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

[UpTober]

Today there will be a friendly match between Brazil and France. Brazilian fans have many doubts about what Ancelotti will present, as the Brazilian players don't have much star power, and there's also uncertainty about whether Neymar will be officially called up.

Considering the team, it seemed that France would be ahead of the Brazilian team and that France would play well on the field and that is what happened. In the friendly match between Brazil and France, Brazil lost to France by a score of 2-1. Considering the performance on the field, it must be said that France played clean football compared to Brazil and their attacking style was also quite organized. Even though the Brazilian team has good quality stars, why can't these stars do well for the Brazilian team because they are always seen doing well for different clubs. The absence of Neymar in the team that was announced for the friendly match surprised me because the Brazilian team definitely needs a playmaker like Neymar.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Turkey managed to win by 1-0 today thankfully and now we have started waiting for our opponent. It is going to be Slovakia or Kosovo. Slovakia are 2-1 ahead at halftime and I also saw them one step ahead in this.

By the way we could have won by a bigger score gap as well in this match. We created so many goal opportunities but couldn't make use of many. I hope we get more efficient in the final match. It is the point mistakes aren't forgiven anymore.

I got the result as per my prediction. I said yesterday that although Romania is strong in home matches, it is relatively weak in away matches. And that's what we saw in this match.



Turkiye won the match by a narrow margin of 1-0. The gap was small. But the entire match was controlled by Turkiye players. Romania was not able to perform well in this match. Romania's players managed to make only 1 on target shots in the entire match. On the other hand, Turkiye tried to dominate the match with 64% ball possession. Besides, the team was able to make 15 shots. I am happy because I have won descent amount from this match.

[AprilioMP]

Turkiye won the match by a narrow margin of 1-0. The gap was small. But the entire match was controlled by Turkiye players. Romania was not able to perform well in this match. Romania's players managed to make only 1 on target shots in the entire match. On the other hand, Turkiye tried to dominate the match with 64% ball possession. Besides, the team was able to make 15 shots. I am happy because I have won descent amount from this match.

Turkey’s next challenge is Kosovo. This is going to be exciting. Turkey narrowly defeated Romania 1-0, just as you said, with Turkey controlling the game.
Kosovo, the team Turkey will face next, defeated Slovakia in a dramatic fashion, which serves as a signal for Arda Güler to give it his all on April 1.

Italy’s next match will also be exciting after their win over Northern Ireland. Bosnia will be the team Italy faces.
If Italy advances, all speculation about Gattuso will be put to rest.

[TedMosby]

Today there will be a friendly match between Brazil and France. Brazilian fans have many doubts about what Ancelotti will present, as the Brazilian players don't have much star power, and there's also uncertainty about whether Neymar will be officially called up.

Considering the team, it seemed that France would be ahead of the Brazilian team and that France would play well on the field and that is what happened. In the friendly match between Brazil and France, Brazil lost to France by a score of 2-1. Considering the performance on the field, it must be said that France played clean football compared to Brazil and their attacking style was also quite organized. Even though the Brazilian team has good quality stars, why can't these stars do well for the Brazilian team because they are always seen doing well for different clubs. The absence of Neymar in the team that was announced for the friendly match surprised me because the Brazilian team definitely needs a playmaker like Neymar.

I am not sure if Brazil needs Neymar this time, but I do hope to see Neymar’s last dance in the World Cup. Neymar’s Brazil national team version and Neymar's club team version are different. He’s better with the Brazil national team. More iconic and heroic.

Speaking of France, based on oddschecker.com [1], Spain is the most favored team to win the World Cup, followed by England, France, and Brazil. I don’t know why France is not first. Their list of players is so rich. I mean, they have a very very good selection of players from back to front. Easy for me to put them at #1, not #3 on that list.

Source:
[1] https://www.oddschecker.com/football/world-cup/winner

[Danica22]

Italy’s next match will also be exciting after their win over Northern Ireland. Bosnia will be the team Italy faces.
If Italy advances, all speculation about Gattuso will be put to rest.

Italy won their home match against Northern Ireland 2-0. They have performed quite well. But it will be very difficult for them to win against Bosnia in the next match.

Bosnia's team's performance is inconsistent but this team is strong in home matches. On the other hand, Italy's performance is not stable. We often see their very bad performance. So the road to victory in the playoffs final will be very difficult for Italy. I will not be surprised at all if Italy loses this match.

[satscraper]

Turkey managed to win by 1-0 today thankfully and now we have started waiting for our opponent. It is going to be Slovakia or Kosovo. Slovakia are 2-1 ahead at halftime and I also saw them one step ahead in this.

By the way we could have won by a bigger score gap as well in this match. We created so many goal opportunities but couldn't make use of many. I hope we get more efficient in the final match. It is the point mistakes aren't forgiven anymore.

I got the result as per my prediction. I said yesterday that although Romania is strong in home matches, it is relatively weak in away matches. And that's what we saw in this match.



Turkiye won the match by a narrow margin of 1-0. The gap was small. But the entire match was controlled by Turkiye players. Romania was not able to perform well in this match. Romania's players managed to make only 1 on target shots in the entire match. On the other hand, Turkiye tried to dominate the match with 64% ball possession. Besides, the team was able to make 15 shots. I am happy because I have won descent amount from this match.

As I said previously matches between these nations are always tough, which is why the margin in the latest one was so narrow. Nevertheless, as I predicted, the Turkish team won due to small advantages in player skills, plus the support of the home crowd. The second leg will be challenging for them, though. I can’t exclude the possibility that Romania may ultimately be the team that qualifies.

[yenerbatmaz]

We struggled against Romania but won 1-0. Ferdi scored the winning goal with a superb assist from Arda Güler. Romania came very close to scoring in the 75th minute; their shot hit the post. Romania only attempted to attack 2-3 times throughout the match. I can say Turkey played well.

Türkiye's opponent was Kosovo. Kosovo defeated Slovakia 3-4 away. Kosovo fell behind twice in the match but scored two goals in the second half when the score was 2-2, making it 2-4. Slovakia scored their third goal in the last minute, but the remaining time wasn't enough for a draw. Could Turkey score 4 goals and Kosovo 3 in the Kosovo-Türkiye match? I don't think so.

[Stepstowealth]

Speaking of France, based on oddschecker.com [1], Spain is the most favored team to win the World Cup, followed by England, France, and Brazil. I don’t know why France is not first. Their list of players is so rich. I mean, they have a very very good selection of players from back to front. Easy for me to put them at #1, not #3 on that list.

The French team looks so superb, their attacking options are the best in the world from all the leagues, all of them having the pace and skill to beat any attack. With all these players, what will determine the success of the team is now how the coach will be able to put them together and make his selection and tactics to ensure that for each game he makes the correct choices that helps them win it. I think it is a good thing that they are not changing coach before the World Cup, but after it, and for Zidane who is going to take over the team, it is really a cunny one for him to have waited for this set of fine players to now accept a coaching job with the French team. He wants to win trophies easily like he did with that very good Real Madrid team.

[BIT-BENDER]

We struggled against Romania but won 1-0. Ferdi scored the winning goal with a superb assist from Arda Güler. Romania came very close to scoring in the 75th minute; their shot hit the post. Romania only attempted to attack 2-3 times throughout the match. I can say Turkey played well.

Türkiye's opponent was Kosovo. Kosovo defeated Slovakia 3-4 away. Kosovo fell behind twice in the match but scored two goals in the second half when the score was 2-2, making it 2-4. Slovakia scored their third goal in the last minute, but the remaining time wasn't enough for a draw. Could Turkey score 4 goals and Kosovo 3 in the Kosovo-Türkiye match? I don't think so.

I was expecting Turkiye to win by more goals, not only scoring one goal but it was a relatively difficult match for the part European and part Arab country by location on the map.
Amongst the European teams that played yesterday turkey was my favorite in terms of being stronger than other teams, I believe that if turkey had faced Italy they would have won.

[MK-74]

Turkiye reached the final and will face Kosovo.
On Tuesday night, we will travel to Kosovo and it won’t be an easy match for us.
We haven’t participated in the World Cup for a long time, so this is a huge opportunity for us.
Turkiye are the favorites against Kosovo and I believe we will win this match as well.

[karabiber]

Türkiye secured an important victory against a very tough and compact team. In this match, Ferdi, Arda, İsmail, and Kenan were the standout players. However, Turkish football urgently needs to produce a quality center forward. Although Türkiye has alternatives in various attacking positions, there isn’t a single “No. 9” in what’s been dubbed the “golden generation.”

As a result, especially against tight defenses, the burden falls on Kerem and Barış, whose finishing is ineffective. We saw in this match that Türkiye played as if it had no right wing. What I’m saying is that Montella did a great job, as you can see, there’s no team here worth exaggerating about. Montella cannot be the one to criticize—he’s doing his job exceptionally well—the one that needs criticism is the country’s football.

[Lillominato89]

Wow, Italy had a brilliant win last night! I never would have expected it.
With our 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, we’ve made it through to the final round. Now we’re up against Bosnia and Herzegovina – let’s hope for the best! It would really upset me to see Italy miss out on the World Cup for the third time in a row.
We’ve got a score to settle from USA ’94

[Cryptmuster]

Turkiye reached the final and will face Kosovo.
On Tuesday night, we will travel to Kosovo and it won’t be an easy match for us.
We haven’t participated in the World Cup for a long time, so this is a huge opportunity for us.
Turkiye are the favorites against Kosovo and I believe we will win this match as well.

Yesterday passed without any big surprises, with the exception of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which might have surprised, but that will make things easier for Italy in the next match. As for Turkey, they played well against Romania and need to play the same defensively against Kosovo, then everything will be fine. Kosovo is prone to attacking and can concede a lot, and I think Kosovo will be an easier opponent than Slovakia might have been, so Turkey has a good chance of winning this match.

[Italian Panic]

Wow, Italy had a brilliant win last night! I never would have expected it.
With our 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, we’ve made it through to the final round. Now we’re up against Bosnia and Herzegovina – let’s hope for the best! It would really upset me to see Italy miss out on the World Cup for the third time in a row.
We’ve got a score to settle from USA ’94

Italy won, but can I say I wasn’t impressed by their performance? At times they looked very nervous and kept losing possession. Luckily, Northern Ireland don’t have a good striker; otherwise, they would certainly have scored. Teams like Germany or France would have scored 4/5 goals in match like that. I hope they will play more aggressively and with less fear against Bosnia

[BlackBoss_]

Wow, Italy had a brilliant win last night! I never would have expected it.
With our 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, we’ve made it through to the final round. Now we’re up against Bosnia and Herzegovina – let’s hope for the best! It would really upset me to see Italy miss out on the World Cup for the third time in a row.
We’ve got a score to settle from USA ’94

They won and this is important in result but they did not make good impression in this match. Both Kean and Retegui did not shoot too well in this match and in a next match with Bosnia, if they continue shooting like this, with more limited chances in that match, Italy will have big trouble in scoring goals.

Italy won, but can I say I wasn’t impressed by their performance? At times they looked very nervous and kept losing possession. Luckily, Northern Ireland don’t have a good striker; otherwise, they would certainly have scored. Teams like Germany or France would have scored 4/5 goals in match like that. I hope they will play more aggressively and with less fear against Bosnia

Me too. Italy won but they did not created enough pressure and opportunities in this match while their players did not finish too well. Kean scored one goal for Italy and in that situation, he did everything perfect but he wasted some opportunities in this match. Tonali truly saved Italy in this match with one goal and one assist and the team will rely on him in a next match with Bosnia.

This will be a difficult match for Italy as Bosnia has many players who have playing experience in Serie A so they understand Italy tactics and players there very well. Italy defense system was not challenged too much by Northern Ireland but perhaps they will face with more dangerous attacking players from Bosnia.

[Lida93]

Wow, Italy had a brilliant win last night! I never would have expected it.
With our 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, we’ve made it through to the final round. Now we’re up against Bosnia and Herzegovina – let’s hope for the best! It would really upset me to see Italy miss out on the World Cup for the third time in a row.
We’ve got a score to settle from USA ’94

Italy won, but can I say I wasn’t impressed by their performance? At times they looked very nervous and kept losing possession. Luckily, Northern Ireland don’t have a good striker; otherwise, they would certainly have scored. Teams like Germany or France would have scored 4/5 goals in match like that. I hope they will play more aggressively and with less fear against Bosnia

What's important is that they won the game and with each win comes with more motivation into the next game in line. Yeah it was a game Italy should have scored more goals than what they got but sometimes the most simplest match to win doesn't end with many goals as had expected. Perhaps, with Bosnia the much goals would be scored because am optimistic about Italy making it to the World Cup. They're one of those teams that would add in making the tournament colourful

[Slow death]

Today there will be a friendly match between Brazil and France. Brazilian fans have many doubts about what Ancelotti will present, as the Brazilian players don't have much star power, and there's also uncertainty about whether Neymar will be officially called up.

Considering the team, it seemed that France would be ahead of the Brazilian team and that France would play well on the field and that is what happened. In the friendly match between Brazil and France, Brazil lost to France by a score of 2-1. Considering the performance on the field, it must be said that France played clean football compared to Brazil and their attacking style was also quite organized. Even though the Brazilian team has good quality stars, why can't these stars do well for the Brazilian team because they are always seen doing well for different clubs. The absence of Neymar in the team that was announced for the friendly match surprised me because the Brazilian team definitely needs a playmaker like Neymar.

Neymar can't even play for a small club like Santos, and he's going to be able to play 90 minutes in an intense game for the national team?

Some people don't understand that skills aren't something people are born with. It's always something people acquire through a lot of training and effort. In Neymar's case, he no longer has the same skill and doesn't have the same physical conditioning. The numbers speak for themselves; he can't play all the games for Santos. At Al Hilal, a Saudi team, he couldn't play regularly, and that's why he was released.

Look, now he's on a Brazilian team that's close to the relegation zone, and even then he hasn't played regularly. It would be unfair if the Brazilian coach put him in and left other players on the bench who are in big teams scoring goals and playing regularly. I believe any coach with common sense wouldn't put Neymar on the national team.

[bastisisca]

Yes, that's a possibility, you're right. However, we will do our best in this match we will play in Turkey. Hopefully, we can go to the World Cup and represent ourselves in the best way there. We drew 2-2 with Spain in Spain, and we did that against the number one team in the world. I think we need to be in the World Championship.

A good coach, like Montella, makes the difference and it is no coincidence that Turkey is in the playoff final.
Furthermore, in my opinion and in the opinion of many, the team has potential, in Turkey they play good football and every now and then we tend to forget that there are nations where they play well and then surprise us at the World Cup or European Championships.

[gracreavix]

World Cup 2026 Playoff Finals are officially set!

We now know the final matchups that will decide which teams will secure their spot in the FIFA World Cup 2026

I was lucky enough to watch the Czech Republic's game and it was a beautiful story they made. They started by losing 2-0 and then came back to win and qualify.

Who do you think is making it through? Any dark horses or are the favorites going to deliver?

With how it is looking right now, I would say Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Turkey are most likely taking those tickets.

They kind of seem a bit more steady compared to the rest. But yeah, football can be funny sometimes though, one small surprise and everything can change. Still, I think they’re solid.

[emrecemsan]

Thankfully we didn't mess anything up and beat Romania. I liked our game in general as we were in control most of the time. Our weakness was with finishing...

Our opponent in the finale is Kosovo. They fought hard against Slovakia and won 4-3 away. A tough one is waiting for us as it seems. They are the hosts too but I still believe we'll finally end this longing for the WC. 

Italy is another example; it has a good league, but the Italian national team even had difficulty qualifying for the World Cup through normal means and now will have to play in the playoffs.

Italy looked decent against Northern Ireland and won 2-0. Now they are going to face Bosnia in the finale. The last time they qualified for the WC was 2014. They are the away side in this match but I believe they'll finally make it there as well.