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

[retreat]

It is very difficult for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the trophy this time. Last time we saw how much the entire Argentina team helped Messi in all aspects and how much the entire team played on the field. If we talk about this aspect of Cristiano Ronaldo or his team, then maybe it will not be the same at all. In this World Cup, the biggest and strongest team is France. France is the strongest team in this World Cup and next to it is Argentina and there are several other strong teams and after that is Portugal.

I wouldn't say it's "very difficult" for Ronaldo to win the World Cup—it's probably more challenging because the squads he'll be facing also seem stronger. But don't underestimate the current Portugal squad, it has good depth, is packed with stars, and is quite balanced. In fact, it's been said to be the best national team squad Ronaldo has ever played with. So, while this squad isn't Ronaldo-centric, it's quite balanced and has fewer weaknesses in every area. And I still see Ronaldo as having a chance to compete for one last World Cup.

[Ale88]

Spain and France are very strong in attacks

Honestly in this World Cup I was disappointed with the Spanish team, they seemed to choose the side of the club which this time they excluded Real Madrid players. For some reason they didn't call up any Real Madrid players, even though I don't think Carreras or Huijsen are too bad to be called up to the Spanish national team.

So, two names. That's it, those are the best players Real Madrid can offer to the Spanish national team, and you are disappointed? Don't you think that maybe the problem is Real Madrid and the level of their Spanish players instead of complaining about the Spanish manager? I think it's embarrassing for Real Madrid having Huijsen (who was born in the Netherlands btw) and Carreras as the only Spanish players.

[BlackBoss_]

Honestly in this World Cup I was disappointed with the Spanish team, they seemed to choose the side of the club which this time they excluded Real Madrid players. For some reason they didn't call up any Real Madrid players, even though I don't think Carreras or Huijsen are too bad to be called up to the Spanish national team.

I agree with you as the player selection tends to be too favorite with Barcelona players. I read complaints on news about that too, like how Pau Cubarsi with worse stats than Huijsen is selected while the Real Madrid's defender was ignored. I agree with Carreras who really deserves to be called for this World Cup 2026 with Spanish national team.

So, two names. That's it, those are the best players Real Madrid can offer to the Spanish national team, and you are disappointed? Don't you think that maybe the problem is Real Madrid and the level of their Spanish players instead of complaining about the Spanish manager? I think it's embarrassing for Real Madrid having Huijsen (who was born in the Netherlands btw) and Carreras as the only Spanish players.

It's not like disappointment, it's only my neutral thinking that the player selection for Spanish national team was not actually fair enough. I am not disappointed, it's not my personal issue but surely those ignored users would feel very disappointed.

About Huijsen, why it is embarrasing for Real Madrid to have him, and Spanish national team to have him?
Do you think it is like a racism?

Don't forget that in the past, Thiago Alcantara chose to play for Spanish national team even his player career at club level was mostly not in Spain.

[Sithara007]

I wouldn't say it's "very difficult" for Ronaldo to win the World Cup—it's probably more challenging because the squads he'll be facing also seem stronger. But don't underestimate the current Portugal squad, it has good depth, is packed with stars, and is quite balanced. In fact, it's been said to be the best national team squad Ronaldo has ever played with. So, while this squad isn't Ronaldo-centric, it's quite balanced and has fewer weaknesses in every area. And I still see Ronaldo as having a chance to compete for one last World Cup.

Portugal's situation seems to have improved compared to the case in 2022. This time, apart from Ronaldo, their other forwards are also in good form. João Félix was in exceptional form for Al Nassr during the 2025/26 season of the Saudi Professional League. And more importantly, there was great sync between him and Ronaldo. Rafael Leão and Francisco Conceição are also in good form. Group phase will be a cakewalk for Portugal. They have DR Congo, Colombia and Uzbekistan for company. Out of these teams, only Colombia can be considered as a strong team.

[m4r1o]

Don't forget that in the past, Thiago Alcantara chose to play for Spanish national team even his player career at club level was mostly not in Spain.

This thing makes me very confused, in my opinion it would be necessary to propose more stringent rules.
A person cannot randomly decide which national team to play for, he must play for the national team he was born in or it becomes a real mess and we no longer understand anything.

[$crypto$]

Have you guys read the news that Neymar is injured again and won’t be able to play in the upcoming friendlies games, including the wc opening match against Morocco? They really shouldn’t have included Neymar in the squad anymore since he’s already expected to be injury-prone. Joao Pedro is available it’s just disappointing that Joao Pedro wasn’t included in Brazil’s lineup..

The list of players that was submitted can be changed. What was submitted was a provisional list, which could be altered before the final submission deadline. There is a report that coach Carlo Ancelotti has given Neymar two to three weeks to recover and be cleared. If he fails to recover, which I don't wish for him, Joao Pedro will join the team.

I don't know how long it will take to change the lineup for this World Cup. If there was still time and I were Ancelotti, I wouldn't think twice about replacing Neymar with Pedro.

If he continues to be given the opportunity to miss the Morocco match then there is no change anymore, like it or not Neymar remains in the Brazil squad at this time, I know that fan pressure is what influences Neymar not to be dropped.

[emrecemsan]

While Brazil is even calling Neymar for the World Cup squad I don't understand why Tuchel doesn't call players like Palmer... There is a lack of talent in the current squad I think.

Even Madueke is called man.    What is he trying to do exactly? I don't think this is the squad that can win a World Cup for England. I don't expect Tuchel to get sacked even if they get eliminated earlier than the expectations. But he'll get criticized a lot for his choices.

[babo]

I honestly don't think I'll watch the World Cup, without my country's team not playing it annoys me.
I didn't watch it much before, but after 12 years of no World Cup for Italy it has really lost a lot of its appeal for me.
among other things, the fact that FIFA has inflated the prices so much makes me feel disgusted (reading from your comments)

I don't want to fatten these pigs

[bastisisca]

However, even if I have such amount of money, I wouldn't use it to watch a football match, I will just buy bitcoin and hosli while , I watch the match at home from a big screen sipping some liquor.

Now we can say it out loud without fear of talking nonsense, they have created a game for rich people to watch.
Only the rich can go, i understand that they have to justify the works but in my opinion it is absurd.
Football has always been a popular game, i don't understand the reason to change the nature of the game.

[Adbitco]

Marcus Acuna, his from Argentina and once played in Europe, for those of us who watched him play can attest that his a good defender even though he can't be likend to the very top. He currently plays for River Plate their in Argentina. River Plate has had a final to play and Scaloni who's their national team coach asked him not to play in the finals because he wants him fresh for the world cup match. His an important defender for River Plate and so refused and instead went ahead to play in the finals for his club. When Argentina world cup squad list came out, his name was missing. Could it be that the coach omitted his name on purpose because he didn't do what he asked him of or it's for other reasons? Acuna is very fit so I doubt if it was about fitness issues

[banana33]

When VAR started rolling on, it was expected to make the matches smoother and more trustworthy. It turns out to be more time consuming and sometimes less accurate since at the end it will depends from the interference of the main referee to take the last decision.
Things are changing slowly in this matter but good things take time so at the end there will be changes.
About money, I was shocked about how FIFA is dealing with this World Cup at particular. They don't want to take any decision when the US authorities already took one even if it complicates things for spectators and force them to spend more. The other part is the price of tickets, it is going up and up every time like there is no limit. Going to North America and watch couple of early stage games can cost a couple a fortune.

I believe that the VAR should be a support that with its help can resolve the matches but the decision is always up to the referee, and it is not always like this, the referee must decide the match and not the VAR which on many occasions influences the referee's choice, because otherwise it makes no sense for him to be there but an electronic system would be better.

[kennycryptoitalia]

There are a lot of questions regards to them playing together though. I believe the best thing we can do regards to this would be making sure that we are dealing with a "team" not bunch of individual talents. Same problem literally ruined Real Madrid this year, bunch of very talented players, but not a team.

Portugal does not look like they have that many players who know how to play together, and that is why they are not in the favourites, if there was a time where they could do better together, like if they had a chance to play together, then we could end up with a win for them but for the time being, there aren't really anything that we could see them doing something good. Right now, I am sensing they will get out of the group, but I have no idea what will happen.

the group is fundamental, if you have a bunch of players who don't play well together in the end you will have a group of people who hate each other who individually are very strong, but if taken as a group they are very poor, so this must make the clubs who buy so many talents in the team reflect.

[aipercoin]

Palmer has not been performing very well this season I didn’t see any impact he made in Chelsea so why should a player like that be included in the squad for the World Cup leaving those who made more impact in their team.

I don't know how to keep Foden and Palmer out, it's something that i don't think is right, they're two very strong youngsters who have always done well, i don't know if it's right to keep out two talents like that in the World Cup, obviously the choices always fall on the coach who sometimes has to exclude these talents.

[Volgastallion]

We are getting close and close to the start of the world cup, we are just one day away from the deadline to post your official 26 players which is the 30/05 if im not mistaken, im not sure how many teams remain to reveal their players, but until now despite Brazil and England i dont see other super surprises in teams list.

[7juju]

I haven't seen all the squad from various countries for the world cup, not that I can't be just that I haven't got the time to do it but judging from the 3 names you have called here, I'm satisfied with the midfielders. I knew Bellingham must be called, his been so good at his club even though his performance this season is not upto what he did in his first season for Real Madrid. His drop in performance can be linked to the surgery he had earlier this season, but just before the surgery he was in mad form, then after his arrival the team slowed down, a tree cannot make a forest that's the reason for his drop. But him pairing with the likes of Eze and Rodgers will again bring out the beast in Bellingham.

Thomas Tuchel is the head coach and he alone reserves the right to pick whomever he deems fit to be in the England squad for the upcoming World Cup final hence whatever emanates from it thereafter only the coach would be held responsible, it is Thomas Tuchel that knows the ability of all the players at the moment, I think the coach made his decisions based on the individual performances of the players this season which for me is quite justified because some of the omitted players were not in their best form and couldn't have being included in Worlds Cup list.

I don’t know why most English fans are angry with Thomas Tuchel for his choice of players called up to the World Cup. England in the past has heavily relied on big traditional names to make the list even though if they were not in form. They would rather go with them to big tournaments than giving players who are playing well and can deliver for them in those tournaments the opportunity to showcase themselves.

 This is what has kept England without any trophy for ages now. Tuchel has identified this pattern and has decided to break away from that tradition to give the three lions the chance of winning this World Cup and they are complaining. I support the choice of players he called up for the World Cup. They should trust the coach and see what his choices yield for the team.

[Agbe]

We are getting close and close to the start of the world cup, we are just one day away from the deadline to post your official 26 players which is the 30/05 if im not mistaken, im not sure how many teams remain to reveal their players, but until now despite Brazil and England i dont see other super surprises in teams list.

The official deadline of submission of team squads by FIFA is on Monday 1st June, 2026 so from now till on Sunday to Monday all Country teams would submit their 23-26 men squads to FIFA and FIFA will publish it in their website and we'll all see the list of players across teams on the website. Many injury players will not make their team.

[Danica22]

Portugal's situation seems to have improved compared to the case in 2022. This time, apart from Ronaldo, their other forwards are also in good form. João Félix was in exceptional form for Al Nassr during the 2025/26 season of the Saudi Professional League. And more importantly, there was great sync between him and Ronaldo. Rafael Leão and Francisco Conceição are also in good form. Group phase will be a cakewalk for Portugal. They have DR Congo, Colombia and Uzbekistan for company. Out of these teams, only Colombia can be considered as a strong team.

Portugal's squad is very strong in this World Cup. They have a lot of talented and star players in their squad. Attack, midfield and defense are three very strong in Portugal. There is no doubt that Portugal have a squad fit to win the World Cup. But as a team, Portugal is not very strong. Poor bonding between players is the main reason for their erratic performance. If coach Martinez can strengthen the bonding between the players and develop smart match strategies, Portugal will do well in this World Cup. This is Ronaldo's last world cup.

[free-bit.co.in]

We are getting close and close to the start of the world cup, we are just one day away from the deadline to post your official 26 players which is the 30/05 if im not mistaken, im not sure how many teams remain to reveal their players, but until now despite Brazil and England i dont see other super surprises in teams list.

The official deadline of submission of team squads by FIFA is on Monday 1st June, 2026 so from now till on Sunday to Monday all Country teams would submit their 23-26 men squads to FIFA and FIFA will publish it in their website and we'll all see the list of players across teams on the website. Many injury players will not make their team.

Brazil and England have announced their world cup squads long ago. But the other teams have not done so yet. There are many  reasons for this. Because each team will want to form their best squad. Also, many players are injured. It is uncertain  when they will be able to return to the squad. And even if they do return to the squad , we do not know whether  they will be able to perform well. And this is why the teams are  waiting until the last day  to announce their best squad.

[Lucius]

I honestly don't think I'll watch the World Cup, without my country's team not playing it annoys me.
I didn't watch it much before, but after 12 years of no World Cup for Italy it has really lost a lot of its appeal for me.
among other things, the fact that FIFA has inflated the prices so much makes me feel disgusted (reading from your comments)

I don't want to fatten these pigs

I read that Italy got a new coach who completely changed the team and kept only 4 players from before, focusing only on young players. That's actually the only way to reset things and start building from scratch.

I will watch some games, but definitely not those that start after midnight on a weekday, given the time difference. Whether we watch or not, they're going to make a ton of money.

[Akbarkoe]

While Brazil is even calling Neymar for the World Cup squad I don't understand why Tuchel doesn't call players like Palmer... There is a lack of talent in the current squad I think.

Even Madueke is called man.    What is he trying to do exactly? I don't think this is the squad that can win a World Cup for England. I don't expect Tuchel to get sacked even if they get eliminated earlier than the expectations. But he'll get criticized a lot for his choices.

I thought before this was just a rumor but it turned out to be true that Palmer was not included in the England squad, ah this is very disappointing why Tuchel is so arrogant, even though we know for ourselves how Palmer played very well at Chelsea sometimes became the man of the match who changed the situation of Chelsea for the better, or does it have things that are not agreed upon by this player or is it because Tuchel really doesn't see Palmer? I think there is still enough time to get into the breakup and solve it.