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

[KTChampions]

South Africa and Mexico, lets go. We are starting the world cup finally, it is going to be a great period, for nearly a month we are going to have an amazing fun, every 4 years this is very cool and very fun and we really missed this. Last time was horrible, because it was middle of the season.

We are finally seeing it back where it belongs at the summer and it is going to be great. Tons of political problems happened as we imagined because USA always wanted to make this political to begin with, but FIFA has been political from the start anyways. But now we are starting, time to move on from all of that until the cup ends, and just focus on great football and have some fun. Betting will be flying through the roof for sure.

It's a strange paradox: last time it was truly terrible, but the tournament organization was beyond praise. Right now, everything seems to be as it should be, but because of the degenerate USA, the organization of the tournament, the quality of the fields, the ticket prices, literally everything looks like rural shit. I'm surprised that even before the tournament even started, many big names are saying Infantino failed. And it's hard to deny, as politics clearly takes precedence over sport at the moment.

[JiiBs]

Who's watching the friendly match between Portugal and Nigeria tonight? This match is significant because this is the first time C. Ronaldo Wil be playing against Nigeria in his career, and we that are his fans from Nigeria will be supporting Portugal tonight, it's hard to support Nigeria against our favorite player Ronaldo,  since Nigeria didn't qualify to the world they have to play for fun, Portugal need it to keep fit ahead of the world cup.

The match has actually ended, and I won’t really say I enjoyed the game since am a Nigeria but as a C Ronaldo fan it was fun and at same time though and I don’t fell like i should support Portugal because of Ronaldo or Nigeria because it’s my country when moreover who every i support the result is what matters in the end.

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held out a good game but, Portugal was always going to win. They were the favorites and had the best team. There was nothing in this fixture though.

[Oluwa-btc]

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held out a good game but, Portugal was always going to win. They were the favorites and had the best team. There was nothing in this fixture though.

We lost the game to Portugal but did you all see that this manager had a clear plan on how he wants to play?! I'm looking forward to the African Cup of Nations Competition, I know he will do better than we did last time.
I'm also wishing the Portuguese national team all the best, they deserve to be world Champions if everything goes well for them. Godspeed to them.
The goals for Cristaino Ronaldo will come, he is a goal machine.

[criptoevangelista]

Who's watching the friendly match between Portugal and Nigeria tonight? This match is significant because this is the first time C. Ronaldo Wil be playing against Nigeria in his career, and we that are his fans from Nigeria will be supporting Portugal tonight, it's hard to support Nigeria against our favorite player Ronaldo,  since Nigeria didn't qualify to the world they have to play for fun, Portugal need it to keep fit ahead of the world cup.

The match has actually ended, and I won’t really say I enjoyed the game since am a Nigeria but as a C Ronaldo fan it was fun and at same time though and I don’t fell like i should support Portugal because of Ronaldo or Nigeria because it’s my country when moreover who every i support the result is what matters in the end.

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held out a good game but, Portugal was always going to win. They were the favorites and had the best team. There was nothing in this fixture though.

You can never write off a legend like Cristiano Ronaldo. He might not be at peak fitness given his age, but with one clinical play or a spark of genius, he can easily flip a match on its head. Over here, everyone is hyping up Portugal to win the World Cup this year, it’s actually become a massive meme online. I’m not sure what the logic is, but it would honestly be pretty cool to see CR7 lift that trophy with Portugal.

[Audrey Simmons]

You can never write off a legend like Cristiano Ronaldo. He might not be at peak fitness given his age, but with one clinical play or a spark of genius, he can easily flip a match on its head. Over here, everyone is hyping up Portugal to win the World Cup this year, it’s actually become a massive meme online. I’m not sure what the logic is, but it would honestly be pretty cool to see CR7 lift that trophy with Portugal.

Let's watch and see, fixtures are few days from now.

Frankly, I don't see him as a significant contribution to Portugal, he won't be given certain roles to play in the club like he used to, example like freekicks, Bruno would do a better job than him, as for penalties, they might consider giving him to play, just to add his goals count in the run for 1000 carrier goals record.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

You can never write off a legend like Cristiano Ronaldo. He might not be at peak fitness given his age, but with one clinical play or a spark of genius, he can easily flip a match on its head. Over here, everyone is hyping up Portugal to win the World Cup this year, it’s actually become a massive meme online. I’m not sure what the logic is, but it would honestly be pretty cool to see CR7 lift that trophy with Portugal.

I have been a fan of Ronaldo's hard work and resilience, but I think it's a big ask for him to lift this coming World Cup trophy, especially given the fact that Portugal has never won it before. He is also way past his prime, and I don't see anyone serious taking up command in Portugal.

Anyway, time will tell soon.

[Ale88]

South Africa and Mexico, lets go. We are starting the world cup finally, it is going to be a great period, for nearly a month we are going to have an amazing fun, every 4 years this is very cool and very fun and we really missed this. Last time was horrible, because it was middle of the season.

We are finally seeing it back where it belongs at the summer and it is going to be great. Tons of political problems happened as we imagined because USA always wanted to make this political to begin with, but FIFA has been political from the start anyways. But now we are starting, time to move on from all of that until the cup ends, and just focus on great football and have some fun. Betting will be flying through the roof for sure.

It's a strange paradox: last time it was truly terrible, but the tournament organization was beyond praise. Right now, everything seems to be as it should be, but because of the degenerate USA, the organization of the tournament, the quality of the fields, the ticket prices, literally everything looks like rural shit. I'm surprised that even before the tournament even started, many big names are saying Infantino failed. And it's hard to deny, as politics clearly takes precedence over sport at the moment.

Probably I already said it, but I'm going to say it again: I hope this World Cup will be a huge flop. There isn't a single thing I like about it: the 48 teams, the huge distances between the stadiums, the ticket prices that are ridiculously high, the USA immigration...
If people will fill the stadiums anyway than there is no turning back, it means fans will really do anything to watch a match. I refuse to give them my money.

[laijsica]

South Africa and Mexico, lets go. We are starting the world cup finally, it is going to be a great period, for nearly a month we are going to have an amazing fun, every 4 years this is very cool and very fun and we really missed this. Last time was horrible, because it was middle of the season.

We are finally seeing it back where it belongs at the summer and it is going to be great. Tons of political problems happened as we imagined because USA always wanted to make this political to begin with, but FIFA has been political from the start anyways. But now we are starting, time to move on from all of that until the cup ends, and just focus on great football and have some fun. Betting will be flying through the roof for sure.

It's a strange paradox: last time it was truly terrible, but the tournament organization was beyond praise. Right now, everything seems to be as it should be, but because of the degenerate USA, the organization of the tournament, the quality of the fields, the ticket prices, literally everything looks like rural shit. I'm surprised that even before the tournament even started, many big names are saying Infantino failed. And it's hard to deny, as politics clearly takes precedence over sport at the moment.

Commercialization has begun where for football fans the World Cup is a white box full of entertainment, commercialization has begun everywhere. Countries have struggled a lot to qualify for the World Cup, there are complications related to visas for players and sanctions on the officials of those teams. It is gradually becoming a garbage dump, those behaviors come from the highest levels of a country. It is true that politics has now entered sports and has reached the level of shit.

[Barcode_]

This world cup will be the first world cup with so many teams participating and I think gamblers who are planning to wager with huge amount of money on this world cup will need to be more extra careful when they place their bets. With so many national football teams participating in the world cup for their first time in history, I guess there is a chance we might be able to see some underdog teams creating history by beating some huge teams during the group stages. This could also be a golden opportunity for gamblers who always prefers to stake huge bet amounts on underdog teams for huge potential winnings as odds payout for underdog teams are usually extremely high.

[Sithara007]

This world cup will be the first world cup with so many teams participating and I think gamblers who are planning to wager with huge amount of money on this world cup will need to be more extra careful when they place their bets. With so many national football teams participating in the world cup for their first time in history, I guess there is a chance we might be able to see some underdog teams creating history by beating some huge teams during the group stages. This could also be a golden opportunity for gamblers who always prefers to stake huge bet amounts on underdog teams for huge potential winnings as odds payout for underdog teams are usually extremely high.

During the previous edition (Qatar 2022), there were quite a few upsets. With more teams and more matches this time, there will be even more unexpected results (mainly during the group phase). What makes it more challenging to place bets this time is the fact that there are so many teams who are participating for the first time. From the AFC, we have Jordan and Uzbekistan. From CAF we have Cape Verde making their debut, while Curaçao are making their debut from the CONCACAF. For those gamblers who are in UEFA or AFC, it will be difficult to properly measure the strength of teams such as Haiti or Curaçao. And the exact opposite for American gamblers, in case of teams such as Uzbekistan and Iraq. 

[SquallLeonhart]

Portugal's World cup squad is very strong. More importantly, most of the players in the squad were in excellent form last season. For this  reason, Portugal is considered one of the favorites for this world cup. Portugal has a lot of talented players in the squad. If portugal manager Roberto Martinez  can use the players properly and if he can create a stable match strategy, then portugal will undoubtedly be able  to play well in this world cup.

I hope so with Portugal they have a lot of great players in it this will be a good combination for Roberto Martinez as the coach now, which is where Portugal should be the team that is favored to win this season although some bookies do not position Portugal in the first place, but this is not a real benchmark.

I still %99 believe that people who hope Portugal to do fine, are people who wants Ronaldo to win World Cup because Messi got one. Realistically speaking when you look at their squad and how they are doing, I do not think that they have a chance. They are like maybe 7th or 8th best team and that is not really a likely result to win the league.

The simulations shows there is a 3% give or take chance for them to win it, which is why I do not think that they will end up getting the title, not just because of simulations, of course anything could happen, but I believe the same thing that simulations show without knowing the result of simulations as well.

[Pandu Geddon]

I still %99 believe that people who hope Portugal to do fine, are people who wants Ronaldo to win World Cup because Messi got one. Realistically speaking when you look at their squad and how they are doing, I do not think that they have a chance. They are like maybe 7th or 8th best team and that is not really a likely result to win the league.

The simulations shows there is a 3% give or take chance for them to win it, which is why I do not think that they will end up getting the title, not just because of simulations, of course anything could happen, but I believe the same thing that simulations show without knowing the result of simulations as well.

The group stage won’t be a problem for top teams like Portugal. But in the later rounds, they might be caught off guard by the surprising performances of underdogs.
It’s not impossible for Portugal to reach the quarterfinals or semifinals. But let’s first see how they perform in the group stage. On social media, many are backing Spain and France.

[satscraper]

Who's watching the friendly match between Portugal and Nigeria tonight? This match is significant because this is the first time C. Ronaldo Wil be playing against Nigeria in his career, and we that are his fans from Nigeria will be supporting Portugal tonight, it's hard to support Nigeria against our favorite player Ronaldo,  since Nigeria didn't qualify to the world they have to play for fun, Portugal need it to keep fit ahead of the world cup.

The match has actually ended, and I won’t really say I enjoyed the game since am a Nigeria but as a C Ronaldo fan it was fun and at same time though and I don’t fell like i should support Portugal because of Ronaldo or Nigeria because it’s my country when moreover who every i support the result is what matters in the end.

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held out a good game but, Portugal was always going to win. They were the favorites and had the best team. There was nothing in this fixture though.

Friendly matches say little about players ^{because more often than not} such games misrepresent the potential of the teams. Portugal are the favorites in their group and Ronaldo is in their squad, but I don't think they will manage to reach the final; even reaching the semi‑final would be the hard task for them. Regarding Nigeria, I'm very sorry they did not qualify for this World Cup.

[Nahl]

Few more hours finally the world cup 2026 officially will begin that the first game would be Mexico vs South Africa and if we see about the odds i can see Mexico is the favourite certainly the host factor makes the bookie placed them as the favourite but because Mexico as one of the host for the current world cup they didn't playing for qualification stages but i can see Mexico has good preparation because during playing for friendly games Mexico has positive result.
As a host their chances to won the game is quite high however this is important game for both teams because if one of them lost their chances to qualified will be very hard especially for Mexico that as a host i think they don't want to dissapoint their fans

[IceLincoln]

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held out a good game but, Portugal was always going to win. They were the favorites and had the best team. There was nothing in this fixture though.

We lost the game to Portugal but did you all see that this manager had a clear plan on how he wants to play?! I'm looking forward to the African Cup of Nations Competition, I know he will do better than we did last time.
I'm also wishing the Portuguese national team all the best, they deserve to be world Champions if everything goes well for them. Godspeed to them.
The goals for Cristaino Ronaldo will come, he is a goal machine.

The match yesterday was entertaining and great outing by both teams, the Portuguese have a great squad and they’ll probably do well in this World Cup, they’re one of the favourites.
Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t who he used to be, and honestly speaking Portugal looks more dangerous without him. The mistake the coach will make is to depend on him to deliver the team.
At this point he should not be a starter or a full time player, atleast 45-60mins is more than enough.

[Zlantann]

Let's watch and see, fixtures are few days from now.

Frankly, I don't see him as a significant contribution to Portugal, he won't be given certain roles to play in the club like he used to, example like freekicks, Bruno would do a better job than him, as for penalties, they might consider giving him to play, just to add his goals count in the run for 1000 carrier goals record.

Concluding that Ronaldo will not make any significant contribution is unfair. Maybe your judgment is based on his age or the quality of the league he is playing in. We cannot write off the fact that Ronaldo has experience and has been in top form in the Saudi Professional League. The League might not be as highly rated as others in Europe, but it's not that bad.

Yeah, he might not contribute like he did in his prime years but his presence in the team will serve as a motivation to young players and his influence could also be an advantage. Such players could easily influence influnece referees' decisions.

[Hewlet]

South Africa and Mexico, lets go. We are starting the world cup finally, it is going to be a great period, for nearly a month we are going to have an amazing fun, every 4 years this is very cool and very fun and we really missed this. Last time was horrible, because it was middle of the season.

We are finally seeing it back where it belongs at the summer and it is going to be great. Tons of political problems happened as we imagined because USA always wanted to make this political to begin with, but FIFA has been political from the start anyways. But now we are starting, time to move on from all of that until the cup ends, and just focus on great football and have some fun. Betting will be flying through the roof for sure.

It's a strange paradox: last time it was truly terrible, but the tournament organization was beyond praise. Right now, everything seems to be as it should be, but because of the degenerate USA, the organization of the tournament, the quality of the fields, the ticket prices, literally everything looks like rural shit. I'm surprised that even before the tournament even started, many big names are saying Infantino failed. And it's hard to deny, as politics clearly takes precedence over sport at the moment.

maybe it is because the united states is not a football friendly country and this has joined in contributing to the kind of hype that the world cup is supposed to have generated by this time. with a lot of negatives coming from the way the host nation is handling things, it is even becoming clearer that this might not be a so interesting kind of world cup. when you mix politics and anything, the end is always bad and if the world cup does not bring the kind of excitement that always comes with it, it is only an indication that the united states political involvement in this world cup caused it. the world cup might not mean to much to them since they don't value football like that but they have t know that for the rest of the world, it means a lot to us.

[Luzin]

maybe it is because the united states is not a football friendly country and this has joined in contributing to the kind of hype that the world cup is supposed to have generated by this time. with a lot of negatives coming from the way the host nation is handling things, it is even becoming clearer that this might not be a so interesting kind of world cup.

I also saw and read this news from various media. There were many inappropriate treatments received from World Cup participants. I once saw Japan training in a field that looked like a village area like mine. Then the training ground was near a venomous snake area. In the past few days, I read about a black referee who failed to become a World Cup referee this time. Others include players from Senegal and Uzbekistan being treated like terrorists when getting off the plane. A bad start for America. The World Cup really shouldn't be held there. I feel quite disappointed and pity for them.

[EarnOnVictor]

I was hoping C. Ronaldo would find a way to score against Nigeria, he’s not being getting goals in the friendlies and that doesn’t really present him to be ready for the World Cup but, I don’t know of a time when Ronaldo is never ready. Perhaps it’s him having to save his best performance for the World Cup, it would be his last and his got to give it his all.

Nigeria held Portugal tighter than I expected, even though Portugal did well but those chances were resisted, and I believe C. Ronaldo was a major target to defend against, so he was held better than others . Also, he is old already, a 41-year old guy is no more like his youthful calculations and dribbling plus where he plays now is another dwindling effect on him even if many people didn't notice that. Notwithstanding, this is his last World Cup, so I believe he would give his best and score goals when the tournament starts properly.

[IjawMan]

Is this a world cup or it's Trump cup because I don't understand anymore, if you're not ready to host the world why then did you bid for it. Last world cup was so smooth even though it was the very first time of it being hosted in the Middle East. I really don't understand this visa denial, you claim to have the best security in the world and we are all seeing this. Is it because the ref is from Somalia?

Yes it's because Artan is Somalian. As far as i know Somalia has been banning got getting visa to enter US for years. If you don't believe it, then you can check it out here.
So i think it's impossible to reverse his status because US authority has no intention to change his status. Don't expect FIFA has power to do this because they're not US government.

The only trump who may able to let Artan enter US with special permission, maybe.

This is shit for God sake the referee is not coming into USA as a Somalian but as an envoy of FIFA and thus represents FIFA in the world cup. This a man that has worked all his life to merit this. This is football and politics should be kept aside cause I do not get all the drama the USA is making about this world cup when they are not the only host to it.

Did the USA government not know that officials and  countries all around the world will be gracing the tournament before they agreed on co-hosting? Why bring their damn politics into a sport that is made to unite the world.

I do not see unity in the world cup in anyway, cause with all these controversial actions by Trump and with FIFA keeping quiet it is enough for the rest countries to show solidarity by boycotting this event that Trump is making ridicule of by bringing their county's politics into it.