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

[pawel7777]

So we had two major surprises so far, the Netherlands got eliminated by Morocco and Germany by Paraguay. In both cases games went to penalty shootouts, where the favourites got dominated by the underdogs.
Morocco is therefore the first African team to qualify for the round of 16. Looking at the game stats, they were actually better than the Dutch in many elements of the game, including ball possession and shots on goal. It was very close for the Netherlands, as they were leading 1-0 after the 90 minutes, but conceded the equaliser in the stoppage time.

Morocco will play against Canada in the next round, so it's not the most demanding opponent and they have big chance to advance even further.

Germany were clearly a better team than Paraguay, but all is irrelevant if they failed to show dominance in the only stat that matters, number of goals. Paraguay's goal by Enciso in the 42nd minute was their first ever goal in the knockout stage of the World Cup.

[promise444c5]

I don’t expect any surprises in the next game France vs Sweden. Mexico vs Ecuador will be close but I think with home fans behind them, Mexico will win.

At this stage I think there are more surprises waiting to unfold in the upcoming round of 32 games.
Germany vs Paraguay had almost same odds as the upcoming France Vs Sweeden but the gap is still there because it’s France.

I wouldn’t expect France to lose to Sweden on a normal day, but I can’t help thinking about how Germany got disqualified. I didn’t even bother watching the extras thinking Paraguay should be weak by then already .

I think France will easily win this match. If it's a draw, I would be really surprised.

Draw shouldn’t be a surprise.. there’s so much draw in this round of 32 , even Norway almost draw and besides, Cote d’lvoire played better.

[snipie]

Lol I see you might be pissed with the Italian team performance but you need to know that there are a time in football where you can't call the top three nations without actually calling the Italian giants, I mean they had so many blessed players and so much talent but now the Italian team is just filled with average players and this shows that Italian football has possibly dropped a lot and maybe they should focus on training more young players in their league to get such crazy names like before in the Italian team.

Yeah that's true. Big names in Italian national football team has disappeared and the names they are having right now are less effective. I agree with you about the need to form young talents and keep them in top teams so they can be useful in the future because right now the Italian team is average. Even Norway beat them and kicked them from this extended version of the World Cup.
Norway has hard moments against Ivory Coast from what I saw. The Norwegian goalkeeper made a good save at the end of the injury time that allowed their team to quality without the hassle of extra time.

[Hypnotizer]

Sadly, Ivory Coast will have to go back home. It was a closely contested game that each side could have won. The African side put up an exceptional performance based on the match statistics.

Both teams performed well in this game for sure, I expected Norway to win this match from the start tho but Ivory Coast display a good performance today, Norway was also great and they got to advance to the next round..

Congratulations to Norway for qualifying for the next round. But they have a hard task to face when they meet Brazil on Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti's side have not been fantastic, but we cannot doubt that they have a team that can upset any country.

Norway Vs Brazil would be interesting and Haaland would probably play in the match, it wouldn’t be like that of France but Nevertheless Brazil are sure favorites and let’s see how it later goes..


France Vs Sweden will start in thirty minutes and France are the big favorites to win tonight but this is Football, let’s wait n see how it goes..

[Black Mbaye]

Lol I see you might be pissed with the Italian team performance but you need to know that there are a time in football where you can't call the top three nations without actually calling the Italian giants, I mean they had so many blessed players and so much talent but now the Italian team is just filled with average players and this shows that Italian football has possibly dropped a lot and maybe they should focus on training more young players in their league to get such crazy names like before in the Italian team.

Yeah that's true. Big names in Italian national football team has disappeared and the names they are having right now are less effective. I agree with you about the need to form young talents and keep them in top teams so they can be useful in the future because right now the Italian team is average. Even Norway beat them and kicked them from this extended version of the World Cup.
Norway has hard moments against Ivory Coast from what I saw. The Norwegian goalkeeper made a good save at the end of the injury time that allowed their team to quality without the hassle of extra time.

Norway isn't actually a bad team, but Italy fell short of expectations this year. They were eliminated in the playoffs against Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was very surprised by that, for example. Because my expectation for Italy was to qualify for the World Cup by winning against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But they couldn't do that. Maybe they're no longer finding enough quality players in their youth academies. They need to focus more on youth development now.

[Muba20]

I was so happy when Amad Diallo brought the game back on level terms and I was hoping the game was going to end 1-1 and head into extra time but Norway was able to fine Ivory Coast's net in the 86th minute to retake the lead, Ivory Coast pressed in the remaining four minutes to stoppage time and additional seven minutes to bring the game back on level terms for the second time but they couldn't as the minutes remaining was too small for them to score a second goal against the determined Norway. Ivory coast is now the second African team to exit the World Cup in the knockout phase.

After the second goal, Ivory Coast was a bit nervous due to the lack of time. As a result, the attacks did not reach the target properly in the end. Ivory Coast's performance today against the giants of Europe will be memorable. It is not easy to attack more than 14 times in a full match against Norway while keeping the defense strong. They knew that they were less strong than Norway, but Ivory Coast showed their best performance with their maximum. Amad Diallo's performance in today's match was really extraordinary. He scored a goal with a very small assist and avoided two defenders. Amad Diallo's goal brought Ivory Coast fans to life. But his end was not saved, and despite giving an outstanding performance, they had to leave the 2026 World Cup.

[eightdots]

For me I think the whole problem is with that Portugal squad because there are so many things that seems to be wrong with the way they play together, there is no hunger and zeal like before, they were much better when they played in the nations league competition and they have struggled since the start of this world cup, I really don't know if it's because of the center of attraction that is focus on Christaino Ronaldo that has made this Portuguese team like this because everything they do seems to cause attention.

That's why I insist that if the team doesn't play for CR7, then they'll lose. Haven't you noticed that CR7 is pushing up a bit more now? Like a false 9? And you see that he's touching the ball more now? Why is he doing that? Because he draws a lot of defenders and leaves his forwards free. If he plays as a striker, he'll have two or three players marking him, and even though he's good at making runs, it's more work. It's better for him to do the work from midfield further forward; it suits him better.

Portugal isn't playing as they'd like because expectations are very high. Ronaldo has always been a valuable asset to the team, and he's doing his best in this World Cup as well. Portugal's squad isn't bad, but all the teams are very close in strength, so it's not easy for one team to secure a comfortable victory.

Ronaldo's ability to draw defenders towards him makes it easier for the team to attack in some situations. Portugal needs to capitalize on these opportunities.

[abhiseshakana]

I would be truly surprised if the match between France and Sweden ended in a draw. That would be considered a surprise result, because France is a very good team with a magnificent squad. Sweden, on the other hand, is an average team that is happy to have advanced to the next round. There are huge differences in quality between the two teams. I think France will easily win this match. If it's a draw, I would be really surprised.

There have been plenty of surprises at this edition of the World Cup. Some of the big teams , who were among the favourites, have actually been knocked out early on, and to be honest , I really didn’t expect Germany and the Netherlands to be eliminated in that way. Will this run of bad luck also befall France? No one knows , because in football anything can happen. In terms of quality, France have a much stronger squad than Sweden , and if they play as they did in their previous three matches , I think France will win this match. Sweden aren’t a bad team, but their performances have been inconsistent and I think that’s why they  won’t be able to keep up with France.

[Derekfunds]

For me I think the whole problem is with that Portugal squad because there are so many things that seems to be wrong with the way they play together, there is no hunger and zeal like before, they were much better when they played in the nations league competition and they have struggled since the start of this world cup, I really don't know if it's because of the center of attraction that is focus on Christaino Ronaldo that has made this Portuguese team like this because everything they do seems to cause attention.

That's why I insist that if the team doesn't play for CR7, then they'll lose. Haven't you noticed that CR7 is pushing up a bit more now? Like a false 9? And you see that he's touching the ball more now? Why is he doing that? Because he draws a lot of defenders and leaves his forwards free. If he plays as a striker, he'll have two or three players marking him, and even though he's good at making runs, it's more work. It's better for him to do the work from midfield further forward; it suits him better.

CR7 isn't actually showing his full potential. He played well in one match and scored two goals, but in the other two matches he wasn't very effective. The players are marking him well. We're not seeing the old, high-quality Cristiano Ronaldo anymore. Of course, this is quite normal because he's now 41 years old. Nevertheless, even his participation in the World Cup shows us how involved he is with football.

I will always appreciate and  acknowledge the fact that he was and use to be a great striker but the truth is that nature has starting taking place because of his age and one thing is certain and that thing is that you can not run or cheat nature because it will always caught you unguard and he is an example. We all know how incredible he can be and if it was not for nature I mean his age he would have done wonders but it also appears to me he doesn't want to give up by accepting the fact he is old now.

[Berry2d]

So we had two major surprises so far, the Netherlands got eliminated by Morocco and Germany by Paraguay. In both cases games went to penalty shootouts, where the favourites got dominated by the underdogs.
Morocco is therefore the first African team to qualify for the round of 16. Looking at the game stats, they were actually better than the Dutch in many elements of the game, including ball possession and shots on goal. It was very close for the Netherlands, as they were leading 1-0 after the 90 minutes, but conceded the equaliser in the stoppage time.

Morocco will play against Canada in the next round, so it's not the most demanding opponent and they have big chance to advance even further.

Germany were clearly a better team than Paraguay, but all is irrelevant if they failed to show dominance in the only stat that matters, number of goals. Paraguay's goal by Enciso in the 42nd minute was their first ever goal in the knockout stage of the World Cup.

Honestly speaking I will say the Moroccan side had an excellent display in today's game against Netherlands, they putted up an unbelievable performance especially in game statistics where they dominated in all rectification to prove there consistency in the on going world cup tournament so far.
Before the start of the game i underestimated morocco's performance believing they will be eliminated by Netherlands because of how dominating Netherlands was in the group stage without knowing the Morocco's side will surprise the world in the game today.
As for that of Germany it was very obvious and certain Paraguay must be eliminated,  so it was not surprising to see the result that surfaced at last.

[GbitG]

Here we go guys.....
Brasil and Norway will be clinching in round of 16. To be honest this will be one of the most exciting battle of the next round because if we look at the both team they both have a great victory in their round 32. So maybe these both can do some competitive tussle at round of 16. Like both side have good attacking gear so probably it will be an challenging core of all of us.....

Besides that Holland have scored one more goal with make him the 2nd ranker of golden shoes. Messi is in top with 6, Holland have 5 and Kilyan Mbappe 4. So France will also play against Sweden. So let's see what's happened next.

[Joca97]

So we had two major surprises so far, the Netherlands got eliminated by Morocco and Germany by Paraguay. In both cases games went to penalty shootouts, where the favourites got dominated by the underdogs.
Morocco is therefore the first African team to qualify for the round of 16. Looking at the game stats, they were actually better than the Dutch in many elements of the game, including ball possession and shots on goal. It was very close for the Netherlands, as they were leading 1-0 after the 90 minutes, but conceded the equaliser in the stoppage time.

Morocco will play against Canada in the next round, so it's not the most demanding opponent and they have big chance to advance even further.

Germany were clearly a better team than Paraguay, but all is irrelevant if they failed to show dominance in the only stat that matters, number of goals. Paraguay's goal by Enciso in the 42nd minute was their first ever goal in the knockout stage of the World Cup.

So far so many surprises and they continue to happen and i think we might see even more surprise until this round ends. Paragvay surprise for me was the biggest one they just parked the bus and knocked out one of the best teams in the world cup. Morocco im not surprised because they are really good overall and they deserved to win this match and yet again like four years ago they win the penalties to go into the next round. Now they have a good chance to keep on going and things are looking good for them.

[BRINIRHA]

France Vs Sweden will start in thirty minutes and France are the big favorites to win tonight but this is Football, let’s wait n see how it goes..

I hope they win in normal time to show that they can do anything because they are strong contenders at the moment but I agree that football is sometimes a bit tricky and there can be surprises just like yesterday.

But if it ends in normal time it means we don't have penalties like the previous 2 games and it will give them more energy to prepare for the next phase because we know that extra time with the weather in the USA is quite hot it will be very draining so if France win normally it can at least save their extra energy.  Sweden are not a bad club but against France they have a much slimmer chance.

[W Jr.]

Here we go guys.....
Brasil and Norway will be clinching in round of 16. To be honest this will be one of the most exciting battle of the next round because if we look at the both team they both have a great victory in their round 32. So maybe these both can do some competitive tussle at round of 16. Like both side have good attacking gear so probably it will be an challenging core of all of us.....

Besides that Holland have scored one more goal with make him the 2nd ranker of golden shoes. Messi is in top with 6, Holland have 5 and Kilyan Mbappe 4. So France will also play against Sweden. So let's see what's happened next.

Mbappé could climb to the top of the goalscoring charts if he scores more than one goal tonight. However, Lionel Messi will certainly try to score more goals with the Argentinian squad. It seems the Argentinian players are working harder to help Messi score. Of course, I understand their point of view, as he is one of the greatest talents in the country and the world. If he becomes the top scorer at the World Cup at the age of 38, he will hold that record for a long time. And since it will likely be his last World Cup, it would be a magnificent ending for Messi.

[Roseline492]

Germany's exit was a complete surprise, but the elimination of the Netherlands didn't shock me, as they lost to Morocco—a team that plays very good football and reached the semifinals at the last World Cup in Qatar. Both eliminated teams had highly dramatic penalty shootouts; in fact, the penalties in both matches were probably more intense than the games themselves.
As for the France vs Sweden and Mexico vs Ecuador matchups, maybe we will see another surprise here in the form of a draw between France and Sweden.

Germany left so soon on this world cup, the penalty actually gave them more opportunity after they were already at two penalty lost because Paraguay also lost there next two penalty from there but it was the same missing on Germany from the next one penalty they gave the two countries and that's were there chances ends, so actually there elimination on the round was shocking but there penalty was not encouraging. Indeed Germany and Netherlands was the same with penalty because they were not good at it, although Morocco was quite unusually inaccurate on there penalty unlike before.

[Odusko]

Here we go guys.....
Brasil and Norway will be clinching in round of 16. To be honest this will be one of the most exciting battle of the next round because if we look at the both team they both have a great victory in their round 32. So maybe these both can do some competitive tussle at round of 16. Like both side have good attacking gear so probably it will be an challenging core of all of us.....

Besides that Holland have scored one more goal with make him the 2nd ranker of golden shoes. Messi is in top with 6, Holland have 5 and Kilyan Mbappe 4. So France will also play against Sweden. So let's see what's happened next.

The round of 32 was a save zone for some team's who happened to scale through via their chances and luck regardless of the team their are facing and the level of player's on board, but the same can not be said with the round of 16 where the competition is becoming tougher and more challenging what make sense right now is which player you have on your team and what they can afford to deliver based on they record chasing, Messi is already leading in total goals scores but that can not be concluded on right now since we have other striker's following behind to earn the same golden boots.

[SmartCharpa]

Jonathan Tah scored a goal and I think that the goal was legitimate, but the VAR referee for some reason decided otherwise.
Germany didn't have any idea how to break Paraguay's defense. Nagelsmann is the wrong guy to lead the German national team. There's no chemistry between him and the footballers. He must be sacked. I have doubts that the German players haven't practiced any penalties before the match, which is a sign of underestimating the opponent(and a sign of stupidity as well).

I’m still surprised by Germany performance in this World Cup, I couldn’t believe that they were really eliminated from the World Cup against Paraguay. This national team does not have a quality players like Germany, but look at what they played throughout the match, they couldn’t breakthrough the defense of Paraguay. Their performance in the last three games showed their was no good chemistry between him and the players, Germany conceded a goal against each side they faced.

I don’t think they practice a penalty before the game. Havertz missed his penalty, perhaps they didn’t expect the match to end in a penalty shootout. Nagelsmann isn’t the right man to lead this National team, it’s very disappointing for Germany to be eliminated in the round of 16, especially against Paraguay. That was very disappointing for Germany, they need to hire someone else to lead the national team.

[Mayor of ogba]

Germany and Netherlands knocked out last night, bit of a shock but this is tournament football, surprises happen.

I don’t expect any surprises in the next game France vs Sweden. Mexico vs Ecuador will be close but I think with home fans behind them, Mexico will win.

I wasn't surprised with Netherlands being knocked out of the World Cup, because Morocco has the quality to go toe-to-toe with any strong team in this World Cup, as for Germany, I was surprised they couldn't win Paraguay that the USA defeated 4-2. I'm very sure there will be no surprise in the France vs Sweden match, France will have a comfortable win against Sweden. But for Mexico vs Ecuador, I'm expecting a surprise as Ecuador has a chance against Mexico.

[whiteblue]

I was so happy when Amad Diallo brought the game back on level terms and I was hoping the game was going to end 1-1 and head into extra time but Norway was able to fine Ivory Coast's net in the 86th minute to retake the lead, Ivory Coast pressed in the remaining four minutes to stoppage time and additional seven minutes to bring the game back on level terms for the second time but they couldn't as the minutes remaining was too small for them to score a second goal against the determined Norway. Ivory coast is now the second African team to exit the World Cup in the knockout phase.

After the second goal, Ivory Coast was a bit nervous due to the lack of time. As a result, the attacks did not reach the target properly in the end. Ivory Coast's performance today against the giants of Europe will be memorable. It is not easy to attack more than 14 times in a full match against Norway while keeping the defense strong. They knew that they were less strong than Norway, but Ivory Coast showed their best performance with their maximum. Amad Diallo's performance in today's match was really extraordinary. He scored a goal with a very small assist and avoided two defenders. Amad Diallo's goal brought Ivory Coast fans to life. But his end was not saved, and despite giving an outstanding performance, they had to leave the 2026 World Cup.

It was very sad to see Ivory Coast eliminated by Norway. Ivory coast played quite well in this match, Putting pressure on Norway with their aggressive play, But haaland goal broke their spirit and forced them to bow out of the Group stage.

On the other hand, I saw a brilliant performance from Norway Striker Haaland, who was able to lead the team to Victory and advance to the round of 16. He performed Brilliantly and was the savior in this match.

In the round of 16, norway will face brazil. I think this is a crucial match because both Teams are equally strong.

[*Ace*]

Norway continues to surprise us day after day; I’m delighted for them – they’ve thoroughly deserved their place at the World Cup and have now reached the round of 16.
Italy should follow this team’s example and try to improve.

Lol I see you might be pissed with the Italian team performance but you need to know that there are a time in football where you can't call the top three nations without actually calling the Italian giants, I mean they had so many blessed players and so much talent but now the Italian team is just filled with average players and this shows that Italian football has possibly dropped a lot and maybe they should focus on training more young players in their league to get such crazy names like before in the Italian team.

We used to have a national team full of true champions in every position, and that lasted for many decades; now we’re a national team with absolutely no identity! Players who are strong individually but who, as a whole, have contributed very little to the national team.
How is it possible not to have qualified for the World Cup for 12 years? And yet, in the past, we’ve had even weaker national teams that still managed to reach football’s premier competition.

Yeah man I hear you, it's so surprising even for me that's not even an Italian national because I know what I have seen and watched anytime you hear that name ITALY. they had so many wonderful players from the defense with players like maldini, canavaro then midfielders like pirlo and when you come to the attacking fronts that's where they had it all, from the likes of Totti, Del piero, Baggio and my favorite inzaghi

Unfortunately, we have a very disappointing national team; only a few – in fact, very few – players are of a high standard, such as Donnarumma, Bastoni, Di Marco and Barella, and then there’s a complete void – not even a decent striker.
And the worst thing is that there’s no sign of improvement in the short term