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

[*Ace*]

We would all have bet on a thrashing for Spain in this match, but instead we were in for a nasty surprise, with the game ending 0–0.
Spain now have to win their next few matches if they don’t want to jeopardise their World Cup campaign.

In the last World Cup Argentina who later won the competition did not win in their first game, so it means that losing your first game does not automatically take you out of the chances of winning the World Cup, it might actually be a blessing in disguise that is something motivates you to not want to fail again knowing that since you have experienced failure in the World Cup, you do not to experience it again for the second time as it may mean you going out so having that collective thoughts as players can pull them together to help push the team forward in the competition.

Yes, I also didn't expect Spain to have difficulty winning in their first match. Because basically what made me not expect it was their opponent, Cape Verde, not a country with good performance at all. But Spain really struggled in this match. I think maybe it was caused by Spain not playing their mainstay players from the first minute of the match, because in this match players like Yamal, Olmo, and Nico were not played directly, so maybe that was the main trigger why Spain struggled in this match.

Because I really believe that if Spain had played their main players from the first half, I'm sure Spain would have won. But unfortunately Spain seemed to underestimate Cape Verde and finally they had to swallow a draw. But fortunately, currently in Group H all matches ended in a draw and that gives a breath of fresh air to Spain, because currently all teams have the same points. So that's why I hope Spain can win in the upcoming match. Because it is very clear that if Spain fails to win again in their second match,, they will most likely fail to advance to the next round.

Spain certainly underestimated their opponents; there is no doubt that the Spanish tried time and again to win the match, but unfortunately the score never changed and it ended 0–0.
This draw unfortunately complicates Spain’s path in this World Cup, but the final word has not yet been spoken; in my humble opinion, Spain will comfortably progress from this group.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

This edition of the world cup is turning out to be a nightmare for the UEFA and CONMEBOL teams. Look at the results in the last 24 hours. Uruguay conceded a draw against Saudi Arabia, while Belgium and Spain were also held to draws by Egypt and Cape Verde respectively. And the Iran vs New Zealand match is turning out to be a very entertaining one so far (both the teams are tied at 1-1 at the moment). European fans will be the ones who are most disappointed. Most of the them were against the expansion of the world cup, and opposed the inclusion of more Asian and African teams. And look where it has got them.

That's what we thought, somehow the favorite teams were unable to secure 3 points even though in the previous matches they were quite aggressive, is their performance declining or are they implementing another strategy? I mean they were confident of qualifying for the next round so they didn't play optimally to avoid injuries or something, Imo lol. I think most of the gamblers have lost since the World Cup started .  For Iran vs New Zealand match the current score is 1-2 and there are still 25 minutes left in the match but for some reason I'm not sure New Zealand is safe Iran had a great chance to equalize the score, IMO.

[Ale88]

I don't even know where Cape Verde is, but this is probably the biggest surprise of the World Cup so far, and also the first scoreless match of the tournament. But Spain had 74% possession and didn't capitalize on it, much like in the Switzerland game.

Absolutely, this is by far the biggest surprise we've seen until now. Spain had a lot of ball possession but it was mainly sterile, things got more interesting once Lamine Yamal came in. Very disappointing result but, at the same time, this is only the first match, many times in the past we've seen big teams under performing during the first match, it's not a big deal at the end.

Yes, if I remember correctly, Argentina also lost to Saudi Arabia in their first match at the previous World Cup, but Argentina went on to win the trophy. Therefore, I think these kinds of surprise results add excitement to the tournament, but they won't change the outcome. Spain lost two points in this match, but they are a team capable of winning six points in their next games. They are the reigning European champions and a strong contender for the World Cup.

Yes, 4 years ago Argentina lost the first match against Saudi Arabia 2-1, after being up 1-0. And at the end they won the tournament. And I can tell you more: back in 2010 Spain lost the first match against Switzerland, and then they ended up winning the tournament. This is why I'm saying drawing (or even losing) the first match it's not a big deal at the end, there is plenty of time to get better.

[TedMosby]

Today seems like a great day for the bookies. Many unexpected results happened in the World Cup today. The World Cup is far from being predictable. However, it's still their first match. We all know what happened to Argentina 4 years ago. They got beaten by Saudi Arabia in their first match. "Where's Messi?" became a meme, and it ended up with Argentina becoming the champion.

Spain 0 - 0 Cabo Verde
Saudi Arabia 1 - 1 Uruguay
Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt

Group H became the second group that shares points equally, after Group B which consists of Switzerland, Canada, Qatar, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Also, if Iran ends up with a draw against New Zealand, then Group G will also be the same. Group G consists of Iran, New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt.

I think the list of unexpected results will continue, especially with France, Norway, Argentina, Portugal, and England playing their matches soon. The pressure on the more well-known teams is real in this World Cup.

[Sithara007]

Today seems like a great day for the bookies. Many unexpected results happened in the World Cup today. The World Cup is far from being predictable. However, it's still their first match. We all know what happened to Argentina 4 years ago. They got beaten by Saudi Arabia in their first match. "Where's Messi?" became a meme, and it ended up with Argentina becoming the champion.

Spain 0 - 0 Cabo Verde
Saudi Arabia 1 - 1 Uruguay
Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt

Group H became the second group that shares points equally, after Group B which consists of Switzerland, Canada, Qatar, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Also, if Iran ends up with a draw against New Zealand, then Group G will also be the same. Group G consists of Iran, New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt.

I think the list of unexpected results will continue, especially with France, Norway, Argentina, Portugal, and England playing their matches soon. The pressure on the more well-known teams is real in this World Cup.

I posted about this sometime back. One of the reasons why FIFA expanded the tournament to 48 teams is due to the fact that the gap between the top-ranked teams and the remaining teams was getting smaller. And these are evident from the results so far. Bookmakers need to admit this reality and adjust their odds accordingly. Else they will end up with huge losses, whenever an upset happens. A few minutes back, the match between New Zealand and Iran ended up as a 2-2 draw. New Zealand is regarded as the weakest team in the tournament (FIFA rank of 85. Lower than Haiti at 83 and Curaçao at 82). On the other hand, Iran is one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

[LordShanken]

I posted about this sometime back. One of the reasons why FIFA expanded the tournament to 48 teams is due to the fact that the gap between the top-ranked teams and the remaining teams was getting smaller. And these are evident from the results so far. Bookmakers need to admit this reality and adjust their odds accordingly. Else they will end up with huge losses, whenever an upset happens. A few minutes back, the match between New Zealand and Iran ended up as a 2-2 draw. New Zealand is regarded as the weakest team in the tournament (FIFA rank of 85. Lower than Haiti at 83 and Curaçao at 82). On the other hand, Iran is one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

Today proved that there are no weak teams. If someone had shown me today's results yesterday, I would have laughed.
Just yesterday, I considered Spain and Belgium the favorites in this tournament. Today, I have serious doubts whether they'll even be a contender in the later stages of the tournament.
I think we'll have many more days like today. On the one hand, I'm happy that it's going to be a hell of a thrilling World Cup, but on the other, I'm increasingly nervous about betting on matches.   

[Out of mind]

Everyone is really disappointed to see the performance of a small normal team in Cape Verde against a strong team like Spain. Vojinha is a 40-year-old goalkeeper, we have seen how much he saved the team in the game and what was in his performance is really worth seeing. Vojinha has given a statement that he could not bring his mother to watch the game due to lack of money, it is really heartbreaking. The most heroic goalkeeper in this World Cup is one who saved the team from conceding goals by making 7 saves and his achievement did not let them lose the match until the last minute of the game. Of course, we love this game very much, football is our passion and we have seen how With confidence the goalkeeper of a small country, despite being so old, played and kept the team alive. Although many may think this is normal, the saves we were able to see from this goalkeeper really made it much more interesting.
Vozinha saved goals like that against Spain, it felt like there was a wall in the goalkeeper's box.

_{photo Google}

[kriminall]

I posted about this sometime back. One of the reasons why FIFA expanded the tournament to 48 teams is due to the fact that the gap between the top-ranked teams and the remaining teams was getting smaller. And these are evident from the results so far. Bookmakers need to admit this reality and adjust their odds accordingly. Else they will end up with huge losses, whenever an upset happens. A few minutes back, the match between New Zealand and Iran ended up as a 2-2 draw. New Zealand is regarded as the weakest team in the tournament (FIFA rank of 85. Lower than Haiti at 83 and Curaçao at 82). On the other hand, Iran is one of the strongest teams from the AFC.

Today proved that there are no weak teams. If someone had shown me today's results yesterday, I would have laughed.
Just yesterday, I considered Spain and Belgium the favorites in this tournament. Today, I have serious doubts whether they'll even be a contender in the later stages of the tournament.
I think we'll have many more days like today. On the one hand, I'm happy that it's going to be a hell of a thrilling World Cup, but on the other, I'm increasingly nervous about betting on matches.   

I'm sure users have lost a lot of money on betting right now. Because of the unpredictable points dropped, the World Cup continues to produce surprising results. I was surprised by the draw between Belgium and Egypt, just as I was by the match between Spain and Cape Verde. I guess everyone will get used to surprising results.

[Sithara007]

Today proved that there are no weak teams. If someone had shown me today's results yesterday, I would have laughed.
Just yesterday, I considered Spain and Belgium the favorites in this tournament. Today, I have serious doubts whether they'll even be a contender in the later stages of the tournament.
I think we'll have many more days like today. On the one hand, I'm happy that it's going to be a hell of a thrilling World Cup, but on the other, I'm increasingly nervous about betting on matches.   

For the last 2-3 days, I am following a particular strategy and it has worked like magic for me so far. When a team such as Spain or Belgium is playing against a weaker team, I am placing equal amounts on the weaker team winning, as well as on the draw. For example, for the Belgium vs Egypt match, Stake had odds of 5.75 for Egypt and 3.80 for draw. I placed equal amounts ($25 each) on Egypt winning the match, and also for the draw. The match ended up as a draw, and I got $95 back. Minus the $50 I placed, that is a clear $45 profit (90%). Same with the Spain vs Cape Verde match. Ended up with a $240 profit from that one, after placing bets worth $50.

[Hypnotizer]

I know that mistakes happens but Ferran Torres seems to regularly miss clear cut chances where it is easier to succeed than to miss, another question is that what is The Spanish team without Lamine Yamal, this is Cabo Verde and this is there first time in the world cup and Spain hasn't yet scored a goal.
The second half will be very different as the Cabo Verde players would be very tired and they have to bring in some of there reserve team who are obviously not on the same level with the starting squad.

Ferran Torres missed very good chances today and it’s no surprise because we all know he regularly misses chances and not to mention the Cape Verde Goalkeeper Vozinha who is 40 years old guard the goalpost impressively yesterday and I think he’s the MOTM.

Spain finish the game a goalless draw and it isn’t a really good start and even though they substitute in Yamal, Nico and olmo they couldn’t still get the ball pass the Cape Verde keeper.

Saudi Arabia Vs Uruguay also ended a draw with one goal from each side and I’m really surprised by that, Saudi was even the first to score and Uruguay got their equalizer in the 80th minute.

Spain is now sitting at the third place in their group after the Uruguay Vs Saudi Arabia ended a 1-1 draw.


All the matches after the Spain match also ended as draws, Belgium Vs Egypt and also Iran Vs New Zealand.

[B-BossMan]

Today seems like a great day for the bookies. Many unexpected results happened in the World Cup today. The World Cup is far from being predictable. However, it's still their first match. We all know what happened to Argentina 4 years ago. They got beaten by Saudi Arabia in their first match. "Where's Messi?" became a meme, and it ended up with Argentina becoming the champion.

Spain 0 - 0 Cabo Verde
Saudi Arabia 1 - 1 Uruguay
Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt

Group H became the second group that shares points equally, after Group B which consists of Switzerland, Canada, Qatar, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Also, if Iran ends up with a draw against New Zealand, then Group G will also be the same. Group G consists of Iran, New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt.

I think the list of unexpected results will continue, especially with France, Norway, Argentina, Portugal, and England playing their matches soon. The pressure on the more well-known teams is real in this World Cup.

I thought  I was the only one thinking it that way, this World Cup matches have started failing some pf the fans predictions as we experienced in last premier league,  for the match of Spain against Cabo Berde, I actually predicted that the Spain will won the match, but I saw the a very different results entirely, same thing goes to Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay and Egypt against Belgium.

Well the both teams or countries truly tried from both opponents, and you know when it comes to a starting point, every countries actually wanted to participate or step in successfully, so that first victory matters alot to every countries and I was impressed with thier outcomes.

Iran against New Zealand was quite okay, both of them actually performed well as expected, I was impressed with the E Just goals, he's a very talented player.....Iran-2 New Zealand-2

[Solodoski]

Everyone is really disappointed to see the performance of a small normal team in Cape Verde against a strong team like Spain. Vojinha is a 40-year-old goalkeeper, we have seen how much he saved the team in the game and what was in his performance is really worth seeing. Vojinha has given a statement that he could not bring his mother to watch the game due to lack of money, it is really heartbreaking. The most heroic goalkeeper in this World Cup is one who saved the team from conceding goals by making 7 saves and his achievement did not let them lose the match until the last minute of the game. Of course, we love this game very much, football is our passion and we have seen how With confidence the goalkeeper of a small country, despite being so old, played and kept the team alive. Although many may think this is normal, the saves we were able to see from this goalkeeper really made it much more interesting.
Vozinha saved goals like that against Spain, it felt like there was a wall in the goalkeeper's box.

_{photo Google}

The surprise that the world cup will bring this season will be one of a kind. The team we hype the.most to go far or perhaps win the world cup will not be the team to do. Carpe Varde did the impossible yesterday. The World did not believe what they saw from the talented goalkeeper. He has more fame and exposure from now hence forth. More surprises is waiting for us today, will Senegal hold France to a draw today? Possible.

[Solokan]

We would all have bet on a thrashing for Spain in this match, but instead we were in for a nasty surprise, with the game ending 0–0.
Spain now have to win their next few matches if they don’t want to jeopardise their World Cup campaign.

In the last World Cup Argentina who later won the competition did not win in their first game, so it means that losing your first game does not automatically take you out of the chances of winning the World Cup, it might actually be a blessing in disguise that is something motivates you to not want to fail again knowing that since you have experienced failure in the World Cup, you do not to experience it again for the second time as it may mean you going out so having that collective thoughts as players can pull them together to help push the team forward in the competition.

Yes in last season's World Cup, we saw Argentina become champions. It was unexpected, losing to Saudi Arabia in their opening match. However, Argentina seemed to have learned a lot from that defeat, and their performance improved in the following match. This time, it was unexpected that Spain would be held to a draw by Tanjung Verde, a team that had just qualified for the World Cup. Spain's failure to get three points should be a lesson. But in my opinion, if Yamal and Nico had played for a long time, the result could have been different, and Spain could have won

However, Spain is still lucky because they didn't lose, and of course, there is still a chance for Spain to advance to the next stage as long as they avoid a draw or loss in their upcoming matches. Spain's next match will be against Saudi Arabia. I think this will definitely not be easy for Spain, because Saudi Arabia could perform as well as when Saudi Arabia won against Argentina in the previous World Cup. But it seems I will be more careful in the upcoming matches when betting because the results of the World Cup matches are always difficult to predict

[Sunshine1525]

Everyone is really disappointed to see the performance of a small normal team in Cape Verde against a strong team like Spain. Vojinha is a 40-year-old goalkeeper, we have seen how much he saved the team in the game and what was in his performance is really worth seeing. Vojinha has given a statement that he could not bring his mother to watch the game due to lack of money, it is really heartbreaking. The most heroic goalkeeper in this World Cup is one who saved the team from conceding goals by making 7 saves and his achievement did not let them lose the match until the last minute of the game. Of course, we love this game very much, football is our passion and we have seen how With confidence the goalkeeper of a small country, despite being so old, played and kept the team alive. Although many may think this is normal, the saves we were able to see from this goalkeeper really made it much more interesting.
Vozinha saved goals like that against Spain, it felt like there was a wall in the goalkeeper's box.

_{photo Google}

The surprise that the world cup will bring this season will be one of a kind. The team we hype the.most to go far or perhaps win the world cup will not be the team to do. Carpe Varde did the impossible yesterday. The World did not believe what they saw from the talented goalkeeper. He has more fame and exposure from now hence forth. More surprises is waiting for us today, will Senegal hold France to a draw today? Possible.

From my observations, lots of things would be exposed, the teams we expect more from would underate the weaker ones not knowing that football is evolving and most countries are secretly upgrading their teams, learning from previous mistakes and appointing good coaches to organize their players.

The match between Spain vs Carpe Verde is a good instance but I also want to remind you of Netherland vs Japan, did you see how the Japanese attackers made those experienced Netherland defenders look like novice? Or how Morocco frustrated Brazil, Ivory Coast winning Ecuador, get ready for more suprises.

[tottong]

The surprise that the world cup will bring this season will be one of a kind. The team we hype the.most to go far or perhaps win the world cup will not be the team to do. Carpe Varde did the impossible yesterday. The World did not believe what they saw from the talented goalkeeper. He has more fame and exposure from now hence forth. More surprises is waiting for us today, will Senegal hold France to a draw today? Possible.

This team really troubled Spain, and the goalkeeper was the last line of defense that frustrated the Spanish players throughout the match.
Most people expected Spain to have a goal feast in that match, but in fact, Carpe Varde surprised them, playing so neatly that it was difficult for the Spanish players to score.
The draw seemed like a big win because they were facing Spain in their World Cup debut. They should have lost by conceding more goals, but their solid defense and brilliant goalkeeper kept Spain from scoring at all.

[KTChampions]

I bet you were betting on a handicap, meaning even a minimal victory for Spain would be a loss for you? My condolences, bro.
When I think about how many bets were lost today (Total Over, both halves with a goal, etc.) i have goosebumps. This goalless draw worked like a nuclear bomb, I am sure that few people benefited from this game. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that many rushed to recoup their losses by betting on Belgium, since the odds on their victory dropped from 1.7 to 1.5 very quickly. But Egypt is leading after the first half  

Few people benefit in this match but the amount of their profit can be huge especially for those who are in the draw or some other bets.

The odds must be very high. Bad luck happened for me in this match because I put Spain into multi because they should have won, not only that in single bet I made a bet and everything managed to stress me out.

Fortunately there are Belgium and Egypt that make my losses can be slightly covered because BTTS yes & Under 3 is likely to be able to win so that it can slightly cover the loss of Spain betting.

Yes, my multiple bet also lost because of this outcome. I expected something to go wrong here, so I placed a cautious bet on Total Over 2.5 (in case if Spain would be lazy and the score would be 2-1), but Spain managed to ruin that too!
You got lucky with Belgium, congratulations. But the bulk of the bettors lost again – before the game, Belgium's odds dropped to 1.5, and in the end, it was a draw... As always, the first round of the World Cup does not go according to the favorites’ plans.

[Alex077]

I won't say that Cabo Verde is playing great or has built a great defense. Rather, Spain's random shots have kept Spain goalless. Even without Lamine Yamal, their attack line seems completely disorganized. In his absence, I feel the lack of great assists.

Full credits to their goalkeeper, Vozinha, who saved many shots and proved that age is just a number. Their defense was good, not letting Spain to get space was incredible. A really disappointing performance by Spain and many might have lost their bets.

It is Spain's standard form, lol
They will keep the ball in their possession but will not be able to finish
Cabo Verde had a flawless bus park and Vozinha played superhumanly today
I know, the opening matches of the group stage are always a bit tight. On top of that there is the pressure of the World Cup
But Cabo is a new team, how Spain could finish this match without a single goal, lol,,
I also lost tonight by betting on Spain at -1.5
That is probably why we should not blindly put money on the favorites in the first match

[pewboy]

Talking about unexpected results in this years world cup matches, I don't think that Brazil draw against Morocco is an unexpected results because for the past years now, the Brazilian team hasn't been good enough or they have not been at the level they have been in the past, so their draw against Morocco wasn't a surprising result because Morocco is a very strong team that can go toe too toe with other top European and south american teams.
 Just look at their performance in the past world cup that they finished fourth, that is enough evidence for we not to look down on the Moroccan national team.

It's true, the growth of this team has been constant, Morocco has worked hard for these years to get to its current form and is currently one of the best teams in Africa, i must say that the result doesn't surprise me, Brazil is certainly no longer the team it once was with so many strong players.

[Xackie]

We would all have bet on a thrashing for Spain in this match, but instead we were in for a nasty surprise, with the game ending 0–0.
Spain now have to win their next few matches if they don’t want to jeopardise their World Cup campaign.

In the last World Cup Argentina who later won the competition did not win in their first game, so it means that losing your first game does not automatically take you out of the chances of winning the World Cup, it might actually be a blessing in disguise that is something motivates you to not want to fail again knowing that since you have experienced failure in the World Cup, you do not to experience it again for the second time as it may mean you going out so having that collective thoughts as players can pull them together to help push the team forward in the competition.

Yes, I also didn't expect Spain to have difficulty winning in their first match. Because basically what made me not expect it was their opponent, Cape Verde, not a country with good performance at all. But Spain really struggled in this match. I think maybe it was caused by Spain not playing their mainstay players from the first minute of the match, because in this match players like Yamal, Olmo, and Nico were not played directly, so maybe that was the main trigger why Spain struggled in this match.

Because I really believe that if Spain had played their main players from the first half, I'm sure Spain would have won. But unfortunately Spain seemed to underestimate Cape Verde and finally they had to swallow a draw. But fortunately, currently in Group H all matches ended in a draw and that gives a breath of fresh air to Spain, because currently all teams have the same points. So that's why I hope Spain can win in the upcoming match. Because it is very clear that if Spain fails to win again in their second match,, they will most likely fail to advance to the next round.

Spain certainly underestimated their opponents; there is no doubt that the Spanish tried time and again to win the match, but unfortunately the score never changed and it ended 0–0.
This draw unfortunately complicates Spain’s path in this World Cup, but the final word has not yet been spoken; in my humble opinion, Spain will comfortably progress from this group.

They really underestimated Cape Verde . Yesterday when I saw Spain front attack , I just laughed because I knew this attack won't perform well.  How will you as a coach put gavi and Ferran Torres as wingers.  Didn't he know that African teams loves defending.  To be honest looking at that squad Yesterday I am not even convinced in any way that Spain can actually win this world cup.  They might just end up in round of 16 , like the way they used to.

[Catenaccio]

Yes, my multiple bet also lost because of this outcome. I expected something to go wrong here, so I placed a cautious bet on Total Over 2.5 (in case if Spain would be lazy and the score would be 2-1), but Spain managed to ruin that too!
You got lucky with Belgium, congratulations. But the bulk of the bettors lost again – before the game, Belgium's odds dropped to 1.5, and in the end, it was a draw... As always, the first round of the World Cup does not go according to the favorites’ plans.

Spain performed very terrible in this match even they sent Yamal and Nico in for some minutes, they failed to get three points. It's not how a title candidate should perform but luckily for Spain, it's only the first match, at least they did not lose it, and there are still two more matches for them doing improvements, go to round of 16.

Though the time and chance are still there for Spain, they must be very hurry with improving themselves as one more bad match and result can put them into risk of finishing this World Cup earlier than expected or if they continue such poor performance in knock out matches, they will have risk of having defeats.

It's like a bad day for big national teams as Belgium lost points too, and they only managed to secure one point. Both Belgium and Spain actually made big disappointment in yesterday World Cup matches. It will be time for Portugal and Argentina debuting their World Cup journeys, and they have to be very careful and avoid what Spain and Belgium got hours ago.