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

[liasbaa]

Portugal is, of course, the heavy favorite against Uzbekistan, and they need to realize that they must win this match no matter what. They need to apply pressure from the first half onward, take the lead with an early goal, and extend their lead. We can’t say they played very well against Colombia, but they still managed to score a goal. I don’t think they’ll be able to score against Portugal, but they’ll still try to put up a fight—at least to secure a draw.

One thing I have come to understand about this World Cup is that favourites are one overrated feeling, I feel it has to do with the form of the time and the tactical presence of the manager of the team and Portugal looks that they lack the coordination that would build there form and don't get me started on there manager. But still Portugal has to win because they have everything to lose in losing this

Portugal's chances of winning the championship will be significantly reduced if they drop points in this match, as they haven't even faced strong opponents yet. They are the strongest team in their group, but they drew their first match, and if they lose points in this one, they will be in trouble. Therefore, I think Portugal will get three points in this match.

Colombia are the strongest team in the group and they will probably win the upcoming match against DR Congo. The pressure is on Portugal after dropping points in the first match. If they do not win against Uzbekistan in the upcoming match, they will not be able to advance to the knockout stage. If they want to reach the next stage, they will have to win today's match. A challenging situation has been created for Cristiano Ronaldo.

[jakdanyel]

Even if Messi were to score another 200 goals at the World Cup, i will always continue to prefer Cristiano Ronaldo who, in my opinion, is the most complete athlete of all. We all know that the World Cup is a very difficult competition and that not everyone manages to win it. Cristiano certainly feels a lot of pressure and that's why he hasn't broken the deadlock for now.

It's your choice, I respect that. But I would never choose Ronaldo over Messi especially after what I have seen from them both recently.  

For example this World Cup. Ronaldo is useless that's a clear fact. He is even harming Portugal now. He has a great career maybe but his era is completely over.

He is a great athlete but only that... His finishing skills are horrible now.

[sergiorus]

Portugal is, of course, the heavy favorite against Uzbekistan, and they need to realize that they must win this match no matter what. They need to apply pressure from the first half onward, take the lead with an early goal, and extend their lead. We can’t say they played very well against Colombia, but they still managed to score a goal. I don’t think they’ll be able to score against Portugal, but they’ll still try to put up a fight—at least to secure a draw.

One thing I have come to understand about this World Cup is that favourites are one overrated feeling, I feel it has to do with the form of the time and the tactical presence of the manager of the team and Portugal looks that they lack the coordination that would build there form and don't get me started on there manager. But still Portugal has to win because they have everything to lose in losing this

Portugal's chances of winning the championship will be significantly reduced if they drop points in this match, as they haven't even faced strong opponents yet. They are the strongest team in their group, but they drew their first match, and if they lose points in this one, they will be in trouble. Therefore, I think Portugal will get three points in this match.

Colombia are the strongest team in the group and they will probably win the upcoming match against DR Congo. The pressure is on Portugal after dropping points in the first match. If they do not win against Uzbekistan in the upcoming match, they will not be able to advance to the knockout stage. If they want to reach the next stage, they will have to win today's match. A challenging situation has been created for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Colombia is absolutely NOT the strongest team of them group. One questionable match doesn't cancel out Portugal's status of one of the strongest teams in the world.
Besides, the first tour has been shaky for many elite teams.
Homework's been done, Portugal will silence everyone tonight.

[Stavri]

yeah and seriously, unless a miracle happens it looks like that Mbappe is on track to beat Messi’s all time world cup goal record, if not in this tournament, then definitely in the next one. it really bums me out.

For that to happen in this tournament depends on how far their both team can go, if Argentina drop from the tournament along the line then France reaches the finals, there's huge possibility that he'll break Messi's record if not it would be next one. But the good for Mbappé is that he'll definitely break in future.

 He's more younger and have  like two or more World Cups to play before retirement whereas Messi might retire before the next one, even though he's still available for the next one he won't be this active in scoring goals, he should be 42 or so ny then if am not mistaken. I see the competition for goals in the tournament is between Messi and Mbappé.

yeah, it looks like if Mbappe wins another world cup and breaks the goal scoring record, he’s going to reignite the goat debates. ok he can be selfish and arrogant at times but he is an absolute beast on the pitch. when he’s in form, he’s simply unstoppable.

[Tipstar]

Colombia are the strongest team in the group and they will probably win the upcoming match against DR Congo. The pressure is on Portugal after dropping points in the first match. If they do not win against Uzbekistan in the upcoming match, they will not be able to advance to the knockout stage. If they want to reach the next stage, they will have to win today's match. A challenging situation has been created for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Colombia is absolutely NOT the strongest team of them group. One questionable match doesn't cancel out Portugal's status of one of the strongest teams in the world.
Besides, the first tour has been shaky for many elite teams.
Homework's been done, Portugal will silence everyone tonight.

What we can say for sure is Portugal and Colombia are relatively stronger teams than Uzbekistan and Congo. Portugal is currently ranked 9 and Colombia 12, very close to each other while Congo is 43 and Uzbekistan 54. It should have been an easier group to predict and the Portugal playing draw with Congo was an unfortunate incident.
I still believe these two teams would easily qualify for the next round.

[WatChe]

It's your choice, I respect that. But I would never choose Ronaldo over Messi especially after what I have seen from them both recently.  

For example this World Cup. Ronaldo is useless that's a clear fact. He is even harming Portugal now. He has a great career maybe but his era is completely over.

He is a great athlete but only that... His finishing skills are horrible now.

The stats of Messi and CR7 are altogether different when it comes to FIFA World Cup. Messi now holds the record of scoring most number of goals by any player in FIFA world cups, as he has scored 18 goals in six world cups he has played. In this world cup, Argentina has scored 5 goals and all these goals are scored by Messi. While CR7 is yet to score a goal in this world cup and he has scored 8 goals in his 23 world cup appearances across 6 world cups.

[Adbitco]

yeah, it looks like if Mbappe wins another world cup and breaks the goal scoring record, he’s going to reignite the goat debates. ok he can be selfish and arrogant at times but he is an absolute beast on the pitch. when he’s in form, he’s simply unstoppable.

I still wonder where and how some you get these kind of thoughts from? I still wonder where this word arrogance is coming from. You just stay and start cooking up certain things in your head. How's Mbappe arrogant, that's what I'm still trying to phantom in my head. You guys think when a player is being himself, you guys mistake it for arrogance. I don't even want to talk about this other one of you saying his selfish. A clinical forward that has 139 assists and counting is selfish to you guys.

[RockBell]

Portugal is, of course, the heavy favorite against Uzbekistan, and they need to realize that they must win this match no matter what. They need to apply pressure from the first half onward, take the lead with an early goal, and extend their lead. We can’t say they played very well against Colombia, but they still managed to score a goal. I don’t think they’ll be able to score against Portugal, but they’ll still try to put up a fight—at least to secure a draw.

I don't like how Portugal are acting really cold in the world cup they are always one of the major competitors because of messi and Ronaldo but now the game is even changing and see the wonders mbappe is doing in the world cup, if Portugal does not win against Uzbekistan it will be very disgracefully and in this game the favourite to win is even Portugal at this point because we are all trying to trust the process that they are going to win and from all this games let's just hope that Portugal will succeed because from what we are looking at they don't have what it takes to win.

[Pumared]

Guys what do you thing about the tie break criteria we are seeing in this world cup which is called like "olimpic" or something like that and is the one which use the head to head games to setled the position of the teams, i find it fair from one side but also unfair and bad for another side, i mean a few teams are already eliminate despite you can go into the next round being in third position just because they already lost against other team, since the goal diference is not relevant they are out.

I think the fairest thing for the teams and the spectators would be a third game for those tied. Imagine how good it would be to see the teams fighting to advance depending on a single game. You might think, "the team that goes to that third game will be more tired for the next phase." That's exactly what's expected; if they didn't want to be tired, they should have given more in the previous games. I think that would bring even more desire to win and avoid having to play a third game.

[Stable090]

Colombia are the strongest team in the group and they will probably win the upcoming match against DR Congo.

Let’s see how DR Congo are going to perform against Colombia in their next match. Let’s see if DR Congo will be able to stop Colombia from getting a win in the match. Seriously DR Congo surprised me in their first match by playing draw against   Portugal, let’s see if they going to surprise us against Colombia also, am really expecting any performance from them in their next match against Colombia.

DR Congo knew they can’t win against Portugal in their first match, that was the reason why they played a defensive game in the match, they completely blocked their defense in the match, and it worked for them because the match ended as draw. Seriously Colombia might just find it difficult to win DR Congo in their next match.

The pressure is on Portugal after dropping points in the first match. If they do not win against Uzbekistan in the upcoming match

Portugal will want to get a win in their next match after playing draw in their first match. They going to do everything possible to get a win in the match, and I don’t even think Uzbekistan will be able to stop Portugal in the match.

[hd49728]

I don't like how Portugal are acting really cold in the world cup they are always one of the major competitors because of messi and Ronaldo but now the game is even changing and see the wonders mbappe is doing in the world cup, if Portugal does not win against Uzbekistan it will be very disgracefully and in this game the favourite to win is even Portugal at this point because we are all trying to trust the process that they are going to win and from all this games let's just hope that Portugal will succeed because from what we are looking at they don't have what it takes to win.

Portugal actually have very good player resource but they did not start this World Cup smoothly. However they still got a draw that is a better result than what Argentina got in World Cup 2022 by losing to Saudi Arabia. Remember that four years ago, Messi received a lot of negative comments and attacks after that match but eventually he lifted a World Cup trophy with Argentina.

Cristiano Ronaldo can do the same with Portugal in this World Cup if they team improve and become stronger in coming matches. I agree that they did not start well but they still have time for improvement and it's very early to exclude Portugal from World Cup 2026 title contender list.

[sergiorus]

Colombia are the strongest team in the group and they will probably win the upcoming match against DR Congo. The pressure is on Portugal after dropping points in the first match. If they do not win against Uzbekistan in the upcoming match, they will not be able to advance to the knockout stage. If they want to reach the next stage, they will have to win today's match. A challenging situation has been created for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Colombia is absolutely NOT the strongest team of them group. One questionable match doesn't cancel out Portugal's status of one of the strongest teams in the world.
Besides, the first tour has been shaky for many elite teams.
Homework's been done, Portugal will silence everyone tonight.

What we can say for sure is Portugal and Colombia are relatively stronger teams than Uzbekistan and Congo. Portugal is currently ranked 9 and Colombia 12, very close to each other while Congo is 43 and Uzbekistan 54. It should have been an easier group to predict and the Portugal playing draw with Congo was an unfortunate incident.
I still believe these two teams would easily qualify for the next round.

The first tour severely messed the ranking up due to unexpected draws and coefficients.

At the start of the World Cup Portugal was #5 and Colombia was #15 (if memory serves). That's some difference.

[Sim_card]

It's your choice, I respect that. But I would never choose Ronaldo over Messi especially after what I have seen from them both recently.  

For example this World Cup. Ronaldo is useless that's a clear fact. He is even harming Portugal now. He has a great career maybe but his era is completely over.

He is a great athlete but only that... His finishing skills are horrible now.

Starting poorly, doesn't mean that you will finish poorly. Humans are just quick to judge Ronaldo without giving it a second thought. Don't worry Portugal is playing today and you will see that Ronaldo will make a great impact in today's game and he will definitely find the back of the net to shame all his critics. I am a big time fan for Ronaldo and wouldn't judge him for his weakness because he's not weak

[Agbam]

A big congratulations to one of the greatest footballers ever in history, another goal another milestone for himself, this is wonderful. It takes only few players to be on this chat, even Cristiano Ronaldo isn't here which means scoring in the world cup is not a child's play. The record held by the German has been broken by Messi and this is just the group stages, before the end of this world cup Messi will be on 20 plus goals at the tournament. Incredible feat, respect to him, afterall his a legend of the beautiful game of football.

Even if Messi were to score another 200 goals at the World Cup, i will always continue to prefer Cristiano Ronaldo who, in my opinion, is the most complete athlete of all. We all know that the World Cup is a very difficult competition and that not everyone manages to win it. Cristiano certainly feels a lot of pressure and that's why he hasn't broken the deadlock for now.

I think you’re entitled to your opinion and your decision to choose who you love or prefer but you can’t say that C. Ronaldo is better than Messi. That is a statement even the blind will not agree with.
Ronaldo has done so much for the game both club and country, he shouldn’t be feeling pressure whatever pressure he’s feeling is by his own doing.
Portugal have a great team, but he’s not as ferocious as he used to be even Messi has declined but it’s because Messi has the ability of a creator and being a better team player that he’s doing well at his age.

[Lucius]

Panama couldn’t prevent a last-minute goal against Ghana in their first match. Croatia, on the other hand, suffered a crushing defeat against England. If Croatia wants to advance from the group stage, they absolutely must win this match. If they fail to win, their hopes of advancing could be dashed. Croatia is the favorite heading into the match, and I think they’ll win. Panama will certainly give them a run for their money, but I see Croatia as the likely winner with a score of 2-0.

Assuming that England will beat Ghana tonight, then Ghana will still have 3 points, and even with a draw against Panama, Croatia would keep their chances of going through the group because they would play against Ghana in the last round and they would need a win. I don't know what to expect from Croatia after the debacle against England, because if your best player is a goalkeeper, your defense is obviously full of holes, and the midfield seems nonexistent.

Some consider Panama weak, but it is ranked 34th in the FIFA rankings, which is not bad at all.

[snipie]

Starting poorly, doesn't mean that you will finish poorly. Humans are just quick to judge Ronaldo without giving it a second thought. Don't worry Portugal is playing today and you will see that Ronaldo will make a great impact in today's game and he will definitely find the back of the net to shame all his critics. I am a big time fan for Ronaldo and wouldn't judge him for his weakness because he's not weak

Other games aside, this time Portugal has to prove themselves, same goes for Cristiano Ronaldo. I am talking about a victory by 3 goals difference at least and yeah Cristiano Ronaldo should score at least one.
Uzbekistan is a weak team. They took 3-1 from Colombia and today it will be hard for them too.

[Koal-84]

I was already aware that, as Austrians, our chances were rather slim, but I would have been very happy to see my home country qualify for the 1/16 final.

In the end, Messi once again made the difference. I never really expected us to win, but my desired result would have been a draw. Now we are left with the following scenarios (Argentina is already confirmed as group winner):

- A win against Algeria: Austria qualifies directly as the second of the group.
- A draw against Algeria: Austria still finishes second in the group due to a better goal difference.
- A loss against Algeria: In that case, we are third, but would have to hope that we are among the eight best third placed teams out of all twelve groups.

 

[Unsoldier]

It's your choice, I respect that. But I would never choose Ronaldo over Messi especially after what I have seen from them both recently.  

For example this World Cup. Ronaldo is useless that's a clear fact. He is even harming Portugal now. He has a great career maybe but his era is completely over.

He is a great athlete but only that... His finishing skills are horrible now.

Starting poorly, doesn't mean that you will finish poorly. Humans are just quick to judge Ronaldo without giving it a second thought. Don't worry Portugal is playing today and you will see that Ronaldo will make a great impact in today's game and he will definitely find the back of the net to shame all his critics. I am a big time fan for Ronaldo and wouldn't judge him for his weakness because he's not weak

To say that Portugal surprised everyone in the first round would be an understatement; I was fully expecting them to win. I hope that in their second game against Uzbekistan, they will play with more confidence and secure a victory by at least a two-goal margin. Cristiano Ronaldo needs to score to restore the fans' faith in the team, or at the very least, provide an assist. I hope Ronaldo does at least one of those things today.

[katanic97]

Plants sprout where they are watered, in the same way, you would show a lot of good performance and improvement where you are supported and encouraged.
Ronaldo doesn’t have that with his Portugal team. A lot of them see him to be some player that ought to have retired. Given the kind of person he is, being someone that works hard for his individual glory and may not see much to have being done from team effort, the team don’t wish to include him much no more. They just want him out and playing in such team means, you wouldn’t do so well.

I believe he still can. I agree with what you said about him not having the right teammates around him and not getting enough support, but tell me, who is supposed to lead the attack instead? Ramos? He barely even plays in Paris. Felix, who is younger than Ronaldo, can't perform, and especially not Rafa Leao.Who else is there to play up front? Ronaldo is still the best option they have.

[babo]

To say that Portugal surprised everyone in the first round would be an understatement; I was fully expecting them to win. I hope that in their second game against Uzbekistan, they will play with more confidence and secure a victory by at least a two-goal margin. Cristiano Ronaldo needs to score to restore the fans' faith in the team, or at the very least, provide an assist. I hope Ronaldo does at least one of those things today.

A single player cannot do the work of an entire team, this is such an obvious law that it's almost scary.
It is no coincidence that football, volleyball, basketball and many others are team games where a synergy of actions wins, where a chorus wins and not the soloist
Of course, a soloist can make the difference, but only if he has a team behind him that supports him... obviously