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

[LTU_btc]

These qualifiers is such waste of time for most big teams. It's not even last round and we have so little games that actually matters. Like Spain, they still didn't conceded any goals. Ok, Kazachstan made surprising draw with Belgium, but for Belgium it was meaningless game.
Bosnia and Herzegovina takes crucial win against Romania and now faith of 2nd place will be decided on the last round.
Belarus makes upset of the day by scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes against Denmark. It wasn't enough for the win, but draw playing away is more than good result, considering that previous game ended with loss 0:6.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

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.

That makes sense especially if we look at their performance in the 5 matches in Group E and we can call it a perfect result, out of 5 matches they won all of them scored 19 goals without conceding, it is a perfect collaboration between the defense and attack line. But yeah it's a guarantee to say that Spain is the main candidate because England also recorded the same record, also the other teams that are in first place for each group cannot be underestimated France, Portugal and Belgium including several teams that are called underdog teams.

[CLS63]

We managed to beat Bulgaria 2-0 home today. But I must say that I was really not happy with our performance. Because we played without a number 9 again and this time it had a really bad affect unlike the first match against Bulgaria.

If a natural forward played in Kerem's position today we could have easily scored at least a few more goals. Now it is certain that we are in playoffs. At least we will most probably be among the seeded teams which is really good news. I hope we can qualify for the World Cup after long years.

[TelolettOm]

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.

For the Swedish national team, Viktor Gyökeres was forced to miss the match due to injury, and Isak was a substitute in this match because he was still not fully fit. The final result of the Switzerland vs. Sweden match was a big win for Switzerland.

Final score: Switzerland 4 vs. Sweden 1

In this match, Granit Xhaka converted a penalty kick and scored one goal from that penalty. Switzerland now qualifies.

[Joy_learns_crypto]

We managed to beat Bulgaria 2-0 home today. But I must say that I was really not happy with our performance. Because we played without a number 9 again and this time it had a really bad affect unlike the first match against Bulgaria.

If a natural forward played in Kerem's position today we could have easily scored at least a few more goals. Now it is certain that we are in playoffs. At least we will most probably be among the seeded teams which is really good news. I hope we can qualify for the World Cup after long years.

Congratulations to turkey on doing that, right now the least that can happen to Turkey is a playoff, but the team that is surprising me in this World Cup qualifiers is Sweden, this team have the two of the best attackers in the world but the can win any match in this qualification.
Switzerland’s attack is not even as strong as Sweden’s own but they scored four goals, the Swedish football association should not wait to replace their coach, I don’t this there is any hope for the Swedish team to qualify for the World Cup.

[snipie]

If a natural forward played in Kerem's position today we could have easily scored at least a few more goals. Now it is certain that we are in playoffs. At least we will most probably be among the seeded teams which is really good news. I hope we can qualify for the World Cup after long years.

Turkiye will participate in the play-offs where 16 teams will face each others and only 4 will qualify at the end. So 25% of chance to pass to the World Cup which isn't that bad. They have just to work hard in the next step.

From what I understood, England, France and Croatia officially qualified.
Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands and Norway qualified also, just not officially yet but they 99% did.
Portugal and Belgium are almost there. They will face weak teams and should qualify too.
The remaining games might comes with surprises and some of it will be between the first and the second team in the ranking so quite interesting.

[l99l]

Bulgaria was well-prepared for the match, having conceded six goals in the previous match, so they tactically switched to a more closed-door game.
The plan was to play defensively and look for goals whenever possible. It's also worth noting that Bulgaria defended well. Scoring wasn't easy this time
One goal came from a penalty for Turkey, and the other was an own goal for Bulgaria. Even without these goals, a goal would have been scored somehow and the victory would have been won. It was an important match.

[stompix]

England qualified in style. They played seven games, won all and conceded not a single goal.

Against....Albania, Serbia, Latvia, and Andorra!
Qualification in "style" against teams that have never been in a final tournament and a single team that has ever competed with the best record this century being a 23rd position!
Not that other teams are doing that great , yeah, looking at you Italy, but still they faced actual opposition!

Now, if we talk about surprises:


I think this is the only table that could actually make sense, even if flipped upside down...

[Joy- maker]

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.

See I have watched Cristiano ronaldo play, that dude is not always quick to anger his always patient and ceases not to react when ever a player is try to exhibit an in appreciate behavior in the pitch, although I can't deny the fact that Cristiano ronaldo is always quick to anger but, even if  you where in his sues  and a defender is tackling you in that manner he was tackling Cristiano ronaldo, you will definitely get and angry and react the same way Cristiano ronaldo reacted in he his previous match that made he to receive a red card for his action. And I will also urge those people who are saying that Cristiano ronaldo acted unprofessional in that match to withdraw their speech and see things the appropriate way.

[Richbased]

If a natural forward played in Kerem's position today we could have easily scored at least a few more goals. Now it is certain that we are in playoffs. At least we will most probably be among the seeded teams which is really good news. I hope we can qualify for the World Cup after long years.

Turkiye will participate in the play-offs where 16 teams will face each others and only 4 will qualify at the end. So 25% of chance to pass to the World Cup which isn't that bad. They have just to work hard in the next step.

16 teams participating in a playoff that will produce only 4 qualifiers is really hectic but i wish Turkey well because they seem like a team that can show wonderful performance should they make it to the World cup. It's such a difficult route but if they can put more efforts in those matches then they will likely be among the 4 teams.

From what I understood, England, France and Croatia officially qualified.
Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands and Norway qualified also, just not officially yet but they 99% did.
Portugal and Belgium are almost there. They will face weak teams and should qualify too.
The remaining games might comes with surprises and some of it will be between the first and the second team in the ranking so quite interesting.

The teams that have qualified so far are interesting teams, they all worked hard to get to the World Cup so it wasn't easy for them all but they qualified and made their countries proud. Seems like we might be seeing a very tough World cup in 2026 because these qualifier games are even more like the World cup because of the intensity of the matches.

[MK-74]

Turkiye guaranteed a place in the Play-offs tonight by beating Bulgaria.
We played well in the 2–0 win, the opponent was weak, but it was an important victory for us.

Spain beat Georgia 4–0 away and secured direct qualification for the World Cup.

The matches in Group J are very competitive. Belgium will finish first with a 90% probability, but the result of the Wales – North Macedonia match will determine who finishes second.

[Akbarkoe]

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.

That makes sense especially if we look at their performance in the 5 matches in Group E and we can call it a perfect result, out of 5 matches they won all of them scored 19 goals without conceding, it is a perfect collaboration between the defense and attack line. But yeah it's a guarantee to say that Spain is the main candidate because England also recorded the same record, also the other teams that are in first place for each group cannot be underestimated France, Portugal and Belgium including several teams that are called underdog teams.

England and Spain are always in the running for a tense spot in the quarterfinals and finals, these two teams are giants that are very difficult to deal with, the group stage ii results are enough to tell us that they will not mince words in this round and they say don't doubt us here.

And the other teams from group A to L are really quite crazy in the points leader Croatia, Netherlands and others are also leading with strong dominance, I am looking forward to the next round when the group i leaders are brought together and show their ability with stronger teams, the group phase is always easy for them.

[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.

For the Swedish national team, Viktor Gyökeres was forced to miss the match due to injury, and Isak was a substitute in this match because he was still not fully fit. The final result of the Switzerland vs. Sweden match was a big win for Switzerland.

Final score: Switzerland 4 vs. Sweden 1

In this match, Granit Xhaka converted a penalty kick and scored one goal from that penalty. Switzerland now qualifies.

I don't know but ever since Isak choose Liverpool over Newcastle he hasn't been himself like the scoring and giving assist Isak that we know, everything about him just went off color and if he doesn't pick up form before the end of this year I think he will be labeled as the worse signing in the EPL this season.
The Sweden national team lack so many things that has been affecting them now that the qualifiers is getting serious, as of early this year in some of their games, Sweden look like a team that have what it takes to get more than 2 goals in a match, but yet again what went wrong in the national team of Sweden? We could also see their opponent find it difficult to dominate them but after the end of last season the whole picture changed, with how they are struggling even Potter will wish he never took this job, is really terrible to see them in this kind of situation, even playing 2 strikers won't help them at this stage.

[Uruhara]

For the Swedish national team, Viktor Gyökeres was forced to miss the match due to injury, and Isak was a substitute in this match because he was still not fully fit. The final result of the Switzerland vs. Sweden match was a big win for Switzerland.

Final score: Switzerland 4 vs. Sweden 1

In this match, Granit Xhaka converted a penalty kick and scored one goal from that penalty. Switzerland now qualifies.

However, I am still really surprised by all the matches Sweden has played. Why are they so bad? They don't even have a single win in the five matches they have played. The best result they have achieved is a draw. The rest are four defeats. This clearly shows us that Sweden is no better than Kosovo and Slovenia. Therefore, I was no longer surprised by their victory against Switzerland. However, I feel sorry for Sweden's star players, Isak and Gyokerez, who will likely not experience the 2026 World Cup. The team's journey is already certain to end in the group stage. In fact, Sweden is at the bottom of Group B.

[shinratensei_]

Bulgaria was well-prepared for the match, having conceded six goals in the previous match, so they tactically switched to a more closed-door game.
The plan was to play defensively and look for goals whenever possible. It's also worth noting that Bulgaria defended well. Scoring wasn't easy this time
One goal came from a penalty for Turkey, and the other was an own goal for Bulgaria. Even without these goals, a goal would have been scored somehow and the victory would have been won. It was an important match.

I thought that it was turkiye who has been regressed, not Bulgaria. The fact that Bulgaria played without several key players due to the injury. It should give them more advantage to score more, but the result is far from what i have expected. Every single player are also getting yellow card for the play-off, which is not good.
They also have not yet fix their striker problem. It can be seen by how Montella was playing Kerem as a striker, while he's not a striker.

They already qualified for the play off, but the match against Spain is a must win game with 7 goals to get the direct qualification. 

[Akbarkoe]

For the Swedish national team, Viktor Gyökeres was forced to miss the match due to injury, and Isak was a substitute in this match because he was still not fully fit. The final result of the Switzerland vs. Sweden match was a big win for Switzerland.

Final score: Switzerland 4 vs. Sweden 1

In this match, Granit Xhaka converted a penalty kick and scored one goal from that penalty. Switzerland now qualifies.

However, I am still really surprised by all the matches Sweden has played. Why are they so bad? They don't even have a single win in the five matches they have played. The best result they have achieved is a draw. The rest are four defeats. This clearly shows us that Sweden is no better than Kosovo and Slovenia. Therefore, I was no longer surprised by their victory against Switzerland. However, I feel sorry for Sweden's star players, Isak and Gyokerez, who will likely not experience the 2026 World Cup. The team's journey is already certain to end in the group stage. In fact, Sweden is at the bottom of Group B.

clearly the players that Sweden have are not fully qualified to compete here, the absence of Gyokeres and also the lack of contribution from Isak makes Sweden unable to compete well, which is clear that their midfield and defense lack players who are able to play well to compete at this level, and their coach also does not have much experience in managing the national team, managing a national team is different from managing a club, of course the obstacles are much more complex.

[satscraper]

We managed to beat Bulgaria 2-0 home today. But I must say that I was really not happy with our performance. Because we played without a number 9 again and this time it had a really bad affect unlike the first match against Bulgaria.

If a natural forward played in Kerem's position today we could have easily scored at least a few more goals. Now it is certain that we are in playoffs. At least we will most probably be among the seeded teams which is really good news. I hope we can qualify for the World Cup after long years.

In fact Bulgaria is presumed to be the sitting duck for Turkey, which is at least one level above. Turkey dominated the game throughout and could have scored more. That said, I was expecting at least one goal from Kenan Yildiz, but it didn’t happen. The own goal by Atanas Chernev sealed the final 2-0 outcome. However, I agree that this match was not as spectacular as expected. I didn’t bet this time because the odds for Turkey were too low.

[ajanwalker]

The most competitive group is undoubtedly Group H.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria will play what will be a final match in Austria on Tuesday. Austria has a two-point lead, and a draw would be enough for Austria to take the top spot in the group. This is a must-win match for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but their situation is not easy.
I'd like Bosnia to win and top the group for Edin Dzeko, who played for us last year, but I don't know if Bosnia can achieve that.
We'll have to wait and see then.

[Faazs]

For the Swedish national team, Viktor Gyökeres was forced to miss the match due to injury, and Isak was a substitute in this match because he was still not fully fit. The final result of the Switzerland vs. Sweden match was a big win for Switzerland.

Final score: Switzerland 4 vs. Sweden 1

In this match, Granit Xhaka converted a penalty kick and scored one goal from that penalty. Switzerland now qualifies.

However, I am still really surprised by all the matches Sweden has played. Why are they so bad? They don't even have a single win in the five matches they have played. The best result they have achieved is a draw. The rest are four defeats. This clearly shows us that Sweden is no better than Kosovo and Slovenia. Therefore, I was no longer surprised by their victory against Switzerland. However, I feel sorry for Sweden's star players, Isak and Gyokerez, who will likely not experience the 2026 World Cup. The team's journey is already certain to end in the group stage. In fact, Sweden is at the bottom of Group B.

clearly the players that Sweden have are not fully qualified to compete here, the absence of Gyokeres and also the lack of contribution from Isak makes Sweden unable to compete well, which is clear that their midfield and defense lack players who are able to play well to compete at this level, and their coach also does not have much experience in managing the national team, managing a national team is different from managing a club, of course the obstacles are much more complex.

Sweden is actually playing shit right now and I think they shouldn't be bothered about the world cup now , they need to be quickly rejuvenated as team ,cause right now they ain't playing as one, isak needs to find his form bk and gyokeres is injured leaving them more shambolic, I feel the coach needs to be changed first and foremost because he looks clueless with dem boys and that would not be gud moving forward better luck to the swedish team nxt time dey try again.

[Majestic-milf]

These qualifiers is such waste of time for most big teams. It's not even last round and we have so little games that actually matters. Like Spain, they still didn't conceded any goals. Ok, Kazachstan made surprising draw with Belgium, but for Belgium it was meaningless game.
Bosnia and Herzegovina takes crucial win against Romania and now faith of 2nd place will be decided on the last round.
Belarus makes upset of the day by scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes against Denmark. It wasn't enough for the win, but draw playing away is more than good result, considering that previous game ended with loss 0:6.

Spain have gone 20 games unbeaten under Luis de la Fuentes and I must say that their confidence to games is something to be emulated. Personally, I don't bother taking any other options when I'm picking them as I always go for the straight win option.
The game against Georgia was a bit one sided if you ask me the Spanish defense refused to leave anything to chance as every move their opponents made, it was either blocked or countered.
 Personally, I feel Georgia would have had a shot at the WC if they had been met with lesser opposition, being that the only game they were able to win was against Bulgaria so I guess their next game is just for formalities except the likes of Turkiye can slip up and maybe lose.