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

[vivekdhyani1]

I get where you're coming from  the draw doesn't scream group of Death,and some pools look more predictable than others. But let's not write off all the groups just yet! Sometimes the most boring groups on paper deliver the biggest surprises. A tight, low scoring match with everything on the line can be just as thrilling as a clash between giants.
And Speaking of surprises... What do you think about Morocco chances this time? After that incredible run to the semifinals in 2022, do you think they can repeat that magic, or even go further? Being in a group with Brazil is a massive early test!

Yeah , that could happen but i'm struggling  to see it happenning ..after all the chaos that is about to happen outside the staduim regarding Trump Adminstration & fans that are travelling ..majority games with low score might be the worst thing.

The way Brazil is playing lately , forget about qualifying Morocco might just win the group itself

[Ale88]

There is hardly a single group match worth watching except maybe japan-dutch ! No group of death, just 12 groups of boredom

I get where you're coming from  the draw doesn't scream group of Death,and some pools look more predictable than others. But let's not write off all the groups just yet! Sometimes the most boring groups on paper deliver the biggest surprises. A tight, low scoring match with everything on the line can be just as thrilling as a clash between giants.

I don't think he was talking about possible surprises rather than the obvious low quality of the matches. I really want to know who is going to watch matches like Paraguay-Australia, Curaçao-Ecuador, Egypt-Iran, Iran-New Zealand, New Zealand-Iran, Cabo Verde-Saudi Arabia, Algeria-Jordan and Ghana-Panama, and I'm mentioning only the most obvious ones.

Of course with 48 teams the group stage level would have been the lowest we ever seen in a World Cup...

[retreat]

-snip-

The way Brazil is playing lately , forget about qualifying Morocco might just win the group itself

The Brazilian national team's performance may have been disappointing, failing to live up to their potential as a top-tier football powerhouse and losing their identity. However, they still have time to improve, especially since they already have a roster of players I think is quite good. Although they lack the senior players they deserve, Ancelotti certainly has a strategy for recruiting these young players, and he already has a plan for the future of the Brazilian national team. So, let's hope Ancelotti can combine the talents of these players with his strategy to improve the Brazilian national team's performance.

[davis196]

Having a World Cup group stage with 48 teams means one thing. Most teams would be quite mediocre. There's no real competitiveness.
Do we really need so many unnecessary matches between mediocre national teams, just so FIFA could add yet another billion dollars to their revenue? Most groups have one clear favorite and three mediocre teams. The only exception seems to be the group with England and Croatia.
I won't be paying any attention to all those matches at the group stage. Maybe I will start watching the quarter-finals and the last stage of the tournament(semi-finals and final).

[Hewlet]

Having a World Cup group stage with 48 teams means one thing. Most teams would be quite mediocre. There's no real competitiveness.
Do we really need so many unnecessary matches between mediocre national teams, just so FIFA could add yet another billion dollars to their revenue? Most groups have one clear favorite and three mediocre teams. The only exception seems to be the group with England and Croatia.

It's because you've gotten overly used to certain king of names that are seen to be footballing nation while looking down in others as though they don't have what it takes to represent their nation at the biggest stage. Don't be surprised that contrary to your believe that certain teams are the ones that are worthy of playing in the world cup, the teams you're despising might even be the ones that will come out of the group stage.

As far as I know, every stage of a tournament as the world cup is very important and for you to get to the next stage, you first have to prove through the group stage that you're worthy of such qualification. From the point of an ordinary fan, looking down on supposedly small team is not an issue but it's a risky thing to underate a full squad just because they are not your favourite.

The small countries that makes up this number celebrate hugely seeing themselves in the world cup and wouldn't despise an opportunity of showing capacity through this opportunity of playing against these elite teams.

[Die_empty]

No matter how hard Neymar tries and wants to be in the world cup, I think he should not be called up. The reason is not about talent, of course he is very talented, but the reason is that he usually ends up with injuries every single time, and this dude needs a rest already.

He didn't have much time to rest because he was either injured or playing every single day of his career, and when you are injured, you do not just sit at home watching tv, I mean sure you do that too, but there are trainings involved. I think a few weeks where he just rests at home and does nothing is perfect for him, could make him come back a lot better. But I also know Neymar would want to go no matter what condition he is in.

Neymar still has the chance of going to the World Cup based on Carlo Ancelotti's response when he was questioned. This was part of his response; 

If Neymar deserves to be there, if he’s doing well, if he’s better than someone else, he will play in the World Cup, period.

The Italian coach made it clear that Neymar would have to prove to him that he deserves to be in the World Cup squad. This shows that the door is not shut on the Santos striker, let him be fit and show that he would add value to the team. No coach will want to bring in a liability to his team.   

[KTChampions]

COMPLETE WORLD CUP GROUP STAGES DRAW!

There is hardly a single group match worth watching except maybe japan-dutch ! No group of death, just 12 groups of boredom

Exactly as planned.
Thanks to this crap, all previous records will vanish, if not at this World Cup, then at the next one. Judging by his effectiveness in national team games, Haaland could break Klose's record right in the group stage  It's a sad state of affairs. It might be interesting when games end 7-1, 6-0, and so on, but that has nothing to do with the best-of-the-best competition that the World Cup should be.

[puloweh555]

-snip-

The way Brazil is playing lately , forget about qualifying Morocco might just win the group itself

The Brazilian national team's performance may have been disappointing, failing to live up to their potential as a top-tier football powerhouse and losing their identity. However, they still have time to improve, especially since they already have a roster of players I think is quite good. Although they lack the senior players they deserve, Ancelotti certainly has a strategy for recruiting these young players, and he already has a plan for the future of the Brazilian national team. So, let's hope Ancelotti can combine the talents of these players with his strategy to improve the Brazilian national team's performance.

Brazil fell years ago, and they've tried various ways to revive their team, including recruiting Don Carlo, the current Brazil coach. Brazil's performance so far has been disappointing, but I believe Ancelotti can transform Brazil for the better especially since Brazil has always had talented players.

If we watched Brazil vs Tunisia a few weeks ago, which only resulted in a draw, Brazil's mistake was their lack of teamwork and their players' egos. Players like Rodrigo and Vini, in particular couldn't pass the ball and were always shooting. I hope Ancelotti can manage players like this because it's very difficult for a team to win if there are egotistical players who refuse to cooperate. The next match will be Barcelona vs Morocco. If Ancelotti doesn't change his strategy and reprimand his egotistical players, it will be difficult for Brazil to win against Morocco.

[Jewan420]

-snip-
The way Brazil is playing lately , forget about qualifying Morocco might just win the group itself

The Brazilian national team's performance may have been disappointing, failing to live up to their potential as a top-tier football powerhouse and losing their identity. However, they still have time to improve, especially since they already have a roster of players I think is quite good. Although they lack the senior players they deserve, Ancelotti certainly has a strategy for recruiting these young players, and he already has a plan for the future of the Brazilian national team. So, let's hope Ancelotti can combine the talents of these players with his strategy to improve the Brazilian national team's performance.

The Brazilian national team is currently lacking experienced players, and they have been disappointing recently. They have Morocco and Scotland in their group at the World Cup, who are capable of beating Brazil. Morocco is more capable, but Scotland is less capable of beating Brazil. I don't see Brazil in a particularly vulnerable position in the group stage, Morocco is a big obstacle, but they might do well in the group stage. The main problem will be in the knockout stages, with the current Brazilian team I don't see them going very far. They might be eliminated in the round of 16 or quarter-finals if they face tough opponents. While Ancelotti's experience will come in handy in tough matches, the current Brazilian team is not strong enough to withstand the pressure of tough matches. Neymar Jr's presence/absence could make a difference.

[Fuso.hp]

-snip-

The way Brazil is playing lately , forget about qualifying Morocco might just win the group itself

The Brazilian national team's performance may have been disappointing, failing to live up to their potential as a top-tier football powerhouse and losing their identity. However, they still have time to improve, especially since they already have a roster of players I think is quite good. Although they lack the senior players they deserve, Ancelotti certainly has a strategy for recruiting these young players, and he already has a plan for the future of the Brazilian national team. So, let's hope Ancelotti can combine the talents of these players with his strategy to improve the Brazilian national team's performance.

Brazil and Morocco are in the same group so this match between these two teams in this group will probably be the most competitive. In the previous World Cup we saw Morocco play in the semi-finals and Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals. You are right that Brazil's performance this season is not very good, they are losing regularly against many smaller teams. Due to such poor team performance, they have changed their manager several times and now they have given the responsibility of the Brazil team to Carlo Ancelotti. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the best managers at the moment so if the team cannot improve under him then the chances of this Brazil team doing something good will be further away. As a Brazilian fan, I only want to hope that Brazil can at least qualify for the semi-finals of the next World Cup.

[Roseline492]

The draw for the upcoming FIFA World Cup has already been dropped and we can see that twelve groups have been created and each group has four teams. To be honest, everyone will probably be paying more attention to last year's champions Argentina because they will face what I think are weak teams in the group stage, On the other hand, France will face Erling Haaland's Norway and Sadio Mane's Senegal in the group stage, so it can be said that it will be a bit difficult for them. Looking at this official draw, it is difficult to say clearly which team is going to be the champion in this upcoming World Cup.

Every country on this list is ready to face there group and try to qualify, there are country who are lucky on there group because is not all the group that's lucky, group A is nice because there are no top football countries in the group and there first to start with are South Africa and Korea Republic and the both are only strong against themselves and no too special differences between them but however as the beginning of there group one side will win. Ghana is on a thick group because only the first view on there group you will see two country that will proceed because England and Croatia are qualifying.

[Rikafip]

I really want to know who is going to watch matches like Paraguay-Australia, Curaçao-Ecuador, Egypt-Iran, Iran-New Zealand, New Zealand-Iran, Cabo Verde-Saudi Arabia, Algeria-Jordan and Ghana-Panama, and I'm mentioning only the most obvious ones.

Probably only the football fans from those countries, and few hardcore football fans. As expected due this chanmge of format, serious football will start in the 2nd stage.

Also, its hard not to notice how all host countries got very easy groups. It must have been just pure luck and nothing else.

[Sarah Azhari]

I won't be paying any attention to all those matches at the group stage. Maybe I will start watching the quarter-finals and the last stage of the tournament(semi-finals and final).

After seeing the group draw results, I'll skip watching the group stage, as none of the groups are particularly competitive, with almost all the well-known teams qualifying easily. I'll only watch the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and final.

[Ale88]

As far as I know, every stage of a tournament as the world cup is very important and for you to get to the next stage, you first have to prove through the group stage that you're worthy of such qualification.

And before getting to the groups stage do you know what team have to do? I'll tell you: going through a continental qualification stage. But if the World Cup keeps getting expanded and expanded the continental qualifications almost lose their purpose, at least for several continents. Being able to qualify for the World Cup should be something that you earn on the pitch, not because suddenly FIFA doubles your spots.

It's going to be very interesting to see the attendance for several low-key matches: if the stadiums will be full no matter the match than FIFA is right otherwise...

I really want to know who is going to watch matches like Paraguay-Australia, Curaçao-Ecuador, Egypt-Iran, Iran-New Zealand, New Zealand-Iran, Cabo Verde-Saudi Arabia, Algeria-Jordan and Ghana-Panama, and I'm mentioning only the most obvious ones.

Probably only the footnal fans from those countries, and few hardcore football fans. As expected due this chanmge of format, serious football will start in the 2nd stage.

Exactly.

Also, its hard not to notice how all host countries got very easy groups. It must have been just pure luck and nothing else.

I'm thinking about Italy of course, the playoff is more difficult than the World Cup group

[Mehmet69]

For me, Neymar's moment of glory ended quite some time ago.
He is still a strong and decisive player, but he is now in clear decline. Furthermore, he has had more injuries than matches played lately.
When he was in form, he was a formidable footballer, and I liked him much more than Messi.

Of course Neymar is a good player. But, we can say that Neymar is a very unlucky player. His skills are always to be praised. His dribbling, ball passing, shots on goal are all worth remembering. Neymar has given Brazil many amazing victories and at the same time he has suffered some injuries. I don't remember a match where Neymar played and didn't get injured. He is far behind because of injuries.

If he hadn't got injured, we could have witnessed better and more incredible moments.

[PremiumcryptoHub]

Another match that will be tough is France vs Norway, Haaland vs Kylian Mbape, World Cup is the best competition in the world that is why every player dream is to win the trophy.

After watching the draw for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, it seems that this match might be very difficult,Because we will see the clash between France and Norway in that World Cup game, that is, between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.In fact, the main reason for the excitement surrounding these two players is that they are capable of playing very well at club level and are also good at scoring goals so when they participate in the FIFA World Cup for France and Norway, they will be able to play with more responsibility.

It’s very sad not to see my country (Nigeria) playing this competition, we should be in this competition and show the world that we are also one of the best countries in the world but we did not make it, it is now that our Super Eagles will know what it means to play World Cup after seeing many of their teammates representing their countries and fighting to win the match by all means, I can’t wait to watch the tournament.

My country will not be able to play in the World Cup due to their ineligibility but they should not be given up because their team is made up of world-class players like Victor Osimhen and Lookman, so I believe through them perhaps Nigeria can once again seize the opportunity to compete in the FIFA World Cup.

[Alex077]

 
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1997109278646079701

I know that a lot of people want to see Neymar play in this world cup. But honestly and realistically I don't think it makes sense. Because he is a player who has been away from high level competition for a long time and for him the motivation is just not there anymore. If he was aiming for the world cup or at least playing in the world cup he would have made that clear and also played like that from at least 2 or 3 years ago. But for him to actually be in the Brazil world cup squad and do well in the competition is just the same as dreaming for a miracle to happen. And I also want to clarify that just because Neymar was able to show some good performance or get a few hat tricks with Santos does not mean he is ready for the world cup at this age.

[dezoel]

The gap between last game of the group stage for qualifiers and the playoffs are way too much. I can see that the playoff games for Europe is around in late March, that seems like too late. Not only that, but we are talking about players getting very tired playing for their group games and for that reason I think it's clear they are going to be fatigued to play in those games.

Late March is literally when the most games are played by then, afterwards most teams have less because they lose in cup and UEFA competitions, while few do continue but in these playoff level teams we see most of them lose, so march is when they still had many games until then. I think it should have been in December, or latest in January.

[TryNinja]

  https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/12/06/UTHE4q.png
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1997109278646079701

I know that a lot of people want to see Neymar play in this world cup. But honestly and realistically I don't think it makes sense. Because he is a player who has been away from high level competition for a long time and for him the motivation is just not there anymore. If he was aiming for the world cup or at least playing in the world cup he would have made that clear and also played like that from at least 2 or 3 years ago. But for him to actually be in the Brazil world cup squad and do well in the competition is just the same as dreaming for a miracle to happen. And I also want to clarify that just because Neymar was able to show some good performance or get a few hat tricks with Santos does not mean he is ready for the world cup at this age.

I mean, at one point Neymar will be too tired and weak to run as he should on a big professional world cup match... but we can't question his genius football compared to the current generation.

Even with everything that happened, Neymar was still there to huge score a goal against Croacia and try to save Brazil from another 4 years without a sixth world cup trophy. Watching him play is still 10x better than watching a "genius" player from this generation. We had many players with the title of "next Pele" or "next Ronaldo"... but no one can come even closer to what Neymar was doing on his prime, and that's sad.

I personally think Ancelotti *should* call Neymar. If he's good to play, he should be there in case he is needed.

[LTU_btc]

Exactly as planned.
Thanks to this crap, all previous records will vanish, if not at this World Cup, then at the next one. Judging by his effectiveness in national team games, Haaland could break Klose's record right in the group stage   It's a sad state of affairs. It might be interesting when games end 7-1, 6-0, and so on, but that has nothing to do with the best-of-the-best competition that the World Cup should be.

Similar thoughts. For me World Cup used to be event where I tried to watch all games, no matter who is playing. But now with 48 teams I don't feel any excitement. I'm not going to get up at 5 AM to watch game like Scotland - Haiti. I'm looking at all groups and there is nothing what can be called as group of death - with more teams such things is just impossible.
When playoffs will begin, things will become exciting and interesting again, but whole group stage looks so meh. I still hhave little hope that one day FIFA will return to old  format with 32 teams...

EDIT
I also forgot that games can be stopped or postponed at any moments because of some thunder, what makes things even worse.