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

[Ale88]

Still cannot believe when somebody said Portugal is not even in top 10, it puzzled me to think of 10 candidates better than them.

That is exactly why I've been waiting for that user to enlighten us with his list of these 10 (at least) teams better than Portugal, I am extremely, extremely curious to read his post.

Realistically, Portugal is certainly not the main favorite in the World Cup, with such top national teams as France, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, England, Germany, but I would say that in the second group there are teams that can surprise and be dangerous for the main favorites.

In your opinion Brazil are better than Portugal? Are you sure about it? Did you see the names? I'm not even sure how many Brazilians would play in the line-up for Portugal...

[Fiatless]

It seems Prestianni's case is revoluzioning FIFA's rule. A player who cover his mouth during the convrontation will be given a red card. It's hard to judge whether this is the right choice to change the rules by FIFA. As i know player often cover their mouth in so many situations such as when they're confronted each other and in front off the camera.
So i guess there will be a lot fo red card to be handed off. Covering their mouth is a habit that is difficult to prevent during the game. Do you think FIFA is doing the right thing?

My concern is that some players have developed the attitude of covering their mouths during conversations on and off the pitch. As you highly pointed out many players might be sent off because of this new law. Anyway, footballers would get used to it and end the behaviour of keeping conversations secret. Truth players, they will revise another means of coding what they say. Vinicius Junior's agitation has brought a change to FIFA laws.

[retreat]

-snip-
It seems Prestianni's case is revoluzioning FIFA's rule. A player who cover his mouth during the convrontation will be given a red card. It's hard to judge whether this is the right choice to change the rules by FIFA. As i know player often cover their mouth in so many situations such as when they're confronted each other and in front off the camera.
So i guess there will be a lot fo red card to be handed off. Covering their mouth is a habit that is difficult to prevent during the game. Do you think FIFA is doing the right thing?

This rule is very fitting since no one knows what the player said while his mouth was covered. Because until now, Prestianni's case remains controversial. Although the investigation stated that he did not use racist language, Vini and Mbappe still believe that he did. So with this strict rule in place, any player will think twice before they want to say hate speech or racism, since they can't cover their mouths, and whatever they say can be recorded on camera.

[Sithara007]

Portugal as one of the favorites?

Nope. Not even in top-10.

At this point I am extremely interested to read your list of these 10 teams that are clearly better than Portugal. Please, go ahead.

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

[rezakurnia66]

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

I don't your reason withdraw Portugal from the top ten favorite list for winning World Cup 2026, forgetting about bad result in last World Cup edition and right now Portugal team have many star players who playing well with their club. Bruno Fernandez should be most favorite players for Portugal and absolutely playing well at the World Cup 2026, I believe this time Portugal will reach until semifinal round or possibility become the champion looking the composition teams.

I doubt with Argentina because several players not playing at higher level competition such as Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul, its difficult playing well at World Cup several team playing with top players who playing at most competitive leagues.

[leea-1334]

Still cannot believe when somebody said Portugal is not even in top 10, it puzzled me to think of 10 candidates better than them.

That is exactly why I've been waiting for that user to enlighten us with his list of these 10 (at least) teams better than Portugal, I am extremely, extremely curious to read his post.

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

I was about to stop holding my breath, but curiously he has replied to you and not to my original one unless I missed it.

@ Sithara007? You do realize Quarterfinal means you are in the Last 8? Half of those teams you listed didn't even make it to the quarterfinals,,, if they are top 10, isn't that even more pathetic?

Realistically, Portugal is certainly not the main favorite in the World Cup, with such top national teams as France, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, England, Germany, but I would say that in the second group there are teams that can surprise and be dangerous for the main favorites.

In your opinion Brazil are better than Portugal? Are you sure about it? Did you see the names? I'm not even sure how many Brazilians would play in the line-up for Portugal...

On paper I think Brazil have been getting weaker and weaker @Daniel91 especially if you saw the qualifications,,, they really really struggled, and also killed me in BSFL so many times  

The only reason I put Brazil among favorites is simply their Real Madrid style 'we are good in this tournament' plus they also have Ancelotti who can really create magic. But on paper? That squad is extremely weak compared to past editions,,,

But Kalshi thinks Brazil is slightly above Portugal so I do not know

[Sithara007]

I don't your reason withdraw Portugal from the top ten favorite list for winning World Cup 2026, forgetting about bad result in last World Cup edition and right now Portugal team have many star players who playing well with their club. Bruno Fernandez should be most favorite players for Portugal and absolutely playing well at the World Cup 2026, I believe this time Portugal will reach until semifinal round or possibility become the champion looking the composition teams.

I doubt with Argentina because several players not playing at higher level competition such as Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul, its difficult playing well at World Cup several team playing with top players who playing at most competitive leagues.

In case of Argentina, they always play well as a team. There is good team cohesion and bonding. That is not the case with many of the other teams. BTW, I don't think that either Messi or de Paul will be their main weapons this time. I would rather throw my weight behind players such as Julián Alvarez (Atlético Madrid), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool) and Nicolás González (Atlético Madrid). BTW, I never said that Portugal is a weak team like Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan. All I said was that they are not as strong as Argentina or France or England. And I stick to that argument.

[karabiber]

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

My favorite for the 2026 World Cup is France. They unfortunately lost in the final of the 2022 World Cup. However, their squad for this tournament is the best in the competition. I’m expecting a surprise in the top 10. That team is Türkiye. Türkiye hasn’t qualified for the World Cup in many years, but they have a squad with real potential. They have world class star players and could perform well at the World Cup. Since they haven’t participated in the tournament for so long, I can’t make a definitive prediction about how they’ll perform, but the quality of their squad suggests they could pull off a surprise.

[Nahl]

Portugal as one of the favorites?

Nope. Not even in top-10.

At this point I am extremely interested to read your list of these 10 teams that are clearly better than Portugal. Please, go ahead.

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

Good list and no wonder why Argentina in the top place because they are defending champion and Spain too can be considered as one of the strongest team among to that list especially at their squad it is dominated by young players which i am sure Spain will talk more in this tournament later but i think the interesting is Norway that because this team is very amazing that Norway have won all of the games on qualification stages or 8 consecutive won besides that Haaland also impressing with 16 goals during qualification and if Norway can playing consistent i am sure other teams should beware of them because seems for the current world cup Norway is pretty strong

[Volgastallion]

I dont see this Portugal as a real contender, anyways they can still have a chane to do something for sure, but i feel like the past world cup they were a much better team overall, now they are nearby the same but having alittle bit less and some players are now much more older, like Cristiano and a few other key players who are not longer in their best.

But i feel like they are between the top 5 or 7.

[SuperBitMan]

It seems Prestianni's case is revoluzioning FIFA's rule. A player who cover his mouth during the convrontation will be given a red card. It's hard to judge whether this is the right choice to change the rules by FIFA. As i know player often cover their mouth in so many situations such as when they're confronted each other and in front off the camera.
So i guess there will be a lot fo red card to be handed off. Covering their mouth is a habit that is difficult to prevent during the game. Do you think FIFA is doing the right thing?

This is a good one because a lot of things have been happening when players cover their mouth and confront the opposition so this is a good rule, it will put a stop to insulting your opposition or calling them names. I love the way FIFA usually handle matter in order to make peace in the world of football. It gives me joy that they usually go into action in order to prevent issues in the future, vini was the one that brought this up and to be honest I love the fact that FIFA took actions immediately.
I know players will find it hard to keep to this rule at first because sometimes it will skep their mind that there’s a rule like this, but as time goes on, they will learn to adapt to it.

[chinhar]

This has been a normal phenomenon in football as sometimes these injuries even give rise to the opportunity of other players to actually have the chance to be called and some of them even use that medium to go on and show how talented and capable they are also some gets big club offers after their wonderful performance in the world cup. We don't pray for any player to be injured especially in this particular period when the world cup is very near.

Unfortunately, injuries happen and when you are unlucky, it happens that these injuries coincide with a very important sporting event such as the World Cup and for footballers this is the event of events that can become the fulfillment of a dream, even just playing it, sorry but that's the case, but it may be that they manage to recover.

That's all there is to it, after all, injuries for some are a possibility for others. i would say absolutely normal from this point of view.
In war and in love everything is allowed and we can say that a career is a war, taking advantage of an injured comrade is not meanness, it is taking advantage of other people's misfortune.

[tygeade]

This is a good one because a lot of things have been happening when players cover their mouth and confront the opposition so this is a good rule, it will put a stop to insulting your opposition or calling them names. I love the way FIFA usually handle matter in order to make peace in the world of football. It gives me joy that they usually go into action in order to prevent issues in the future, vini was the one that brought this up and to be honest I love the fact that FIFA took actions immediately.
I know players will find it hard to keep to this rule at first because sometimes it will skep their mind that there’s a rule like this, but as time goes on, they will learn to adapt to it.

I am not one of those older dudes who are saying everything is getting softer and start sentences like "back in my day" and talk about caveman stuff. But seriously, a red card for covering a mouth is just taking it too far, it really has gotten too short. Now we are getting red cards for trash talk? Really? I mean they are just words, there are tackles you get yellow card from but WORDS are red card? Really?

I understand there are some words which are worse than other words, and some do deserve red card, but here we are not exactly sure about the word, we are just sure they covered their mouth. Seriously silly if you ask me and there should not be a rule like this, this makes no sense to me at all.

[Agbamoni]

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

Rearrange the list. If it is by performance and strength, France should be at the top (NO.1).

Uruguay
Norway
Netherland
Belgium

They are not better than Portugal. I can agree with the rest of the teams you listed, even if I still have my doubt on England and Brazil

[katanic97]

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

Rearrange the list. If it is by performance and strength, France should be at the top (NO.1).

Uruguay
Norway
Netherland
Belgium

They are not better than Portugal. I can agree with the rest of the teams you listed, even if I still have my doubt on England and Brazil

I agree with what you said , people tend to write off Brazil and Portugal way too easily. In my opinion, those are two really strong teams with a clear goal. I’m not saying the other teams aren’t good , France, Spain, and Germany are also in top form. I’m just curious who’s going to be the surprise, because every world cup gives us at least one. For example, Croatia isn’t even on the list , why? Just think about their achievements  2nd and 3rd place in the last two world cups

[Sithara007]

Rearrange the list. If it is by performance and strength, France should be at the top (NO.1).

Uruguay
Norway
Netherland
Belgium

They are not better than Portugal. I can agree with the rest of the teams you listed, even if I still have my doubt on England and Brazil

I still think that Norway should figure in the list of top-10 teams, given their strong performances in the qualifier stage. The main concern about them was that they are a bit overdependent on Erling Håland, but recent performances from Alexander Sørloth and Martin Ødegaard have been good. In case of Belgium and Netherlands, they used to be some of the strongest teams from UEFA. But in recent times, the performance has gone down. The same can be said about Uruguay as well. But still, I believe that these teams should be there in the top-10 list.

[BlackBoss_]

I still think that Norway should figure in the list of top-10 teams, given their strong performances in the qualifier stage. The main concern about them was that they are a bit overdependent on Erling Håland, but recent performances from Alexander Sørloth and Martin Ødegaard have been good. In case of Belgium and Netherlands, they used to be some of the strongest teams from UEFA. But in recent times, the performance has gone down. The same can be said about Uruguay as well. But still, I believe that these teams should be there in the top-10 list.

Norway had amazing matches in World Cup 2026 qualification and they truly have a strong squad but with a first World Cup after many years, their players will face with kind of enough big pressure even many of them have been playing for big clubs in Europe recent seasons. Norway firstly will have to go to a knock out phase in World Cup 2026 as from then, they can do everything well match by match and since knock out phase, things can change very quickly.

Norway can be a new Greece (in Euro 2004), an interesting underdog in World Cup 2026 but firstly they must play well in group qualification phase as it's a first barrier for any team to go through before aiming at deeper phases.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

I dont see this Portugal as a real contender, anyways they can still have a chane to do something for sure, but i feel like the past world cup they were a much better team overall, now they are nearby the same but having alittle bit less and some players are now much more older, like Cristiano and a few other key players who are not longer in their best.

Personally I still consider Portugal the favorite because although some players are getting older, they also have a number of quality young players, all of whom play for much better clubs. Portugal has quality players in almost every position, although overall they may not be as good as some of the senior players. Nuno Mendes, Diogo Dalot, Ruben Dias and Cancelo all have quality in defense and Portugal also has the best midfielders currently in Bruno Fernandez, Felix and Silva. Overall, Portugal's squad this season is probably quite complete and the front line could be a threat to other squads in this World Cup.

[Ale88]

Portugal as one of the favorites?

Nope. Not even in top-10.

At this point I am extremely interested to read your list of these 10 teams that are clearly better than Portugal. Please, go ahead.

IMO, here are the top-10 teams:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Germany
7. Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Belgium
10. Uruguay

Don't forget how pathetically Portugal performed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They crashed out during the quarter-final stage, after losing to Morocco.

Reaching the quarter finals of the World Cup is a pathetic result? Do you remember when Argentina were eliminated in 2018? 
Anyway Portugal also won the Nations Cup in 2025 beating teams like Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Germany and Spain. Not too bad I'd say.

In the meantime what results have Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Uruguay accomplished? How would you judge their last World Cup participation?

[pewboy]

This is a good one because a lot of things have been happening when players cover their mouth and confront the opposition so this is a good rule, it will put a stop to insulting your opposition or calling them names. I love the way FIFA usually handle matter in order to make peace in the world of football. It gives me joy that they usually go into action in order to prevent issues in the future, vini was the one that brought this up and to be honest I love the fact that FIFA took actions immediately.
I know players will find it hard to keep to this rule at first because sometimes it will skep their mind that there?s a rule like this, but as time goes on, they will learn to adapt to it.

FIFA has never been interested in bringing peace through sport but only finds agreements in the interest of its managers and allies, there is no reason for these managers and organizers to think about the global good and sport in general even if they should do so, but something is changing, i can feel it in the air...