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

[AprilioMP]

Wow it seems like Argentina and France are the only two big teams who didnt have any problem beating their rivals an showing why they are the favorites to win the world cup and how a big national team play, im not counting germany between them since they play against such a tiny team that is impossible to compare.

Germany must be included even though they won by a landslide against a team considered weak. We can place Argentina and France in the group of strong teams, but we have to wait until the first round is over for all groups. Only then will we be able to sort and place each team into the strong and weak brackets.

Portugal, England, Colombia, Croatia, and a few others will finish their first round. Portugal, England, and Croatia might be placed in the strong group after they finish their first group matches.
Argentina won 3-0; the team they defeated can also be considered weaker than the team France defeated.

[promise444c5]

Despite Argentina incredible victory today, with Messi scoring a hat trick, if you look at some of the highlights from the match, especially this one https://x.com/Isaactimi2/status/2067108057683812367, can you say it was a serious foul?
Because social media is abuzz with discussion, it's certainly fueling the perception that FIFA is trying to get away with things like this involving Messi.

Those buzz were from reel watchers   ..
It wasn’t a serious foul, looking it from different angles camera pov it looks like a serious foul one . But if deserved a yellow at least because his boot were raised high. Yesterday game had zero cards anyway most tackles were given as advantage for both sides.. I expected it to trend anyway because most people are used to the biased refereeing in UCL . The official were same ones from the last WC final BTW..

[giorgione]

Yes they actually performed very poorly in the first half, in facts to the extent that I didn't even expecting that France could be able to meet up anymore, because thier first half was so annoying, despite they touches the Senegal in both first half throughout I was still having a little doubt that they may ended the mat h as draw, but I love the incredible performance I saw at the second half. Although I actually predicted that France could defeat them easily, but at the same time, I knew Senegal will also try thier best to at least have a  goals records. How the results was well impressive and I was impressed with thier performance and hard working, well played to France on thos great achievement, I must thump up for Mbappe first his great weldone job.

in the very first half, france waited for the other team to change a bit, and they studied it, this also helped because it made everything much more beautiful, i also understand that france is practically the best national team of the last 10 years, and im not surprised if they win this world cup too.

[banana33]

Germany vs Curacao is a typical example of how productive tactical football is. So far theirs is the biggest score line in the world cup tournament with a total of 8 goals from both teams. Paper predictions are never to be trusted because we are yet to get the full strength of the various teams competing in this tournament.

Spain has shown that the best teams don't always win, they have been able to give great things in recent years, but not against Cape Verde, but other teams have also been able to command respect and this is a magnificent thing because it makes football the most beautiful sport in the world, without ifs or buts the most beautiful of all.

[Mame89]

France won the match against Senegal, but in the first half, Senegal looked much better—they attacked a lot, while the French were just chasing the ball. France was very lucky not to concede in the first half. After the break, the game changed completely; it seems Deschamps found the right words in the dressing room, and a completely different France team came out for the second half. Senegal could no longer play freely, and the French put pressure on the opponent's goal. Olise was named Man of the Match, which was very fair—he created a lot of danger near the opponent's goal, and it was his passes that set up Mbappe's goals. It was a very spectacular match. I think if the Olise-Mbappe partnership continues to develop, France will definitely be able to challenge for the World Cup title.

Sincerely i agree with you, Senegal were outstanding during the first half, they pulled through with so much confidence, I believe they didn't utilize their chances very well, else they would have scored a lot of goals that first. What helped the France team in the later part of the second half was individual brilliance they had, Olise and Mbappe stood out and made the difference, because it got to a point the French side were stocked and couldn't penetrate easily into the Senegalese defence. I still believe Senegal have the ability to pull through the group stage, they have the firepower.

Yes. Senegal played a very strong and solid first half, preventing France from breaking down the Senegalese defense. It could even be said that the first half was very boring.

But in the second half, Deschamps made many changes and successfully exploited Senegal weaknesses, demonstrating that the Senegal defense was very penetrable. In the second half, France solved their own problems and connected better with their players. They also managed to explore space in the Senegalese half. Overall, the second half made up for the disappointment of the first and France should have won by more than three goals if Senegal goalkeeper wasn't Mendy.

In the France vs Senegal match, Senegal frustrated France in the first 45 minutes, but in the second 45 minutes France served as a warning and a threat to all teams, which is why they are the favorites to win this World Cup.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Wow it seems like Argentina and France are the only two big teams who didnt have any problem beating their rivals an showing why they are the favorites to win the world cup and how a big national team play, im not counting germany between them since they play against such a tiny team that is impossible to compare.

Even Argentina and France lost their first match. As for me, I still see them among the favorite teams to win this World Cup because they have great squads.so, even if other teams that are among my favorites to win this World Cup did not win their first match, it will never make me stop seeing them as favorites. Not winning the first match does not mean they cannot do well in their next matches.I will not start judging teams at this early stage of the tournament. Also, Argentina and France, whom you see as favorites now, can lose their next match, while the teams that failed to win their first match may win their second match.Therefore, we should not start drawing conclusions this early in the tournament. If Germany is not being counted among the favorite teams to win this World Cup, then you should not exclude Spain simply because they drew their first match.all I can say for now is that there is still a lot that can happen in this World Cup

[LUCKMCFLY]

Mbappe was on fire, he was so classical and this is what we call the best of performance from Kylian Mbappe. Senegal had their most best chances in the first half of the game and they didn’t make good use of it. It was just like France had to change their game pattern entirely and the second half went completely in their favour to come out as the winner in this game. As always, Barcola was the super substitute to increase the number of goals for the team. Ibrahim Gueye that scored for Senegal is really a great player to look out for, he finished that ball brilliantly and I hope he’ll give more of this performance on the coming games for his team. It was a nice game, and France who made use of their opportunities more prevailed and won the match by three goals to one.

I have to tell him, but I think that now Mbappe will be one of the players who has broken the most world records. He already broke Pelé's record. When Barcola came on, the whole game changed. You started to see the flanks, Olise, Mbappe, the management of each of his defenders. Tchouameni almost scored an own goal; if that had happened, the game would have been different. As well as Senegal's offside call, every detail in a game really does make a difference.

[Rockson1]

As for now we can't conclude on anything yet because England and Portugal have not played their own games, because they are one of the favorites for the trophy.
I see France and Argentina going far in the competition because they  have shown superiority in the way they play and in how easy it was for them to get the goals needed to claim all three points. But as I have said already, we can't conclude that only this two teams are the most dominant team because Portugal and England have not played their own matches yet.

Is it not too early for anyone to start saying this, I agree with what you said, for now, I don't think that it is clear to us who will win the FIFA world cup tournament, although we have seen that france and Argentina did a good job for their country by winning convincingly, the way things are going, it seems like there will be surprises in this world cup tournament, it beats my imagination that the spain that we know player draw with a national team that no one expected, we should not be too sure of anything now beside the group stage is not over yet, there more to come, Portugal will be facing DR Congo today while English will have a lock horn with Croatia later today too, let's see how these matches goes.

[pewboy]

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.

surely this is one of those fundamental things, i don't understand why you have to play friendlies when you have the possibility of doing huge damage to these players who then cause serious damage, obviously not playing in a competition that you have waited for all your life is a very serious thing.

[Baki202]

It was already expected  that France was going to win the game, but what surprised me the most was how Senegal performed in that game, like it was really amazing, had it been they utilize their chances at the first half maybe they could have won or draw the game, but their miss was too much, and France came back stronger in the second half, and their forward is actually something else, just imagine Kylian Mbappe scoring a brace, and Olise having two assist, that alone shows that Senegal was never a match for them.

And no one saw what was coming because i was expecting things  and i was just impress with mbappe and olise and this is the mbappe we wanted to see and now the boy is bringing back that glory because at some point we lost hope in him and i dont know why when it comes to the world cup mbappe is just something different so what is happening when it comes to real madrid then its a toatal different playing.

and now france is gradually becoming the favourite to win the world cup and from the way they played i dont even think there is anything to argue about at this point because them mbappe went crazy yesteray and Olise  did more than a wonderful job yesterday becuse what was that, and now the world cup is even becoming intresting than all the leagues because talent is what we are seen everywere.

[$weetne$$]

Apart from Saudi Arabia and Iran, the teams from the Middle East are very weak. I think they will all return to their countries after the group matches. Iran might be eliminated due to the pressure they are under. Saudi Arabia might qualify as the best third-placed team in the group, but they will also be eliminated in the next round. The number of teams in the World Cup has increased, but there are no quality teams.

It is only Saudi Arabia and Iran that engages more in football at international level among the middle east states and that is why they cannot be blamed so much for appearing weak. the best Saudi Arabia will go is a step beyond the group stage but then i noticed that as compared to last world cup, they are now improved and i want to believe they will keep getting better.

[aipercoin]

As per Stake, 98% of the 1x2 bets for the Portugal vs DRC match favors the former. How crazy can it get? Portugal has been given 1.28 (which is a bit surprising), while draw is at 5.20. DRC win is placed at 10.00. I have placed bets on the underdogs so far in this tournament, but these odds doesn't look very promising to me. Portugal is 99% certain to win the match, and they are only being given 1.28? IMO, it should have been more like 1.07 or 1.08. It seems like Portugal is being underestimated here. Should I place a bet in favor of Portugal? Odds are too attractive for them.

I can see what the bookmakers are enforcing in this match and is a psychological play on the bettors. Just yesterday Argentina won a weakling Algeria with a big 3:0 goals margin, all scored by the great football star Lionel Messi.

And today the Portuguese team of Cristiano Ronaldo are to play DR Congo and their anticipation is that Ronaldo will give his best to prevent his team from not winning as well. This, creating a wave of certainty by the odds difference for Portugal and DR Congo, should this game end in the result as what we saw in the match between Spain and Cape Verde then a lot of bettors will be losing big money.

I put Portugal among the favorites for the final victory, even if it's still early i have to say that i like this team a lot, but they haven't played yet, and it's important to show everyone that they can win the first match, to say that it's really fundamental to have a healthy initial victory in your hands.

[Juicyhome]

It's very obvious that Fifa is supporting Messi and Argentina to win the world cup again, Messi rough a player and he went away without a punishment, not even a yellow card for that tackle messi did. Same thing happened in 2022 against Netherlands, Messi touches the ball with his hand and fifa didn't punish him.

This is not fair, this game ought to be for all but the official of FIFA are bias, I just pray they don't spoil this beautiful game for personal interest,  however congratulations to Messi,he is the second Goat of football after Ronaldo, both are still playing like they haven't won anything. Tonight the Greatest of all time C. Ronaldo will play, I can't wait to watch him play.

[Sim_card]

It's very obvious that Fifa is supporting Messi and Argentina to win the world cup again, Messi rough a player and he went away without a punishment, not even a yellow card for that tackle messi did. Same thing happened in 2022 against Netherlands, Messi touches the ball with his hand and fifa didn't punish him.

This is not fair, this game ought to be for all but the official of FIFA are bias, I just pray they don't spoil this beautiful game for personal interest,  however congratulations to Messi,he is the second Goat of football after Ronaldo, both are still playing like they haven't won anything. Tonight the Greatest of all time C. Ronaldo will play, I can't wait to watch him play.

Messi is FIFA's son. This is not the first time that FIFA will side him and favor him. Even when the competition between him and Ronaldo was ongoing back days, FIFA supports him than Ronaldo so, I'm not surprised this is happening again in 2026. However, it's unfair because all the players should be treated equally.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Despite Argentina incredible victory today, with Messi scoring a hat trick, if you look at some of the highlights from the match, especially this one https://x.com/Isaactimi2/status/2067108057683812367, can you say it was a serious foul?
Because social media is abuzz with discussion, it's certainly fueling the perception that FIFA is trying to get away with things like this involving Messi.

It can lead to the serious foul, but Messi can easily removed his foot. So i think yellow card is the fair decision for him. I have seen many of this foul in the different games of current WC, but none of them were getting carded.
It may be the reason why Messi doesn't get a card too.

[B-BossMan]

Despite Argentina incredible victory today, with Messi scoring a hat trick, if you look at some of the highlights from the match, especially this one https://x.com/Isaactimi2/status/2067108057683812367, can you say it was a serious foul?
Because social media is abuzz with discussion, it's certainly fueling the perception that FIFA is trying to get away with things like this involving Messi.

Those buzz were from reel watchers   ..
It wasn’t a serious foul, looking it from different angles camera pov it looks like a serious foul one . But if deserved a yellow at least because his boot were raised high. Yesterday game had zero cards anyway most tackles were given as advantage for both sides.. I expected it to trend anyway because most people are used to the biased refereeing in UCL . The official were same ones from the last WC final BTW..

This was clearly a foul that deserved card seriously, I was even had an argument about this and I also said at time some if the refree have conscience especially when the match or the tournament is just starting, but the refree that blew at the first match of this season FIFA world cup didn't really have patience enough,because there wasn't any pity at all, just the beginning of the match or the first match of the tournament, he gave many players cards, well that football at times. I was also impressed with the Messi's performance yesterday, I kbow deep down he will perform well and he did, just the beginning of the match he score 3 goals only him,hat trick he's truly a legend.

[Adbitco]

Despite Argentina incredible victory today, with Messi scoring a hat trick, if you look at some of the highlights from the match, especially this one https://x.com/Isaactimi2/status/2067108057683812367, can you say it was a serious foul?
Because social media is abuzz with discussion, it's certainly fueling the perception that FIFA is trying to get away with things like this involving Messi.

It's even funnier that after the foul, the camera went straight to FIFA president and he was laughing. Of course he knew the ref and VAR are not going to respond to the foul. I'm not totally surprised though, after all the last world cup an obvious foul was made and the referee looked away without even a yellow card for a deliberate handball. If this incident was flipped we all know what's going to happen to that player instantly, no VAR will be needed to give the verdict. FIFA has always given special treatment so someone like me isn't surprised.

[Arenga pinnata]

Actually, just seeing him still here at the World Cup is already truly remarkable. Because I remember that during the previous World Cup, many people were saying that it might be his last World Cup. But in reality, he’s still the same and is still playing for Portugal in the World Cup. In fact, there haven’t been any significant changes or visible decline in Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance when comparing his play from four years ago to now, except perhaps in terms of stamina. But as far as I recall, at Al-Nassr, he often played full matches.

I hope Portugal wins today’s match. Although the DR Congo shouldn’t be underestimated at all. I won’t take any team lightly in this World Cup anymore. Because we’ve seen how even some strong teams have been held to a draw by opponents who weren’t considered favorites.

I'm currently closely following the Portugal vs. Congo match.🙋

I've analyzed the bookmakers' odds and concluded that Portugal's chances of winning are greatly overrated.🙋

Everyone expects Cristiano Ronaldo to emulate Messi's achievements, but that might not happen. Congo has a very solid defense. They can also surprise fans with unexpected attacks... Chancel Mbemba and Joane Vissa are excellent players. Portugal will have a hard time against them, especially considering that Ruben Dias's participation is highly questionable...

I'm planning to bet on Congo with a +2 handicap. I think it will be a very smart move. I'm curious to see what happens!💁

Wow, it seems like you’re taking a risk that, if it pays off, could be quite lucrative. however, with so many unexpected match outcomes, it’s possible that your analysis or prediction could come true. Personally, I haven’t been successful in many matches in this World Cup. At the very least, I hope I’ll get it right by picking Portugal.

However, if Congo plays a total defensive game, it will still be difficult—even for Portugal. Still, I think this match will end in either a Portugal victory or, at worst, a draw. And I think at least two goals will be scored in this match.

[Shussainshah]

Despite Argentina incredible victory today, with Messi scoring a hat trick, if you look at some of the highlights from the match, especially this one https://x.com/Isaactimi2/status/2067108057683812367, can you say it was a serious foul?
Because social media is abuzz with discussion, it's certainly fueling the perception that FIFA is trying to get away with things like this involving Messi.

Yeah it was moments when Messi foul on Algeria Captain.  But I think it's was not that's hard tackle it was pressing moments and referee know when a team press that's kinda tackle can be ignored most of time. But it's was not that's hard tackle otherwise referee have the VAR technology they can use it but was not that's hard to check with VAR. Overall Fifa worldcup Start in Crazy style we see 3 red in the opening matchs so I think referee are doing has job we don't need to question on him. Btw we can watch Ronaldo Masterclass Tonight 

[mikel_012]

FIFA is getting more and more greedy and we can see this with the price of tickets, the hidratation breaks that are filled with ads and all sorts of money grabbing tricks. Is it not better to keep messi because of all the fuss that he gives in the world cup and can be translated into more money? But then it stops being about football and starts being more about money and hype and that's sad for the fans of the sport

You people complain about everything. You always look for something to complain about. No matter how good something is, you look for that one stain and complain about it till you make it look so big.

I'm sorry that I complained about a missed clear red card when it was clear there should have been a red card

Maybe give the card and no one will complain? It's as easy as that

So a referee made a controversial decision, how is that new to football? How does that translate to FIFA being greedy? Egypt were denied a penalty against Belgium. These things happen in football all the time. But somehow, you people always make it seem like there is a conspiracy behind everything. I believe Messi should at least get a yellow card for the tackle, but is it the first time a player didn't get a yellow card for a challenge that another player gets a red card?

Of course it was about Messi and Argentina, like the last world cup full of penalties and missed decisions that gave them a lot of advantage. What a surprise

Another complaint I'm tired of is the hydration break. We've had cooling breaks in football since 2020, I think. We had cooling breaks in the UCL final between PSG and Arsenal. We had cooling breaks in the Euros. Even some La Liga games have cooling breaks. The only difference is that instead of showing the players and coaches addressing the players, they show ads, which is not ideal, but you guys are making it a bigger problem than it is.

One break per half and the tv starts to blast a lot of ads, if you don't see why they made this decision you need to understand how capitalism works and how FIFA grew for corruption the last years with the Qatar world cup decision. It's not my fault you think the world is bright and innocent