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

[Zaguru12]

Qualifying for the World Cup from Europe is harder than actually playing in the tournament. Once you get through all those tough european teams and make it to the world cup, you probably will face weaker teams until the round of 16  , which makes it much easier to advance.

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

Definitely doesn’t make sense, as long as you see a nation qualify for World Cup you don’t actually neglect their brilliance, let’s look at the group for each European qualifiers and then compare them with that of a World Cup, you will see that it’s actually not comparable or rather European qualifiers isn’t better. Looking at the European nations group you will see nations like Scotland and Denmark in the same group as the top nations there, take this two to a World Cup group they wouldn’t be the favourite of each of their group and that tells the difference

Not that until now that there is expansion were we could see precisely more groups and probably nations like this could be group favorite. But the disrespect by some fans is baffling, if Europe countries are that too big then we shouldn’t be seeing few at the last stages of the competition because they had higher participants

[Iamgoat]

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

You are right sir. For him to have said once you survive Europe you will face weaker teams until the round of 16 is not entirely true to me too because if you say so the how do you really deal with monster teams from Africa, South America and Asia who are still very much available in the group stage. Remember Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal in the 2022 tournament while Japan also tried and were able to beat the likes of Germany . Are you now going to just push these teams over? I feel like even the so called weak teams now do not have anything to lose so they play with much courage and freedom unlike in the past so I don't really think there are pushovers now though.

[FanEagle]

As an Italian, I really hope it doesn't happen again, but it's highly likely that it will. And if we lose against Northern Ireland and either Wales or Bosnia, then we don't deserve to go to the World Cup at all! We deserve to watch the World Cup from home for many years to come.

Highly doubt that will happen. Italy have a very easy path to world cup, they should not be losing to any of those teams, they are going to beat whoever they face. Northern Ireland is not a team Italy should be worried about, we are talking about a team that is not even half as good, they should have easy time beating them, and in fact I am suspecting probably winning by a large margin as well.

On the other hand, if we see Wales or Bosnia, those both are not as great as Italy neither. Italy should have gone directly of course, that is what people wanted, but a tough group prevented that, so we should see them now win and go. Is it guaranteed? Of course not, anything could happen in football, but they are clear favourites.

[katanic97]

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

You are right sir. For him to have said once you survive Europe you will face weaker teams until the round of 16 is not entirely true to me too because if you say so the how do you really deal with monster teams from Africa, South America and Asia who are still very much available in the group stage. Remember Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal in the 2022 tournament while Japan also tried and were able to beat the likes of Germany . Are you now going to just push these teams over? I feel like even the so called weak teams now do not have anything to lose so they play with much courage and freedom unlike in the past so I don't really think there are pushovers now though.

No team should be underestimated. What you said is true, and I would add Croatia in 2018 , they reached the final against France and unfortunately lost, but still, no one thought they could go that far. The European qualifiers were indeed interesting and full of battles, but at the world cup you have no room for mistakes, and everyone fights the best they can

[imamusma]

~~

You are right sir. For him to have said once you survive Europe you will face weaker teams until the round of 16 is not entirely true to me too because if you say so the how do you really deal with monster teams from Africa, South America and Asia who are still very much available in the group stage. Remember Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal in the 2022 tournament while Japan also tried and were able to beat the likes of Germany . Are you now going to just push these teams over? I feel like even the so called weak teams now do not have anything to lose so they play with much courage and freedom unlike in the past so I don't really think there are pushovers now though.

No team should be underestimated. What you said is true, and I would add Croatia in 2018 , they reached the final against France and unfortunately lost, but still, no one thought they could go that far. The European qualifiers were indeed interesting and full of battles, but at the world cup you have no room for mistakes, and everyone fights the best they can

The 2026 World Cup looks set to be a tough one for all teams, due to the format change involving 48 participants, so I expect plenty of surprises. Certainly, no team can be underestimated, every team has the potential to be a title contender, although we recognize that some teams deserve to be considered favorites due to their experience and squad depth.

[Samahabosa]

Qualifying for the World Cup from Europe is harder than actually playing in the tournament. Once you get through all those tough european teams and make it to the world cup, you probably will face weaker teams until the round of 16  , which makes it much easier to advance.

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

Asian teams are very weak; the only ones that can make it to the World Cup knockout stage are South Korea and Japan. Africa's best is only reaching the semifinals or quarterfinals, with Morocco being the last to reach the semifinals. The strong South American teams are only Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay is quite strong, but in the modern era, they have not been able to compete for the World Cup title. Qualification is tough everywhere except for the top teams in each confederation, who will qualify very easily—for example, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and South Korea will qualify very easily.
There are many surprises in the African zone; teams like Nigeria will not be able to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

[Sithara007]

Asian teams are very weak; the only ones that can make it to the World Cup knockout stage are South Korea and Japan. Africa's best is only reaching the semifinals or quarterfinals, with Morocco being the last to reach the semifinals. The strong South American teams are only Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay is quite strong, but in the modern era, they have not been able to compete for the World Cup title. Qualification is tough everywhere except for the top teams in each confederation, who will qualify very easily—for example, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and South Korea will qualify very easily.
There are many surprises in the African zone; teams like Nigeria will not be able to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Does that surprises you? Within each confederation you will find stronger and weaker teams. Perhaps CONMEBOL is the only region that doesn't send absolute minnows to the world cup. From the AFC, I expect a few surprises from Saudi Arabia this time. It took a while for them to qualify, but did so finally during the AFC fourth round qualifiers. Iraq may qualify through the Inter-confederation play-offs, and they are also a good team. The problem with Japan and South Korea is that they have become stagnant over the years (perhaps due to the prevailing demographic situation in these countries).

[DaNNy001]

Asian teams are very weak; the only ones that can make it to the World Cup knockout stage are South Korea and Japan. Africa's best is only reaching the semifinals or quarterfinals, with Morocco being the last to reach the semifinals. The strong South American teams are only Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay is quite strong, but in the modern era, they have not been able to compete for the World Cup title. Qualification is tough everywhere except for the top teams in each confederation, who will qualify very easily—for example, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and South Korea will qualify very easily.
There are many surprises in the African zone; teams like Nigeria will not be able to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Does that surprises you? Within each confederation you will find stronger and weaker teams. Perhaps CONMEBOL is the only region that doesn't send absolute minnows to the world cup. From the AFC, I expect a few surprises from Saudi Arabia this time. It took a while for them to qualify, but did so finally during the AFC fourth round qualifiers. Iraq may qualify through the Inter-confederation play-offs, and they are also a good team. The problem with Japan and South Korea is that they have become stagnant over the years (perhaps due to the prevailing demographic situation in these countries).

To qualify for the world cup is one thing then to actually make it past the group stage is another 😁, most of the teams in Asia and Africa are always the teams that struggle in these stages although last time around morroco did an excellent job by making it to the semi finals which is something the world haven't seen in a while hopefully another team gets to replicate that or even make it as far as the world cup final. It would be absolutely history if a team from Africa and Asia gets to play in the final of the world cup atleast for just once so that the whole games gets more interesting but I doubt that happening in this my lifetime but maybe probably in the future though when am not around 🙂.

[Rampagoe004]

Does that surprises you? Within each confederation you will find stronger and weaker teams. Perhaps CONMEBOL is the only region that doesn't send absolute minnows to the world cup. From the AFC, I expect a few surprises from Saudi Arabia this time. It took a while for them to qualify, but did so finally during the AFC fourth round qualifiers. Iraq may qualify through the Inter-confederation play-offs, and they are also a good team. The problem with Japan and South Korea is that they have become stagnant over the years (perhaps due to the prevailing demographic situation in these countries).

To qualify for the world cup is one thing then to actually make it past the group stage is another 😁, most of the teams in Asia and Africa are always the teams that struggle in these stages although last time around morroco did an excellent job by making it to the semi finals which is something the world haven't seen in a while hopefully another team gets to replicate that or even make it as far as the world cup final. It would be absolutely history if a team from Africa and Asia gets to play in the final of the world cup atleast for just once so that the whole games gets more interesting but I doubt that happening in this my lifetime but maybe probably in the future though when am not around 🙂.

Many countries want to appear or qualify for the World Cup, it is already great, it does not have to be in the final and there are teams that enter, meaning they are the best.
 The impossible thing happened in the 2026 World Cup, African and Asian countries entered the Final, if that happens it will be a new history in FIFA, even top clubs from Spain, Germany, England and Argentina find it difficult to enter the semi-finals, the match has not started after FIFA added participants, of course the World Cup will be more interesting, at least Asian and African teams can participate even if they do not enter the final.

[Lillominato89]

As an Italian, I really hope it doesn't happen again, but it's highly likely that it will. And if we lose against Northern Ireland and either Wales or Bosnia, then we don't deserve to go to the World Cup at all! We deserve to watch the World Cup from home for many years to come.

Highly doubt that will happen. Italy have a very easy path to world cup, they should not be losing to any of those teams, they are going to beat whoever they face. Northern Ireland is not a team Italy should be worried about, we are talking about a team that is not even half as good, they should have easy time beating them, and in fact I am suspecting probably winning by a large margin as well.

On the other hand, if we see Wales or Bosnia, those both are not as great as Italy neither. Italy should have gone directly of course, that is what people wanted, but a tough group prevented that, so we should see them now win and go. Is it guaranteed? Of course not, anything could happen in football, but they are clear favourites.

It is precisely because it is such an easy path that we are so worried. Italy has always had a strong team, but we did not participate in the last two World Cups because we lost to Sweden, which, although strong, was not nearly as strong as Italy, and we watched the last World Cup from home thanks to the match lost against North Macedonia, which was also very fragile compared to Italy.
So this path, which on paper is easy, will become a nightmare for us Italians.

[Byebyebtc]

Hmm. Something seems fishy to me. Next year world cup starts, a guy wants the world cup so bad, but unfortunately he is getting old, and among all year's and session, the guy decided to visit the president of the country hosting the world cup by this time, what business got you to see the president?
I wouldn't say more that this tho, but at the end of the day if this guy's country wins the world cup I will definitely know it is rigged

[Prosofina_G]

I think one thing about life is adjustments, FIFA world cup can't remain still  all the time probably trying another method is necessary, previously it has always been 32 team,  i like it this period of trying  48 team and i bet you is gonna be so interesting and a lot of things will definitely be upgraded.

[KTChampions]

Hmm. Something seems fishy to me. Next year world cup starts, a guy wants the world cup so bad, but unfortunately he is getting old, and among all year's and session, the guy decided to visit the president of the country hosting the world cup by this time, what business got you to see the president?
I wouldn't say more that this tho, but at the end of the day if this guy's country wins the world cup I will definitely know it is rigged

Yes, my friend, you are absolutely right, this is a worldwide conspiracy in favor of Ronaldo  
Trump will personally arrange Portugal's victory. I don't know where you've been all these years that you don't know that Ronaldo is the one who has spent his entire career fighting the system and if something is rigged in his favor, it will be like an alien invasion. As for Trump, he is just a populist politician and naturally he chose Ronaldo as the most influential and recognizable athlete in the world (top 1 on Instagram).

[BitBakerr1]

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

You are right sir. For him to have said once you survive Europe you will face weaker teams until the round of 16 is not entirely true to me too because if you say so the how do you really deal with monster teams from Africa, South America and Asia who are still very much available in the group stage. Remember Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal in the 2022 tournament while Japan also tried and were able to beat the likes of Germany . Are you now going to just push these teams over? I feel like even the so called weak teams now do not have anything to lose so they play with much courage and freedom unlike in the past so I don't really think there are pushovers now though.

No team should be underestimated. What you said is true, and I would add Croatia in 2018 , they reached the final against France and unfortunately lost, but still, no one thought they could go that far. The European qualifiers were indeed interesting and full of battles, but at the world cup you have no room for mistakes, and everyone fights the best they can

katanic97 you are correct, no team should be underestimated when it comes to world cup, just like you said I personally never believe that Croatia will go far in that 2018 world cup, I was very shocked that they reached the final and if not that France was lucky Croatia would have won the match they were very determined to win, world cup competition Carrie's a different spirit that is why the competition is very interesting, in world cup every team wants to win, so it is totally wrong for us to underestimate any team because world cup comes with surprise and I believe 2026 world cup will also come with surprise.

[Bazzu]

katanic97 you are correct, no team should be underestimated when it comes to world cup, just like you said I personally never believe that Croatia will go far in that 2018 world cup, I was very shocked that they reached the final and if not that France was lucky Croatia would have won the match they were very determined to win, world cup competition Carrie's a different spirit that is why the competition is very interesting, in world cup every team wants to win, so it is totally wrong for us to underestimate any team because world cup comes with surprise and I believe 2026 world cup will also come with surprise.

Almost every World Cup tournament brings surprises. In fact, I think almost every match contains entertaining surprises. In the last World Cup, I was very surprised by what happened to Argentina when they lost to Saudi Arabia in the early stages of the preliminary round. But in the end, Argentina became the champions. Although that was quite reasonable because Argentina was in top form at the time. However, in the World Cup, no team can be underestimated. Even Saudi Arabia, which is always considered an underdog, sometimes creates surprises. And the same has been true in previous World Cups as well. To be honest, I always thought teams like Portugal and Brazil would compete in the final. But I was always wrong with my predictions.

[Obari]

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

World cup is the main trophy for every player to win and the deep dream of every player that plays football at top level. Who would valued a player that have a domestic club level title over the world cup? European qualifiers are one of the toughest phase in the world cup. We're talking about nothing but streak winnings. This are games that are hosted with full pressure for oppositions to win and none of them would bend over for defeats. Qualifiers are basic games ought to be play to see the strengthening feature of a country and if they're eligible to anticipate in the world cup.

[Ale88]

Does he have the experience or the know-how to manage an important national team? Absolutely not, but here we are, it was either him or Cannavaro in the end. We could have flipped a coin at that point

If it was the choice between him or Cannavaro, then I say that you made a right choice.  

Cannavaro was recently our manager (Dinamo Zagreb), at the same time Gattuso was in Hajduk and tbh he didn't do a good job and he was sacked after only 14 matches. So yeah, I think that you dodged a bullet there.

I would love to know why Uzbekistan chose Cannavaro as a new manager, some people in football are just lucky. Or they have a very good agent

And I'm telling you this as a Juventus fan.

I am sure that Juventus could use player like Manduzkic now, who was that kind of a tough player. Sure, he didn't score as many goals as some other strikers but he was extremely physical and hardworking, that regularly bullied defenders (and anyone else really who came his way) and one of the rare forwards willing to sacrifice himself completely for the team.

I still remember that huge banner that Juve fans put for him, saying "warrior among men" or something along those lines. We miss him dearly in our national team.

Manduzkic has never been a real striker, he was a more similar to Rooney for all the "dirty job" he did but every single Juve fan always loved him because you could see the passion and the effort he would put into every single game. It's the type of player that fans always want in their team, it's been a pleasure seeing him play for Juventus!

You are a fan when you want what is best for the team and running around trying to play for two might look impressive in the gameplay, but the results?!
And Gattuso is after him, he keeps chasing, he tackles, he tackles again, he's relentless, Gattuso finally gets the ball...oh, he missed the pass...
Gattuso in a nutshell!

I'll leave you here this declaration made by Ancelotti, feel free to traslate it and then let me know who knows more about football, Ancelotti or you?
"Gattuso nel contesto della qualità era un giocatore indispensabile, per la squadra era necessario più di altri. Era unico."

And Sergio Ramos has accumulated more than 250 yellow cards so what's the point?

If you want rugby on the field, go watch rugby, that's the point!

I think you missed (again) the point...

[püsür]

As an Italian, I really hope it doesn't happen again, but it's highly likely that it will. And if we lose against Northern Ireland and either Wales or Bosnia, then we don't deserve to go to the World Cup at all! We deserve to watch the World Cup from home for many years to come.

Highly doubt that will happen. Italy have a very easy path to world cup, they should not be losing to any of those teams, they are going to beat whoever they face. Northern Ireland is not a team Italy should be worried about, we are talking about a team that is not even half as good, they should have easy time beating them, and in fact I am suspecting probably winning by a large margin as well.

On the other hand, if we see Wales or Bosnia, those both are not as great as Italy neither. Italy should have gone directly of course, that is what people wanted, but a tough group prevented that, so we should see them now win and go. Is it guaranteed? Of course not, anything could happen in football, but they are clear favourites.

It wasn't that Norway had physical superiority, so they lost. Italy was simply far behind Norway in terms of talent. They were once known worldwide for the strength of their defence, but in that match, they conceded all kinds of goals to Norway. Norway scored with pressure in the attacking third. They scored with one-on-one play from the wing. They even scored against a settled defence. What happened to Italy? They are still applying the defensive approach from 30 years ago. In the second goal they conceded, there were exactly seven Italian players inside the penalty area. Not a single one was pressing the opponent; they were just defending the area. I have an idea. Actually, all they needed to do was convince Inzaghi to adopt the Inter model. This team can only play a 3-5-2 formation, and even then, at a slow tempo.

[katanic97]

The qualifiers are strong, but what you said doesn’t make sense at all. You completely left out african countries, south american countries as well, and asian teams, which are always well-ranked and have often eliminated European teams in the group stage. European qualifiers are always tough, but that doesn’t mean what you said about the round of 16 is true

You are right sir. For him to have said once you survive Europe you will face weaker teams until the round of 16 is not entirely true to me too because if you say so the how do you really deal with monster teams from Africa, South America and Asia who are still very much available in the group stage. Remember Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal in the 2022 tournament while Japan also tried and were able to beat the likes of Germany . Are you now going to just push these teams over? I feel like even the so called weak teams now do not have anything to lose so they play with much courage and freedom unlike in the past so I don't really think there are pushovers now though.

No team should be underestimated. What you said is true, and I would add Croatia in 2018 , they reached the final against France and unfortunately lost, but still, no one thought they could go that far. The European qualifiers were indeed interesting and full of battles, but at the world cup you have no room for mistakes, and everyone fights the best they can

katanic97 you are correct, no team should be underestimated when it comes to world cup, just like you said I personally never believe that Croatia will go far in that 2018 world cup, I was very shocked that they reached the final and if not that France was lucky Croatia would have won the match they were very determined to win, world cup competition Carrie's a different spirit that is why the competition is very interesting, in world cup every team wants to win, so it is totally wrong for us to underestimate any team because world cup comes with surprise and I believe 2026 world cup will also come with surprise.

That's right, Croatia proved themselves again at the next world Cup and took 3rd place, and let me remind you that they knocked out Brazil on penalties. As you said, the energy is different, there are always a lot of surprises, and honestly i can't wait for the tournament to begin.

[Webetcoins]

Qualifying for the World Cup from Europe is harder than actually playing in the tournament. Once you get through all those tough european teams and make it to the world cup, you probably will face weaker teams until the round of 16  , which makes it much easier to advance.

Depends on your draw luck of course, because you could face the best in other continents as well.
You could have two European teams in one group, so lets say that you are Turkey, barely getting to world cup, then you have Argentina, France, Senegal or whatever on your group, not sure if those type of great teams fit into same group but you know that it's continental based so maybe, if not still another good team, Brazil is not going from top, so maybe that.

In the end, it's possible for a team that goes from playoffs, to face some great team at group stages of world cup, it is not impossible. Obviously you could also face the lowest teams of each continent as well, playoff level teams from those groups, wouldn't be impossible.