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

[Arenga pinnata]

There are only 3 days left for the World Cup qualifiers playoffs to start. Turkey are going to host Romania in the semi final phase. We are serious favourites to win this match first of all.

The quality gap between these 2 teams is already obvious as well. I don't expect us to fail. Then we will face Slovakia/Kosovo in the final. That's going to be away which will make things more difficult for us.

But I believe in our players to qualify for the World Cup if we maintain our same system.

Well, I’m also pretty confident that Turkey will win the match against Romania. although we know that Romania can sometimes surprise us all, like when they beat San Marino 7-1. but before that, they lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Still, I’m pretty sure Turkey will qualify for the World Cup based on their current form. besides, I don’t think their upcoming opponents will pose much of a challenge for Turkey either.

But I’d be really surprised if Turkey failed. And I think we’d all feel the same way. But the chances of Turkey failing are really very slim. So, yeah, I think we can pretty much see the outcome of the semifinals and finals already.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Do you guys think FIFA has a ''Plan B'' for the Mexican venues if the cartel violence doesn't settle down before the qualifiers? I’m starting to think we might see some matches moved to the US or Canada last minute.

I do think FIFA has an urgent plan for move mexican venues when the situation gets worsen. However, i don't think they will move some matches to the US or Canada. They consider it as last choice to be taken only when situation gets worsen like a war getting widen between cartels and govt.
Beside that FIFA has ever held 2022 WC in a country close to the redzones. So i don't think they will care enough to some cartels who gets tantrum after they lost their boss.

So i guess FIFA won't move the matches from Mexico to the Canada or US. Unless, a big war between cartels and govt happened.

[Sithara007]

Well, I’m also pretty confident that Turkey will win the match against Romania. although we know that Romania can sometimes surprise us all, like when they beat San Marino 7-1. but before that, they lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Still, I’m pretty sure Turkey will qualify for the World Cup based on their current form. besides, I don’t think their upcoming opponents will pose much of a challenge for Turkey either.

But I’d be really surprised if Turkey failed. And I think we’d all feel the same way. But the chances of Turkey failing are really very slim. So, yeah, I think we can pretty much see the outcome of the semifinals and finals already.

Romania is a shadow of their former self. Türkiye has also been weakened, but still they should be able to get past Romania. All that said, I am not really impressed with the planning for the UEFA qualifiers. The world cup is only a few months away, and the Qualifiers are not yet completed. In most of the other confederations, only the inter-continental playoffs are remaining. But in UEFA, only the first round has been completed and the second round is supposed to start by tomorrow. Path A is also interesting, and it will decide whether Italy qualifies for the world cup or not.

[bastisisca]

Romania is a shadow of their former self. Türkiye has also been weakened, but still they should be able to get past Romania. All that said, I am not really impressed with the planning for the UEFA qualifiers. The world cup is only a few months away, and the Qualifiers are not yet completed. In most of the other confederations, only the inter-continental playoffs are remaining. But in UEFA, only the first round has been completed and the second round is supposed to start by tomorrow. Path A is also interesting, and it will decide whether Italy qualifies for the world cup or not.

I was very sorry for Turkey, like Tunisia and Morocco they are teams in strong growth (in my opinion) but there are times when obviously something can happen and the growth stops or regresses.
There can be many reasons, it's not easy to understand or resolve.

[banana33]

That would be the most logical thing to do for the cartels. But the problem is that there are dozens of cartels in Mexico and we can't predict their behaviour. Last month's violence was triggered by the arrest of cartel boss El Mencho. And from what I heard, some of the government officials were against the arrest, for the very same reason. They warned the officials that arresting him can trigger a bloodbath. Anyway, the violence there seems to have died down. And with Trump signalling that he may wind up the war in Iran, we may limp towards some sort of normalcy in the next few weeks.

Guys, El Mencho wasn't just any boss, but the king of Fentanyl. They specifically choose small villages where everyone's faces are known, and where they become authoritative. In addition to selling deaths, they also help the poor population, triggering a mechanism where the poor feel protected by the bosses and automatically protect their "savior."
According to several sources, the aim was not to arrest him, but to kill him.

[leea-1334]

Turkey and Italy have to be the 2 favorites to qualify, so they will probably win this easy, or else it will be maximum pressure if even a draw happens. I personally still have trouble believing Italy lost out on last 2 WCs,,, Turkey I can sort of understand with all the different combinations of play they can get. GL to you

Turkey has been good and not so good in this world cup qualification and they have so much talent I won't want us to not see at the world cup so I am hoping that they qualify.
Italy are not there yet in terms of building the great team we have always knew they have, checking their call up list you can see that they have far more defenders than any other wing and those defence aren't on the level we know Italy can have.

Lol dude,,, why do you guys say things like that contradict each other in the very same sentence. 'Good and not so good' which one is it are you actually following their matches like @CLS63 or just looking at result and typing random?  

Italy are no longer about pure defence. Especially with Chiellini not in that team anymore with no similar replacement. I also just saw Chiesa was thrown away by Gattuso, in a rather harsh way, what a waste of talent

[execijutiere]

Turkey will face Romania. We can say that Turkey are the favourites against their opponents. I think we will secure a comfortable victory against Romania. Some of our players have been injured, but we have players who can step in to fill their places. When we look at the recent matches between the two teams, Romania have had the upper hand, but Turkey are no longer what they used to be. We have a strong and talented squad.
Denmark will be looking for a win against North Macedonia. Denmark are the stronger side and I think they will secure a comfortable victory against North Macedonia. The match is likely to be high-scoring because Denmark are a team that likes to both score and concede goals.

[letteredhub]

There are only 3 days left for the World Cup qualifiers playoffs to start. Turkey are going to host Romania in the semi final phase. We are serious favourites to win this match first of all.

The quality gap between these 2 teams is already obvious as well. I don't expect us to fail. Then we will face Slovakia/Kosovo in the final. That's going to be away which will make things more difficult for us.

But I believe in our players to qualify for the World Cup if we maintain our same system.

I don't consider any country superior to the other when it comes to playoff matches, for me the playoffs is a game of chance and only the most desperate would make it through, if Romania could utilise all their chances against the Turks then they could secure a place for themselves in the forthcoming World Cup, in this phase of the qualifiers you don't need to underrate any side because if it were that easy then they wouldn't be playing at this level, Turkey can go through if they can beat the Romanians, likewise the Romanians can also beat Turkey, it depends on who is more prepared to snatch the slot.

[Ale88]

For me the World Cup without Italy feels empty because the iconic world cup from the past Italy has always been championed, it's just that the last few years Italy has performed poorly, but now this team has the possibility of qualifying.
Against Northern Ireland is likely to win in this semifinal, which becomes difficult maybe in the final later this is the determination, for me Italy will definitely try hard to win at all costs.

Even with the expanded format of 48 participants, we need to remember that only around 20% of the teams that take part in the World Cup qualifiers eventually make it to the main tournament. So we don't need to get surprised if Italy misses the boat here. Also, remember that Italy failed to qualify either for the 2018 or the 2022 editions. In case they fail to qualify this time also, then it will be the third consecutive time that they are failing to qualify. I suspect that demographics has something to do with this, as Italy as one of the rapidly ageing populations, even w.r.t. other countries in Europe.

Italy didn't qualify in the past for two main reasons: for sure the players are not as good as they used to be in the past (even though in the recent years the various young teams obtained excellent results, so there is hope for the future), but Italy didn't qualify because back in 2018 lost one single match against Spain in the group phase. One match against one of the best teams in the world. And in 2022, sure, we lost against North Macedonia but the playoff final would have been against Portugal, which was (and is) a better team than us. The European qualification simply don't allow all the best teams to qualify because you lose one match out of ten and you can be screwed.

[cande86]

Romania is a shadow of their former self. Türkiye has also been weakened, but still they should be able to get past Romania. All that said, I am not really impressed with the planning for the UEFA qualifiers. The world cup is only a few months away, and the Qualifiers are not yet completed. In most of the other confederations, only the inter-continental playoffs are remaining. But in UEFA, only the first round has been completed and the second round is supposed to start by tomorrow. Path A is also interesting, and it will decide whether Italy qualifies for the world cup or not.

I think that with such a strong attacking pair i think they can do it easily, having two teams like that compared is a foregone conclusion, when there are players like Kenan Yildiz and Arda Güler the outcome is almost a foregone conclusion, i must say that i like them more and more and as a pair they are truly phenomenal

[Lida93]

There are only 3 days left for the World Cup qualifiers playoffs to start. Turkey are going to host Romania in the semi final phase. We are serious favourites to win this match first of all.

The quality gap between these 2 teams is already obvious as well. I don't expect us to fail. Then we will face Slovakia/Kosovo in the final. That's going to be away which will make things more difficult for us.

But I believe in our players to qualify for the World Cup if we maintain our same system.

Well, I’m also pretty confident that Turkey will win the match against Romania. although we know that Romania can sometimes surprise us all, like when they beat San Marino 7-1. but before that, they lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Still, I’m pretty sure Turkey will qualify for the World Cup based on their current form. besides, I don’t think their upcoming opponents will pose much of a challenge for Turkey either.

But I’d be really surprised if Turkey failed. And I think we’d all feel the same way. But the chances of Turkey failing are really very slim. So, yeah, I think we can pretty much see the outcome of the semifinals and finals already.

If you go through the statistics between both teams, it is obvious that Turkey is the superior side but that doesn't necessarily mean that Romania can't cause an upset, even if not in the first encounter, just may be the might turn the table around in the second leg when they play host to Turkey in their home ground, strategically Romania may decide to approach this game by reducing the number of goals they might concede and also getting a goal, that way they might be able to squeeze their way through.

[blomen]

pff, what a great week, isn’t it? i never really enjoy international breaks. international matches put the leagues on hold, and it feels like this is happening more and more often.

tomorrow, turkey will face romania in the world cup playoffs. turkey is the favorite in this first playoff matchup, and i think they’ll easily win the game, which is being played in istanbul. the team’s quality is quite good right now; i’d say this is the most dynamic squad we’ve seen in recent years. if they can’t make it to the world cup with this roster, things will start to get tough for montella. this opportunity comes once every four years, and it’s time to make the most of it.

[yixichloro2xx]

There are only 3 days left for the World Cup qualifiers playoffs to start. Turkey are going to host Romania in the semi final phase. We are serious favourites to win this match first of all.

The quality gap between these 2 teams is already obvious as well. I don't expect us to fail. Then we will face Slovakia/Kosovo in the final. That's going to be away which will make things more difficult for us.

But I believe in our players to qualify for the World Cup if we maintain our same system.

I don't consider any country superior to the other when it comes to playoff matches, for me the playoffs is a game of chance and only the most desperate would make it through, if Romania could utilise all their chances against the Turks then they could secure a place for themselves in the forthcoming World Cup, in this phase of the qualifiers you don't need to underrate any side because if it were that easy then they wouldn't be playing at this level, Turkey can go through if they can beat the Romanians, likewise the Romanians can also beat Turkey, it depends on who is more prepared to snatch the slot.

I still feel that Turkey will have it a little bit easy in this match. They  have a great squad than that of Romaina. Players like yildz and Arder guler are great talent which will help Turkey overcome Romania. Turkey has played in the previous editions of the World cup, so for them to miss this will be a very big blow to the nation. So they will want to use that as an experience. I don't think the Romainans can surprise Turkey. Surely they can get  1 or 2 goals. So my prediction for this game will be Turkey 3-1 Romania. This is a walk through for Turkey, no upset will happen.

[execijutiere]

Wales will be looking for a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina. I don’t think it will be an easy match for either team, but of course, Wales looks to have the edge. The match is likely to be high-scoring; both teams are capable of both scoring and conceding goals.
Italy is the heavy favorite against Northern Ireland. I don’t think Italy will make any mistakes and will comfortably defeat their opponent.

[MK-74]

Tomorrow is a big day for us, the Turkish people.
We will play a qualifier against Romania to reach the World Cup.
The match will be in Turkiye and I think we are the favorites. Hopefully, we win by a clear margin tomorrow and make it to the final.
In terms of squad quality and overall play, I think we are better than Romania.

[snipie]

Wales will be looking for a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina. I don’t think it will be an easy match for either team, but of course, Wales looks to have the edge. The match is likely to be high-scoring; both teams are capable of both scoring and conceding goals.
Italy is the heavy favorite against Northern Ireland. I don’t think Italy will make any mistakes and will comfortably defeat their opponent.

Wales is expected to win against Bosnia and Herzegovina even though Wales performance declined over the years and Bosnia improved slightly thought.
In the other matches, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Denmark should have easy matches. Czechia and Slovakia are favourites too and I assume that Ukraine vs Sweden are close from each other so the match will be intense and the most interesting one among the others.

[Dump3er]

Tomorrow is a big day for us, the Turkish people.
We will play a qualifier against Romania to reach the World Cup.
The match will be in Turkiye and I think we are the favorites. Hopefully, we win by a clear margin tomorrow and make it to the final.
In terms of squad quality and overall play, I think we are better than Romania.

It is one of the best matches at the moment that is played by two teams with high potential and still without being considered favorites in the whole field. Romana is fast and technically clean and that is usually what Turkey is like. I don't know who the favorite is in this match, but it is discouraging in so far as one of them has to go and I think both would have been an enrichment for the World Cup.

Turkey is like you never know what you will get. If they exploit their full potential, it can be a fierce match for any opponent. Romania is similar, but I think regarding the results in the last 6-12 months, Turkey was more volatile.

[mandown]

Turkey will play one of the most important matches of recent times today. Their opponent is Romania, and Türkiye needs to secure an advantageous score. This is because we haven't qualified for the World Cup since 2002, and Romania's last World Cup appearance was probably in 1994 in the USA. Both teams desperately want to go to the World Cup. Turkey has a higher quality of players, but it's still not easy to predict who will reach the final. I hope Turkey wins by a significant margin.

[Hvdv]

Turkey will play one of the most important matches of recent times today. Their opponent is Romania, and Türkiye needs to secure an advantageous score. This is because we haven't qualified for the World Cup since 2002, and Romania's last World Cup appearance was probably in 1994 in the USA. Both teams desperately want to go to the World Cup. Turkey has a higher quality of players, but it's still not easy to predict who will reach the final. I hope Turkey wins by a significant margin.

Of course, as a Turk, I want Turkey to win, but I say may the best team win. Looking at individual player quality, Turkey seems to have better player quality. We have players who play for Real Madrid, Juventus, and Inter. Some of our players also compete in the Premier League. In terms of squad quality, if we qualify for the World Cup, I'm sure we will provide enjoyable matches there as well. Romania, with Lucescu, who previously coached in Turkey, will be a tough opponent for us. I hope we win today. I wish the Romanian team good luck.

[Lannakosa]

Turkey will play one of the most important matches of recent times today. Their opponent is Romania, and Türkiye needs to secure an advantageous score. This is because we haven't qualified for the World Cup since 2002, and Romania's last World Cup appearance was probably in 1994 in the USA. Both teams desperately want to go to the World Cup. Turkey has a higher quality of players, but it's still not easy to predict who will reach the final. I hope Turkey wins by a significant margin.

The match will be tough, but the teams will be playing in Istanbul, and for Turkey, that's an advantage that could be enough. At first, I thought the teams would play two matches, home and away, but now I see it'll only be one, and in that case, the home teams get an advantage, everyone except Ukraine, because that match will be played in Valencia. Sweden isn't in top form, and Ukraine is far from their best either.