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

[GiftedMAN]

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

What are you moaning about Sherlock? Ronaldo haters are now coming up with conspiracy theories about his visit to the White House. So in your head, Trump is going to make all the teams play poorly against Portugal and make sure they lift the World Cup trophy because Ronaldo wants it so bad. Delusional.

Like I'm shocked to read such observation from him that obviously screams conspiracy and bad profiling of a player that's doing very well for himself whenever he's on the pitch and doesn't need anyone's assistance to win a major trophy. Ronaldo didn't just visit the POTUS because he went for a private meeting but was among the entourage that went to visit Trump with the Saudi Arabian prince. This kind of propaganda and false narrative can only be spread by bitter fans of Leo Messi who doesn't want to see Ronaldo lift the FIFA World Cup trophy, I hope he disappoints all of you at the end.

[banana33]

It was a ridiculous decision to fire the coach who had contributed to history by painstakingly guiding the Uzbekistan national team to its first World Cup qualification. Perhaps they were only focused on the commercial side and weren't targeting progress beyond the group stage, which is why they hired Cannavaro, a legend who had won the World Cup. Had they not fired the coach who had led them to the World Cup, they might have achieved new history, at least reaching the quarterfinals. But who knows what was going through the Uzbek federation's mind when they fired the coach who had led the Uzbekistan national team to the World Cup.

These teams must be very careful about what they do, it is clear that these teams must also have a coach who is ready to do anything to qualify the national teams, given that they are not seeded, certainly the move they made was not the best,and now they are facing a problem

[Akbarkoe]

It was a ridiculous decision to fire the coach who had contributed to history by painstakingly guiding the Uzbekistan national team to its first World Cup qualification. Perhaps they were only focused on the commercial side and weren't targeting progress beyond the group stage, which is why they hired Cannavaro, a legend who had won the World Cup. Had they not fired the coach who had led them to the World Cup, they might have achieved new history, at least reaching the quarterfinals. But who knows what was going through the Uzbek federation's mind when they fired the coach who had led the Uzbekistan national team to the World Cup.

These teams must be very careful about what they do, it is clear that these teams must also have a coach who is ready to do anything to qualify the national teams, given that they are not seeded, certainly the move they made was not the best,and now they are facing a problem

I will just say that they do not appreciate the struggle that the previous coach did to get into the qualifying round, Fabio Cannavaro may be said to be a legend of the past, but it is very unethical to take the seat of someone else who has fought hard from the bottom, if he wants, it should be better in the next world cup, this really hurts Timur Kapadze, I feel it from here, there is a little resentment and disappointment towards the federation.

[imamusma]

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

What are you moaning about Sherlock? Ronaldo haters are now coming up with conspiracy theories about his visit to the White House. So in your head, Trump is going to make all the teams play poorly against Portugal and make sure they lift the World Cup trophy because Ronaldo wants it so bad. Delusional.

Currently, I think Ronaldo can visit whomever he wants to visit because he is a football legend and an icon. Saudi Pro League have given him that excessive right to play a major role in their country’s league. It's not possible that an ordinary visit will make a country win the world cup if they don't deserve it because how will Trump manipulate the games in favor of Portugal.

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

[Wakate]

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition. What happens in the previous world cup that Messi was able to take the cup will be very hard to happen this time around.

[puloweh555]

There is a travel ban on Haiti and Iran travellers to the United States of America, which means the fans are ban from coming to United States of America to support there teams, that will definitely be a minus for both team,
But the question is since there is a travel ban on travellers the question is will both team be allowed to play in the United States of America in the 2026 world cup?

This is a load of bullshit, definitely something that no one has taken into account, this thing will have very serious repercussions, the World Cup should unite all people but they are doing everything to make it seem the opposite of what is happening, right now I don't know if this type of competition makes sense.

Football should unite everyone, but now these policies have made the sport less friendly to everyone. This is what happens when a non-democratic country hosts the World Cup, even though it's said to be the most democratic but in reality it's not.

This is what happens when sports and politics are mixed. FIFA is no longer neutral, even though it's the governing body of international football, but now the United States controls everything. This double standard has been clear since Russia was banned. If FIFA were neutral they would also ban Israel from participating in the World Cup qualifiers. Now, what happened to Russia will happen to Iran and Haiti.

[Rikafip]

In any case, as a player he has important experience, he is certainly not a fool.

He is not a fool for sure. He was a world class defender and on that merit alone he is making nice living as a coach.

Fools are those that sack someone who brought you the world cup, just to replace him with someone who knows absolutely nothing about your football, just to sack him few months after the world cup is over.

[Ale88]

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

Because they are obviously ignorant fools.  

I mean, to sack the manager who got you to your very first World Cup just to hire an unproven one only because of his name is extremely shortsighted and has "catastrophe" written all over it.

To be fair, I think Uzbekistan manager stepped down after the qualification due to physical and/or personal reasons, so he didn't actually get fired, it was his decision. But, despite this, I still don't understand why they chose to go with Cannavaro. Besides his questionable manager skills, what the hell does he know about Uzbeki football? In cases like this I would simply choose a local manager or anyway someone who has some type of knowledge of the local players.

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."

Oh god, I just love this argument when it comes to discussing football!!
So this guy is a trainer, this guy is a player, how the fuck do you dare to tell them they are not the greatest of all when they say so about each other!
Have you actually seen a trainer coming up with a statement after a player has retired and telling him he has sucked?

Look, I understand you have very poor football knowledge so I'll try to help you out. This is what Gattuso won during his career: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennaro_Gattuso#Player
He played almost 500 games with Milan, he literally won every trophy, he was even selected in the 2006 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team, and for you he is a mediocre player.
I'm pretty sure you don't even know that over the years clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich tried to purchase him. But sure, he was a useless player, please, keep enlightening me

And this is from Ancelotti, this is so funny.....
If he was so damn important, can he please tell us the magic on how he managed to get Milan in 3rd spot in Gattuso was benched for that hip injury and played just 10 matches while the season before they were on the 6th with Gatusso on the field all day? Must have been majikkkkkk!

Ah, so now the results of a full season depend on the presence of a single player?

I can think of a full team from that period who have made more for Milan than Gattuso if you exclude running around breaking legs, so you think Gatusso was more important than Shevchenko? Or that Maldini? Or Pirlo? Zlatan? Seedorf? Or even Nesta for god's sake?

The fact that to support your thesis you start comparing totally different players while trying to put words in my mouth that I've never said, tells me you are running out of arguments.

But no!!! A fan of a team should suck the... ball.... of every player because that means what a fan is! Definitely not a cult!
Well, enjoy the results of someone with the temperament of a cooking pot!

I think you missed the part where I clearly specified that I don't even support Milan but I'm not surprised at this point...

[Hewlet]

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition.

In the first place, is their any rationale behind making a comparison between Ronaldo's visit to trump and trump playing any role in assisting Portugal in the world cup? for all we know, there is more to Ronaldo than just winning the world cup and so, even if he never wins the world cup, he will forever remain the GOAT of the game of football. even when you are looking that at some point, sports can be rigged, it is not possible for a game at the highest level like the FIFA world cup to be rigged from start to the finish. it is completely impossible.

[uneng]

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition. What happens in the previous world cup that Messi was able to take the cup will be very hard to happen this time around.

Messi makes a lot of difference for his national team, but Argentina won the previous World Cup also due to having a quite decent, integrated and stable team. Messi alone wouldn't be enough to win the championship, just like Ronaldo can't do this by himself. In comparison to Portugal national team, the Argentinian was superior as a whole. Personally, I don't think Portugal is a strong candidate for the title in 2026.

[Rikafip]

To be fair, I think Uzbekistan manager stepped down after the qualification due to physical and/or personal reasons, so he didn't actually get fired, it was his decision. But, despite this, I still don't understand why they chose to go with Cannavaro.

It was Srecko Katanec (Slovenian guy popular here in Croatia, who is actually a decent coach) who stepped down due illness (cancer I think), who was their main coach until January 2025 and then Kapadze who was his assistant took over and managed to get Uzbekistan to the WC. Then in October they hired Cannavaro and demoted Kapadze, and then he left.

Btw, no point arguing with stompix about Gattuso as he obviously doesn't rate him and no fact will change that. I mean, he compared Gattuso's and Pirlo's number of yellow cards which doesn't make any sense since they are completely different (and that's why they complented each other beatifully) type of players that had different roles in Milan and your national team.

[Ale88]

To be fair, I think Uzbekistan manager stepped down after the qualification due to physical and/or personal reasons, so he didn't actually get fired, it was his decision. But, despite this, I still don't understand why they chose to go with Cannavaro.

It was Srecko Katanec (Slovenian guy popular here in Croatia, who is actually a decent coach) who stepped down due illness (cancer I think), who was their main coach until January 2025 and then Kapadze who was his assistant took over and managed to get Uzbekistan to the WC. Then in October they hired Cannavaro and demoted Kapadze, and then he left.

Oh, I didn't know about the assistant that took over, in that case then it really sucks, I totally disagree with such decision. My only thought is that, maybe, since this is the first time the majority of football world will see Uzbekistan play, they wanted someone famous on the bench, just to show everybody they are able to hire famous people. Other than this (which is of course a stupid reason), I can't see any other reason to do what they did.

[Sithara007]

To be fair, I think Uzbekistan manager stepped down after the qualification due to physical and/or personal reasons, so he didn't actually get fired, it was his decision. But, despite this, I still don't understand why they chose to go with Cannavaro.

It was Srecko Katanec (Slovenian guy popular here in Croatia, who is actually a decent coach) who stepped down due illness (cancer I think), who was their main coach until January 2025 and then Kapadze who was his assistant took over and managed to get Uzbekistan to the WC. Then in October they hired Cannavaro and demoted Kapadze, and then he left.

Oh, I didn't know about the assistant that took over, in that case then it really sucks, I totally disagree with such decision. My only thought is that, maybe, since this is the first time the majority of football world will see Uzbekistan play, they wanted someone famous on the bench, just to show everybody they are able to hire famous people. Other than this (which is of course a stupid reason), I can't see any other reason to do what they did.

That is strange. Timur Kapadze was never their full-time coach. He became the acting coach only because Srečko Katanec resigned due to health problems. It was a temporary arrangement until a new coach can be found. A few months later, the Uzbekistan Football Association came up with Fabio Cannavaro as the new full-time coach. If this made Kapadze angry and he resigned as a result, then I am not going to support him. BTW, if Uzbekistan qualified for the World Cup, it is due to the exceptional performance of it's players, especially Eldor Shomurodov and Abbosbek Fayzullaev. The coach had a limited role to play.

[Obari]

Messi makes a lot of difference for his national team, but Argentina won the previous World Cup also due to having a quite decent, integrated and stable team. Messi alone wouldn't be enough to win the championship, just like Ronaldo can't do this by himself. In comparison to Portugal national team, the Argentinian was superior as a whole. Personally, I don't think Portugal is a strong candidate for the title in 2026.

Portugal have shown several spots of weaknesses and how they couple up with defeats. Portugal should not have given room to the slightest defeats zone because in the world cup tournament, there are completely no such thing like a country having a second chance. There's always only one shot and it's advisable to use that one opportunity very effectively. Common we can't start the comparison where we get to see Leo Messi single-handedly winning the world cup title. That's not possible but we can say he play key function with Argentina coming out to be the most outstanding team more capable of winning the world cup.

[jaberwock]

There is a travel ban on Haiti and Iran travellers to the United States of America, which means the fans are ban from coming to United States of America to support there teams, that will definitely be a minus for both team,
But the question is since there is a travel ban on travellers the question is will both team be allowed to play in the United States of America in the 2026 world cup?

Due to FIFA rules, USA has to accept federation people, meaning that while it's true that travellers, like regular people, can't go, Iran could easily create credentials to a thousand people if they want to, and send them there. Not sure if they really want to, doesn't mean they may want to, they may feel okay with this, after all how many teams will have tens of thousands of fans in every game, only the big ones, smaller teams usually do not have that much, I remember in Qatar, there were many games where it was just Qatari people watching it.

But the rules are rules, so if federations of those leagues wants to send anyone, and have the finances for it, they can create the paperwork to send, just like how players are capable of going, the federation "workers" will too, and these could be hidden fans with no real work, just getting fake papers.

[Sithara007]

Portugal have shown several spots of weaknesses and how they couple up with defeats. Portugal should not have given room to the slightest defeats zone because in the world cup tournament, there are completely no such thing like a country having a second chance. There's always only one shot and it's advisable to use that one opportunity very effectively. Common we can't start the comparison where we get to see Leo Messi single-handedly winning the world cup title. That's not possible but we can say he play key function with Argentina coming out to be the most outstanding team more capable of winning the world cup.

As a rule, if I am betting on who will become the champions in FIFA World Cup or the Euro Cup, I have always avoided teams such as Portugal, Norway, Belgium and Wales. The reason is that I don't think teams that are completely dependent on one player would be able to perform well in playoff phase and lift the trophy. And this rule has helped me in saving my money. I made a bet for Argentina in 2022, which clicked and I ended up with a substantial profit. I did so, because in Argentina they have good players such as Lautaro Martínez and Rodrigo De Paul in addition to Messi.

[Gost ms]

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition. What happens in the previous world cup that Messi was able to take the cup will be very hard to happen this time around.

Trump will support Cristiano Ronaldo, but I don't think it will have any impact on the game or Cristiano Ronaldo's team winning the World Cup. Because the whole world is watching this World Cup, I think it is impossible for corruption to happen here. Every team has to beat them and then Cristiano Ronaldo's team can go to the final. But I also want Cristiano Ronaldo's team to win the trophy this time. But let's see what kind of results they can do on the field.

It is not possible to say who will win the trophy right now. But it is possible to predict who will win. Because the team that is currently in good form, playing well, has good players, and everything else, we can consider who will win.

[Daniel91]

I think it's impossible for Trump to manipulate a match so that it ultimately benefits a certain team, in this case, the Portuguese National Team. Even though Trump has great influence in many things, manipulating the result of a football match in the current era, and in an event as big as the World Cup, is almost nonsensical. Regardless of media reports, we never know for certain what the purpose of Ronaldo visit to the White House was. What is clear is that wherever he is, it will be the subject of everyone conversation.

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition. What happens in the previous world cup that Messi was able to take the cup will be very hard to happen this time around.

Trump will support Cristiano Ronaldo, but I don't think it will have any impact on the game or Cristiano Ronaldo's team winning the World Cup. Because the whole world is watching this World Cup, I think it is impossible for corruption to happen here. Every team has to beat them and then Cristiano Ronaldo's team can go to the final. But I also want Cristiano Ronaldo's team to win the trophy this time. But let's see what kind of results they can do on the field.

It is not possible to say who will win the trophy right now. But it is possible to predict who will win. Because the team that is currently in good form, playing well, has good players, and everything else, we can consider who will win.

In what way will Trump support Ronaldo? Ronaldo did not come to the meeting at the White House with Trump as an individual or as a representative of Portugal, but as part of a large Saudi delegation and as part of the promotion of Saudi football. 
Trump is not interested in football but in profit, and that is the reason for this meeting between the Saudi delegation and President Trump. The Saudi leader has long been isolated in the world due to human rights violations in his country, and now, through Trump, he is in a way being rehabilitated. 
Football is secondary in this whole story, and the most important aspect of the whole story is business, profit, and the promotion of Saudi Arabia as a country.

[BitBakerr1]

The idea that Trump might use his influence to support Ronaldo in this world cup competition is there but that does not mean that he's going to win the world cup if he does not prove that to the world by defeating several countries in this competition. What happens in the previous world cup that Messi was able to take the cup will be very hard to happen this time around.

Messi makes a lot of difference for his national team, but Argentina won the previous World Cup also due to having a quite decent, integrated and stable team. Messi alone wouldn't be enough to win the championship, just like Ronaldo can't do this by himself. In comparison to Portugal national team, the Argentinian was superior as a whole. Personally, I don't think Portugal is a strong candidate for the title in 2026.

One thing I understand about world cup is that it comes with surprises no one can predict the country that we win the world cup the team you think are not that inform may end up lifting the world cup as long as they are okay as a team and they are very determine to get the world cup for themselves, Messi is a very wonderful player and he contributed a lot in them winning the world cup just like you said it is not just one player that can fight for the world cup it is the team in general that can do that.
Portugal has every chance to lift a world cup the same way other teams or country has, all we need to do is to wait till then because we don't know the future, and again every team in the world cup competition has a chance if they play very well and work as a team.

[aipercoin]

Portugal have shown several spots of weaknesses and how they couple up with defeats. Portugal should not have given room to the slightest defeats zone because in the world cup tournament, there are completely no such thing like a country having a second chance. There's always only one shot and it's advisable to use that one opportunity very effectively. Common we can't start the comparison where we get to see Leo Messi single-handedly winning the world cup title. That's not possible but we can say he play key function with Argentina coming out to be the most outstanding team more capable of winning the world cup.

Portugal was fine as long as Cristiano Ronaldo was in good form, but as he began to age and his form declined, it was obviously no good at all.

Like Norway, as long as Haaland is super mega performing, they will be a very strong team. I think this!