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

[kawetsriyanto]

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.

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

[CroverNo01]

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.

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

Football is mysterious. This is the time for one not to underestimate these sides when they face elite oppositions. Common this is the WC we're talking about here and there's absolutely no way these players are not hunger to win titles for their country. Turkey shocked everyone tonight as they come out in good form to draw points with Almighty Spain. This game was definitely one of the most important ones for turkey, nobody voted to see them climbing higher and fighting for a point with Spain. I can't just wait for the upcoming next year world cup.

[SUPERSAIAN]

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.

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

Spain struggled to score against Türkiye because Altay Bayındır was in goal and made some fantastic saves. Spain struggled most to score against Altay, and their defense was also strong. I had lost hope when I saw Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız on the bench. They played with a different rotation today, and we can say Montella was somewhat successful.

[Sexylizzy2813]

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.

All you said about us the truth, they are not ready to drop point that will count as a loss for them and it makes the Spanish national team to always work harder than before just to achieve their goal. And one thing I noticed about them is that they don't see a particular player as the key player, everybody is permitted to score and assist as long as they get the job done, some players weren't available but they did well and if they had made a particular player the main man it would have killer the energy they are using for this qualification because the absence of that player would have made them weak like as we never saw Yamal in action it would have affected them but things are not done like that in the Spanish side. In the World Cup and till this moment I still see them as a team that have that fear factor in them and they don't care who they play against.

[laijsica]

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.

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

Football is mysterious. This is the time for one not to underestimate these sides when they face elite oppositions. Common this is the WC we're talking about here and there's absolutely no way these players are not hunger to win titles for their country. Turkey shocked everyone tonight as they come out in good form to draw points with Almighty Spain. This game was definitely one of the most important ones for turkey, nobody voted to see them climbing higher and fighting for a point with Spain. I can't just wait for the upcoming next year world cup.

The match between Spain and Turkey seemed to be more aggressive as the teams fought for victory. Spain were in great form in the qualifying round conceded only a goal for the first time in their last 5 matches. The match was impressive and qualified Spain directly for the next World Cup. Turkey will have to wait longer to qualify for the World Cup and play in the playoffs. With this draw, Spain topped Group E with 16 points and Turkey came second with 13 points. The waiting time seems to be going very slowly to watch the best teams of the next World Cup fight and enjoy the impressive moments.

[Ale88]

The point of his full declaration was to point out that since they chose to expand from 32 to 48 teams, these 16 extra teams have not been distributed in a fair way. UEFA spots only increased by 3 units, clearly this expansion is helping other federations.

This is definitely the biggest problem. Although Europe is the most active football continent, it has very few participants compared to the quotas given to others. I like that there are different countries in the World Cup, I'm not against that, but from a competitive standpoint, it makes no sense that a tournament that includes the Cape Verde Islands could potentially exclude Italy, Türkiye, Ukraine or Poland. If the European quota had been properly increased, none of these discussions would be happening.

This topic is surely having some good argument about many things, but I am not agreed about this why Cape Verde is in world cup and Italy is on verge of another exit they are because they are going down into their quality and their opponents are doing good which is surely their internal issue not about others right.

Europe still have the largest pool in world cup because of their quality and skills but from them now many countries are losing their rhythm which is needed to be improved, but they fail so just because of this facing these results World Cup mean not all teams from Europe every continent is having quota due to their quality and performance. Now 48 teams are good, and I am happy because FIFA need to stay on this for long time hopefully many countries will be able to have good changes into their structure and things could be competitive in all regions of the world.

Actually Cape Verde have been able to qualify thanks to the change of rules otherwise winning their group wouldn't have been enough. Maybe they would have qualified anyway, who knows, but for sure they must thank FIFA and the new rules. On paper is always nice when an underdog qualifies but at the same time we must also think who is going to actually care when there is an actual match: would you spend $300 to go watch Cape Verde vs Tunisia or Jordan or New Zealand?

[Solokan]

Source: https://www.detik.com/bali/sepakbola/d-8217496/ditahan-turki-2-2-spanyol-lolos-ke-piala-dunia-2026/amp
The Spain vs. Turkey match was certainly an exciting one, as Turkey and Spain are the two best teams in Group E. I thought Spain would win the match, but unfortunately, they couldn't because of Turkey's strong defense, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Olmo performed exceptionally well in this match, scoring the first goal against Turkey in the 4th minute. Oyarzabal also played well, scoring a goal against Turkey in the 62nd minute. Now, even though Spanish achieved a draw, they still qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Of course, the Spanish people must be very happy because their country has qualified for the 2026 World Cup. I would like to congratulate Spain for securing their ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

Turkey still has a chance to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, but they must be consistent in winning their matches. Of course, it won't be easy to win in the playoffs because all the teams participating in the playoffs are also ambitious to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. I’m curious to know if you succeeded in your bets on the Spain vs. Turkey match? However, I lost because I thought Spain would win, but the result was a draw.

[joniboini]

Spain struggled to score against Türkiye because Altay Bayındır was in goal and made some fantastic saves. Spain struggled most to score against Altay, and their defense was also strong.

This is the same Altay who made some blunders for Man United, right? Impressive to see some people praise him for his saves in a big match like this. Then again, it isn't like he always makes mistakes whenever there's a ball in front of him, kinda like Onana, who suddenly becomes really good in big matches but stumbles against other teams. Hopefully, he can use this momentum to improve his consistency so that he can show it on the club level (unless he already did, I haven't followed the latest news lately).

[Fiatless]

Actually Cape Verde have been able to qualify thanks to the change of rules otherwise winning their group wouldn't have been enough. Maybe they would have qualified anyway, who knows, but for sure they must thank FIFA and the new rules. On paper is always nice when an underdog qualifies but at the same time we must also think who is going to actually care when there is an actual match: would you spend $300 to go watch Cape Verde vs Tunisia or Jordan or New Zealand?

The game of football will keep developing in some countries. Before now, Cape Verde was not recognised as a football nation in Africa. Nevertheless, within the past years this nation has begun to build a good team that showed class in some continental competitions. In my view, that country deserves to be in the World Cup because they now play better football than former top nations in Africa, like Nigeria and Cameroon.

Only a few people might want to pay such an amount because some of these countries are lowly rated. But they might attract more fans if they progress in the competition just as Morocco did in the last event.   

[bitzizzix]

Spain struggled to score against Türkiye because Altay Bayındır was in goal and made some fantastic saves. Spain struggled most to score against Altay, and their defense was also strong.

This is the same Altay who made some blunders for Man United, right? Impressive to see some people praise him for his saves in a big match like this. Then again, it isn't like he always makes mistakes whenever there's a ball in front of him, kinda like Onana, who suddenly becomes really good in big matches but stumbles against other teams. Hopefully, he can use this momentum to improve his consistency so that he can show it on the club level (unless he already did, I haven't followed the latest news lately).

Yes, Altay Bayındır was the highlight of this match, and I think if he hadn't been in goal, the outcome might have been different. He really did a great job of guarding his goal, and having a good goalkeeper can frustrate opposing teams because they can always thwart him.
Honestly, this draw disappointed me, and I was confident in my bet on Spain. However, the result was unexpected, and that's why it's important to remember that football matches are not completely predictable, because anything can happen, just because a few people or individuals can change the outcome. Because, judging by their squad, on paper, Spain has the ability to beat Turkey. This is simply because Turkey has an excellent goalkeeper and relies on counterattacks when they have the right opportunities, and they succeeded.

[GigaBit]

Football is mysterious. This is the time for one not to underestimate these sides when they face elite oppositions. Common this is the WC we're talking about here and there's absolutely no way these players are not hunger to win titles for their country. Turkey shocked everyone tonight as they come out in good form to draw points with Almighty Spain. This game was definitely one of the most important ones for turkey, nobody voted to see them climbing higher and fighting for a point with Spain. I can't just wait for the upcoming next year world cup.

There is always uncertainty in football. In some matches, it is usually possible to predict in advance which team will win, but recently it has reached a point where even a small team can defeat a big team. We saw surprises in the last World Cup where the Saudi team won against Argentina. Considering that, I think it is not unusual for Turkey to draw against Spain. I think there will be more surprises in the next World Cup.

[Sithara007]

✂✂✂✂
Turkey still has a chance to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, but they must be consistent in winning their matches. Of course, it won't be easy to win in the playoffs because all the teams participating in the playoffs are also ambitious to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. I’m curious to know if you succeeded in your bets on the Spain vs. Turkey match? However, I lost because I thought Spain would win, but the result was a draw.

Türkiye were unfortunate enough to be placed in the same group along with Spain (who happens to be one of the strongest teams from the UEFA region). Now they will play the second round, where 12 teams will play amongst each other for the remaining 4 slots from Europe for the FIFA World Cup 2026. These 12 teams will be joined by another two, who joined through the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League ranking route. So a total of 16 teams will fight for 4 slots. Each team will play two matches, and in order to qualify, they need to win all of their matches. Lose one, and you are out.

[ajanwalker]

Spain and Turkey drew 2-2 in a match where both teams fielded mostly substitutes.
Spain conceded their first goal in this group against Türkiye.
The Spanish fans showed little interest in the match. There was a lot of emptiness in the stands.
Goalkeeper Altay was the best player in Türkiye. He made some excellent saves, but a huge mistake in the final minute resulted in a goal, but the goal was disallowed because he was called offside.
Goalkeepers have the same situation. You can play well throughout the match, but if a mistake in the final moments changes the score, you're the worst player in the match. Altay had luck on his side yesterday.

[TastyChillySauce00]

I find this kind of statement very insulting and demeaning to an entire race. What's more annoying is that the continent his refering to has more countries in it than the continent he still wants more slots for. His sentimental, greedy and full of himself. A coach that even if you want to mention the best 200 coaches in the world, his name won't even be in the next 500, I wonder how the Italians ended up with someone like Gattuso as their coach. Imagine a team like Norway whopping Italy 4 - 1 even after they scored first, this to tell you the level of how he has reduced the team.
Another one from same man again, Gattuso needs to be checked mentally.

Gattuso, gattuso and gattuso again. This old guy never feel tired to keep yapping, and complaining anything that he didn't like. This is what happened when Italy appointed the wrong person to be their NT coach. It likes seriously, can he just focus to improve the average performance by his team instead of complaining here and there?
No doubt people started to disrespect him. If Italy was good, he has nothing to complain as his club could qualify easily. The fact is that Italy is shite right now.

His team can't even win against Macedonia or Moldovia. He shall shut up, and back to his job to fix his club.

[Kuingsudaqila]

I find this kind of statement very insulting and demeaning to an entire race. What's more annoying is that the continent his refering to has more countries in it than the continent he still wants more slots for. His sentimental, greedy and full of himself. A coach that even if you want to mention the best 200 coaches in the world, his name won't even be in the next 500, I wonder how the Italians ended up with someone like Gattuso as their coach. Imagine a team like Norway whopping Italy 4 - 1 even after they scored first, this to tell you the level of how he has reduced the team.
Another one from same man again, Gattuso needs to be checked mentally.

When talking about fairness or unfairness, it's even less fair for countries in Asia or Africa, which have a large number of countries but few representatives in the World Cup. Europe, with 50 countries, has one-third of the total World Cup qualification participants, which is already a lot. Meanwhile, South American countries, with 10 countries, have 6 direct qualifiers plus 1, making 60 percent plus 1, so 70%. If the remaining representatives who participate in the playoffs most likely face Iraq, they will also qualify.

[aipercoin]

Yeah, Nigeria being out of  World Cup knocked me into the middle of next week. I like how Osimhen plays for Galatasaray ^{in fact, he is one of my favorite players}, but this time he didn?t help. I don?t know what the matter is; either his recent injury prevented him from playing to the best of his ability, or it?s his general lassitude, or something else. But the fact speaks for itself, i.e. we will not see Nigerian team facing the leading teams at the 2026 World Cup.

The answer is simple, they didn't play the way they were supposed to play and failed to qualify.
There's no point in finding a justification for everything, everything is directly proportional to what we do, so if you do well you get results if you don't do well you don't get them.
Nigeria didn't deserve qualification this time, it's not fair to blame or blame anyone in particular, the team didn't work.

[Arenga pinnata]

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

In that match, Turkey proved that they cannot be underestimated at all. Holding Spain to a draw was enough to prove that they are ready to compete strongly if they qualify for the World Cup through the play-offs. Well, Turkey's only hope now is the play-offs. In that match, they realized that even if they won, they would still not be able to qualify because of the difference in goal difference.

However, in that match, I actually underestimated Turkey. I expected Spain to win the match, even if by a narrow margin. But what happened was that both teams had to share the points. But to be honest, watching Spain play without Yamal felt different. And this is the same as Turkey not playing Arda Guler.

[ZekiBeyy]

I think these matches once again showed us how unpredictable football can be. Even teams that look like clear favorites on paper can struggle.

We saw the same thing in the Spain–Turkey match. Spain may have the stronger squad, but Turkey held on well, especially thanks to Altay’s performance.

The Cape Verde situation is also being discussed; some people say their qualification was only possible because of the new format and that it’s not entirely fair. But football is constantly evolving, and even the smaller African teams can pull off surprises now.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing to see countries like Cape Verde at the World Cup — they might even gain some fans if they put in a couple of good performances.

[Alonso_]

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.

No doubt Turkiye is a strong team. Although they didn't play with all their best players, they still could get a draw result against Spain. We know Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only sit on the bench. As far as I know these players are the mainstay players for Turkiye.

Sure, Spain is a big team. They usually won with big scores. They have popular players in all lines. So, it makes sense if they can be very strong. However, against Turkiye, they looked a bit difficult to score goals. It is a sign that Turkiye has a solid defense. Even Turkiye was leading 2-1, but Oyarzabal could equalize the score in minute 62'. Considering this result, I'm sure no team to underestimate Turkiye in this world cup matches.

Spain struggled to score against Türkiye because Altay Bayındır was in goal and made some fantastic saves. Spain struggled most to score against Altay, and their defense was also strong. I had lost hope when I saw Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız on the bench. They played with a different rotation today, and we can say Montella was somewhat successful.

How do you really mean by Spain failed to score, when they scored two goals, Altay Bayindir conceded two goals it’s not like this goalkeeper kept a clean sheet, and I don’t even think Turkey won this game, because if you look at it properly you will understand that Spain was actually playing for nothing and because they’ve already qualified for the World Cup, and they have to rest some players which I think was the right thing to do considering that Lamine Yamal was not even playing and some of the elite players of Spain was out injured that will make you understand so many things that this team have been very relaxed because they have achieved their target and they were treating the game more like a friendly.

[Taricoins]

I find this kind of statement very insulting and demeaning to an entire race. What's more annoying is that the continent his refering to has more countries in it than the continent he still wants more slots for. His sentimental, greedy and full of himself. A coach that even if you want to mention the best 200 coaches in the world, his name won't even be in the next 500, I wonder how the Italians ended up with someone like Gattuso as their coach. Imagine a team like Norway whopping Italy 4 - 1 even after they scored first, this to tell you the level of how he has reduced the team.
Another one from same man again, Gattuso needs to be checked mentally.

Gattuso, gattuso and gattuso again. This old guy never feel tired to keep yapping, and complaining anything that he didn't like. This is what happened when Italy appointed the wrong person to be their NT coach. It likes seriously, can he just focus to improve the average performance by his team instead of complaining here and there?
No doubt people started to disrespect him. If Italy was good, he has nothing to complain as his club could qualify easily. The fact is that Italy is shite right now.

His team can't even win against Macedonia or Moldovia. He shall shut up, and back to his job to fix his club.

Initially i saw this his comment while scrolling through X and i didn't put much thought into it until seeing it now again, an apology should be demanded from him to the African teams and Continent as a whole, it should be treated like that statement made by Jimmy Caragher about AFCON not being a major trophy.

If he wants more slots he should wait for the UEFA nations league or the Euro's where am sure he wouldn't go far if not sacked before then.
As for the South American teams there slots are okay imagine having 7 slots out of 10 teams, most times the teams we predict to make it to the world cup from the South American side always makes it.

I don't even know the criteria they use in hiring Gattuso, that guy has had a terrible career, imagine winning just one trophy (copa itallia) in his 12 years of managerial career, Italy side could have done better.