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

[Jessie2121]

(Source)
Tonight the Scottish national team will face the Moroccan national team in the second round of the World Cup. Scotland has been performing quite well by having defeated Haiti in their last match. Although they were only able to score one goal in that game set up by McGinn, where his goal was the result of a team effort that successfully penetrated the heart of Haiti’s defense. As for Morocco they also looked strong by managing to hold Brazil to a draw with the same score. And this makes me confident that Morocco is a team that cannot be underestimated in the slightest given their draw against a Brazil squad packed with talented players. The available odds indicate that Morocco is the clear favorite over Scotland. But I personally will try my luck by betting double chance bet on Scotland or Draw at odds of around 2. What are your thoughts about this match?

Scotland facing Morocco is like facing Brazil in this World Cup, fine Brazil are not that good to make opposition play in a way that it will be the opponent defending but yet again Brazil can still cause some damage. Now back to the game at hand, Scotland and Morocco might not be the kind of countries to give us the kind of game we expected but I know how the Moroccans played Brazil that the game was a balanced game and if Scotland think they are going to hang on to the ball and do their defending till full 90'mins then Morocco will get an easy win, they are yet to secure their first win so they will come all out to beat Scotland. If you ask me I'd go for Morocco to get a win in this game, Scotland can try matching up their strength but playing Brazil with that crazy energy Scotland can withstand it, a win for Morocco.

[pusaka]

If this issue isn't resolved asap, this might cause them being knocked out from the world cup. Not only Ronaldo that is the problem, his Fans has been causing havoc all around the Internet blaming Bruno Fernandez, Joao Neves and Vitinha for not providing good chances for him. I remembered when Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia, Messi fans didn't throw tantrum like this or start threatening the players, that shows maturity from Messi fans. Watching that Portugal game was surprising, because Ronaldo can't mark nor make good pass or drop deep to build up a chance unlike what Messi usually does in the Argentina team. The best option for Ronaldo is to be coming from.the bench or he can start the game and maybe by the 65th-70th minutes he can be subbed out.

Ronaldo himself his loading that burden onto his shoulders and the problem about it is that he implicitly raises the pressure for his teammates to serve him the ball as there is this public opinion he himself creates and fosters that he should be the saviour as he calls himself the best nonstop. What happens is that players may not take a shot they should have taken themselves and if they mess up like they did against Congo, this can create very undesirable tensions within the Portugal team altogether. I am looking forward to their next game as that will be make ur break. Sure they would still be fine if it is another draw, but it would certainly raise the pressure even more. Too bad they didn't lose against Congo, I love to watch these small nations fight and push those supposedly bigger nations towards the brink of total failure.

I regret the immaturity of the fans when they blamed the players for their failure in the first match. They shouldn't have looked for scapegoats for the draw they got in that match. This is a very natural thing in football, and they should also see how good the defense built by Congo.

As for Ronaldo, they should have seen that he was always heavily guarded and that made his movements difficult. They should also remember that the current Ronaldo is not the young Ronaldo who can do individual actions to create chances.

They can't blame other players because other players will also look at other options to create chances when they get their attackers heavily guarded.

[KTChampions]

(Source)
Tonight the Scottish national team will face the Moroccan national team in the second round of the World Cup. Scotland has been performing quite well by having defeated Haiti in their last match. Although they were only able to score one goal in that game set up by McGinn, where his goal was the result of a team effort that successfully penetrated the heart of Haiti’s defense. As for Morocco they also looked strong by managing to hold Brazil to a draw with the same score. And this makes me confident that Morocco is a team that cannot be underestimated in the slightest given their draw against a Brazil squad packed with talented players. The available odds indicate that Morocco is the clear favorite over Scotland. But I personally will try my luck by betting double chance bet on Scotland or Draw at odds of around 2. What are your thoughts about this match?

When I look at the rosters of these teams, I see that they are essentially two European teams playing (almost all the players are from the top European leagues), but Morocco has a more stellar roster. They have Diaz and Hakimi. Scotland also has a lot of good players, but they're still at a lower level. I think the odds are reasonable and I expect Morocco to win. If I were to bet, I would bet on Morocco Double Chance, but after the game with Brazil, this looks like excessive caution.

[mv1986]

~

I regret the immaturity of the fans when they blamed the players for their failure in the first match. They shouldn't have looked for scapegoats for the draw they got in that match. This is a very natural thing in football, and they should also see how good the defense built by Congo.

As for Ronaldo, they should have seen that he was always heavily guarded and that made his movements difficult. They should also remember that the current Ronaldo is not the young Ronaldo who can do individual actions to create chances.

They can't blame other players because other players will also look at other options to create chances when they get their attackers heavily guarded.

If the players aren't to blame, who is to blame? You are talking nonsense dude... There is a huge difference between the best strikers in the world as of right now and Ronaldo. All the best strikers in the world except for Mbappe are team players. Ronaldo isn't, but Ronaldo is not as good as Mbappe anymore. Mbappe can afford to be waiting in front and then explode and just run over the entire opponent's defense line, Ronaldo can't do that anymore.

Yes Ronaldo was heavily safeguarded, but since when is that known? In my opinion forever. It is more about his attitude in interviews and how he still calls himself the best. Well if you call yourself the best but you are playing like the worst, it is not the best discrepancy to be circulating in public.

[cxtreenal]

There are still some big teams that failed in the first match but because Cristiano's aura is too big it seems that we only focus on Portugal when Spain and Belgium, who are actually one of the candidates for the championship, also draw in the first match.

There's a lot of criticism about the Portuguese team and not about Ronaldo. If you look at social media, all the anger falls on Bruno and Vitinha. They didn't give Ronaldo any space; they'd get into the box and prefer to pass back rather than make a good pass to him. In an interview, Joao said something that Ronaldo's fans didn't like, and he's received over 50,000 negative comments on his account for criticizing him. I think the Portuguese team itself is envious of Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is starting to become a problem for the national team. Probably even his teammates realized. Why? Because now he is obsessed with his own records, he plays to score, that's it. Take a look at Messi: he is the opposite, he plays for the team, he doesn't care whether he scores or not, he is there to help the team. Ronaldo can be useful of course but I wouldn't start the next match with him.

Don't blame Ronaldo too much because a player doesn't perform well in every match. He has been playing in the Saudi Pro League for a long time and is performing well. He is close to an impressive record. He is waiting to complete 1000 goals in his career and he might be able to touch his expected target soon.
I don't want to compare him with Messi because he is older than Messi. Looking at Messi's game it seems that he is still getting younger. He scored a hat-trick in the first match of this World Cup and will perform even better in the upcoming matches.

[sergiorus]

~

I regret the immaturity of the fans when they blamed the players for their failure in the first match. They shouldn't have looked for scapegoats for the draw they got in that match. This is a very natural thing in football, and they should also see how good the defense built by Congo.

As for Ronaldo, they should have seen that he was always heavily guarded and that made his movements difficult. They should also remember that the current Ronaldo is not the young Ronaldo who can do individual actions to create chances.

They can't blame other players because other players will also look at other options to create chances when they get their attackers heavily guarded.

If the players aren't to blame, who is to blame? You are talking nonsense dude... There is a huge difference between the best strikers in the world as of right now and Ronaldo. All the best strikers in the world except for Mbappe are team players. Ronaldo isn't, but Ronaldo is not as good as Mbappe anymore. Mbappe can afford to be waiting in front and then explode and just run over the entire opponent's defense line, Ronaldo can't do that anymore.

Yes Ronaldo was heavily safeguarded, but since when is that known? In my opinion forever. It is more about his attitude in interviews and how he still calls himself the best. Well if you call yourself the best but you are playing like the worst, it is not the best discrepancy to be circulating in public.

Well now that's pure ragebait to say he's "playing like the worst".
Congo showed their spirit against a much stronger team, it happens.
Besides, it's just one game, way too early to judge the performance.
CR7 played pure "number 9" that match, he wasn't supposed to create chances, Bruno and Silva were and they pretty much failed at that.

[$weetne$$]

The last minute back to back goals were really exciting but after scoring the first goal their confidence increased a lot and when Bosnia got a red card they got downgraded even more but I didn't think the goal difference would be so big in the last minute only the goals were scored in a short period of time and I am just amazed by one thing that every team is very unpredictable in this World Cup. The whole concept of the match can change at any moment. Switzerland's attacks were really good I have to admit. But both teams played well enough.

last minute goals in successions is usually a confidence boost for players, they begin to push for some more withing the short time they have left to the end of the game, meanwhile a red card is also a weakness to a team as it does not help them get the best of the game, they will loose focus and may retreat to defense if the player sent out is a key player and that was a the case of Bosnia

[HustleZ]

Last few games have been high scoring ones and i was really shocked and pleasantly surprised to see canada scoring 6 goals. It doesn’t matter who they scored against 6 goals are alot. Qatar isn’t a bad team and 6 goals are even better and harder so great work by canada. What do you think, is this going to be worldcup of Americans as they won too just like it was of african teams to shine last worldcup.

[mv1986]

~

Well now that's pure ragebait to say he's "playing like the worst".
Congo showed their spirit against a much stronger team, it happens.
Besides, it's just one game, way too early to judge the performance.
CR7 played pure "number 9" that match, he wasn't supposed to create chances, Bruno and Silva were and they pretty much failed at that.

No it is not ragebait and I would bet my ass that you have never been a striker in football. If you have, you would have realized what Ronaldo should have been doing in that game. Once you notice as a striker that the team just can't get the ball to you in the standard way, you start changing your movements, you fall back deeper towards the midfield, seek variable positions. I have rarely seen Ronaldo stand in his own way for such a long time and so often during that game. You have to adapt then. Yes Congo was filled with passion and did a great job and yes he had not one man against him, but sometimes three. But this is normal for these superstars. Look at Haaland how he is covered during corners, and yet he makes it and gets the final touch or assists.

Ronaldo wasn't moving, I don't know why he wasn't, but to me that is complacency. Blame the others, who cares, I am the best anyway in the world in the history of football. Whether I adapt to the problems today or not, doesn't matter.

Dude, that is not ragebait. A top player like Ronaldo must notice at some point that he has to change a few details. If he pulls out two Congo players because he lets himself drop further towards the midfield, great, his teammates have more space. He didn't do anything. Could have brought him a chair, would have made no difference on that day and just saying, I am a big fan of that goal machine Ronaldo because he is a rare player who has it all. But that was one of his worst games ever.

[YOSHIE]

Last few games have been high scoring ones and i was really shocked and pleasantly surprised to see canada scoring 6 goals.

I'm starting to doubt what's going on in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, are the teams that qualify for the World Cup really not in a tight competition, different from previous World Cups, usually the teams/countries that qualify for the World Cup are really the best teams out there, scoring a sack of goals for me is a bit different.

As happened in the match between England vs. Croatia (4-2) and so is the match you mentioned, luckily I'm not interested in betting on this group round, I find it a bit strange, I hope my doubts are wrong, but the point is that the 2026 World Cup is a match for the most goals in world cup history.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

Last few games have been high scoring ones and i was really shocked and pleasantly surprised to see canada scoring 6 goals. It doesn’t matter who they scored against 6 goals are alot. Qatar isn’t a bad team and 6 goals are even better and harder so great work by canada. What do you think, is this going to be worldcup of Americans as they won too just like it was of african teams to shine last worldcup.

So far we can't make a comparison because many match results are unpredictable, yeah maybe after the group stage we can make a little comparison. Talking about host factors like America and 2 other countries, of course they get advantages and generally they can go further to the next round, do you remember 2002 when South Korea managed to reach the semi-finals? yeah that's one of the host factors so this time I predict one of the 3 hosts can reach the quarter finals or semi finals.

Today USA will play the 2nd match against Australia and many people favor the USA but I think it won't be easy because Australia is also on fire after beating Türkiye in the first match. For the final result, there is a possibility that both teams will draw but yeah i also agree the USA chances are a little better.

[Emitdama]

It’s true that Ronaldo didn’t seem to contribute much in this match, but there was a reason for that,  he was marked very tightly, with the Congo defenders constantly focusing on him. On top of that, Portugal attack played at a very slow pace, i don’t understand this, they spent more time in the midfield than actually attacking. If you look more closely, Ronaldo barely got the ball, and you could see the look of disappointment on his face when the match ended.

Let’s see what happens in the next match, hopefully, something good will happen for Portugal. I’ve seen many comments on social media blaming Ronaldo for this draw, it’s truly sad to see.

You have a valid point, but now it's time to talk about this more as well because if DR Congo can mark him, then surely Uruguay and Saudi Arabia can do this strategy as well, which will surely help them and increase problems for Portugal, so now it's time to have changes in strategy and bring youngsters to replace him from the start of the game.

Bringing him in later or in the second half will surely help team performance because he will be fresh and have enough energy to stay on a good level for doing good for his team just two more games for having their best and also increase their chances for jumping into the next round.

[Shadiq]

We have seen some very unexpected results from some teams in the first matches of the group stage. Brazil and Morocco in particular have not tasted victory yet. In the second match of the group stage, both teams have a chance to taste victory. Morocco will fight against Scotland and Brazil will fight against Haiti. I don't think it will be difficult for Brazil and Morocco to win. Rather, both teams may win the match by a large margin. Even Turkey and Netherlands have a good chance of winning. Out of the total 5 matches today, 4 are predictable. But it is not possible to say much about the Australia vs USA match. My guess for today's matches is -

USA vs Australia = Australia
Scotland vs Morocco = Morocco
Brazil vs Haiti = Brazil
Turkey vs Paraguay = Turkey
Netherlands vs Sweden = Netherlands

[Out of mind]

After the Brazil team drew the first match, their next plan will definitely be to win. Although many strong teams have drawn in this World Cup and most people bet with confidence, they lost. But today's match between Brazil and Haiti is definitely the most likely for Brazil to win here. But if the Brazil team plays this match like the performance they showed in the first match, then their result will definitely not be very positive. But I think today's match is Brazil's favorite and most gamblers will bet on Brazil in this match. And I think Brazil will definitely play their strategy in today's match and they will be able to beat Haiti by a big margin.

[uneng]

I'm starting to doubt what's going on in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, are the teams that qualify for the World Cup really not in a tight competition, different from previous World Cups, usually the teams/countries that qualify for the World Cup are really the best teams out there, scoring a sack of goals for me is a bit different.

Most of those national teams are quite unskilled. Players miss too many crosses and short passes. Biggest part of the games are a festival of wrong plays and shots which don't even go towards the goal direction.

Moreover, I don't see difference between the teams' tactics and strategies anymore. Every teams are playing more or less the same way, trying the same strategies. There was something unique about each national teams in previous editions of world cup that has been lost. They lost their identity.

[Jegileman]

When I look at the rosters of these teams, I see that they are essentially two European teams playing (almost all the players are from the top European leagues), but Morocco has a more stellar roster. They have Diaz and Hakimi. Scotland also has a lot of good players, but they're still at a lower level. I think the odds are reasonable and I expect Morocco to win. If I were to bet, I would bet on Morocco Double Chance, but after the game with Brazil, this looks like excessive caution.

From the performance of Morocco against Brazil, I don’t think that one will doubt them not to win this match. The odds are even in their favor and has given quite a large range between them both on who stands the better chance for the title. Scotland is not a team I think Morocco will not win against, they will win them even with at least a goal because they’re more dominant and stronger than their opponent in that match.

Don't blame Ronaldo too much because a player doesn't perform well in every match. He has been playing in the Saudi Pro League for a long time and is performing well. He is close to an impressive record. He is waiting to complete 1000 goals in his career and he might be able to touch his expected target soon.
I don't want to compare him with Messi because he is older than Messi. Looking at Messi's game it seems that he is still getting younger. He scored a hat-trick in the first match of this World Cup and will perform even better in the upcoming matches.

Gone are those days when these two players were performing well and we always applaud them for a job well done. Times have past now and I don’t see them playing exceptionally again or expect an exceptional performance from them. When they play and prove themselves in a match, I will always give them their accolades but when they don’t do, I won’t point hands and put blame on any of them, I just know that they’ve both done well in the past and both are good in their own ways. Nevertheless, they’re both old already, if they get to perform exceptionally well, kudos to them but if they don’t, we shouldn’t blame them for it.

[aipercoin]

I didn't expect much from the Switzerland march, but I knew that if Bosnia and Herzegovina is given a real challenge, the football atmosphere could change; that's exactly what played our after Manzambi scored at the 74th minute, and before we knew it, four other goals found their ways into the net. I guess both sides becomes energized with that, as Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted an equaliser badly, but forgot they were playing with a better team, and therefore paid more for it, especially since they couldn't defend well. It became even more tensed and desperate, which sent Muharemovi? off the pitch. Regardless, kudos to Mahmi? who still made sure a goal was possible even with 10- man squad on their side, though Switzerland retaliated almost immediately.

Yet in recent years, Switzerland as a national team has performed well at the European Championships too.
I would say better than Italy which as a nation is much larger and has a longer football history.
This shows how badly we are at national level.

[WatChe]

I'm starting to doubt what's going on in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, are the teams that qualify for the World Cup really not in a tight competition, different from previous World Cups, usually the teams/countries that qualify for the World Cup are really the best teams out there, scoring a sack of goals for me is a bit different.

As happened in the match between England vs. Croatia (4-2) and so is the match you mentioned, luckily I'm not interested in betting on this group round, I find it a bit strange, I hope my doubts are wrong, but the point is that the 2026 World Cup is a match for the most goals in world cup history.

FIFA has increased number of teams from 32 to 48 this year to allow maximum countries to develop interest in football world cup. Teams that are participating for the first time will take lot of experience from this world cup that will help them in preparing for next FIFA world cups or other big tournaments. We have also seen some good footballs from team like Cape Verde, who is playing its first ever world cup but still manage to play a draw against top team i.e. Spain. Even new teams are giving 

[SUPERSAIAN]

Canada responded well to Qatar. Qatar was only focused on defending, and they couldn't even do that. Canada, playing at home, scored goals one after another to make the score 6-0. They started scoring early, then Qatar was reduced to ten men after Ahmed received a red card. After that, it was easier for Canada. Canada achieved a great and enthusiastic victory at home.

[jakdanyel]

There are only 2 hours left for the USA - Australia match. USA are obvious favourites by bookies. But they shouldn't underestimate the defense of their opponent. We all saw how Australia beat Turkey.

Last few games have been high scoring ones and i was really shocked and pleasantly surprised to see canada scoring 6 goals. It doesn’t matter who they scored against 6 goals are alot. Qatar isn’t a bad team and 6 goals are even better and harder so great work by canada. What do you think, is this going to be worldcup of Americans as they won too just like it was of african teams to shine last worldcup.

The Canada - Qatar match was already telling us that we were going to see many goals. Canada scored 2 already before the first red card. And the rest was much easier after 2 red cards...

I'm really sorry for Kone and I hope he gets well soon!