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

[Rgram]

The first half of the Spain vs. Turkey match ended in a 1-1 draw, and I noticed Turkish goalkeeper Altay Bayindir taking center stage. He defended his goal brilliantly, saving several shots on goal, including two powerful Olmo strikes, before scoring in the 4th minute.
Spain dominated the first half, and chances to score a second goal, or even more, were likely to come in the second half, given that Spain was still undefeated and had already secured qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

You’ve just got to appreciate the brilliance of this Turkish team. I wouldn’t have expected anything less of them and they gave Spain their all to share points with them, a very deserving one for Türkiye. Having to come from behind, get an equalizer, take the lead and as expected, Spain would always get back in the game. It was a good one for both sides, Spain nearly won in the end, having 3 good chances in the plus minutes but couldn’t get a good finish. It’s an important point for Türkiye with Spain leading its group and Türkiye right behind them.

[adultcrypto]

I don't have high hopes for the Turkey-Spain match. Olmo's goal in the 34th minute already put Spain ahead 1-0. Spain had already won the previous match by a large margin, and they might have scored even more. Spain will have more possession, and as in the previous match, they will try to score with quick passing, and they will likely succeed. If Turkey can quickly change the flow of the game with the balls they win, they might be able to score on the counter.

The  match should be the best match I have watched in this round of qualifiers. It ended two goals each side to see Spain qualifying for the world cup as they top the table while Turkey who are second in the group will be going for playoff. I was amazed at how well Turkey were able to withstand Spain without giving a damn their big names. The coming would cup will be a very interesting one that will surprise everyone. Some countries that people overlook will do wonders in that tournament.

[ingiltere]

It's truly a miracle that Spain couldn't score a third goal. Türkiye played very poorly in the first half, but they played better in the second half. On the other hand Spain missed too many chances. They generously wasted goal positions where they could've easily scored. In a match that felt like a formality for both teams, there was no winner. Orkun's assist for Salih Özcan's goal was beautiful. Deniz Gül proved he is a true striker. Why he didn't play in previous matches is a question mark. Olmo and Oyarzabal were Spain's usual goal scorers, but they needed to score one more goal. Ferran, Fermin and Samu came on as substitutes but they didn't put in a very good performance.

[AYOBA]

actually, this match has no bearing on determining first or second place in the group. in other words, barring extremely unusual circumstances, the result of this match would not affect spain's first place or turkey's second place. however, it seems that neither team wants to concede the match. turkey seems to want to see what it can do before the world cup playoffs, while spain wants to continue its winning streak.

we are now in the final minutes, and the match is still 2-2. it was an enjoyable match, and i don't think anyone expected such a draw.

The draw that you didn’t expect has happened because the match has already ended, but to be sincere, speaking Turkey really gave Spain a tough time in that match. When the match starts, I have hope for Spain that they will find the match very easy to win, as I was not thinking Turkey would be that strong and hold Spain tightly, but with their much effort, they give Spain a lot of pressure. Upon all that Spain is able to dominate the entire ball possession, they still find it difficult to win against Turkey.

[B-BossMan]

Spain are currently being held to a draw by Turkey and like I said earlier, it would be a challenge for the European champions to be able to easily get a win from their visitors who are still reeling from their last thrashing of 6:0 from Spain so it would quite difficult. Not like it can't happen but it's still a matter of how well they can be able to break through the defence of Turkey cause it's as if the first half was a time to get their bearings right and now they(Turkey) are ready to match Spain toe to toe.

Well, I couldn't expect the outcome of this match to be a draw because Spain actually had a very higher opportunity to pressure or to gain goals from Turkey in this particular match. Spain's performance were ok, even from their previous matches, i was so impressed, but Turkey turned out to be a hurt team for them to win. Despite Spain having an early goal at 4 minutes, Turkey really pressured them. In this match, both teams have tried their best, and the match ended in a draw, Spain 2, Turkey 2.

[CLS63]

Marca had a headline before their match against us today regarding how close they were to breaking 4 specific records. We prevented them from making one of them happening tonight. That was to qualify for the World Cup without conceding a goal. We scored 2 goals against them.

Another likely record for them was to qualify for the World Cup without losing at home. When we got 2-1 ahead I really got excited. But at least we still didn't lose. Even though we had a full rotation I was happy with our players' performance.

[Majestic-milf]

Spain are currently being held to a draw by Turkey and like I said earlier, it would be a challenge for the European champions to be able to easily get a win from their visitors who are still reeling from their last thrashing of 6:0 from Spain so it would quite difficult. Not like it can't happen but it's still a matter of how well they can be able to break through the defence of Turkey cause it's as if the first half was a time to get their bearings right and now they(Turkey) are ready to match Spain toe to toe.

actually, this match has no bearing on determining first or second place in the group. in other words, barring extremely unusual circumstances, the result of this match would not affect spain's first place or turkey's second place. however, it seems that neither team wants to concede the match. turkey seems to want to see what it can do before the world cup playoffs, while spain wants to continue its winning streak.

we are now in the final minutes, and the match is still 2-2. it was an enjoyable match, and i don't think anyone expected such a draw.

You're right about the fact that whatever the scoreline, it would not change anything but I think that Turkey were hoping that they could cancel the embarrassment Spain handed to them in September by at least winning the game or ending it in a draw like it dis so that they can save face a bit.
Honestly, Spain showed everyone why they are the champions of Europe and this exceptional record of going into the WC qualifications unbeaten was also kept by Norway but I've got a strong feeling that Spain may be one of the teams that would go far in the WC competition and could possibly be amongst the favorites to win it.

[snipie]

A lot of games ended by 6 and 7 goals between yesterday and today. I wonder why these weak nations are always in UEFA. I mean look to Oceania, Australia was no more there to give an opportunity to the weaker nations to participate in World Cup and not have the same winners.
It is better to include these small nations with African countries in CAF or in AFC than let them being humiliated by the other UEFA nations.

It's truly a miracle that Spain couldn't score a third goal. Türkiye played very poorly in the first half, but they played better in the second half. On the other hand Spain missed too many chances. They generously wasted goal positions where they could've easily scored.

It happens and Turkiye isn't a weak team after all. Besides this game is not important for Spain whether to win it or not. They are almost qualified and will not engage a lot and risk unnecessarily injuries.

[IjawMan]

I don't have high hopes for the Turkey-Spain match. Olmo's goal in the 34th minute already put Spain ahead 1-0. Spain had already won the previous match by a large margin, and they might have scored even more. Spain will have more possession, and as in the previous match, they will try to score with quick passing, and they will likely succeed. If Turkey can quickly change the flow of the game with the balls they win, they might be able to score on the counter.

Spain already claimed superiority over Turkey in the first leg of this encounter when they met in Turkey's home. Spain dominated the Turkish team in this particular game scoring multiple goals.

And so I'm not expecting anything less despite not having Lamine Yamal in the team tonight, there are still quite a handful of capable player who can still deliver the result in favour of the Spanish.

The Spanish team is in a very astonishing form and I do not hope the Turkish side will be able to withstand them tonight.

[Franctoshi]

actually, this match has no bearing on determining first or second place in the group. in other words, barring extremely unusual circumstances, the result of this match would not affect spain's first place or turkey's second place. however, it seems that neither team wants to concede the match. turkey seems to want to see what it can do before the world cup playoffs, while spain wants to continue its winning streak.

we are now in the final minutes, and the match is still 2-2. it was an enjoyable match, and i don't think anyone expected such a draw.

The draw that you didn’t expect has happened because the match has already ended, but to be sincere, speaking Turkey really gave Spain a tough time in that match. When the match starts, I have hope for Spain that they will find the match very easy to win, as I was not thinking Turkey would be that strong and hold Spain tightly, but with their much effort, they give Spain a lot of pressure. Upon all that Spain is able to dominate the entire ball possession, they still find it difficult to win against Turkey.

Getting a draw from the Spanish national team is a sign of strength and how formidable that the Turkish national team gradually has become in the recent time. Spain is a big team and they aims at winning each team they come across to maintain superiority and dominancy.
It was an incredible performance to see Turkiye share point with Spain, only few teams can draw or win Spain.

[LGD2Business]

Orkun Kökçü showed once again how great he is. He plays better when Hakan Çalhanoğlu isn't there. He and Salih make a good pair. When he plays with Hakan, Orkun is given tasks that aren't his job, and he can't play in his own position. That way, he's much more effective when Hakan isn't there.
Deniz Gül was almost excellent. Montella has been playing the team without a striker for years, and we finally saw what happens when they play with a real striker. Spain was a very tough opponent and even though they rotated the lineup, a draw is a very good result. But in the end, we finished second in the group and have to play in the play-offs anyway.

[Sexylizzy2813]

After leading in the early minutes of the first half I was expecting the Italians to keep moving forward to get more goals since they said they need up to 9+ goals to get an automatic qualification for the world cup but they could not even hold on to the ball and it got me asking, who's Norway when Italy was on fire as of then? This is to show that the fear factors is no longer there in the national team of Italy and if you check both squad you see that the Norway players are more hungry to get something in that game in as much as they have secured their place in the world cup but the other side they are hoping on hope to get the job done and that's where Gattuso showed us that he doesn't have any plan other than complain and look for who to drag, what a waste.
Don't say you wouldn't put your money on them because you can still change your mind, Italy can still fight back that's if is not Gattuso that is managing the team but if he's the one I don't see them bring anything new.

In their group they won all their games except that against Norway. They lost 3 - 0 away from home to Norway it just that, in other games Norway made sure they scored lots of goals which puts them in lots of advantage via goal difference. In that Italy Vs Norway match, even if Italy had won, it wouldn't still change anything because Norway before the match had +29 goal difference and Italy was having +12, there's no way this Italian team would have scored 9 goals against Norway. So either ways they were still going to end up being second on the table. What I still don't understand was how Norway was able to overcome a team like Italy twice, this shows how the Italian team has really declined in recent years.

You are right and is painful for a team that we all know right from the beginning that have been up to speed to have missed the last two World Cup, who knows this might not make it to the 3rd WC in a row. Norway planned very well and they know that Italy will use point to over shadow them so the hard to come out with their best by making sure of winning their games and  also coming up with a very tricky plan to use too many goals to stay at the top and where in the world was Italy going to use or get 9 goals to top Norway? Like how is it possible with how well the Norway side are playing?
Honestly Italy should give up because this play off is not the kind of struggle they should be in with the kind reputation they have and if you check we have so many top countries in play off than the ones that have qualified already, as of then when we see countries like Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, Nigeria in different groups to qualify we'd pick them to be at the top but now they are the ones struggling to show up in the World Cup, nothing last forever.

[Joca97]

It's truly a miracle that Spain couldn't score a third goal. Türkiye played very poorly in the first half, but they played better in the second half. On the other hand Spain missed too many chances. They generously wasted goal positions where they could've easily scored. In a match that felt like a formality for both teams, there was no winner. Orkun's assist for Salih Özcan's goal was beautiful. Deniz Gül proved he is a true striker. Why he didn't play in previous matches is a question mark. Olmo and Oyarzabal were Spain's usual goal scorers, but they needed to score one more goal. Ferran, Fermin and Samu came on as substitutes but they didn't put in a very good performance.

Turkey survived this match somehow and i never expected that they would survive this. Spain was overall better the entire match but were just lacking in their attack. Without Yamal they couldnt win the match easily as they do. Still in this group it was known that spain already qualified for the world cup

[LUCKMCFLY]

What you said about Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, I completely agree with you. Because Messi is comparing Cristiano Ronaldo with himself in an interview. Cristiano Ronaldo is far behind Messi in this respect.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a very good player. There are 11 players in a team, if not all of them can play well, then it becomes very difficult for them to win. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo's team, Cristiano Ronaldo plays very well but, the rest of their team cannot play well with Cristiano Ronaldo, which is why he may lose. But let's see how Portugal can perform this season.

I honestly think I'd side with CR7. Messi has definitely had a lot of help from FIFA, that's a fact. On the other hand, the system has always been against CR7. Can you imagine if Messi had CR7's goal tally now? How would the world and all the referees be helping him score? Look at the qualifier against Ireland. I know he threw the elbow, but come on, a red card? Everyone who plays football knows that happens, it's not that big of a deal.

[redhack]

We've seen crazy results in the European qualifiers today. There was a goal fest in almost every match. I wasn't expecting such a goal-filled night. Romania scored 7 goals against San Marino, Wales against North Macedonia, Belgium against Liechtenstein. Scotland beat Denmark 4-2. Spain and Türkiye each scored 2 goals. Bulgaria beat Georgia 2-1. Individually, such high-scoring matches are possible, but I find it interesting that they all happened on the same night.
By the way, I feel sorry for those who chose to watch the Belarus - Greece match. Not only did they have to endure 90 minutes of boring football, but they also missed out on the chance to see dozens of goals in other matches.

[pawel7777]

We had quite an interesting game between Spain and Turkey.
Spain scored an early one, but Turkey followed up with two goals of their own, but eventually Spain bagged another one and the game ended 2-2.
This means Spain will not join Norway and England in the 100% wins club.
This result changes absolutely nothing though. Spain remains 1st in group E and Turkey stays 2nd.

Half of today's matches ended in draws. There were no major shifts in the 1st/2nd places except for Wales who defeated North Macedonia 7-1, which gave them the 2nd place and put them through to the play-offs.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

I don't have high hopes for the Turkey-Spain match. Olmo's goal in the 34th minute already put Spain ahead 1-0. Spain had already won the previous match by a large margin, and they might have scored even more. Spain will have more possession, and as in the previous match, they will try to score with quick passing, and they will likely succeed. If Turkey can quickly change the flow of the game with the balls they win, they might be able to score on the counter.

From the start I thought Spain would not play aggressively because we know a draw is enough for them to get a place in the World Cup so it's not too surprising if they draw today. On the other hand, even though Tukey drew, they had to go through the Playoff round with several other teams and based on predictions their chances of qualifying are very low I can't imagine how Tukey will compete with strong teams like Italy for just the 4 remaining tickets meaning Tukey really needs some luck.

[Zaguru12]

I honestly think I'd side with CR7. Messi has definitely had a lot of help from FIFA, that's a fact. On the other hand, the system has always been against CR7. Can you imagine if Messi had CR7's goal tally now? How would the world and all the referees be helping him score? Look at the qualifier against Ireland. I know he threw the elbow, but come on, a red card? Everyone who plays football knows that happens, it's not that big of a deal.

A Ronaldo fan here but to be honest I don’t actually agree with this and thinks that Messi wasn’t Just favoured but Argentina national were super ready to actually go and honored their country and this was seriously achievable due to how this group players actually did carry themselves they were ready to sacrifice themselves to their country as an act of service, this was not only a team why has more players passionate than their European counterparts but this particular team are even better than all the previous Argentina squad that represents them in the tournament. This doesn’t by any chance have been related to other past squad due to individual brilliance but rather it is due to the players dedication.

Same thing must be seeing by the Portugal players if by any chance they actually want to win the competition. They have one of the most talented players currently but that spirit of togetherness is not with them currently and it is what has been eaten them up since, if they could come together like the South American nations they could just get luck like the other European nations which lifted it not so long ago

[TelolettOm]

Honestly, Spain showed everyone why they are the champions of Europe and this exceptional record of going into the WC qualifications unbeaten was also kept by Norway but I've got a strong feeling that Spain may be one of the teams that would go far in the WC competition and could possibly be amongst the favorites to win it.

Spain's qualification is certainly a sure thing. Many top club players hail from this country. Although Spain could only draw with Turkey in the last match, some of their top players were not in the starting lineup and were absent from that match, the important thing is that Spain qualified by topping the standings with 16 points, three points ahead of Turkey.

Oh, and here's a list of European countries that have qualified for the World Cup and are currently in the play-offs.

Source: European WC qualifiers (as of 17 Nov)

[JiiBs]

Turkey survived this match somehow and i never expected that they would survive this. Spain was overall better the entire match but were just lacking in their attack. Without Yamal they couldnt win the match easily as they do. Still in this group it was known that spain already qualified for the world cup

This was certainly one game no one expected Türkiye to get anything from. To have managed to share points with Spain was a sort out for victory.

Scotland on the other hand is one team that fourth really hard for their victory. Scoring the opener in the game, gave away a penalty and once Denmark got that red card, they ensured they used every chance they got to their advantage.

Tierney Scored a very remarkable goal, taking a shot from the midfield after discovering Schmeichel wasn’t in his post and that was the icing of the cake.