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

[BRINIRHA]

I am truly impressed with Spain's style of play. So much so that I would not be surprised if someone said that Spain is the favorite to win the World Cup this time around. Although that conclusion may be premature, anyone who says that must be captivated by this team's style of play. Even the widespread concern that Spain would struggle without Yamal has proven unfounded. It seems everyone has been mistaken all along. The reality is that Spain will remain strong and productive even without that young player. Just look at the score in the match currently underway.

[kbhutto]

I am truly impressed with Spain's style of play. So much so that I would not be surprised if someone said that Spain is the favorite to win the World Cup this time around. Although that conclusion may be premature, anyone who says that must be captivated by this team's style of play. Even the widespread concern that Spain would struggle without Yamal has proven unfounded. It seems everyone has been mistaken all along. The reality is that Spain will remain strong and productive even without that young player. Just look at the score in the match currently underway.

Spain has given a new surprise after a long period of drastic decline in performance. The coach also relied too much on young players so that in the Qatar World Cup they played very badly and this result is very satisfying to encourage the team.
Spain is a strong team and classy players who have enough experience, it is not surprising that Spain is a candidate to win the World Cup next year.

[Adbitco]

Norway crushed Estonia 4-1.

Not long ago, it seemed that the final match between Italy and Norway would be crucial in the battle for a direct spot in the 2026 World Cup. Now it has become clear that this game will hardly have any significance.

When points are tied, the goal difference across the entire qualifying group is taken into account. Norway currently has +29 (thanks to Haaland), while Italy has +10. For Italy, compensating for a 19-goal deficit in just two matches is virtually impossible. They would need to beat Moldova 10-0 and then Norway 5-0. That seems rather unlikely.

I'm Italian and I can tell you that after the defeat in Norway it was clear that Norway would have won the group because they already had a huge goal difference. Right now Norway's GD is +29, Italy is +12, and there are not too many teams leading their group with a better GD than Italy. Some of them, Austria for example, have a slightly better GD just because they scored 14 goals against San Marino. And no other team have a 20+ GD, maximum is +19, so the amount of goals Norway scored is insane. I'll be honest, Norway are a better team than Italy at the moment, at the same time is not really fair that a team that lost 1 game won't be able to qualify directly at the World Cup. Italy are in the same position of Bolivia that lost 10 games out of 18 and they have a -18 GD. Clearly the qualification system would need to be revised somehow.

+29 GD is an insane statistics for qualifying matches played, it's as if Norway has turned it to basketball but it's not entirely their fault, most of those goals were scored against teams that are not considered footballing nations. But seriously, this goal ratio of Norway is really insane. Italy has really declined in recent years if not, a team like Norway and Italy being in the same group simply meant that Italy was going to top the group without any form of rivalry but right now the Italian team we once knew isn't the same anymore.

[BRINIRHA]

I am truly impressed with Spain's style of play. So much so that I would not be surprised if someone said that Spain is the favorite to win the World Cup this time around. Although that conclusion may be premature, anyone who says that must be captivated by this team's style of play. Even the widespread concern that Spain would struggle without Yamal has proven unfounded. It seems everyone has been mistaken all along. The reality is that Spain will remain strong and productive even without that young player. Just look at the score in the match currently underway.

Spain has given a new surprise after a long period of drastic decline in performance. The coach also relied too much on young players so that in the Qatar World Cup they played very badly and this result is very satisfying to encourage the team.
Spain is a strong team and classy players who have enough experience, it is not surprising that Spain is a candidate to win the World Cup next year.

Yes, the Spanish national team does have extraordinary young talent. But their senior players are just as extraordinary. This team never lacks quality players. So the concerns of many people due to the absence of young players seem unnecessary. This team has the quality to become even better. I am currently very excited and curious about what Spain can achieve at the 2026 World Cup.

The Georgia vs. Spain match is now in the 84th minute. However, no more goals have been scored. But I think four goals are more than enough. 

[execijutiere]

In Group G, the Netherlands and Poland had already secured their places in the knockout stage, so they opted to share the points. The Netherlands had more possession, but neither team created many clear-cut scoring opportunities. It was a match played entirely for a draw.
Finland, knowing they couldn't advance from the group, didn't play with much enthusiasm against Malta. Malta, however, managed to win the match and increase their group points to 5.

[Adbitco]

The red and given to Cristiano Ronaldo against Ireland will simply mark the end of his qualifying games for Portugal as this will be his qualifiers match ever played but looking at his career statistics on the qualifiers alone, it's incredible and for now, his the players with the highest. With 52 matches his played,  scoring 41 goals with 11 assists makes him the top scorer in the WC qualifiers in history.

[Merit.s]

Yes, the Spanish national team does have extraordinary young talent. But their senior players are just as extraordinary. This team never lacks quality players. So the concerns of many people due to the absence of young players seem unnecessary. This team has the quality to become even better. I am currently very excited and curious about what Spain can achieve at the 2026 World Cup.

The Georgia vs. Spain match is now in the 84th minute. However, no more goals have been scored. But I think four goals are more than enough. 

Spain has one of the best young squad currently in the world. I didn't watch the match however, I expected Spain to win the match and I am not surprised with the number of goals that they scored.

Georgia isn't a good match for them because they don't have what it takes to stop Spain attack from scoring as many goals as they can.

[BIT-BENDER]

Yes, the Spanish national team does have extraordinary young talent. But their senior players are just as extraordinary. This team never lacks quality players. So the concerns of many people due to the absence of young players seem unnecessary. This team has the quality to become even better. I am currently very excited and curious about what Spain can achieve at the 2026 World Cup.

The Georgia vs. Spain match is now in the 84th minute. However, no more goals have been scored. But I think four goals are more than enough. 

Spain has one of the best young squad currently in the world. I didn't watch the match however, I expected Spain to win the match and I am not surprised with the number of goals that they scored.

Georgia isn't a good match for them because they don't have what it takes to stop Spain attack from scoring as many goals as they can.

Spain just effortless beat Georgia today scoring four goals. I won't say that Georgia wasn't good today but I think Spain was just too good for them, the scoreline should have been more if not for the many unbelievable saves by the Georgian keeper and some carelessly taken chances by the Spanish strikers.
Spain hasn't automatically qualified but I don't think Turkey will beat Spain rather it will be another win for the Spanish team.

[ingiltere]

Spain won very comfortably but Türkiye made me lose my parlay. We took an early lead with Hakan Çalhanoğlu's penalty goal but we missed too many goals, especially Kerem missed too many goal positions. Kenan Yıldız played great, but we couldn't score. This match could've gone to 6 goals like the first one, the players were not good in the last shots. The second goal came too late. Otherwise the match would've been over 3.5 goals. Montella's wrong line-up choice and changes also prevented the score from being different.

[PremiumcryptoHub]

We will witness the climax of an epic qualifying match between the Republic of Ireland and Hungary in Budapest yesterday. Despite all the odds, the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying hopes are still alive ahead of this game in Budapest, and we think they can easily claim a famous victory from this match because it's not to be forgotten that they recently defeated Ronaldo's Portugal 2-0.

The Republic of Ireland and Hungary have a lot in common for the upcoming match because I think Ireland secured a significant two-goal victory in the qualifier against Portugal, meanwhile, Hungary secured a 2-2 draw in a qualifying round against Portugal, these are examples of their historical statistics.

[FanEagle]

To be fair it's the usual suspects that are going, not really expecting that much difference, Norway is the one that is the good qualifier because of how great Haaland ahs been.

Croatia for example has always been good, since Modric got there is not the only reason, even before Modric, Croatia has been a good football country for decades, they are just very interested in the sport itself and always have great players coming up one way or another, not all have to be superstar Ballon d'or winners like Modric obviously, but still very talented players out of that nation all the time. I sure do hope that we are going to end up with something that will get better. Hopefully they can keep that up for after the Modric era.

[karabiber]

Spain has largely secured direct qualification for the World Cup. Türkiye, on the other hand, finished second in the group and will play in the playoffs to qualify for the World Cup. Therefore, last match between Türkiye and Spain will be a formality. Türkiye managed to comfortably secure the three points against Bulgaria without exerting too much effort. There is no need to analyze the match by saying Türkiye played well or poorly. It was a difficult match to concentrate on, and by winning, they have almost guaranteed their place in the World Cup qualifiers from the first pot. Türkiye had a good group stage overall. They have a good coach and a quality squad. Türkiye has taken another important step towards qualifying for the World Cup.

[Mr Reporter]

The red and given to Cristiano Ronaldo against Ireland will simply mark the end of his qualifying games for Portugal as this will be his qualifiers match ever played but looking at his career statistics on the qualifiers alone, it's incredible and for now, his the players with the highest. With 52 matches his played,  scoring 41 goals with 11 assists makes him the top scorer in the WC qualifiers in history.

The red card against Ireland was a shocker it’ll be Ronaldo’s final World Cup‑qualifier appearance, ending a run of 52 matches where he’s racked up 41 goals and 11 assists, making him the all‑time leading scorer in qualifying history. He just broke the record that stood at 39, and now sits alone on 41 .

 Even more wild that sending‑off was his first ever red for Portugal, coming on his 226th cap . So yeah, a historic end to a legendary qualifying campaign – what a way to go out!

[Agbe]

Spain has largely secured direct qualification for the World Cup. Türkiye, on the other hand, finished second in the group and will play in the playoffs to qualify for the World Cup. Therefore, last match between Türkiye and Spain will be a formality. Türkiye managed to comfortably secure the three points against Bulgaria without exerting too much effort. There is no need to analyze the match by saying Türkiye played well or poorly. It was a difficult match to concentrate on, and by winning, they have almost guaranteed their place in the World Cup qualifiers from the first pot. Türkiye had a good group stage overall. They have a good coach and a quality squad. Türkiye has taken another important step towards qualifying for the World Cup.

Spanish football has on the high for a long time this is due to the level of investment that the Spanish football governing body has been able to do especially in the areas of youths development. One thing that I like about Spain is that there is a good youth development program that enable young players to be discovered and given the chance to showcase what they have Yamal is one good example. The target of Spain has gone beyond just qualifying for the world cup but actually winning the world cup because they have the players to win the world cup because, there are allot of world class players.

[Rikafip]

The red and given to Cristiano Ronaldo against Ireland will simply mark the end of his qualifying games for Portugal as this will be his qualifiers match ever played but looking at his career statistics on the qualifiers alone, it's incredible and for now, his the players with the highest. With 52 matches his played,  scoring 41 goals with 11 assists makes him the top scorer in the WC qualifiers in history.

I wouldn't put my money on that, that next year's world cup will be his last big tournament. He likes records, and since he is going for 1000 goals, he needs as many games as possible, so playing for Portugal helps him with that.

Unless of course he announced that he is retiring from Portugal team after world cup.

[Slow death]

I am truly impressed with Spain's style of play. So much so that I would not be surprised if someone said that Spain is the favorite to win the World Cup this time around. Although that conclusion may be premature, anyone who says that must be captivated by this team's style of play. Even the widespread concern that Spain would struggle without Yamal has proven unfounded. It seems everyone has been mistaken all along. The reality is that Spain will remain strong and productive even without that young player. Just look at the score in the match currently underway.

Spain has good players, they have a good coach who has managed to get the players to play in sync, but this is due to the fact that Spain has a good league and many of these players know each other, thus they have a more cohesive national team. Unlike other national teams where each player is in a league with a very different style of play, look at the Portuguese national team for example. Each player has great skills, but they are from very different leagues; when they play for the national team they lack synergy and cannot perform well.

[LGD2Business]

There is Spain and there are other teams in this tournament. The first team to reach the final is already known, we will watch the tournament to see who the second team will be. Teams such as Argentina, Brazil, Germany and France will compete to reach the final and become Spain's opponent. That's what I see when I look at the games being played. They play so perfect that they make all the other teams look like amateurs.
Despite missing players, nothing changes. Spain always plays like a well-functioning machine.

[Sexylizzy2813]

The Sweden game against Switzerland is something I would say was above average in the first half. Switzerland dominated for better part of the half after Breel Embolo's goal came in early enough and i was already saying it would be business as usual for Sweden where they won't have much registered shots at the enemy's goal but it's like they were ready to change the narrative today. Some would say its because Isak and Viktor Gyökeres aren't available while some would say it's because of the influence of the new coach.

Graham Potter will have to ginger his boys to do better in the second half because you don't win games by hiding behind the defense (which is very poor by the way) but by forcing the attack and taking advantage of counters because that's the only way you can make up for the things you lack. Second half would be tough because if anything, Sweden need this win more than anyone else.

[Webetcoins]

England qualified in style. They played seven games, won all and conceded not a single goal. They will be meeting Albania in the next match and might want to win with a clean sheet.  Since the match will not affect their qualification, Thomas Tuchel might decide to give other players the opportunity, thereby resting his key players. The German has brought back the glory of the English side but the true test would be in major competitions like the World Cup.

Congratulations to France and Croatia. They all deserve to be in the World Cup. On Sunday, the fate of other countries while some will have to participate in a playoff.  

To be fair it was always obvious that England would have a field that in that group, they do not have that much of a team that can posses a challenge for them, which is why I think it's quite important for them to have this kind of return. They will be in world cup as usual, rarely miss, but the thing that will make it harder for them will be doing something at world cup.

While England is great, and premier league is great, and English people love football, it's mainly not the English players that made it this big, was it? It was money and other nations, they bought players from all around the world, even in lower leagues. So it's definitely not easy to make this work one way or another, they fail to win world cups because of it.

[CroverNo01]

The red card against Ireland was a shocker it’ll be Ronaldo’s final World Cup‑qualifier appearance, ending a run of 52 matches where he’s racked up 41 goals and 11 assists, making him the all‑time leading scorer in qualifying history. He just broke the record that stood at 39, and now sits alone on 41 .

 Even more wild that sending‑off was his first ever red for Portugal, coming on his 226th cap . So yeah, a historic end to a legendary qualifying campaign – what a way to go out!

Cristiano Ronaldo is a professional player and sometimes I'm baffled and shocked to see the player unable to control his emotions on the pitch. There's something about Ronaldo, he's always too fast to react and things do end up badly for Ronaldo when he reacts aggressively. Ronaldo should do better afterall he's been in the football race for long than I can remember, he ought to understand and kno how these oppositions imitates and mocked players on the pitch. Ronaldo is masterclass and I would urge him to level up his game because with this current attitude, his performance is placed on up and down hustle.