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

[Polkeins]

Portugal are completely dominating because we can see that this team is showing different levels of their strength in this qualifier match without Ronaldo against Armenia, this game has already been going on for 15 minutes but Veiga scored a goal in just 7 minutes, giving the mentally demoralized Portugal team an early lead,It is certain that this team's lineup is weakened without Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese team left the field with a completely disappointing result against the Irish team, in which we saw one of the most iconic players receive a red card,But in today's match, one of PSG's most reliable players, Goncalo Ramos, has entered the field as his replacement. Despite being the visiting team, Armenia is showing great courage in this qualifier as they are counter-attacking a lot and it is hoped that they will be able to score goals very soon.

Armenia drew! It was no walk in the park for Portugal. Spertsyan scored the equaliser in the 18th minute.
Despite this, Portugal is still qualifying for the World Cup with 11 points, while Italy, with 18 points, risks not making it... the rules urgently need to be changed.

Italy has five teams in its group, while Portugal has only four, so Italy has two more games than Portugal, which means that, theoretically, it should have more points.

Meanwhile, the score is already 4-1 in favor of Portugal and I think Armenia has no chance of winning today. Joao Neves' third goal is a real masterpiece and the combinations that the Portuguese national team players are performing are simply fantastic and remind of brasil national team in it's prime.
With players such as Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Leao, Joao Neves, and Goncalo Ramos in the lineup, you can work real football miracles on the field.
It seems to me that without Ronaldo, the team has become even more confident, and it seems that no one is afraid to take risks and pass the ball in attack, and no one is looking for Ronaldo in the penalty area to pass him the ball.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Vinicius and Rodrygo are two young players who can make a real difference, and Endrick represents another golden generation who deserves more opportunities. Overall, with Ancelotti’s appointment as manager, Brazil bargaining power in the 2026 World Cup will be taken into account.

I just hope Ancelotti looks for the ideal players, because for me, Neymar will always be the player who can't be missing from Brazil. If he doesn't call him up, then I'll see Ancelotti in a very bad light. Neymar shouldn't just be called up, he should be the undisputed captain That's something Brazil needs It's a shame Ronaldinho is so old, because having Ronaldinho on the Brazilian national team would be ideal.

[Wakate]

You're right. Spain is one of the Best teams in the World cup right now and In my opinion the Favorites This time. But We can't say this for sure. Because they were In their Best Form For the Nation Cup Final but we saw what happened. Football is an unexpected game and a team everyone has faith in and which has great players in great form may lose to a club not so great. But if Spain keeps this form they MIGHT win the Thing. Argentina And France are also in Good Form so if not Spain they Might be The second Favorites.

If you think Spain is the best team in the world cup qualification this season, what will you say about England and France? Since that's your opinion, I don't have to argue with you because everyone of us has our favorite and team we are looking for to qualify without much effort to playing survival match. There are many countries I am looking to see play extraordinarily well in this coming world cup competition by 2026.

[satscraper]

And in the match between Ukraine and Iceland for second place, Ukraine seems to be the favorite.

I wouldn’t say so. Iceland beat Azerbaijan on November 13. Azerbaijan’s team at that time was heavily built around Qarabağ FK, which in turn managed the draw with Chelsea on November 5 while competing in the UEFA Champions League. So I would probably risk betting on Iceland, whose win could bode well for my bankroll. The odds of 4.6 speak for themselves.

[Frankolala]

Vinicius and Rodrygo are two young players who can make a real difference, and Endrick represents another golden generation who deserves more opportunities. Overall, with Ancelotti’s appointment as manager, Brazil bargaining power in the 2026 World Cup will be taken into account.

I just hope Ancelotti looks for the ideal players, because for me, Neymar will always be the player who can't be missing from Brazil. If he doesn't call him up, then I'll see Ancelotti in a very bad light. Neymar shouldn't just be called up, he should be the undisputed captain That's something Brazil needs It's a shame Ronaldinho is so old, because having Ronaldinho on the Brazilian national team would be ideal.

Let the young players represent their country because they still have enough time to play for Brazil. Ronaldinho time is gone so forget about him. Neymar is already 33 years, he did miraculous things for Brazil when he was reigning. His performance sucks because he was feasted upon by injury for a very long time. I don't think that his presence is important in the national team.

[Wakate]

Let the young players represent their country because they still have enough time to play for Brazil. Ronaldinho time is gone so forget about him. Neymar is already 33 years, he did miraculous things for Brazil when he was reigning. His performance sucks because he was feasted upon by injury for a very long time. I don't think that his presence is important in the national team.

You are right because the young players need to start playing international games like the world cup allow the old players to rest because they can not be there always for the national team. Very soon Neymar is going to retire and if there are no good and skillful players like those great men available to compete at the international stage for Brazil, it might create a scar that might be difficult to remove.

[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.

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!

Well said, after the shock loss to Ireland and the red card, I was like, Portugal still has one more game to play in ensuring they qualify directly and not going through the playoffs. I understand the feeling when you need to win but instead you're losing, I know those are the part of things that led to the elbowing. Those are things that can be avoided because they would have put a good performance against Armenia. That team isn't a match for Portugal and they will win even if they used their reserve players. Right now, Portugal is thrashing Armenia 5 - 1 at half time, this means the country has already sealed their first spot in the group long before the match is even over. That very red card would have been avoided, Ronaldo again let his emotions cloud his judgement forgetting that he has another game to play but he prevented himself from playing it.

[Polkeins]

While everything is already clear in the match between Portugal and Armenia, and the only question is how many goals Portugal will be able and willing to score against Armenia, the match between Hungary and Ireland is becoming increasingly intriguing.
At the moment, Hungary leads Ireland 2-1, and if the match ends in a victory for Hungary, then Hungary will advance to the play-offs from the group.
It will also be interesting to watch the match between Italy and Norway, but it is hard to believe that Italy will be able to beat Norway by more than 9 goals, so most likely Italy will be seen again in the play-offs, and the Italian team will have to hope that they do not face North Macedonia.

[Lillominato89]

Portugal are completely dominating because we can see that this team is showing different levels of their strength in this qualifier match without Ronaldo against Armenia, this game has already been going on for 15 minutes but Veiga scored a goal in just 7 minutes, giving the mentally demoralized Portugal team an early lead,It is certain that this team's lineup is weakened without Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese team left the field with a completely disappointing result against the Irish team, in which we saw one of the most iconic players receive a red card,But in today's match, one of PSG's most reliable players, Goncalo Ramos, has entered the field as his replacement. Despite being the visiting team, Armenia is showing great courage in this qualifier as they are counter-attacking a lot and it is hoped that they will be able to score goals very soon.

Armenia drew! It was no walk in the park for Portugal. Spertsyan scored the equaliser in the 18th minute.
Despite this, Portugal is still qualifying for the World Cup with 11 points, while Italy, with 18 points, risks not making it... the rules urgently need to be changed.

Italy has five teams in its group, while Portugal has only four, so Italy has two more games than Portugal, which means that, theoretically, it should have more points.

Meanwhile, the score is already 4-1 in favor of Portugal and I think Armenia has no chance of winning today. Joao Neves' third goal is a real masterpiece and the combinations that the Portuguese national team players are performing are simply fantastic and remind of brasil national team in it's prime.
With players such as Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Leao, Joao Neves, and Goncalo Ramos in the lineup, you can work real football miracles on the field.
It seems to me that without Ronaldo, the team has become even more confident, and it seems that no one is afraid to take risks and pass the ball in attack, and no one is looking for Ronaldo in the penalty area to pass him the ball.

I think *ace* was referring to something else, not just the points scored.
Perhaps he meant that Portugal, which was drawing at the time, and, which had one defeat and one draw in the standings, would qualify in first place, while Italy, which had lost only one game, risked not going to the World Cup for the third consecutive time.
It is normal for Italy to have more points because it has played more matches.

[ZekiBeyy]

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.

Bulgaria was much more in form compared to the first match and played well—they almost managed to score. They hit the post twice, and if even one of those shots had gone in, their confidence would have increased and the score could have been completely different. Turkey couldn’t dominate the game the way they did in the first match and didn’t display an effective performance. Kenan Yıldız and Arda Güler could have contributed to the score by scoring goals.

[Akbarkoe]

Vinicius and Rodrygo are two young players who can make a real difference, and Endrick represents another golden generation who deserves more opportunities. Overall, with Ancelotti’s appointment as manager, Brazil bargaining power in the 2026 World Cup will be taken into account.

I just hope Ancelotti looks for the ideal players, because for me, Neymar will always be the player who can't be missing from Brazil. If he doesn't call him up, then I'll see Ancelotti in a very bad light. Neymar shouldn't just be called up, he should be the undisputed captain That's something Brazil needs It's a shame Ronaldinho is so old, because having Ronaldinho on the Brazilian national team would be ideal.

Neymar must come, at least Brazil has more players with longer experience, your suggestion to make him captain is quite logical, because he is a player who can be relied on and is also now very mature and knows how to manage the rhythm and other members on the field, surely his decisions are respected as a senior, especially by the young star players who could be more selfish if not led by someone who has more influence over him.

[BIT-BENDER]

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.

With the way Haaland is going and if Norway can remain consistent he can beat this record. This is not be be disrespectful to them but there are many teams in Europe without any football history and they are just making up numbers. We can see that when those teams meet a decent side the get trashed some even more than ten goals. Countries like Andorra, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Latvia, Gibraltar, Lithuania, Luxembourg and some others.

[Stavri]

Bulgaria was much more in form compared to the first match and played well—they almost managed to score. They hit the post twice, and if even one of those shots had gone in, their confidence would have increased and the score could have been completely different. Turkey couldn’t dominate the game the way they did in the first match and didn’t display an effective performance. Kenan Yıldız and Arda Güler could have contributed to the score by scoring goals.

Türkiye has a good team, but the choices are really poor. Kerem definetely is not able to play as a central striker. They’ve tried it for several matches and it just doesn’t work. Why insisting on this? his height, physique, and finishing, Kerem simply isnt able to be a good striker.

[Wakate]

The way Portugal is playing with Armenia is like they have grudges with them which makes me skeptical how come they are wasting their goals on this small country. From 7-1 to 8-1, this is unbelievable and I have to laugh out my ribs. It's just 84 minutes and all these are happening so quick. All these goals should have been divided and added to their previous match they lost and not pour their anger on innocent Armenia LOL.

[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.

With the way Haaland is going and if Norway can remain consistent he can beat this record. This is not be be disrespectful to them but there are many teams in Europe without any football history and they are just making up numbers. We can see that when those teams meet a decent side the get trashed some even more than ten goals. Countries like Andorra, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Latvia, Gibraltar, Lithuania, Luxembourg and some others.

True, I didn't want to talk about it because I just wanted to stay with the topic and give Ronaldo his flowers after all he deserves every bit of it. If Haaland has football playing longevity like Ronaldo and the rate at which his scoring goals, then he will beat the record no doubt about it. He just needs to remain playing football and play against these lower ranked teams so he can score lots of goals. Of course, Norway can't be paired in the same group with Spain, Germany, France etc where goals will be hard for him.

[CryptoBuds]

The way Portugal is playing with Armenia is like they have grudges with them which makes me skeptical how come they are wasting their goals on this small country. From 7-1 to 8-1, this is unbelievable and I have to laugh out my ribs. It's just 84 minutes and all these are happening so quick. All these goals should have been divided and added to their previous match they lost and not pour their anger on innocent Armenia LOL.

Hahahaha, Agreee. I have not seen such an aggressive gameplay from Portugal in a long time. Portugal secured a huge victory of 9 -1. I do not know why portugal played so aggressively  against Armenia in today's match. Portugal players were able to make a total of 34 shots, out of which 15 shots were on target. In addition , the  Portuguese players also controlled the match with 76% ball possession.

Bruno and Neves performed incredible. Both scored three  goals each. In addition, Ramos .Conceicao  and Veiga scored one goal each. Ronaldo missed the match. If he had been in  the squad, maybe we would have seen goals from Ronaldo too.

[Majestic-milf]

 Who else notices that Portugal team plays better without Ronaldo? We understand that CR7 is a man that has left a legacy in the team's history but that doesn't mean that he should keep showing up when there's an international game. The other players are equal to the task without him needing to lord over everything. Imagine when you have Goncalo Ramos, a proper number 9 but you'd have to bench him so Ronaldo can play. Seriously, he needs to consider that he's not as sharp footed and agile as he was in his early days and should give the other boys the chance to show themselves. Today's game was a pure work over and two players( Bruno Fernandes and Ruben Neves) each had a hat trick and even Concecao who came in very late in the game had a goal for himself, ending the scoring and leaving Armenia speechless with that shocking 9-1 scoreline. This is the highest I've seen of Portugal in the WC qualifications.

[Danica22]

The way Portugal is playing with Armenia is like they have grudges with them which makes me skeptical how come they are wasting their goals on this small country. From 7-1 to 8-1, this is unbelievable and I have to laugh out my ribs. It's just 84 minutes and all these are happening so quick. All these goals should have been divided and added to their previous match they lost and not pour their anger on innocent Armenia LOL.

Hahahaha, Agreee. I have not seen such an aggressive gameplay from Portugal in a long time. Portugal secured a huge victory of 9 -1. I do not know why portugal played so aggressively  against Armenia in today's match. Portugal players were able to make a total of 34 shots, out of which 15 shots were on target. In addition , the  Portuguese players also controlled the match with 76% ball possession.

In the past matches, we have seen that winning  matches was a big challenge for Portugal. Portuga l lost their last match against Ireland. They also  failed to win against  hungary. Portugal has been in a very bad shape in the past few matches. I was  surprised by this team's sudden great performance. Portugal  scored 9 goals. I don't remember the last time I saw so many goals in a match. Even though  the match was one-sided, we enjoyed the match a lot.

[kizilhare]

There were changes in Group F. Hungary, who had led 2-1 for a long time, were eliminated after losing 2-3 to Ireland. Parrott scored five goals for his team in his last two matches in Ireland. Today, he scored three more, helping Ireland finish second in Group F.

I believe Parrott deserves to be a folk hero in Ireland.

[Adbitco]

Who else notices that Portugal team plays better without Ronaldo? We understand that CR7 is a man that has left a legacy in the team's history but that doesn't mean that he should keep showing up when there's an international game. The other players are equal to the task without him needing to lord over everything. Imagine when you have Goncalo Ramos, a proper number 9 but you'd have to bench him so Ronaldo can play. Seriously, he needs to consider that he's not as sharp footed and agile as he was in his early days and should give the other boys the chance to show themselves. Today's game was a pure work over and two players( Bruno Fernandes and Ruben Neves) each had a hat trick and even Concecao who came in very late in the game had a goal for himself, ending the scoring and leaving Armenia speechless with that shocking 9-1 scoreline. This is the highest I've seen of Portugal in the WC qualifications.

Lol, same team that Morocco eliminated without Ronaldo? Portugal is on and off, that team isn't stable. Sometimes they win massively and sometimes you're shocked at what they do. There last 2 matches before now, were supposed to be wins but somehow they managed they not to win any of them. Them it's Armenia, even the blind knows Portugal was going to demolish this Armenia team. They have never even managed a draw against Portugal not to talk of winning them. Armenia has suffered 4 defeats against Portugal with this as their most disgraceful one though. This Armenia is country that even a 3rd reserved team from a good country will beat. If you still insist that Portugal plays better without Ronaldo, how come they didn't play against Germany without him, would they have won Germany without Ronaldo? How about the finals, would they have won this in form Spanish side of Yamal without Ronaldo?