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

[fluffaloo]

I agree with you: the tournament begins in a few days, these friendly matches are just to keep the players in good shape otherwise they wouldn't be play for weeks. But they never give 100%, and there is no reason to do it at this point. The result is totally irrelevant in this kind of matches.

These players need to be careful in these friendly games. A slight injury could affect the player and the team at large. So they will have to play the game in a mild and friendly manner.

Portugal will be taking on Nigeria today in their last friendly match before the World Cup. Nigeria will not compete in the World Cup, so the Portuguese side needs to be careful. African football is physical, hence there are high chances of sustaining injury.

Friendlies are pleasant matches to watch, but they have a very specific function.
In some cases, friendly matches are heated up and the players play as if they were going to win something, competition between players comes into play and the match takes a challenging turn.
But then again, friendlies are useful for rehearsing team performances.

[Barcode_]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

[Tonimez]

I agree with you: the tournament begins in a few days, these friendly matches are just to keep the players in good shape otherwise they wouldn't be play for weeks. But they never give 100%, and there is no reason to do it at this point. The result is totally irrelevant in this kind of matches.

These players need to be careful in these friendly games. A slight injury could affect the player and the team at large. So they will have to play the game in a mild and friendly manner.

Portugal will be taking on Nigeria today in their last friendly match before the World Cup. Nigeria will not compete in the World Cup, so the Portuguese side needs to be careful. African football is physical, hence there are high chances of sustaining injury.

Friendlies are pleasant matches to watch, but they have a very specific function.
In some cases, friendly matches are heated up and the players play as if they were going to win something, competition between players comes into play and the match takes a challenging turn.
But then again, friendlies are useful for rehearsing team performances.

You're right about how friendly matches are not supposed to be taken that seriously but then you should understand that most of these friendly matches are also used for final team selections and also most times, any silly errors committed will also speak against you from the fan base. Every match is important and if the manager sees it as unimportant or less important, he controls the team by resting his key players while playing his second or third team. By so doing, the players will still give their best while also proving how unimportant the game is. Any player on the pitch has to prove himself and this was why most players sustained injuries during the pre world cup friendlies and no way it could have been easier.

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

This is world cup and I think everyone is beginning to understand that there's no small team I. The world cup because it's a collection of champions from their various world cup qualifying groups. Many games have been ending magically against the initial predictions. Cape Vades goalless draw against Spain is one of the most interesting of them. Surprises keep happening and I think this will help the elite teams to sit up and fight for their place in the next round. Egypt took the lead for a long time before Romelu Lukaku came in and influenced the own goal. The best choice for Gamblers now would be a double chance or an ov1.5 or 2.5.

[Majestic-milf]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

Honestly, I'm struggling to make predictions in the games as teams who should do better are being caught up by smaller ones and are held to a draw. Imaging Spain being held down by a team with the smallest population in this WC. Something that should have been a easy win. I'd keep saying it that big teams will find it really hard to have their way against smaller ones and yesterday's results proved it.
In yesterday's games, it was just Ivory coast and Sweden that recorded wins in and it's Sweden and Germany that have scored the higher numbers of goals.

[Nahl]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

World cup has just beginning that i thought some of favourite teams can through an their first games with very well but unfortunately the favourite teams like France, Uruguay, Brazil and the latest is Spain were unable to beat their opponents but i assume this is the first games which these teams needed to adapt more for this tournament.
I think one of shocked result is when Spain cannot beat Cape Verde which on the paper this game should be easy for Spain even i was expect they can won with huge scores but in fact, Spain unable to beat Cape Verde.
I am sure many bettors have lost their money through an this game because mostly they were bets for Spain but as debut team Cape Verde have done well especially their goalkeeper who playing well.

[@nn@_pen9]

And it's has ended in a draw at halftime  between  the Iran vs New Zealand, the first half  was quite  interesting  with an early  goal  from Elijah just, at 7min away from the kick off time for the New Zealand  team before it was equalized by Rezaeian at the 32 min, the bookies  have probably  picked  Iran to be the favorite  to win the match, but the game play doesn't  seem so, the New Zealand  team obviously has been the better  side from the first half played. They have had more attacks and gain more possession  than  the Iran  team.
However  Iran team looks  dangerous  with the set peice which  they even had an offside  goal  from one towards the end of the first half. The game is still open but  if I'm to place a bet from the  second to be played, I'll  bet on New Zealand  to win at 4odds instead  of Iran at 2 odds. Because  I don't see  Iran getting  a win from this match.

We were surprised by the progress and football game from New Zealand. Salute to New Zealand, they were able to show a tough, aggressive and fast game when playing against Iran. If we look at the first goal, the ball was a bit wild, which caused the Iranian defense to be less alert in clearing it. Furthermore, the coordination between the New Zealand players was excellent in placing and passing the ball to their teammates. Iran, with their mentality and experience, continued to attack their opponents and managed to equalize until their final goal. If we look at the countries in Group G, the potential to advance to the next round will not be easy. This group is quite fierce, both in terms of strength, and we know that Belgium vs Egypt played a draw and it will be very difficult who will qualify next.

[eisen33]

I think one of shocked result is when Spain cannot beat Cape Verde which on the paper this game should be easy for Spain even i was expect they can won with huge scores but in fact, Spain unable to beat Cape Verde.
I am sure many bettors have lost their money through an this game because mostly they were bets for Spain but as debut team Cape Verde have done well especially their goalkeeper who playing well.

Perhaps De La Fuente should have brought Yamal on much earlier, although Spain were already attacking throughout the entire match and simply lacked the finishing touch. Looking at the statistics, they registered 27 shots and won 11 corners.

The fact that Cape Verde managed to hold on for a 0–0 draw feels more like a miracle and a major upset than an expected result. However, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia also drew 1–1, so all the teams in the group still have an equal chance, and nothing disastrous has happened for Spain. As for their next match, I think Spain should be able to beat Saudi Arabia.

[Abbatty]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

For real gambler have been having a difficult time at this World Cup, Predictions have been very hard and you don’t even know on what to actually bet on. Imagine a team like Spain not being able to win or even score goals in the opening game. For I will take a break from gambling now and wait till round 2. We have seen a lot of surprises from teams so far, especially from African teams.

World cup has just beginning that i thought some of favourite teams can through an their first games with very well but unfortunately the favourite teams like France, Uruguay, Brazil and the latest is Spain were unable to beat their opponents but i assume this is the first games which these teams needed to adapt more for this tournament.
I think one of shocked result is when Spain cannot beat Cape Verde which on the paper this game should be easy for Spain even i was expect they can won with huge scores but in fact, Spain unable to beat Cape Verde.
I am sure many bettors have lost their money through an this game because mostly they were bets for Spain but as debut team Cape Verde have done well especially their goalkeeper who playing well.

You made mention of France on not winning their first game, they have not played yet, they will be playing today against Senegal. Well It will be a very interesting game to watch, all African teams have not lost yet except for South Africa who lost on opening day to Mexico. I know Senegal will put out a good fight, they have qualities and they are also a good team.

France for sure will try to make life difficult for them, France for me are favorites to win the World Cup, considering the qualities of players they have in their squad.

[Jostern]

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}

It was absolutely a good encounter, and I’m was very interested in their performances most especially the Cape Verde goalkeeper who was phenomenal, and he showed everything in the game, he was determined not to concede any goals and he kept a massive clean sheet, it’s not easy to play against Spain and hold them to a goalless draw, that shows that it was a wonderful and interesting game, I just have to say Kudos to the goalkeeper and the entire Cape Verde players, When I saw the performance I didn’t believe what I was watching in that game, and it’s something that is quite unpredictable, everyone would obviously be expecting Spain to win the encounter themselves.

[EarnOnVictor]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

Perhaps we should be smarter now and not fully trust any team, but distribute the entry options. You can imagine the shameful display of Spain yesterday; it's so disheartening. The bad news was that I had two tickets that are dependent of Spain; it has spoiled them all even though one is there that has 8 legs of parley, but Spain ruined it as the first match to play, even as others begin to win. But the ticket is spoilt already.

[Sim_card]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

This is the main reason why I don't bet on group stage matches because I'm using it to study the countries performance to know which country I will start betting on in the knockout stage. The group stage matches are unpredictable especially, when you are betting on a nation because you feel they are the favorites. Spain cut a lot of slips yesterday.

[Stavri]

tbh this is turning into a tournament where every favorite besides Germany looks completely underwhelming. France plays Senegal today but they didn't look good in their friendlies either.
if countries like Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina and the Netherlands happen to crash out of this World Cup, it’s going to be absolute chaos.

[Lannakosa]

tbh this is turning into a tournament where every favorite besides Germany looks completely underwhelming. France plays Senegal today but they didn't look good in their friendlies either.
if countries like Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina and the Netherlands happen to crash out of this World Cup, it’s going to be absolute chaos.

Looking at the upcoming matches, I think I'll probably bet on Argentina to beat Algeria and Norway to beat Iraq. As for Norway, I may take them with a -1 handicap, or I might look at Norway's team total instead. The problem is that the odds are quite low. Norway's attack is very strong at the moment. I've even considered betting on Haaland to score against Iraq today. If Norway get into their rhythm and score several goals, I think Haaland will have plenty of opportunities to find the net. At the same time, I understand that it's a risky bet.

[Stavri]

tbh this is turning into a tournament where every favorite besides Germany looks completely underwhelming. France plays Senegal today but they didn't look good in their friendlies either.
if countries like Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina and the Netherlands happen to crash out of this World Cup, it’s going to be absolute chaos.

Looking at the upcoming matches, I think I'll probably bet on Argentina to beat Algeria and Norway to beat Iraq. As for Norway, I may take them with a -1 handicap, or I might look at Norway's team total instead. The problem is that the odds are quite low. Norway's attack is very strong at the moment. I've even considered betting on Haaland to score against Iraq today. If Norway get into their rhythm and score several goals, I think Haaland will have plenty of opportunities to find the net. At the same time, I understand that it's a risky bet.

i think Japan will be the big surprise of this tournament.
ofc main favorites, in order are Spain, Argentina and France.
an African team might make it to the round of 16 but definitely not the quarter finals. We saw the best of Senegal and the USA put on a show.
btw don't be surprised if you see USA and Japan in the final four.

[Unsoldier]

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}

It was absolutely a good encounter, and I’m was very interested in their performances most especially the Cape Verde goalkeeper who was phenomenal, and he showed everything in the game, he was determined not to concede any goals and he kept a massive clean sheet, it’s not easy to play against Spain and hold them to a goalless draw, that shows that it was a wonderful and interesting game, I just have to say Kudos to the goalkeeper and the entire Cape Verde players, When I saw the performance I didn’t believe what I was watching in that game, and it’s something that is quite unpredictable, everyone would obviously be expecting Spain to win the encounter themselves.

I think no one seriously expected Cape Verde to take points off Spain. Spain dominated the entire match, both in terms of possession and shots. Meanwhile, Cape Verde sat deep in defense and rarely even thought about pushing forward into attack. De la Fuente's side controlled the ball for 74% of the game, with a shot count of 27 to 6 in favor of the Europeans. However, Cape Verde held on, primarily thanks to their goalkeeper, Vozinha. After this match, he generated so much buzz among the fans that his Instagram following skyrocketed by 6 million people in just one day. Hopefully, Vozinha won't let the fame go to his head and will keep rescuing his team in the upcoming matches.

[execijutiere]

Iran drew 2–2 with New Zealand. To be honest, I don’t know any of the New Zealand players, though I can say the same for the Iranian side. We could perhaps say the two teams were evenly matched, and the match did indeed end in a draw. Mehdi Taremi didn’t put in a particularly good performance for Iran. There must have been those expecting him to score in this match, but he finished the game without finding the net.

[Velvet78]

Uruguay couldn't even beat Saudi Arabia... The World Cup is going on very interestingly honestly. We have had quite many surprising results so far. By the way did Ronaldo teach them how to play more effectively or what? 

This tournament is really a disaster for bettors. I have no doubt millions of dollars are already lost in obvious picks. Starting with Spain... Tonight there is France - Senegal. I think there won't be a surprising result this time.

[tusandii]

It was a real shame to see Spain, despite so many good chances, fail to win yesterday's match.
I actually had more confidence in Lamine Yamal being in the starting XI, but for some reason, Luis de la Fuente preferred another player.
Had Lamine Yamal started, Spain might have scored early in the first half.

[Roseline492]

Honestly, I'm struggling to make predictions in the games as teams who should do better are being caught up by smaller ones and are held to a draw. Imaging Spain being held down by a team with the smallest population in this WC. Something that should have been a easy win. I'd keep saying it that big teams will find it really hard to have their way against smaller ones and yesterday's results proved it.
In yesterday's games, it was just Ivory coast and Sweden that recorded wins in and it's Sweden and Germany that have scored the higher numbers of goals.

This world cup was supposed to give us easey match to predict but even the ones we have been favouring and being the only country we would go along to bet has become as unreliable as the small countries we have neglected, I had so much confident when I was talking about Spain yesterday before the match and I didn't believe on a small win from them but I actually thought of several goals to come from them but unfortunately the mighty country couldn't even score any goal to the Cape Verde for entire 90 minutes, Fuente even brought Lamine Yamal too late and that was a mistake, it was even there defender Cucurella that was making Spain to be attempting on the first half.

[Zlantann]

The game results in this 2026 World Cup are getting more and more unpredictable, as most of the favorite teams have failed to beat their underdog opponents and lots of game results had ended up with draws. I think gamblers who are able to gain profits from wagering in this year World Cup would truly be the master of sports gambling as I personally are having a hard time trying to achieve winnings from my bets but sadly most of my sports bets did ended up with a loss instead.

Gamblers who are betting on favourites would not have had a good ride from the games that have been played. Spain, Belgium, Brazil, and Uruguay, which are seen as favourites, didn't live up to my expectations. I am following up this thread Sticking with the Favorites : World Cup edition and it is clear that betting on favourites has not been profitable. However, bettting on only underdogs would have also lead to losses.