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

[xzone]

Even though Ronaldo is old, he provides the support the team needs when they need it and helps them win the match; as a true star footballer, he's the one who wins matches for the team. It wouldn't be accurate to say Croatia played badly, but what matters is who wins at the end of 90 minutes. Portugal and Ronaldo won this match; perhaps they won't be successful in their next match, but Ronaldo has once again earned everyone's respect.
Playing football like this at this age is a one-in-a-million performance

[Italian Panic]

On paper, Portugal are stronger than Croatia, but in reality we saw two teams of equal strength, and in the end the luckier side won because Croatia hit the woodwork at least twice and had a goal disallowed for an imperceptible touch. If Croatia had Portugal’s players, with the drive and determination they possess, they could easily win a World Cup; unfortunately, they’re currently lacking a striker like Mandžukić was years ago.

[NewRevelation]

Croatia scored and opening and Portugal got a penalty and Ronaldo score it and get the team back to a normal level and if not for Portugal goalkeeper performance they will have been eliminated by now, taking off Bruno, Vitinha and other players who are not playing well is the best decision that the coach did and we can see that after taking some players off the field Portugal start playing well and score a goal that give them the lead, Portugal win the game with luck against Croatia that have Luca modric that is 40 years old and he dominated Bruno, Vitinha and Neves.

Thats ust football and anyone can win the game regardless of who plays better and all of that. I didn't watch the game, but according to you, Corotia played better but Portugal won, and that's it.

This is a reminder that wether you have all the best or quality players all gathered in your team,  it doesn't change anything. You can as well be defeated and sent packing, just like Paraguay sent Garmany packing and Morocco sending the Netherlands out of the tournament. Everyone must do there best to remain, and if you have any laxity in any part of your squard, be sure that it's an edge for your opponents over you

[BRINIRHA]

Spain are too dominating in their ball control and always enjoyed high ball possession in most of their game, I was hoping that Austria would be able to score at least a goal against Spain as Austria does have some great players playing in big European football teams too but it seems like Spain are just too strong and they also had not conceded even a single goal in this World Cup yet. I guess Portugal would need to prove themselves that they are capable of scoring goals against Spain when both of these teams play against each other in the round of 16.

Spain played relaxed and truly executed their strategy, both defensively and offensively. They demonstrated how to play the ball well against Austria, without conceding a single goal. This was a crushing defeat for Austria. Never mind goals, there weren't even any chances to shoot at goalkeeper Simon. This time, Spain was truly tight.
In contrast, their opponent, Portugal, had to work very hard in this round to advance to the round of 16. The tight competition with Croatia was truly a very difficult task. I initially thought it would end in a draw, but fortunately, Goncalo Ramos was able to add a goal in the final minute.

They played comfortably because Austria could not keep up with the flow of the game that Spain did so they just played according to the rhythm because Austria could not develop the game even in 90 minutes Unai looked relaxed under the bar.

But the last 16 will be interesting because Portugal are sure to face Spain in this phase and this will be the big match in the last 16 apart from Brazil who will face Norway.
I'm pretty sure the last 16 match will be iconic in terms of results because whoever manages to get the victory then their chances are even greater due to increased confidence.

[Nheer]

I’m glad to see Portugal win this match. To be honest, i was initially skeptical that Portugal could pull it off, since Croatia is a strong team that’s certainly not easy to beat. A lot happened in this game, making it a very tense match. More than that, i'm glad Cristiano Ronaldo was still able to score in this match, he's still able to make such a huge contribution, it's truly amazing.. Congratulations to Portugal on advancing to the Round of 16, one step closer to the trophy.

Adding Portugal to my parley was a very difficult decision but I knew that there is no way Portugal is going to miss the opportunity for them to qualify for the round 16 which is very vital for them. Croatia was a strong team which I knew that the match is not going to be easy at all for the two team. I am waiting for Argentina to win their matches and Ghana to play 0.5 so that I can have a boom ticket.
I know anything can happen in these matches and I have taken the risk which I know I can afford to lose.

Of course it was difficult predicting Portugal to win against Croatia and I must say you're really lucky there. We all know how desperate Portugal wants to win matches to reach the Final but their performance hasn't been convincing enough to easily win against a team like Croatia. It would have been leveled if not for the disallowed Croatian goal at extra time. I got scared adding them to my bet because they haven't been really convincing enough. I already won my ticket yesterday after USA won and Spain scoring 2 goals. Now I will start preparing another ticket for the Round of 16. No one is certain about their predictions even though the odds are clearly against weaker teams, you just have bet on what you think is best and hope for luck.

[JeffBrad12]

There is a lot of competition between the two teams, but I don't know what the outcome of today's match will be. In the end, the result of this game may turn into a draw, Cristiano Ronaldo can still work hard. Portugal's team relies on Ronaldo the most, while Croatia also works hard, but the team that can score the first goal is the only one who can win.
But let's wait and see what happens in the end?

Don't overhype Ronaldo dude. He basically contributed almost nothing except his penalty. Look at how portugal play after he gets subbed off. They were able scoring through openplay. So i think portugal is way a bit better without him.
To call Portugal is relying to him the most is actually wrong.

All of players in the squad contributed what they can do in that game. That's why they are able sending Croatia out of world cup.
It's also the fact that portugal ain't playing well.

[Alpha Marine]

Funny how I'm not seeing any conspiracy theories and how "FIFA is helping Ronaldo and Portugal" today. The double standards stink
I can make a case for a very cheap penalty and a wrongfully disallowed Croatian goal to make it 2-2, but nobody is talking about that. People are still talking about a Messi tackle that should have been a red card that happened in Argentina's first game.
A wrongfully disallowed goal against Colombia, A wrongfully disallowed goal against Croatia. I hope now people see how stupid it is to say stuff like "The World Cup is rigged for Ronaldo" or "FIFA is corrupt". simply because of the wrong calls of the match officials.

I really don't understand you guys. Even before the World Cup began I read many users praising Ronaldo and expecting a bunch of goals from him. You do realize we are talking about a 41-year-old lad who has been playing in Saudi Arabia for the last years? How can he still compete at this level? He was an incredible player but he is old, he can't compete anymore at this stage. He is becoming a problem for Portugal.

Ronaldo himself doesn't realise that he is not what he was when he was 30. In his head, he still thinks he's that player. The mind is willing, but the body doesn't respond to it. It's the same thing his fans think. They believe he can still score constant long-range shots and move like a gunman in the box, like he used to. It's almost like they want the success of Ronaldo more than the team. Most non-Portuguese Ronaldo fans will not be bothered if Ronaldo scores a hat trick, but his team lost.

[Zlantann]

Even though Ronaldo is old, he provides the support the team needs when they need it and helps them win the match; as a true star footballer, he's the one who wins matches for the team. It wouldn't be accurate to say Croatia played badly, but what matters is who wins at the end of 90 minutes. Portugal and Ronaldo won this match; perhaps they won't be successful in their next match, but Ronaldo has once again earned everyone's respect.
Playing football like this at this age is a one-in-a-million performance

In my own estimation, the Croatian team didn't play that badly. They might not have had the majority of ball possession, but their attack was effective. Diogo Costa was forced to make several saves because of the constant threat of the Croatian attack. They also had goals disallowed, and the last one was not too clear. The explanation that Igor Matanović slightly touched the ball, putting Mario Pašalić offside, is complicated. Congratulations to the Portuguese side and Chritiano Ronaldo. They were just fortunate to beat the hard-fighting Croatian.

[bastisisca]

England didn't lose because they have a solid team that can concede a few goals, but then when the attackers leave they do things badly and Harry Kane has in fact proven that he is truly a hurricane, it must be said that without him though i don't know if they would have got through so easily, i is not convinced.

Relying on a single player is not a great strategy, in fact it is a bad strategy. If he suffers an injury or simply gets booked twice, what do England do? Loses?
This represents a weakness for England that opposing teams can exploit.

[Cryptmuster]

Don't overhype Ronaldo dude. He basically contributed almost nothing except his penalty. Look at how portugal play after he gets subbed off. They were able scoring through openplay. So i think portugal is way a bit better without him.
To call Portugal is relying to him the most is actually wrong.

All of players in the squad contributed what they can do in that game. That's why they are able sending Croatia out of world cup.
It's also the fact that portugal ain't playing well.

I was disappointed with the refereeing in this match. Even before the match, I thought Portugal looked too weak, even though Croatia isn't in top form either, but they played better this match. The referee did a really bad job in this match. He awarded a penalty, which Ronaldo scored, but in my opinion there was no penalty, it was a far-fetched thing. And Croatia's final goal was disallowed, I think it's unfair because the ball wasn't touched. So the referees simply took the win away from Croatia. And I agree that Ronaldo is too old to play in a tournament like this.

[kennycryptoitalia]

If we talk about keeping the ball position, then here too Senegal is not far behind Belgium and I see Senegal as more active in terms of attacking. So, apparently, I think that Belgium, although strong, will lose this match to Senegal and their World Cup journey will end here.

Belgium was really interesting, they gave a performance that no one would have ever expected, and it went well like that, it showed everyone that Belgium is strong and that it can afford to play matches even against the greatest and win them, because Senegal was among the strongest ever.

[hd49728]

Ronaldo himself doesn't realise that he is not what he was when he was 30. In his head, he still thinks he's that player. The mind is willing, but the body doesn't respond to it. It's the same thing his fans think. They believe he can still score constant long-range shots and move like a gunman in the box, like he used to. It's almost like they want the success of Ronaldo more than the team. Most non-Portuguese Ronaldo fans will not be bothered if Ronaldo scores a hat trick, but his team lost.

Ronaldo is very old and it's abnormal that he is still able to play at highest level when he is already 41 year-old, scoring 3 goals in World Cup 2026. He also runs a lot of kilometers each match, that's unbelievable and let's talk about the penalty that is not easy. Younger players can make bad shots and waste penalties especially under pressure of not only missing a pen but also losing a match. Experienced and mentally strong players make penalty shots look easy while in fact it's hard.

In my own estimation, the Croatian team didn't play that badly. They might not have had the majority of ball possession, but their attack was effective. Diogo Costa was forced to make several saves because of the constant threat of the Croatian attack. They also had goals disallowed, and the last one was not too clear. The explanation that Igor Matanović slightly touched the ball, putting Mario Pašalić offside, is complicated. Congratulations to the Portuguese side and Chritiano Ronaldo. They were just fortunate to beat the hard-fighting Croatian.

Croatia can be proud of their performance in this match, and they played truly well, wasted some chances to finalize the match. It's a little bit surprise that Dalic did not call Brozovic for this World Cup. In World Cup 2022, Brozovic together with Modric and Kovaci made a very strong midfield for Croatia and Brozovic was a midfielder with most kilometers-run each match.

The late goal from Croatia reminds me how they managed to come back in World Cup 2022 and brought those matches to penalty shootouts but this time they did not succeed. It will be continue a controversial situation in the future, like a goal in World Cup 1966 between Germany and England.

[yenerbatmaz]

Portugal managed to get past Croatia, though it was a tough match. In my opinion, the goal of Ronaldo's that was disallowed was a beautiful one. There are Messi fans who call him "Penaldo" because he takes so many penalties, but converting a penalty into a goal actually requires skill.
He scored from the penalty spot yesterday, too; that goal leveled the score at 1-1.
If Croatia had been a bit more careful, they could have beaten Portugal, but they were thwarted by offside calls.
Portugal made it through this round, but their task in the Round of 16 won't be easy at all.

[m4r1o]

Football keeps on proving that it's not over untill it's over, if Senegal is sent out of the competition now, they only have themselves to blame, I watched part of the first half and the second half, Senegal were in control of the game, the pressed and pressured Belgium, before the first goal, they were unlucky as the ball hit the bar. Luckily they scored in the first half and protected that lead and scored the second goal. Senegal were leading and in control, conceding a goal is not the main problem, their problem was protecting the second goal. 80 minutes it was 2:0 in favour of Senegal, 90 minutes it was 2:2, Belgium used less than 10 minutes to equalise two goals, Senegal will only have themselves to blame if they get knocked out tonight.

Sometimes controlling the game isn't enough and you can never win a game with control alone, you also have to attack and play, risk something and also try to move forward, Senegal played very well but then they gave up and they weren't determined to reach the goal, all that's needed is that, trying.

[$crypto$]

Even though Ronaldo is old, he provides the support the team needs when they need it and helps them win the match; as a true star footballer, he's the one who wins matches for the team. It wouldn't be accurate to say Croatia played badly, but what matters is who wins at the end of 90 minutes. Portugal and Ronaldo won this match; perhaps they won't be successful in their next match, but Ronaldo has once again earned everyone's respect.
Playing football like this at this age is a one-in-a-million performance

Croatia were disadvantaged, their final goal deemed offside after a VAR review. At first glance, it didn't seem like there was a touch, but as we all know, World Cup balls now have technology, so it was a slight touch.

This was a truly extraordinary match at the end, as Portugal felt relieved that they had finally qualified for their next match against Spain, this is something we should know, as Spain isn't a weak opponent; Portugal could struggle a bit.

[paco92x]

Congratulations to Portugal even though they didn’t perform as I expected them to, I was very angry at them throughout the match, they have the best midfield players in the world but I’m not seen them in action, they were just taken the ball back in the first half, I don’t see Portugal lifting the world except they change and start playing better, congratulations to Ronaldo he has scored his first knockout stage World Cup goal.
Croatia did very well they would have actually won the match if not for the penalty that was give to Portugal, some people are saying that it was not suppose to be a penalty but that’s a lie because it was a clear penalty and referee did the right thing by given Portugal that penalty.

I think that all the major decisions were correct and for that the ref is not to blame, but the small things were only whistled in Portugal's favor. All the 50/50 fouls went Portugal's way and that frustrated me. Two completely identical fouls and two different decisions by the ref. All in all, Portugal was the luckier side and they passed. It's a shame because this time Croatia had them, but they managed to slip away again.

[Iranus]

England won because of Harry Kane's amazing  performance. Tuchel should be more careful in his match strategy and formation. Otherwise they will be eliminated in the next round. They had to fight hard to win against congo. Gordon should be given a chance in the starting XI instead of rashford. Rashford missed a lot of  chances. I was very upset by rashford's performance against congo. England could not have won the match if Gordon had not been brought on as a substitute in the second half. Gordon made two  incredible assists. Perhaps he is not getting enough chances because of his lack of experience.

I agree with you. I expected a better performance from Rashford, Kane scored two goals. His important goal was really needed in yesterday's match. England had many chances but the opponent's goalkeeper saved many skilled shots. It was really hard for England to win. They could not have scored goals even if they attacked a lot. And Kane's impactful performance in a match like this will be really memorable.

Rashford played well enough at Barcelona. But in the match against congo we saw him miss a lot of chances. Such a performance is risky for the team. Gordon's performance is better than Rashford's.

Portugal won today against Croatia. The team took another step forward in the World Cup journey. But the sad thing is that Portugal will play against Spain in the round of 16. Both are giant teams in Europe and one of the contenders for this year's World Cup. This will be the most competitive match of the round of 16.

[DanWalker]

People are disappointed to see a 41-year-old who no longer plays as he did when he was 25.
I’d say that’s only to be expected!
He’s had an incredible career and has put Portugal on the map thanks to his goals. I don’t think we should expect too much from him at 41. It’s already quite an achievement that he manages to keep up the pace for 90 minutes

Ronaldo can't play the way he did at 25, that's normal. But people are disappointed  because we've been comparing Ronaldo and Messi all our lives. A big part of us grew up watching these two players fight. Even if Messi scored  2 goals in a match, we would see Ronaldo score  2+ in the next match. But now messi has scored 6 goals in the world cup. He is playing amazingly. On the other hand, ronaldo is not able to do well. That's what has disappointed  us. If Messi couldn't play well , maybe no one would criticize Ronaldo either.

[Silikiem]

On paper, Portugal are stronger than Croatia, but in reality we saw two teams of equal strength, and in the end the luckier side won because Croatia hit the woodwork at least twice and had a goal disallowed for an imperceptible touch. If Croatia had Portugal’s players, with the drive and determination they possess, they could easily win a World Cup; unfortunately, they’re currently lacking a striker like Mandžukić was years ago.

Croatia looked the more hungry side in that very encounter, I watched the game and to be fair I think Croatia should’ve won the match but football doesn’t always go the way you wanted it to be sometimes. In as much as I would have loved to see Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the World Cup finals in what seems to be his final dance as far as international football is concerned, I’m worried about the midfield duo of Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes because they don’t seem to bring the kind of spark they bring to their respective clubs to The national team and they have forgotten that so much is expected of them in this World Cup. I don’t even know how many assists they’ve got so far in the competition talk more of goals scored but if truly they want to remain in the competition then they need to up their game and if I’m the Portuguese coach I will surely not start the two of them in the next game against Spain, I will opt for a midfield of Bernardo Silva and Neves.

[free-bit.co.in]

On paper, Portugal are stronger than Croatia, but in reality we saw two teams of equal strength, and in the end the luckier side won because Croatia hit the woodwork at least twice and had a goal disallowed for an imperceptible touch. If Croatia had Portugal’s players, with the drive and determination they possess, they could easily win a World Cup; unfortunately, they’re currently lacking a striker like Mandžukić was years ago.

Luck was not on Croatia's side. They performed quite well. But the most unfortunate thing was that Portugal scored their second goal in injury time after 90 minutes. I thought  both teams would play an extra 30 minutes. Portugal's squad was very strong. Many star players in their squad. They should play better.

I am worried about portugal's next match. Spain vs Portugal match will undoubtedly be very exciting. Both have very strong squads. Portugal has no chance of winning the match if they  do not perform well in this match. Spain's overall performance seems to be more organized and stable than Portugal's  so far.