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

[BlackBoss_]

Basically, even though I understand that this might have been the coach’s strategy to keep his players in shape or avoid the risk of injury, especially after Norway’s two previous wins, this match was still quite disappointing. I feel they didn’t play to their full potential against France, the absence of Haaland and several key players significantly affected the team’s performance. Even if they were ultimately going to lose, i had hoped for a fierce fight throughout the match, but that wasn’t the case, France won easily.

Norway are simply at a lower level than France and Dembele made a hat-trick to show his world-class level and why he won Ballon d'Or last season as well as still have very good chance of defend it again in this season. Now he has four goals in World Cup 2026, that is the same with Mbappe, Haaland and Vinicius Junior.

If France go far or win World Cup 2026 title, Dembele will have very good opportunity to win a second Ballon d'Or because his role in French national team is important enough from team tactics, operations and goals, assists he is able to contribute. With advantage from UEFA Champions League title, Dembele actually has better chance than Mbappe to win Ballon d'Or.

Group H is proving to be incredibly tough and tightly contested, with the standings remaining undecided right up to the final match. Every nation still has a chance to advance to the next round, a situation that naturally leaves fans anxious about their team's fate. Can Cabo Verde pull off a surprise in their final match? Their opponent is Saudi Arabia, a team whose current footballing strength should not be underestimated. In their last match, Cabo Verde played with considerable boldness and confidence using a 4-1-2-3 formation hopefully, they do not let their guard down defensively. If Cabo Verde advances to the next stage, it will certainly make history for the nation.

Cape Verde go next with their win against Saudi Arabia while Uruguay lost to Spain and with this defeat, after three matches they have only 2 points which means they have to finish World Cup 2026 now. It's a very disappointed match for Uruguay and in general World Cup 2026 is a terrible tournament for them. Before this match, I read information that Uruguay in about last 10 years did not win any match in World Cup without Luiz Suarez and today, it continues with a defeat for their national team.

[Sithara007]

Cape Verde go next with their win against Saudi Arabia while Uruguay lost to Spain and with this defeat, after three matches they have only 2 points which means they have to finish World Cup 2026 now. It's a very disappointed match for Uruguay and in general World Cup 2026 is a terrible tournament for them. Before this match, I read information that Uruguay in about last 10 years did not win any match in World Cup without Luiz Suarez and today, it continues with a defeat for their national team.

Cape Verde finish at no.2 in their group and qualified for the knockout phase despite having just 3 points. While teams such as Paraguay and Bosnia and Herzegovina ended up at third place, even with 4 points. That doesn't matter as such, since any team with 4 points automatically qualifies for the knockout phase. The uncertainty is for teams who have 3 points and are at the third place (such as Algeria and South Korea). BTW, in a couple of minutes New Zealand vs Belgium match will start. Stake has New Zealand at 14.00, and draw at 8.20. I have placed bets for draw as well as New Zealand win.

[goodpunt]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

[alankasman]

Norway are simply at a lower level than France and Dembele made a hat-trick to show his world-class level and why he won Ballon d'Or last season as well as still have very good chance of defend it again in this season. Now he has four goals in World Cup 2026, that is the same with Mbappe, Haaland and Vinicius Junior.

If France go far or win World Cup 2026 title, Dembele will have very good opportunity to win a second Ballon d'Or because his role in French national team is important enough from team tactics, operations and goals, assists he is able to contribute. With advantage from UEFA Champions League title, Dembele actually has better chance than Mbappe to win Ballon d'Or.

True, because France's current level is their best so I also think Norway isn't a worthy opponent for France even though Norway has a player of Haaland's caliber. However playing football can't be expected from a player even if he's a good player in the team he plays for contributing to his club. However on the national team it's certainly different because the combination is sometimes difficult to find. Especially in that match Dembele scored a hat trick making him a strong contender for the Ballon d'Or this season. His goal in that match puts him in contention with other strikers for the top scorer spot at this World Cup.

Cape Verde go next with their win against Saudi Arabia while Uruguay lost to Spain and with this defeat, after three matches they have only 2 points which means they have to finish World Cup 2026 now. It's a very disappointed match for Uruguay and in general World Cup 2026 is a terrible tournament for them. Before this match, I read information that Uruguay in about last 10 years did not win any match in World Cup without Luiz Suarez and today, it continues with a defeat for their national team.

Cape Verde's performance in this World Cup is extraordinary. They qualified for the next round for the first time. Furthermore this was their first time appearing in a World Cup and they immediately pulled off a surprise. It was unbelievable that they were better and more consistent in every match. They also had to make a big team like Uruguay go home early meaning they wouldn't qualify for the next round.

I think the result was very disappointing for the Uruguayan public because they realized that all parties who saw their group were more confident in them with Spain being able to qualify for the next round but this time they were immediately overcome by Cape Verde which they did not want to be underestimated so they fought with the ability or quality they had which in the end they managed to answer the doubts made by those who did not favor their team that appeared in the world cup this time.

[$crypto$]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

Spain's game was very boring, Lamine Yamal who is usually on fire didn't seem to dribble much, I don't know if Spain wanted a more comfortable game after knowing they had qualified?

Muslera made a few mistakes that led to a substitution, it looked like the coach was fed up with the mistake and they were still eliminated.

Uruguay's game was also far from good, their passing was not very accurate, I think they deserved not to qualify because the game we saw was not very offensive.

[Sithara007]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

LOL.. as per most of the sportsbooks, Spain are the favorites to win the trophy this time. BTW, Egypt and Belgium may qualify from Group G, but it is not yet clear in which order. At the moment, the match between Iran and Egypt is tied at 1-1. Even then, Egypt is ahead of Belgium in goal difference. Runner-up from Group G will face Australia in the round of 32. Unfortunately for New Zealand, this is the end of the tournament. They will go home with 1 point from 3 matches. Anyway, it's just half-time. Approximately 50 more minutes of play remains and the standings can change dramatically.

[Charcol]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

Muslera made a few mistakes that led to a substitution, it looked like the coach was fed up with the mistake and they were still eliminated.

I saw that the shot that Alex Baena took was not very difficult. If Muslera had caught the ball properly then the goal might not have happened. The ball slipped from his hand and went into the net.That is why he was substituted at half-time. Because of this mistake by Muslera,Spain now goes from the top of Group H with 7 points to the last 32. On the other hand, Uruguay is in a miserable situation, they are eliminated with only 2 points.

However, the reason for Uruguay's elimination cannot be given entirely to Muslera. Because Uruguay's entire group stage was weak. After drawing their previous matches with Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde, they had no choice but to win against Spain. But their game was so bad that even in the last match, their attack was not good enough.

[Barcode_]

It seems that the golden generation of Uruguay has passed with their poor performance in this World Cup. With Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani passing their prime age and being left out from the Uruguay national squad, I felt Uruguay just lack the ability to score goals and their current strikers were also unable to create immerse pressure towards their opponents defenders. Darwin Nunez who was once rated as a top talent striker which resulted in Liverpool paying a record transfer fees for him before letting him joining Al Hilal football club does not seems to be able to replicate the impact that Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani left behind.

[tiCeR]

It seems that the golden generation of Uruguay has passed with their poor performance in this World Cup. With Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani passing their prime age and being left out from the Uruguay national squad, I felt Uruguay just lack the ability to score goals and their current strikers were also unable to create immerse pressure towards their opponents defenders. Darwin Nunez who was once rated as a top talent striker which resulted in Liverpool paying a record transfer fees for him before letting him joining Al Hilal football club does not seems to be able to replicate the impact that Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani left behind.

The good old times for Uruguay when Diego Forlán was still playing. Still though if you go player by player, Uruguay always had a couple of top players in their squad, but they didn't have a complete top team in quite a while I think. Yes Cavani and Suarez have been great players, but that is not enough to play a successful World Cup.

In 2018 in Russia they were still able to make it to the quarterfinals, but other than that they couldn't get much done in the past. However they finished third at the last Copa America in 2024. That is not too bad given that they have several great teams there.

Now that I am going through their squad, they really lack a bunch of good players. Some of them are not that bad, but is way to thin of a squad to get something going at a World Cup, but they are out now anyway. If they can't beat Cape Verde or Saudi Arabia, I think they wouldn't have had a chance for a good overall result anyway. You can tie a match against one of those two teams, but failing at winning a single group match is quite telling I think.

[goodpunt]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

LOL.. as per most of the sportsbooks, Spain are the favorites to win the trophy this time.

LOL indeed - the absolute outright favorite is France.
Which sportsbooks are you even checking that have them as outright favorites after their recent showings against low blocks!?
Spain's odds are currently drifting and are considered only 3rd fav by the majority of books.

[Razmirraz]

Snip.

Cape Verde go next with their win against Saudi Arabia while Uruguay lost to Spain and with this defeat, after three matches they have only 2 points which means they have to finish World Cup 2026 now. It's a very disappointed match for Uruguay and in general World Cup 2026 is a terrible tournament for them. Before this match, I read information that Uruguay in about last 10 years did not win any match in World Cup without Luiz Suarez and today, it continues with a defeat for their national team.

A slight correction, Cape Verde has never won in the group stage, in three matches, they always got a draw. They qualified for the knockout stage as runners-up with three points from three draws, this success was achieved thanks to Spain who managed to beat Uruguay. In the next phase, Cape Verde will meet the defending champion Argentina, I think Cape Verde surprise will stop in the round of 32 because they are not a worthy opponent for them. I was very surprised by the surprise from Cape Verde because previously many people predicted that Spain and Uruguay would qualify for the next round, but in reality, Spain and Cape Verde did.

[laijsica]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

Spain players scored only one goal despite having so many chances to score, which was hard-earned. Of course Spain needed to win at this point. You criticized Uruguay's goalkeeper but I think he defended well and saved many goals. Finally Spain won and secured their place in the knockout stage.

Spain did not perform impressively in the match but I think they are one of the favourites for the World Cup. I am not giving up on them after one match because even though they finished the group stage well, their opponents in the knockout stage have not been decided yet. However, I think Spain will perform impressively in the next round.

[Swordsoffreedom]

It seems that the golden generation of Uruguay has passed with their poor performance in this World Cup. With Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani passing their prime age and being left out from the Uruguay national squad, I felt Uruguay just lack the ability to score goals and their current strikers were also unable to create immerse pressure towards their opponents defenders. Darwin Nunez who was once rated as a top talent striker which resulted in Liverpool paying a record transfer fees for him before letting him joining Al Hilal football club does not seems to be able to replicate the impact that Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani left behind.

We have seen Uruguay's worst performance in the past few world cups. They played very badly. Honestly, this was not expected at all from a renowned team like uruguay.

There is no way to say that the uruguay team is very weak. They have talented players like Valverde, Nunez and Araujo in their attack. But even  then, their attack and defense were both weak. They failed to win against teams like Cabo Verde and Saudi Arabia. And they lost  1-0 against Spain. If Spain had given their full effort , the goal difference might have increased in this match.

[DanWalker]

The Norway coach I think went with a weaker team because he wants to rest his key players in preparation for the the knockout stages of the tournament. I thought Norway will line up their strong squad as to go all out against a strong opponent like France. Norway have already qualified to play in the next round so tonight's result will have little effect on them
With the starting XI we've seen, it's safe to say that France are definitely going to win this particular one.

Everyone was interested in this match to see the performance of Haaland and Mbappe. But the Norway manager did not want to take any risks. He did not try much to win the match. Norway played against giant teams like France with their B team. If they had won this match, Norway would have faced Sweden in the knockout round. Now they will play against Ivory coast in the round of  32. Norway has got a relatively easy opponent. This is definitely profitable for them. Norway will probably also be able to  qualify for the round of 16.

[Out of mind]

Well Spain won their match but got lucky because the goalkeeper of Uruguay is Muslera who is out of form since forever!
Are there no better goalkeeper options in Uruguay's squad!?...not that it matters now since they are now out of the World Cup.
Spain currently doesn't look like contenders to me!

LOL.. as per most of the sportsbooks, Spain are the favorites to win the trophy this time.

LOL indeed - the absolute outright favorite is France.
Which sportsbooks are you even checking that have them as outright favorites after their recent showings against low blocks!?
Spain's odds are currently drifting and are considered only 3rd fav by the majority of books.

France is the favorite to win this World Cup, as we have seen the stars that their team has, so we can confirm that France is the favorite team for the World Cup. Recently, France has been placed as a favorite everywhere as a stronger team than other teams, sportsbooks indicate that France is a favorite team in this World Cup. Spain's betting odds are currently lower than France and their performance does not seem so strong, so they are in third position. However, I think that France is the favorite to win this World Cup, Spain can come next if they can consistently push their strong team forward in performance.

[|MINER|]

A slight correction, Cape Verde has never won in the group stage, in three matches, they always got a draw. They qualified for the knockout stage as runners-up with three points from three draws, this success was achieved thanks to Spain who managed to beat Uruguay. In the next phase, Cape Verde will meet the defending champion Argentina, I think Cape Verde surprise will stop in the round of 32 because they are not a worthy opponent for them. I was very surprised by the surprise from Cape Verde because previously many people predicted that Spain and Uruguay would qualify for the next round, but in reality, Spain and Cape Verde did.

It is true that expecting Cape Verde to win against Argentina is a bit of a fool's errand, but I still think that Cape Verde should not be taken lightly by Argentina. Because they are a very good team and someone has to draw.
And in football, it is impossible to say when it will happen. We saw Argentina lose to Saudi Arabia in 2022, so it is not yet possible to say whether Cape Verde will surprise us or not. However, it must be accepted that Cape Verde's chances of advancing to the next round after Round 32 are very slim because Argentina is a much stronger team than Spain.

[Hypnotizer]

You don't need to go into competition with a team that's bigger than you if it's not that necessary to avoid injuries on the players. France squad is complete than Norway which is why the French coach didn't bother of resting his best players because he wants to win the game for record sake.

Many people expected a very competitive game, A Mbappe Vs Haaland World Cup match and they were disappointed not to see that happen. This is Football, anything can happen and you don’t know the results before you play the game, so you need to play with your good team against the opponent’s good team not play a team B instead.

Senegal won against Iraq with a wide goal margin as expected since Iraq got a red card in the 13th minute, 5-0 and hopefully they can qualify for the knockout stage with the best third place teams.

Belgium also got their first World Cup victory last night and they finished first in their group after beating New Zealand five goals to one. That was a good performance from the Belgium side..

Cape Verde… they qualified for the knockout stage. This is truly a big achievement for them and they did this by holding all the matches they played to a draw. Uruguay are out of the World Cup after they lost to Spain, they only manage to get two points in this tournament after two draws against Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia.

[Crypto Library]

Cape Verde… they qualified for the knockout stage. This is truly a big achievement for them and they did this by holding all the matches they played to a draw. Uruguay are out of the World Cup after they lost to Spain, they only manage to get two points in this tournament after two draws against Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, I think that Cape Verde's World Cup journey will be limited to the next round because Cape Verde's next opponent is Argentina, whom we know as the defending champions. And besides, Argentina is in another good form in their history, so it is almost impossible for Cape Verde to achieve a victory against Argentina or take advantage of the opportunity.

However, Argentina will have to overcome some struggles to achieve this against Cape Verde because their goalkeeper is performing exceptionally well, which is why they have been able to do so even against strong teams.

[AprilioMP]

I really feel bad for Iran because they failed to beat Egypt. A last-minute goal ultimately forced VAR to rule it offside.
With the 1-1 draw, Iran must now wait for the results of several matches in other groups to see if they’ll advance as one of the best third-place teams.
If Algeria wins and Croatia wins, it’s certain that the other Asian team—South Korea—will be eliminated from advancing to the knockout stage.
Croatia faces Ghana. Ghana already has 4 points and Croatia has 3 points. If the match ends in a draw, Iran’s prospects won’t look good either.
Not to mention if Algeria wins.

[Joeboy]

Osman Dembele with 9.4 rating against Norway, it was a very interested match and Good performance from the France side.

Congratulations to Osman Dembele on his first ever world cup hat trick, Man of the Match (MOTM) award and for qualifying for the round of 32 of the world cup tournament.

As expected, Osman Dembele has once again shows to the world he is one of the best players in the world right now and showed he is ready to win the best players for the second time in a roll.

Although am a Barcelona fan, but I must admit that we lost a rare gem to PSG and also as I football fan, I will always appreciate talent when I sees one.

Dembele is one of the most underrated player.. You in their match against Norway, many actually expected Mbappe to once again be the top goal scorer but then we're all shocked when he couldn't even net a single goal... Only a few expected Dembele to score, but not only did he score, he also broke a record once again of being the player score an early first half hattrick in the world cup since 1954.. With the way things going for Dembele, he most definitely may win Ballon d'Or again..