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

[verdinio]

I am OK with this change. During the last two decades or so, there has been a lot of improvement in CAF and AFC confederations. But these teams were usually given 4-5 slots, which was unfair. Both these continents represent over two-thirds of the population of the globe. The expansion was mainly aimed at providing more representation to these two confederations, but slots were increased for CONMEBOL, UEFA, OFC and CONCACAF as well. Football is now a global game. Given this, we need to make sure that good teams doesn't miss out. I was heartbroken when Norway and North Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2022 edition. At least Norway made it this time.

I believe that there are teams that should rightfully enter among the large nations that must participate and the level in Europe is truly much higher than in other African or Asian confederations where the level is truly much lower and i don't believe that we can skip further and not have low level nationals qualify to the detriment of others.

[pewboy]

I don't believe the players are playing for the country because of the money because the government are not paying them very well. They are just playing because they love the country and they want to do everything possible to make sure that they push the country football forward and I love all of them for that.

obviously the dream that comes true for all footballers, but not for all, in fact i heard an interview done by an Italian journalist with Alessandro Bastoni where he said that he would have preferred to win the Champions League with Inter rather than the World Cup with his own country, this left me a little saddened i must say.

[Crytohillss]

I am OK with this change. During the last two decades or so, there has been a lot of improvement in CAF and AFC confederations. But these teams were usually given 4-5 slots, which was unfair. Both these continents represent over two-thirds of the population of the globe. The expansion was mainly aimed at providing more representation to these two confederations, but slots were increased for CONMEBOL, UEFA, OFC and CONCACAF as well. Football is now a global game. Given this, we need to make sure that good teams doesn't miss out. I was heartbroken when Norway and North Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2022 edition. At least Norway made it this time.

For a long period of time it really did feel like CAF and AFC where being short changed especially considering how much talented and passion Comes out of those countries the expansion makes sense in that note it gives more club a Fair look and reflections how global the game has become concerning about the spreading the slots too widely you can still want the tournament to feel really good the moment Norway missed out in 2022 show how tough and qualification can be even for strong sides.

[KTChampions]

The situation for Italy is already quite complicated because they have been unwilling from the start to develop their young talent and have preferred to bring in older players to compete in their league. This lack of regeneration is a major problem for them, as the lack of fresh talent makes it difficult for them to replace senior players. This situation is likely to persist for years to come, as their federation is unwilling to make significant changes internally.

I don't think the situation with young footballers in Italy is worse than in Bosnia or, say, Norway. I'm not saying that Italy has another tool that many national teams are currently using, but not Italy: the naturalization of players from other countries (primarily from Africa). We'll see how the situation develops in the coming years, and how Italy performs at the European Championships. After all, between the two World Cups they missed, Italy managed to win the European title 

[8rch7]

obviously the dream that comes true for all footballers, but not for all, in fact i heard an interview done by an Italian journalist with Alessandro Bastoni where he said that he would have preferred to win the Champions League with Inter rather than the World Cup with his own country, this left me a little saddened i must say.

Its happening because his national team not qualify to World Cup 2026 and easily to say winning the UEFA Champion League more priority than playing at the World Cup. I think Bastoni not playing yet in World Cup regarding his national team already three edition in a row not qualify and always eliminate at the playoff round. Actually playing at the World Cup is most dreaming by all players many of them leaving the top club and move to other club who giving more minutes playing to get opportunity calling by their national team and playing at the World Cup.

Without compare, I think higher level achievement when winning World Cup trophy than how many trophy of UEFA Champion League do you win, actually Champion League playing every season and has bigger chance become the winner than World Cup held on every four years.

[Sithara007]

I believe that there are teams that should rightfully enter among the large nations that must participate and the level in Europe is truly much higher than in other African or Asian confederations where the level is truly much lower and i don't believe that we can skip further and not have low level nationals qualify to the detriment of others.

Again the same boring argument. It maybe true that the level of football in Europe maybe much higher than that in either Asia or Africa (I am not too sure about it). And that is the reason why Europe is being given 16 slots, while Asia and Africa are left with 8-9 slots each. And I am quite surprised that a lot of users here are targeting AFC and CAF confederations. Have you watched the qualifier tournaments in these two confederations? This time the matches were quite tough. Actually the weakest teams participating in this world cup (such as Curaçao and Panama) qualified through the CONCACAF route. Why no one is mentioning about CONCACAF?

[snipie]

I believe that there are teams that should rightfully enter among the large nations that must participate and the level in Europe is truly much higher than in other African or Asian confederations where the level is truly much lower and i don't believe that we can skip further and not have low level nationals qualify to the detriment of others.

Sometimes I agree with your point of view, other times I say the opposite.
European nations are way better than African, Asian and the other federation except CONMEBOL, precisely Argentina and Brazil. We all saw that many games in UEFA Nations League don't worth to be watched because Eastern and Southern European teams and small nations are very bad on football. So it is basically few western European countries that worth to be watched in addition to Germany.
Meanwhile, the charm in FIFA World Cup is to watch small teams performing way better than top ones and even kicking it. No one knows that Morocco has a powerful team until they reached semifinal. Saudi Arabia was unnoticed until they beat Argentina...

[Pumared]

For an event that takes place every four years, I don't think the players getting a little tired will be a problem. Because every player dreams of playing in the World Cup, and I think the more time players spend there, the more fun they'll have. Because it's a unique opportunity for them.

If we talk about Turkey, we last participated in the World Cup in 2002 and finished third. Now 24 years have passed and we will go to the World Cup again. Many of our players weren't even born in 2002 when we last participated in the World Cup. Therefore, this World Cup might be the only opportunity of these players in their lives, and I don't think they will mind playing one or two more matches.

In my opinion every player dreams of two things for his career, playing in a very strong team that also pays him very well, this for everyday life
then for glory, he dreams of winning the World Cup with his national team, for pride and not for money.

I agree with you, but lately that's been changing, with players only caring about the money. I understand that it's fair, it's their job. But some players no longer feel pride in participating in the World Cup for their country. It's become more about media attention than glory.

I cannot agree with that lot of players are not playing for their country because of the money they are playing because they love their country and they want to represent their country especially my country in Nigeria. The players we have are not playing for the country because of the money because even the government are not supporting them enough, they have been owning them for some time and they continue playing when it comes to my country. I don’t believe the players are playing for the country because of the money because the government are not paying them very well. They are just playing because they love the country and they want to do everything possible to make sure that they push the country football forward and I love all of them for that.

I'm not referring to all of them, but the number of these types of players is only increasing. I see that many players are only interested in social media. And it's precisely those who don't care about that and only want football who will win.

[cande86]

I believe that there are teams that should rightfully enter among the large nations that must participate and the level in Europe is truly much higher than in other African or Asian confederations where the level is truly much lower and i don't believe that we can skip further and not have low level nationals qualify to the detriment of others.

this thing is really something that cannot be like this, we need to put in place laws and rules and these that exist seem quite meritocratic to me, i understand that there are new federations and new teams that want to go and see what will happen but this seems to me to be the most correct thing, if Italy or other national teams have not qualified, it is right that it should be like this.

[changaa]

Sure, it's just a few extra games at the end, no? What difference does it make? Then in the meantime we have the Champions League with more games, the World Cup for Clubs, the Euro Cup bigger than ever, the Nations Cup, other continental competitions that got bigger, they made the Conference League too... It's not the World Cup only, they are doing whatever they can to add more and more games. The players have already been complaining for a long time now, they play too much and too often, this of course affects the quality of the games, the performances, and leads to more injuries. It has nothing to do with "they'll be happy, it's going to be fine".

in fact, having reached this point i believe that it is no longer necessary to have more matches or fewer draws, you just have to win, all the biggest teams have fixed appointments with big commitments, yet they manage to keep their concentration high, it will certainly be a very high type of tiredness but it is still manageable

[m4r1o]

I cannot agree with that lot of players are not playing for their country because of the money they are playing because they love their country and they want to represent their country especially my country in Nigeria. The players we have are not playing for the country because of the money because even the government are not supporting them enough, they have been owning them for some time and they continue playing when it comes to my country. I don?t believe the players are playing for the country because of the money because the government are not paying them very well. They are just playing because they love the country and they want to do everything possible to make sure that they push the country football forward and I love all of them for that.

I don't think it's a question of money, money when you play for your national team i don't think it should be looked at or taken into consideration, on the contrary it must be a privilege to win something with your country, now that you has brought up Nigeria i have to say that they too are a very strange case of not qualifying and yet they are very strong

[Ale88]

I believe that there are teams that should rightfully enter among the large nations that must participate and the level in Europe is truly much higher than in other African or Asian confederations where the level is truly much lower and i don't believe that we can skip further and not have low level nationals qualify to the detriment of others.

Again the same boring argument. It maybe true that the level of football in Europe maybe much higher than that in either Asia or Africa (I am not too sure about it).

Every time I read your posts I always hope you’re trolling but in reality you’re dead serious. I don’t know how many weeks ago you began following football because saying that you’re not even sure European football is superior to African’s and Asian’s is pretty wild. It really takes some serious courage to write that.

And that is the reason why Europe is being given 16 slots, while Asia and Africa are left with 8-9 slots each. And I am quite surprised that a lot of users here are targeting AFC and CAF confederations. Have you watched the qualifier tournaments in these two confederations? This time the matches were quite tough. Actually the weakest teams participating in this world cup (such as Curaçao and Panama) qualified through the CONCACAF route. Why no one is mentioning about CONCACAF?

You do realize that the only reason those teams managed to qualify is because the USA, Mexico and Canada didn’t take part to the qualifiers, don’t you?

[Lida93]

I am OK with this change. During the last two decades or so, there has been a lot of improvement in CAF and AFC confederations. But these teams were usually given 4-5 slots, which was unfair. Both these continents represent over two-thirds of the population of the globe. The expansion was mainly aimed at providing more representation to these two confederations, but slots were increased for CONMEBOL, UEFA, OFC and CONCACAF as well. Football is now a global game. Given this, we need to make sure that good teams doesn't miss out. I was heartbroken when Norway and North Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2022 edition. At least Norway made it this time.

No matter how many chances are created in order to increase the number of teams to participate in the World Cup there's still going to uncertainties in who qualifies, and that's exactly what happened to teams like Italy who will be missing the tournament for the third consecutive time, or Poland who have a great squad or Norway and even North Macedonia who stopped Italy from making to the last World Cup in Qatar. The fact still remains that as the slots are being increased, in same vein, the qualification process becomes more tedious for the teams.

[slapper]

obviously the dream that comes true for all footballers, but not for all, in fact i heard an interview done by an Italian journalist with Alessandro Bastoni where he said that he would have preferred to win the Champions League with Inter rather than the World Cup with his own country, this left me a little saddened i must say.

Its happening because his national team not qualify to World Cup 2026 and easily to say winning the UEFA Champion League more priority than playing at the World Cup. I think Bastoni not playing yet in World Cup regarding his national team already three edition in a row not qualify and always eliminate at the playoff round. Actually playing at the World Cup is most dreaming by all players many of them leaving the top club and move to other club who giving more minutes playing to get opportunity calling by their national team and playing at the World Cup.

Without compare, I think higher level achievement when winning World Cup trophy than how many trophy of UEFA Champion League do you win, actually Champion League playing every season and has bigger chance become the winner than World Cup held on every four years.

Last season, Inter lost the Champions League Final five goals to nothing to PSG. Within days, Inzaghi packed his bags and travelled to Al-Hilal. They introduced Chivu, and all of them sort of laughed at it. Then Inter goes and sits first in Serie A with seventy-two points, scoring seventy-one goals, winning five nil against Torino, winning five nil against Sassuolo.

Then A Norwegian club kick them out of the Champions League. Three one in Norway, two one at the San Siro. Five two overall and Bodo/Glimt was the first Norwegian team to win a UCL knockout game. It was heartbreaking, particularly to a team with the particular psychological baggage of seeking redemption over the PSG final.

So March arrives. Bastoni has already competed in about fifty to sixty games with Inter this season in Serie A and the Champions League. He is literally on the verge of what one can endure. And Gattuso, who replaced Spalletti in June, is not a man of profound institutional trust, yet.

You mentioned that the World Cup is the greatest dream. but see what Ballon d'Or has been telling us the past three years. Benzema in 2022 to his UCL run, not a world cup. Rodri in 2024 to dominate the club. Dembele in 2025 since PSG have won their first champions league. The Ballon d'Or has effectively been turned into a Champions League prize with some exceptions and the final exception (Messi in 2023, to the 2022 World Cup) already seems the final puff of the old pecking order.

By the way, Kean scored eight goals in his six recent appearances with Italy. Was the fourth player in Italian history to score in six consecutive games in the national team, joining Riva and Bettega. Brilliant. Beautiful. And it was nothing at all since the framework around him fell down the minute Bastoni was sent off at forty-one minutes.

Barella, Tonali, Calafiori at Arsenal in a UCL quarter-final at the moment and looking totally different every week. The talent exists. But Gattuso is away. On the second of April Gravina resigned. Buffon resigned as a delegate. They have not even chosen a new FIGC president yet, until June twenty-second. Conte is not even allowed to formally negotiate the job until after that date since De Laurentiis is still negotiating the conditions of his release of him out of Napoli. The 2030 cycle is already underway as they restructure a whole institution on its foundations.

Is the World Cup the greater dream? For me in my gut, still yes. But Bastoni has endured three consecutive playoff eliminations without ever having set foot in a World Cup and the organisation that is supposed to take him there simply does not work at the moment. I'm not sure what else you can expect him to say.

[Sithara007]

I am OK with this change. During the last two decades or so, there has been a lot of improvement in CAF and AFC confederations. But these teams were usually given 4-5 slots, which was unfair. Both these continents represent over two-thirds of the population of the globe. The expansion was mainly aimed at providing more representation to these two confederations, but slots were increased for CONMEBOL, UEFA, OFC and CONCACAF as well. Football is now a global game. Given this, we need to make sure that good teams doesn't miss out. I was heartbroken when Norway and North Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2022 edition. At least Norway made it this time.

No matter how many chances are created in order to increase the number of teams to participate in the World Cup there's still going to uncertainties in who qualifies, and that's exactly what happened to teams like Italy who will be missing the tournament for the third consecutive time, or Poland who have a great squad or Norway and even North Macedonia who stopped Italy from making to the last World Cup in Qatar. The fact still remains that as the slots are being increased, in same vein, the qualification process becomes more tedious for the teams.

The problem is with having playoffs during the qualifiers. One bad match is all it takes for a team like Italy to get kicked out of the World Cup. And this is where I support the AFC. Compared to qualifiers in UEFA, the AFC had such a format that made sure that only the strongest teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Till the 4th round, matches were played in a round robin format. Only knockout match was the one between United Arab Emirates and Iraq during the 5th round. A similar format for UEFA would have resulted in Italy gaining the qualification ahead of Bosnia.

[satscraper]

The problem is with having playoffs during the qualifiers. One bad match is all it takes for a team like Italy to get kicked out of the World Cup.

Just the thought that struck me recently. Could Italy’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup be related to the fact that their clubs rely heavily on foreign players rather than developing their own talent? Even holding Italian residency doesn’t guarantee that given player will represent the country. If my memory serves me right, Ronaldo held Italian residency while playing for Juventus, yet he never played for Italy in any World Cup. So the real problem seems to be the lack of Italian‑born talent coming through the system.

[bastisisca]

Last season, Inter lost the Champions League Final five goals to nothing to PSG. Within days, Inzaghi packed his bags and travelled to Al-Hilal. They introduced Chivu, and all of them sort of laughed at it. Then Inter goes and sits first in Serie A with seventy-two points, scoring seventy-one goals, winning five nil against Torino, winning five nil against Sassuolo.

Then A Norwegian club kick them out of the Champions League. Three one in Norway, two one at the San Siro. Five two overall and Bodo/Glimt was the first Norwegian team to win a UCL knockout game. It was heartbreaking, particularly to a team with the particular psychological baggage of seeking redemption over the PSG final.

So March arrives. Bastoni has already competed in about fifty to sixty games with Inter this season in Serie A and the Champions League. He is literally on the verge of what one can endure. And Gattuso, who replaced Spalletti in June, is not a man of profound institutional trust, yet.

...

Is the World Cup the greater dream? For me in my gut, still yes. But Bastoni has endured three consecutive playoff eliminations without ever having set foot in a World Cup and the organisation that is supposed to take him there simply does not work at the moment. I'm not sure what else you can expect him to say.

Don't remind me of this hurt, not so much for losing the final, but for losing it that way.
I was the first to criticize Chivu and i changed my mind.
The point is that we need a profound change in football in Italy, because we have sucked for three World Cups and obviously we need to fix this situation: Roberto Baggio had drawn up a good document.

[pewboy]

I'm not referring to all of them, but the number of these types of players is only increasing. I see that many players are only interested in social media. And it's precisely those who don't care about that and only want football who will win.

exactly, but in modern football many things have changed, and the amount of money behind it has increased dramatically, i believe that it is necessary to review the world of football and the players' priorities a little, but to do this we need to start from the bottom and teach the players from an early age that it is a sick world.

[banana33]

in fact, having reached this point i believe that it is no longer necessary to have more matches or fewer draws, you just have to win, all the biggest teams have fixed appointments with big commitments, yet they manage to keep their concentration high, it will certainly be a very high type of tiredness but it is still manageable

this is the most difficult thing of all, carrying forward all the challenges that come your way will be increasingly difficult, I understand that there are very difficult challenges, but I don't know if there are really teams that can handle this pace, because one of the very important things that many underestimate is precisely the turnover that a coach has to do and if you don't have players who allow you to do it, you can't do anything at all

[Hvdv]

in fact, having reached this point i believe that it is no longer necessary to have more matches or fewer draws, you just have to win, all the biggest teams have fixed appointments with big commitments, yet they manage to keep their concentration high, it will certainly be a very high type of tiredness but it is still manageable

this is the most difficult thing of all, carrying forward all the challenges that come your way will be increasingly difficult, I understand that there are very difficult challenges, but I don't know if there are really teams that can handle this pace, because one of the very important things that many underestimate is precisely the turnover that a coach has to do and if you don't have players who allow you to do it, you can't do anything at all

Of course, a coach's greatest strength is their ability to make the best possible changes among their players. In the World Cup, I think France can rotate the most players because they have fantastic players in every position. The manager has the freedom to make many substitutions. They can easily make changes that will control the tempo of the game. However, other teams aren't as lucky. That's why rotation is one of the most important things that can propel a team forward in the World Cup.