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

[Mame89]

Turkey have been like a joke in this World Cup... Please don't assess both matches they played only by looking at the statistics. One who watched both would understand what I mean.

First they weren't prepared for a defense parking the bus. After that they couldn't even score against a much weaker team with 10 players. You have a much stronger squad than Australia and Paraguay but play like this. It's a disgrace! 

Of course, what's happening to Turkey right now is extremely embarrassing, even though they have a decent squad. Two losses in two matches without a single goal proves that Turkey lacks reliable strikers.

Turkey is now officially eliminated from the World Cup with a truly dismal attacking record. In the two matches they've played, they attempted a total of 62 shots, but none of them resulted in goals. Against Australia they attempted 30 shots, resulting in zero goals and against Paraguay, they managed 32 shots, five on target and zero goals. That's why in a match, playing beautifully or dominating isn't so important scoring goals is what makes them win.

What's happening to Turkey is incredibly disappointing. Despite boasting big names like Guler, Yildiz, Baris Alper Yilmaz and of course captain Hakan Calhanoglu they're all utterly frustrated. Their game was indeed very dominant, but their finishing was really disappointing.

[ibuddy122505]

Turkey have been like a joke in this World Cup... Please don't assess both matches they played only by looking at the statistics. One who watched both would understand what I mean.

First they weren't prepared for a defense parking the bus. After that they couldn't even score against a much weaker team with 10 players. You have a much stronger squad than Australia and Paraguay but play like this. It's a disgrace! 

With all that squad quality, they couldn't beat Paraguay?! Then the manager in charge should be sacked already after the third round. It should be a huge slap to tue players and also the management. The football federation of Turkish national team has got to do something immediately.

They couldn't even beat a team of 10 players, which is pretty embarrassing. They had plenty of chances to score, but their positioning was poor and inconsistent. They got exactly what they deserved elimination and only have themselves to blame. Looking up their lack of scoring ability, it's confusing how they even made it to the World Cup in the first place.

[IceLincoln]

Turkey have been like a joke in this World Cup... Please don't assess both matches they played only by looking at the statistics. One who watched both would understand what I mean.

First they weren't prepared for a defense parking the bus. After that they couldn't even score against a much weaker team with 10 players. You have a much stronger squad than Australia and Paraguay but play like this. It's a disgrace! 

Türkiye have really surprised me in this tournament, it’s like they are not prepared for this competition cos I can’t understand how they’ll be playing this bad with all the players at their disposal. Is their issue poor management or players playing below par I can’t just pick one. They have the team but they’re not delivering even with a 10 man Paraguay and without their Talisman Miguel Almiron.

[Adbitco]

They couldn't even beat a team of 10 players, which is pretty embarrassing. They had plenty of chances to score, but their positioning was poor and inconsistent. They got exactly what they deserved elimination and only have themselves to blame. Looking up their lack of scoring ability, it's confusing how they even made it to the World Cup in the first place.

If someone had told me before the start of the world cup that Turkey will play 2 games and still have zero point and goal, I would have doubted that with everything in me. Because the group they fall under isn't even spectacular, USA, Paraguay and Australia. Turkey is supposed to be the top in this very group but for some unknown reasons they are bottom of the group with zero points. Although, USA has qualified for the next stage and might reserve some players while facing Turkey and just maybe Turkey could have their first win and points in the competition. It's just shameful that after so much expectations they are were they currently are after 2 matches.

[Pandu Geddon]

Türkiye have really surprised me in this tournament, it’s like they are not prepared for this competition cos I can’t understand how they’ll be playing this bad with all the players at their disposal. Is their issue poor management or players playing below par I can’t just pick one. They have the team but they’re not delivering even with a 10 man Paraguay and without their Talisman Miguel Almiron.

Turkey's performance really wasn't what was expected. The first mistake was conceding in the early minutes. And the other mistakes were seen in the many chances they had, but they couldn't convert them into goals. Two losses put Turkey in a tough spot. They couldn't do much.

[Princess Leah]

With all that squad quality, they couldn't beat Paraguay?! Then the manager in charge should be sacked already after the third round. It should be a huge slap to tue players and also the management. The football federation of Turkish national team has got to do something immediately.

They couldn't even beat a team of 10 players, which is pretty embarrassing. They had plenty of chances to score, but their positioning was poor and inconsistent. They got exactly what they deserved elimination and only have themselves to blame. Looking up their lack of scoring ability, it's confusing how they even made it to the World Cup in the first place.

I don't understand why they're unserious, their group is not a very tough one yet they're having challenges in scoring or winning any game, well they should go back and focus on going back to their club team cause the level of unseriousness is embarrassing and suprising at the same time.

 Some of the countries i expected much from are the ones that have disappointed me in the tournament, if Turkiye went with unfamiliar players we barely know about their performance it would've been understandable but that team have good players that should've take them to the knock out stage or quater finals, so disappointing that they failed to represent their country well.
 

[ene1980]

~
Turkey is now officially eliminated from the World Cup with a truly dismal attacking record. In the two matches they've played, they attempted a total of 62 shots, but none of them resulted in goals. Against Australia they attempted 30 shots, resulting in zero goals and against Paraguay, they managed 32 shots, five on target and zero goals. That's why in a match, playing beautifully or dominating isn't so important scoring goals is what makes them win.

Turkey has plenty of time now to figure out their failure to score goals despite having the ball for the majority of the time. It is amazing to see so many shots on goal but unable to score a single goal.  

What's happening to Turkey is incredibly disappointing. Despite boasting big names like Guler, Yildiz, Baris Alper Yilmaz and of course captain Hakan Calhanoglu they're all utterly frustrated. Their game was indeed very dominant, but their finishing was really disappointing.

You should not forget the extraordinary saves from the Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill, who denied many attempts from Turkey. The shift from Paraguay after the red card to a new defensive game was also interesting and Turkey had no answer even though they had all the possession.

Possession alone does not mean anything. Llook at Spain for example in this World Cup, they had all the possession but could not score a goal.

[BlackBoss_]

If someone had told me before the start of the world cup that Turkey will play 2 games and still have zero point and goal, I would have doubted that with everything in me. Because the group they fall under isn't even spectacular, USA, Paraguay and Australia. Turkey is supposed to be the top in this very group but for some unknown reasons they are bottom of the group with zero points. Although, USA has qualified for the next stage and might reserve some players while facing Turkey and just maybe Turkey could have their first win and points in the competition. It's just shameful that after so much expectations they are were they currently are after 2 matches.

They are in a not too hard group and lost all two first matches but the disappointment is from their performances, 0 goal scored so far. They can lose matches, even both matches but losing in their way by did not score any goal is very terrible. Especially both Australia and Paraguay are not too strong teams, and this amplifies the failure of Turkey in this World Cup.

It seems their young star players like Güler and Yildiz are not ready to lead the national team to success. They are talented and have good potential but perhaps needs some more seasons to grow up, so hopefully the Euro 2026 will be another show for them, but better next two years.

[Accardo]

When i concurred with 7juju when he said among the host nations of the 2026 world cup he see the USA going far in this tournament some persons said it is because the USA won their first match that is the reason i am saying the USA will go far in this tournament. I am happy with the performance of the USA and their 2:0 win against Australia because the USA just proved they can go far in the tournament. The USA is already to the round of 32, and they just need to win their match in that round to go far in this tournament and prove me right.

The USA team consists of good but unpopular players, Folarin Balogun is an attacker easily spotted by football lovers, he made significant impact in yesterday's game against Australia, his speed outpaced that of Cameron Burgess, and Jordan Bos combined, the Australian left flank was all his, like his father's compound, this space he utilized too often until the first own game was actualized by Burgess. America's men football team is in a bright shape, strong approach, and tactical markings, but they won't go too far, as projected, the round of 16 or the quarterfinals should be their end point.

[Amphenomenon]

Turkey have been like a joke in this World Cup... Please don't assess both matches they played only by looking at the statistics. One who watched both would understand what I mean.

First they weren't prepared for a defense parking the bus. After that they couldn't even score against a much weaker team with 10 players. You have a much stronger squad than Australia and Paraguay but play like this. It's a disgrace! 

Türkiye have really surprised me in this tournament, it’s like they are not prepared for this competition cos I can’t understand how they’ll be playing this bad with all the players at their disposal. Is their issue poor management or players playing below par I can’t just pick one. They have the team but they’re not delivering even with a 10 man Paraguay and without their Talisman Miguel Almiron.

Turkey has been one of the unfortunate teams in the World Cup because why will they dominate both games they have played and still end up losing. The lost against Paraguay is quite ironic since they conceded the fastest goal in the tournament and saw their opponent getting a player sent off towards the ending of the first half yet end up losing another game.

[Agbam]

Turkey have been like a joke in this World Cup... Please don't assess both matches they played only by looking at the statistics. One who watched both would understand what I mean.

First they weren't prepared for a defense parking the bus. After that they couldn't even score against a much weaker team with 10 players. You have a much stronger squad than Australia and Paraguay but play like this. It's a disgrace! 

Türkiye have really surprised me in this tournament, it’s like they are not prepared for this competition cos I can’t understand how they’ll be playing this bad with all the players at their disposal. Is their issue poor management or players playing below par I can’t just pick one. They have the team but they’re not delivering even with a 10 man Paraguay and without their Talisman Miguel Almiron.

Turkey has been one of the unfortunate teams in the World Cup because why will they dominate both games they have played and still end up losing. The lost against Paraguay is quite ironic since they conceded the fastest goal in the tournament and saw their opponent getting a player sent off towards the ending of the first half yet end up losing another game.

Yes they’re very unfortunate and a famous quote from Jose Mourinho which says “Play the rubbish and win the game” that’s all that matters. At the end of the day people wouldn’t remember how well you played but how many goals you scored, if you won or not. Just do whatever it takes to get you the win.

This is what happens at the World Cup each season, some teams underperform and some get to shock us in a good way, look at Canada gaining four points already and decimating Qatar.

Let’s just prepare to be entertained by the Netherlands vs Sweden.

[virasog]

Turkey has been one of the unfortunate teams in the World Cup because why will they dominate both games they have played and still end up losing. The lost against Paraguay is quite ironic since they conceded the fastest goal in the tournament and saw their opponent getting a player sent off towards the ending of the first half yet end up losing another game.

I would call Turkey unlucky in this match. Having 78% of the possession in the match and with 33 shots and 6 shots on goal and they could score a single goal. On the other hand, we see that Paraguay had just 22% of the ball possession with only six shots, and yet they managed to win this game.

Some people are arguing that having possession doesn't mean anything, I understand, but still 78% possession is way too high, and you need to convert this possession into goal-scoring opportunities.

[bangjoe]

It looks like Turkey will be very difficult to qualify from this group qualifying round, considering their opponents are really very strong, neither Australia nor Paraguay they can beat, while so far America is very strong in group D, although the day played very well against Paraguay but still Turkey could not score a single goal, it seems that the front line in this Turkish squad is very weak in terms of scoring which makes it very difficult to be productive, previously also against Australia they could not score a single goal and lost 2-0.

[yixichloro2xx]

It looks like Turkey will be very difficult to qualify from this group qualifying round, considering their opponents are really very strong, neither Australia nor Paraguay they can beat, while so far America is very strong in group D, although the day played very well against Paraguay but still Turkey could not score a single goal, it seems that the front line in this Turkish squad is very weak in terms of scoring which makes it very difficult to be productive, previously also against Australia they could not score a single goal and lost 2-0.

They can't qualify because they down to 3 goals difference which means they will need to beat the United States by 3-4 goals which is impossible base on USMNT current form. Moreover Head-to-head wouldn't favor them as they've lost to the 2 teams that they can compete with points with. It will be disgraceful to the Turkey national team if they can't even get a point in this world cup. With that squad I expected to top their group,  maybe the United will now occupy the 2nd position. I was shocked to see them losing to Paraguay who USMNT demolished in the First round. The only thing they should be thinking about now how pack their bags and head back to their country. There's no hope for them again because the USMNT will also beat them.

[SFR10]

Some interesting games on tonight, I am particularly interested in watching Netherlands vs Sweden and Germany vs Ivory Coast.

Same here ^{[especially for the first one]}... Despite the Netherlands having a higher win probability, I think it's going to be another open/end-to-end game, so I expect either a similar outcome to their previous game against Japan ^{[a draw (over 2.5)]} or a loss ^{[I don't think van Dijk can replicate his performance in the opening game, against in-form Swedish attackers]}.

[sergiorus]

Turkey has been one of the unfortunate teams in the World Cup because why will they dominate both games they have played and still end up losing. The lost against Paraguay is quite ironic since they conceded the fastest goal in the tournament and saw their opponent getting a player sent off towards the ending of the first half yet end up losing another game.

I would call Turkey unlucky in this match. Having 78% of the possession in the match and with 33 shots and 6 shots on goal and they could score a single goal. On the other hand, we see that Paraguay had just 22% of the ball possession with only six shots, and yet they managed to win this game.

Some people are arguing that having possession doesn't mean anything, I understand, but still 78% possession is way too high, and you need to convert this possession into goal-scoring opportunities.

There's quite a bit of bad luck for most teams from the European region in this WC.

Which is ironic because Euro zone is by far the hardest to qualify from, even teams like Italy couldn't do it.
Yet here we are, European teams get dismantled by high spirited underdogs.

I always thought if Turkey decided to qualify from Asia, they would never miss a WC but as we see qualifying is only a small part of success.

[Finebone]

Some interesting games on tonight, I am particularly interested in watching Netherlands vs Sweden and Germany vs Ivory Coast.

Same here ^{[especially for the first one]}... Despite the Netherlands having a higher win probability, I think it's going to be another open/end-to-end game, so I expect either a similar outcome to their previous game against Japan ^{[a draw (over 2.5)]} or a loss ^{[I don't think van Dijk can replicate his performance in the opening game, against in-form Swedish attackers]}.

The Netherlands vs Sweden game seems like a high scoring and an exciting game because both teams knows how to find the back of the net very well, but I believe that the Netherlands are stronger, and they might carry the day by a slight margin, since they are not Tunisia that was thrashed, which resulted in the sacking of their coach.
By looking at their last five meetings, it shows that the Netherlands have the upper hands, because they won three, drew once and Sweden won once, but regardless of that, it's going to be an interesting game of football between these two teams.
As for the Germany vs Ivory Coast game, it's also going to be fascinating but Germany are the clear favourite in that game.

[Loyang]

Türkiye have really surprised me in this tournament, it’s like they are not prepared for this competition cos I can’t understand how they’ll be playing this bad with all the players at their disposal. Is their issue poor management or players playing below par I can’t just pick one. They have the team but they’re not delivering even with a 10 man Paraguay and without their Talisman Miguel Almiron.

Turkey's performance really wasn't what was expected. The first mistake was conceding in the early minutes. And the other mistakes were seen in the many chances they had, but they couldn't convert them into goals. Two losses put Turkey in a tough spot. They couldn't do much.

I am very surprised to see Turkey's performance like this and I still can't fully understand whether I blame it on Turkey's luck or them. Because Turkey has good players and they are very good at attacking. But between these two matches we have seen such a deterioration in their game that no one could have imagined. Although everyone thought that Turkey's defense was very weak, no one thought that Turkey's attack would be so weak in the middle.

[Sunshine1525]

Turkey has been one of the unfortunate teams in the World Cup because why will they dominate both games they have played and still end up losing. The lost against Paraguay is quite ironic since they conceded the fastest goal in the tournament and saw their opponent getting a player sent off towards the ending of the first half yet end up losing another game.

I would call Turkey unlucky in this match. Having 78% of the possession in the match and with 33 shots and 6 shots on goal and they could score a single goal. On the other hand, we see that Paraguay had just 22% of the ball possession with only six shots, and yet they managed to win this game.

Some people are arguing that having possession doesn't mean anything, I understand, but still 78% possession is way too high, and you need to convert this possession into goal-scoring opportunities.

There's quite a bit of bad luck for most teams from the European region in this WC.

Which is ironic because Euro zone is by far the hardest to qualify from, even teams like Italy couldn't do it.
Yet here we are, European teams get dismantled by high spirited underdogs.

I always thought if Turkey decided to qualify from Asia, they would never miss a WC but as we see qualifying is only a small part of success.

The ill luck is very obvious for some European teams take a look at Spain, Netherlands and Portugal also. They might be better than Turkey currently and could advance to the next stage but their performance is not impressive, not what many spectators wanted to see them do, the teams that suprise me most are Spain and Portugal.

Turkey did well to qualify but many fans from their country who came to support them would be wishing they never did cause the humiliation is too much, if they came with the energy of the Euros competition they would've done better than this, I feel there's something happening within the players that we're yet to figure out.

[X-ray]

Agreed. Scotland is absolutely rubbish in this game. The way they play don't even show they have a spirit to win. Even if they played defensively, they shoud have done it better. I know Morrocco was a better side, but scotland seems put no effort here. Things also get worsen with how bias the refree in this game. If Scotland can't equalize this, they don't have chance against Brazil. There are still some minutes remaining. They have to go all in to secure one point at very least.

I also hugely criticized how Tominay sounds try to be another ronaldo by trying to do by himself too much. He just need to pass to his teammate and let them score it for you.

Imagine how useless they made McTominay look in that encounter, nothing productive came out of the game and they really don't need to be among the teams that would advance into the next round.

If Scotland pushed Tominay to play a bit further upfront. I believe he would able to explore more to get a chance to score or at very least he could also hunting a pen for his club. However, it's very scotland was unable to utilize his performance. So he looked so damn regressed in this game. 

It's my only wish for scotland in the upcoming game to get give more freedome for tominay to create chance.

I rate him the only one who can become the backbone of his club. The rest of scotland players such as McGinn and Tierany didn't meet the standard because how slow they were when carrying the ball for their teammates.

Scotland is basically mctominay FC. Once they fails to utilize Tominay brilliance, they play like a low ranked football nation.