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

[jakdanyel]

My predictions for the teams to qualify for the World Cup:

• Italy
• Denmark
• Turkey
• Sweden

I'm not sure about regular time wins though.    At least half of them are likely to go to extra time. I'm just looking forward to seeing Turkey eliminate Kosovo...

We are a much better team here. Kosovo weren't normally scoring lots of goals in qualifiers but they surprised us against Slovakia. We need to be careful against their attacks. We should be in control of the game the most.

[blomen]

in the kosovo vs. turkey match, turkey is the favorite both in terms of its roster and the betting odds, but when we look at the two teams’ semifinal playoff matches, i can say that kosovo definitely played better in its own game. slovakia is also a slightly weaker team compared to turkey, but their play is definitely solid. while turkey went into the final match with just one goal, they scored four. i think it will be an exciting match. i want turkey to qualify for the world cup for the first time in a quarter of a century.

[Unsoldier]

I honestly don't think Italy will be eliminated because they've played very well.~

I think today's game of Italy, unlike the others, is a fairly easy choice for making a money bet - the odds of 1.47 well reflect the risk and the fact that the previous game was easy for Italy, while Bosnia and Herzegovina spent all their energy to win in the penalty shootout. The other games are much less clear to me, especially the Sweden-Poland game, I really want Sweden not to get to the World Cup, but it seems like they are still the favorites today.

The Italians are expected to win, but Bosnia and Herzegovina will certainly have something to say about that, so it won’t be a walk in the park for the Italy national team like the match against Northern Ireland was. I’m not sure how the first half will unfold, but I think Italy will start to dominate in the second, and it’s in the second half of the meeting that they will decide the outcome of the match.

[paco92x]

Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy: Italy @ 1.53, Bosnia @ 6.60
Kosovo vs Türkiye: Kosovo @ 4.00, Türkiye @ 1.89
Sweden vs Poland: Sweden @ 2.04, Poland @3.75
Czech Republic vs Danmark: Czech Republic @ 4.00, Danmark @ 1.99

As the bookies predict, the most even match tonight is going to be between Sweden and Poland. It is true that the Swedes have a bit of an advantage because of their home ground, and after a quite impressive win over Ukraine—with Viktor Gyökeres on the scoresheet three times—the question now remains: can he shine once again and bring the World Cup 🎟️ ticket home?

[Fiatless]

in the kosovo vs. turkey match, turkey is the favorite both in terms of its roster and the betting odds, but when we look at the two teams’ semifinal playoff matches, i can say that kosovo definitely played better in its own game. slovakia is also a slightly weaker team compared to turkey, but their play is definitely solid. while turkey went into the final match with just one goal, they scored four. i think it will be an exciting match. i want turkey to qualify for the world cup for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Kosovo governemnt headed by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, has announced a reward of up to €1.5 million if they can beat Turkey and qualify for the World Cup. This is an addition to €500,000 b.onus they were promised for beating Slovakia. This will be a big motivation to the players who are not playing for top clubs in Europe. The Turkish national teams are favourites, but anything can happen in football.

[xzone]

in the kosovo vs. turkey match, turkey is the favorite both in terms of its roster and the betting odds, but when we look at the two teams’ semifinal playoff matches, i can say that kosovo definitely played better in its own game. slovakia is also a slightly weaker team compared to turkey, but their play is definitely solid. while turkey went into the final match with just one goal, they scored four. i think it will be an exciting match. i want turkey to qualify for the world cup for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Turkey now has a huge advantage; reaching this stage is a real achievement. So, will they lose this match? I don't think so, but Turkish players can make simple mistakes. If that doesn't happen, I think Türkiye will win this match comfortably; that's what should happen.
Both the quality of the players is very high, and Turkey really wants to go to the World Cup again, so I think they will win the match

[MinoRaiola]

My predictions for the teams to qualify for the World Cup:

• Italy
• Denmark
• Turkey
• Sweden

Those are exactly the teams I would have picked, too. But things often turn out differently, and now the games are about to start, and i will see how well they play. This is the biggest tournament in the world, every player must play full power, otherwise the team shouldnt win. I will see what happens with Italy. If they dont win, then soccer in Italy wont be seriously on the international stage anymore. Missing out on three World Cups… that would be a disaster.

[l99l]

Montella's choices were truly spot-on. I was particularly surprised that Orkun wasn't in the starting eleven in the previous match, as he makes a significant contribution to the team in terms of directing the game from midfield. His starting in the Kosovo match is a very important development in this respect.
He's a player who can make a difference both in building up play and controlling the tempo. The match has started good luck to both teams.

[MinoRaiola]

About 25 minutes have been played so far, and there have already been 3 goals scored in the 4 games. Sweden and Italy, I figured that much. But the Czech Republic is leading Denmark, that is a surprise. So the power play has started, just as I expected.. I think the next 60–70 minutes are going to be really intense. There are sure to be another 3 or 4 goals, and if someone lose, maybe one a red card.

[rdluffy]

I also want to share my predictions for which teams will qualify today, hehehe

Italy
Turkey
Denmark
Sweden
Jamaica
Bolivia

I wonder if Italy will disappoint us again?

You guys are forgetting the other two intercontinental matches between

Congo vs. Jamaica
Iraq vs. Bolivia

[Mindyspace]

I also want to share my predictions for which teams will qualify today, hehehe

Italy
Turkey
Denmark
Sweden
Jamaica
Bolivia

I wonder if Italy will disappoint us again?

You guys are forgetting the other two intercontinental matches between

Congo vs. Jamaica
Iraq vs. Bolivia

I liked the list.
These intercontinental games also attract a lot of attention because sometimes surprises happen. Jamaica and Bolivia won't have easy games, but they can still achieve something.

Regarding Italy, there's always a doubt after the recent results.

But could there be a surprise today, or should all the favorites win?

[Adbitco]

I also want to share my predictions for which teams will qualify today, hehehe

Italy
Turkey
Denmark
Sweden
Jamaica
Bolivia

I wonder if Italy will disappoint us again?

You guys are forgetting the other two intercontinental matches between

Congo vs. Jamaica
Iraq vs. Bolivia

On paper, DR Congo should see off Jamaica easily, the Congolese national team will be a hard nut to crack and will certainly be the ones to progress into the World cup but at the same time they should be cautious and never underestimate their opponent. Bolivia as well should be able to see off Iraq, Bolivia is a better footballing country than the Middle Eastern opponent that they are up against. On the side of the Europeans, currently Italy leads, Sweden was leading against Poland of which the Polish just equalised, Turkey are still finding it hard to break the Kosovo defense and Czech Republic is leading Denmark 1 - 0. These scores are as at the time of this post.

[KTChampions]

About 25 minutes have been played so far, and there have already been 3 goals scored in the 4 games. Sweden and Italy, I figured that much. But the Czech Republic is leading Denmark, that is a surprise. So the power play has started, just as I expected.. I think the next 60–70 minutes are going to be really intense. There are sure to be another 3 or 4 goals, and if someone lose, maybe one a red card.

I have no idea how this game will end, but I knew that Poland would not give up so easily:



In the end, I managed to make 10 bucks in a few minutes, I placed a bet literally 10 seconds before the goal and sold it back, but with a profit. It looks like the odds for the Kosovo vs. Türkiye match will soon be attractive enough to bet on Turkey.
Haha, while I was writing the post Sweden was ahead again, but this time I'll probably abstain.

[aylabadia05]

My predictions for the teams to qualify for the World Cup:

• Italy
• Denmark
• Turkey
• Sweden

I'm not sure about regular time wins though.    At least half of them are likely to go to extra time. I'm just looking forward to seeing Turkey eliminate Kosovo...

We are a much better team here. Kosovo weren't normally scoring lots of goals in qualifiers but they surprised us against Slovakia. We need to be careful against their attacks. We should be in control of the game the most.

Turkey and Kosovo have yet to score a single goal in the first 45 minutes, while other matches have already seen goals scored.
It remains to be seen whether Italy can hold onto their lead, as they are down to 10 men following Bastoni’s red card.
Sweden is currently leading Poland, and this match is likely to end with a score of more than 3 goals.
In the match in the Czech Republic, Denmark is trailing by 1 goal. I’m afraid Turkey may have to go to a penalty shootout.

[Asiska02]

Turkey and Kosovo have yet to score a single goal in the first 45 minutes, while other matches have already seen goals scored.
It remains to be seen whether Italy can hold onto their lead, as they are down to 10 men following Bastoni’s red card.
Sweden is currently leading Poland, and this match is likely to end with a score of more than 3 goals.
In the match in the Czech Republic, Denmark is trailing by 1 goal. I’m afraid Turkey may have to go to a penalty shootout.

I see the Turkish team as the better team to make it through. After 45 minutes of playing with no goals from them, I think we should prepare to see a goal in this match apparently in the second half of the game in favour of Turkey. I’m not seeing this match reaching the penalty shootout, Turkey has an edge and if they capitalize on it in this match with the chances they create, they’ll win the match before the end of the game. I am counting on them to reach the World Cup this time around, their performance has being impressive and they should do something impressive in this game to see them prevail over their opponent tonight.

[Balmain]

The first half of the Kosovo-Turkey match ended in a goalless draw. We didn't see much noteworthy in the first half. Hajdari received a yellow card for Kosovo, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu received one for Türkiye. The second half will start shortly. As in the first half, Turkey will likely try to control the game, maintain possession, and look for goals with deep passes. There wasn't even a single shot on target in the first half; this team needs to perform much better.

[Btcdeybodi]

I wonder if Italy will disappoint us again?

Italy match against Bosnia and Herzegovina is live now and Italy is winning by a lone goal as the second half of the match just kicked off but despite that Italy is leading by 1:0, their player Alessandro Bastoni got a red card in the first half, i hope it doesn't affect Italy in this match because they still have a lot of time to battle with the red card until fulltime. It will be very bad if Italy ends up failing because many people have wished they qualify for the world cup.

[1kodumtek7]

The first half of the Kosovo-Turkey match ended in a goalless draw. We didn't see much noteworthy in the first half. Hajdari received a yellow card for Kosovo, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu received one for Türkiye. The second half will start shortly. As in the first half, Turkey will likely try to control the game, maintain possession, and look for goals with deep passes. There wasn't even a single shot on target in the first half; this team needs to perform much better.

We finally got ahead against Kosovo by 1-0. But this match is going on really difficult for us man. Kosovo are playing better than I thought.

They found many dangerous chances to score in the first half. Thankfully our goalkeeper showed a great effort there.

Now we need to find our 2nd goal as quick as possible. It's time to finish this!  

[SquallLeonhart]

There are no more playoffs or anything left after this right? We will have all 48 teams decided and ready? That is important, because I am sick and tired of national teams keep getting the players, and injuring some of them, putting clubs at risk with their moves.

Thankfully after these games we are going to be done all the way until world cup, and we can go back to real games. Don't get me wrong, world cup is good and all, but the world cup itself is good, anything before that, all those qualify games and friendly games and playoff games and whatever else, we are seeing just boring games that have no value and causes teams to keep getting breaks. I just wish that we would have a proper structure where national teams play only in the summer. 2026 world cup? 2025 qualifiers. 2028 euros? 2027 qualifiers for that.

[Felicity_Tide]

I also want to share my predictions for which teams will qualify today, hehehe

Italy
Turkey
Denmark
Sweden

I wonder if Italy will disappoint us again?

I think we should be concerned about all the countries in action because the games look a lot difficult than what we actually thought. Sweden is currently playing out a 2 all draw after taking the lead on two different occasions. Denmark currently on a 1-1 draw, while Italy and Turkiye are currently 1 nil up, but Italy has been playing the second half with a man down after receiving a first half red card. At this point, a qualification is not certain for any side that isn't ahead by a least 2 goals. Anything can still happen.

Edit - Italy just conceded, which means 3/4 of the WC UEFA qualifiers are currently playing a draw in the late 80th minute. I hope Turkiye won't concede at this point.