talent to choose from.

[mikel_012]

But who are exactly all these talented Brazilian players? Of course Brazil has very good players, we're talking about a country where football is like a religion and people are super passionate, but right now there has been a noticeable decline in the quality of the players, in every single role. Do they have any promising goalkeeper after Alisson and Ederson? Do they have any great center back after Thiago Silva and Marquinhos? Any left back after Marcelo? And what about right back after Daniel Alves and Danilo? Any midfielder (both defensive and offensive) like Casemiro, Coutinho, Fernandinho? And of course the biggest problem: the strikers. After Neymar they didn't produce a single great offensive player. Maybe Endrick and Estêvão will the next big things, I hope it for them, because if Brazil wants to win a World Cup with Vinicius and Rodrygo, well, good luck, combined they played 78 games and scored only 17 goals, that means they produce 1 goal every 4.5 matches; Neymar's average was 1.6...

Neymar was magical, but I don't think the team coaches until now have been able to make good use of the good players. You ask where are the talented players, so you are implying that Vinicius and Rodrygo are bad, but don't forget they both are big players in Real Madrid which is one of the biggest teams in the world right now that keep winning the Champions league.

I'm not saying that Vinicius is bad, I'm saying that he is overrated and he is kept in very high consideration because he plays for Real Madrid. Neymar at his age was way better than him for example. And if Rodrygo was that good he would be playing almost every match, but he doesn't. He's been playing for Real Madrid since 2019 and he never managed to become a starter up, usually in the majority of cases he's on the bench. If you are good, you play, I think we can all agree, right?

Just because they could not put out goals in the national team doesn't mean they are not talented, otherwise they wouldn't be winning many competitions every year.

Ream Madrid win because they have many of the best players in the world. Bellingham for example is another category compared to Vinicius and Rodrygo: he arrived at Real Madrid and immediately played like a champion. Even at Real Madrid Rodrygo doesn't score a lot of goals, only 68 in 280 appearances; Vinicius scored 111 goals in 335 matches.
Let's take a look a Bale for example: he scored 106 in 258 matches. Do you see the difference between a star player (like Bale) and a very good player like Vinicius? And then we have Rodrygo who is just above average in my opinion, I'm sorry but it's not possible that you are in a club for 6 years and yet you are the last choice. Even young guys like Guler and Mastantuono play more than him.

Then why did Vinicius Jr get second place in the Ballon d'Or? Do you think the journalists and team captains that vote for him know less than you, since you say he is overrated?

Did you watch the last seasons with Vini Jr? He was carrying the team attack many times, and got man of the match many times because he scored a goal out of nowhere to save the team. Same thing when Rodrygo saved Real Madrid against Manchester City with a double in the last minutes of the match to keep the team in the champions league and make them win in 2022.

Here is some history if you haven't seen because it looks like you missed it: https://www.reddit.com/r/realmadrid/comments/1mq56h8/crazy_6_minutes_of_madness_between_real_madrid/

[reefsea]

I think the validity of this statement of yours actually depends on the manager selection of the team because I know there are manager that would not dare play a player that's injury prone in their team especially when it has to do with huge competition like the world cup, for me I think the statement should be every player in Brazil is replaceable, I mean come to think of it there are lots of abundant talent to choose from.

A few years ago, when there were many complaints about the Brazilian national team coach, this might have been understandable, but now I think it's very difficult to do because we know the current capacity of the Brazilian coach.

However, what we can see from the Brazilian national team is that ego sometimes outweighs teamwork, and this is repeated. In terms of player quality, they have many players with excellent qualities, even considered grade A in individual ability, but when they work together, they appear very poor, and that can ultimately be a problem.
Their performance has become very erratic as a result, causing them to appear very good at one moment and then very poor in terms of chemistry and teamwork at another.

[Ale88]

Then why did Vinicius Jr get second place in the Ballon d'Or? Do you think the journalists and team captains that vote for him know less than you, since you say he is overrated?

Today's football level is quite low, 10 years ago it was difficult to choose the Balon d'Or winner because you had 5-6 players who could win; nowadays it's difficult to pick one. Do you think Vinicius is as good as Bale for example? Because Bale's best ranking in the Balon d'Or was the 6th place in 2016...

Same thing when Rodrygo saved Real Madrid against Manchester City with a double in the last minutes of the match to keep the team in the champions league and make them win in 2022.

Here is some history if you haven't seen because it looks like you missed it: https://www.reddit.com/r/realmadrid/comments/1mq56h8/crazy_6_minutes_of_madness_between_real_madrid/

I remember that match because I watched it, and I don't understand what you are trying to prove: he helped Real Madrid winning ONE game, one very important game of course, but it's one game. Is this enough for you to consider Rodrygo a star player? Because also Joselu scored some very important goals for Real Madrid, is Joselu a star player then?

[Sithara007]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

There is no question of omitting Neymar from the Brazilian squad. He is their best player by a long way, and I can't imagine a Brazilian team without him. Obviously his fitness level is an issue. But then, Neymar is the only one who can control it. I could see a lot of carelessness and complacency from his part. As a result, he is ruining his own chances, and also ruining the prospects of his team. What the coach can do here? At the most he can try to decrease the workload.

[famososMuertos]

An interesting theme to discussion, or one that at least really resonated with me, is the around ticket prices. The price for the opening day, in particular, is simply crazy. Similarly, FIFA has established an open market for ticket prices, which means they are heavily influenced by supply and demand. I don't think prices will be low, even for a team like Cape Verde...

I have had the opportunity to see some prices and although some even offer tickets with VIP services, they are sky-high.

[Sithara007]

An interesting theme to discussion, or one that at least really resonated with me, is the around ticket prices. The price for the opening day, in particular, is simply crazy. Similarly, FIFA has established an open market for ticket prices, which means they are heavily influenced by supply and demand. I don't think prices will be low, even for a team like Cape Verde...

I have had the opportunity to see some prices and although some even offer tickets with VIP services, they are sky-high.

IMO, FIFA did the right thing by increasing the ticket prices. If the ticket prices are too low, then scammers will bulk-purchase tickets in thousands and then resell them at 10x or 100x the original price. Increasing the ticket prices to fair levels will make sure that it never happens. Also, the world cup happens only once every 4 years, and it is the main revenue source for FIFA. So they need to milk the tournament to the maximum. Losers will complain about the ticket prices, but FIFA needs to ignore that.

[Synchronice]

Bad habit from Brazil player after popular and playing with European team most of them can't manage well with their life activities, many top Brazil players have downtrend performance after bad lifestyle and can't controlling well ideal weight for athletes. Usually many top players can played well over 35 to 38 years old but several top Brazil players after bad lifestyle make them difficult perform well over 30 years old until loss opportunity playing with top European teams.

Most special thing with The Brazilian national team is never short of young talent who can play with quite good performance, always able to orbit young players with potential and can play for big European clubs every season. For this season, Brazil national team have youth talent players Estêvão performed very well with Brazil and last nigh scoring one goal in Champion League match.

In Europe, when a player isn't a player, like doesn't become that millionaire, their friends for example from school, they grow up to be ordinary people who live a normal life, go to work, come home, watch netflix, eat some pizza or whatever and sleep.

In Brazil, or in Argentina, but mainly in Brazil, those kids are people who do not know where the next food will come, some of them are so poor when they were growing up, they have no idea if they will even eat today, some go to sleep early in empty stomach so they wouldn't starve, while their parents work hard to find at least something to eat.

I am talking about poorest of the poorest, and what they do is play football to forget the pain and have one avenue in their life where they can have fun. Some become great, and when they make millions, they want to take revenge on life, because that mindset of not knowing what can happen tomorrow is still there. So they party, even take drugs, drink, get with girls, because they know only today exists, tomorrow is not promised.

Two great posts under one quote.
It's very hard to keep the lifestyle of an athlete. You have to always eat clean, which is very hard but over time when you earn a good money, you can hire a chef who will cook healthy but delicious food with expensive ingredients. It was more of a problem years ago but not today. Besides eating clean, you have to count calories and on top of that, you have to train hard, very hard. Football athletes have football matches very often, so often that it's hard to recover from such matches and training sessions in such a very short time. This becomes very depressive and only thing that motivates you and keeps you motivated is when you see the success.

@henmark
When they earn money, they start partying and some other things because they have never seen a good life in their childhood, so they act like, I don't know what word to use, probably primitive matches it better but I do not mean it in an offensive way. When you haven't eaten a good food in your lifetime and one day you have all the money to taste whatever you want, you really act stupid because you had nothing and now have everything, so you woke up in an absolutely different place.

[cande86]

An interesting theme to discussion, or one that at least really resonated with me, is the around ticket prices. The price for the opening day, in particular, is simply crazy. Similarly, FIFA has established an open market for ticket prices, which means they are heavily influenced by supply and demand. I don't think prices will be low, even for a team like Cape Verde...

I have had the opportunity to see some prices and although some even offer tickets with VIP services, they are sky-high.

FIFA is taking advantage of the prices and the fans a bit too much, I just hope everyone backs down.
Prices are getting very high and they know that everyone will pay to see their team even if I think that there are poor nations that cannot do it,I hope people realize and don't pay anymore

[Iamgoat]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

There is no question of omitting Neymar from the Brazilian squad. He is their best player by a long way, and I can't imagine a Brazilian team without him. Obviously his fitness level is an issue. But then, Neymar is the only one who can control it. I could see a lot of carelessness and complacency from his part. As a result, he is ruining his own chances, and also ruining the prospects of his team. What the coach can do here? At the most he can try to decrease the workload.

One thing I know is, Ancelotti is a very practical coach, he does not build a team around emotions or names but around performance and delivery. If Neymar is fully fit for the games and disciplined enough, I am pretty sure he will absolutely be in Ancelotti's first 11 plans because you cannot do away with Neymars creativity and game changing moments but if he is still struggling with fitness and he is inconsistent, I don't think Ancelotti will want to force him into the first 11 just because of his name. But he might just end up managing him like he did with stars like Benzema or Ronaldo using him wisely. He may decide not to use him in all his matches but where his impacts can be felt. What I know can happen is if Ancelotti discovers Neymar body or attitude does not fit the squads rhythm, he won't hesitate to rotate him with younger and more hungrier players in the team.

[SuperBitMan]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

There is no question of omitting Neymar from the Brazilian squad. He is their best player by a long way, and I can't imagine a Brazilian team without him. Obviously his fitness level is an issue. But then, Neymar is the only one who can control it. I could see a lot of carelessness and complacency from his part. As a result, he is ruining his own chances, and also ruining the prospects of his team. What the coach can do here? At the most he can try to decrease the workload.

Neymar is a very good player, and the Brazil team need him so much in this coming world cup, he's one of the players in Brazil that can always bypass defenders and I'm sure the coach knows of this, yes it is true that he always get injury but is not enough reason to remove him from playing this 2026 world cup he's a player that can create chances and any player that can treat chances is a player that should be respected and always carried along in every match.
Brazil has a very good squad and if the coach knows what he's doing very well I'm very sure they will go far in this 2026 world cup however I trust the coach he's a very good and experience coach who has taken Real Madrid far and has won some numbers of trophies I'm very sure that this world cup Brazil will go far and may end up winning the world cup.

[8rch7]

One thing I know is, Ancelotti is a very practical coach, he does not build a team around emotions or names but around performance and delivery. If Neymar is fully fit for the games and disciplined enough, I am pretty sure he will absolutely be in Ancelotti's first 11 plans because you cannot do away with Neymars creativity and game changing moments but if he is still struggling with fitness and he is inconsistent, I don't think Ancelotti will want to force him into the first 11 just because of his name. But he might just end up managing him like he did with stars like Benzema or Ronaldo using him wisely. He may decide not to use him in all his matches but where his impacts can be felt. What I know can happen is if Ancelotti discovers Neymar body or attitude does not fit the squads rhythm, he won't hesitate to rotate him with younger and more hungrier players in the team.

Carlo Ancelotti always priority for calling player to national teams based consistent performance, getting more minutes playing with the club and never build up the teams based how popular that players. Important for player calling without get injury and recently Ancelotti have give chance for Neymar returning back to Brazil but he got injury around few days before world cup qualifying match begin. After returning from Al Hilal, Neymar have good attitude with his current teams Santos but he can't perform as well as still getting injury, not sure yet will the world cup 2026 has opportunity for him or not?
Six months left and Neymar must proof his consistent performance but not get injury any more if won't loss greatest chance, Brazil have many top talented at winger or attacking line position and Neymar must fighting hard if want back to national team for participating at world cup 2026.

[martinom]

An interesting theme to discussion, or one that at least really resonated with me, is the around ticket prices. The price for the opening day, in particular, is simply crazy. Similarly, FIFA has established an open market for ticket prices, which means they are heavily influenced by supply and demand. I don't think prices will be low, even for a team like Cape Verde...

I have had the opportunity to see some prices and although some even offer tickets with VIP services, they are sky-high.

Look, I've never participated in a World Cup, but I've always looked at the prices because i would have liked to.
Ticket prices are way too high, FIFA has decided to speculate massively on them and that's not good.
You can't deprive poor people of watching a fantastic spectacle like the World Cup.

[pewboy]

However, what we can see from the Brazilian national team is that ego sometimes outweighs teamwork, and this is repeated. In terms of player quality, they have many players with excellent qualities, even considered grade A in individual ability, but when they work together, they appear very poor, and that can ultimately be a problem.
Their performance has become very erratic as a result, causing them to appear very good at one moment and then very poor in terms of chemistry and teamwork at another.

Now that they have such a strong coach they don't have to question every choice he makes, it reminds me a lot of Italy who are going through a bad period and every time it was the coach's fault when in reality one of the main problems were the players who didn't try hard enough.

[Donneski]

However, what we can see from the Brazilian national team is that ego sometimes outweighs teamwork, and this is repeated. In terms of player quality, they have many players with excellent qualities, even considered grade A in individual ability, but when they work together, they appear very poor, and that can ultimately be a problem.
Their performance has become very erratic as a result, causing them to appear very good at one moment and then very poor in terms of chemistry and teamwork at another.

Now that they have such a strong coach they don't have to question every choice he makes, it reminds me a lot of Italy who are going through a bad period and every time it was the coach's fault when in reality one of the main problems were the players who didn't try hard enough.

No team will have a high profile manager like Carlo Ancelotti and want to question his choices because you already know that his selections are made for the best interest of the team and his results since he became the manager of Brazilian national team I think attests to the fact that he actually knows what he's doing.
The Brazil team is made up of quality world class players, they're so talented that their second VI can feature in the starting VI of any team in the world but with Carlo Ancelotti as the coach of the side, I strongly believe that he'll help make them play more like a team than individual quality players.

[Ale88]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

There is no question of omitting Neymar from the Brazilian squad. He is their best player by a long way, and I can't imagine a Brazilian team without him. Obviously his fitness level is an issue. But then, Neymar is the only one who can control it. I could see a lot of carelessness and complacency from his part. As a result, he is ruining his own chances, and also ruining the prospects of his team. What the coach can do here? At the most he can try to decrease the workload.

I agree that on paper Neymar is still Brazil's best player but the problem is that he is constantly injured. He plays a few matches and then he gets injured again for months. How can you call up a player that maybe played 10-15 games during the last year? I hope he can make it, I really hope it, but he must be in good shape, he can't be called if he doesn't play enough games with the club, it would be unfair also for the other players.

[retreat]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

His fitness and health are likely the main issues Ancelotti is considering as to why he hasn't included Neymar in the Brazil squad. His performances for Santos haven't been particularly impressive so far, and coupled with his physical condition not yet fully recovered from a long injury, it's a serious concern for his ability to play for the Brazilian squad. This is certainly a dilemma for him, as he still desperately wants to play for Brazil once again, but with his condition like this, I don't think Ancelotti wants to risk anything further.

[Alex077]

 The way everything has gone on in the field so far, I think it is going to be a problem for the Spain national team to actually have good chemistry between the players. The captain of the Spanish team is here beefing with young players like Lamine Yamal. There was actually a big scene caused by both of the teams after the match ended. We all know that Yamal already has a big ego and Carvajal is going to be the captain of Spain in the World Cup, most probably. He is definitely not going to take that disrespect. So there is obviously going to be a big gap in chemistry between the players of Spain in the upcoming World Cup. I dont think it would have been a problem if the players that are beefing were actually old. But the problem is, we have a youngster in the scene

[l99l]

Neymar should be in the World Cup squad; he has the experience and skills that would contribute positively to the Brazilian team. But his problems are fitness and injuries. Since he started suffering from recurrent injuries, we have yet to see the best from the former PSG player. Brazil is a country that is blessed with football talent. We might be assuming that the team needs Neymar, but a young player who replaced him might become a star after the World Cup due to his performance.  No player in Brazil is irreplaceable.

His fitness and health are likely the main issues Ancelotti is considering as to why he hasn't included Neymar in the Brazil squad. His performances for Santos haven't been particularly impressive so far, and coupled with his physical condition not yet fully recovered from a long injury, it's a serious concern for his ability to play for the Brazilian squad. This is certainly a dilemma for him, as he still desperately wants to play for Brazil once again, but with his condition like this, I don't think Ancelotti wants to risk anything further.

He didn't make a good impression in the Santos jersey, if he had, Neymar could have worn the Brazilian jersey.
No one can doubt his experience and talent, we know his problem is recurring injuries and his subsequent lack of form.
Ancelotti can't and doesn't want to take that risk. Ancelotti wants Neymar as long as he's fit, but we know he can't provide that kind of consistency right now.
If he meets the required conditions and everything goes well, he will be included in the squad.