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

[Varnquister]

Argentina struggled quite a bit against Cape Verde but managed to secure a happy ending. Argentina took the lead in the first half with a goal by Messi, but conceded a goal early in the second half, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Early in extra time, Argentina retook the lead with a goal by Lisandro Martinez, but before the first extra-time period ended, Cape Verde equalized with a goal by Lopes Cabral. In the second extra-time period, Argentina scored the winning goal and, though it was a tough battle, managed to eliminate their opponent.

[reagansimms]

Argentina struggled quite a bit against Cape Verde but managed to secure a happy ending. Argentina took the lead in the first half with a goal by Messi, but conceded a goal early in the second half, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Early in extra time, Argentina retook the lead with a goal by Lisandro Martinez, but before the first extra-time period ended, Cape Verde equalized with a goal by Lopes Cabral. In the second extra-time period, Argentina scored the winning goal and, though it was a tough battle, managed to eliminate their opponent.

Cape Verde was the most surprising debutant team in the 2026 World Cup, they never lost in normal time, only losing in extra time against Argentina, who were the world champions. Cape Verde gave their best, they were never afraid against a star-studded team, now they are officially eliminated from the World Cup after losing honorably to Argentina. Even though they have now been eliminated, they are not losers, but have managed to write an unforgettable story.

[martinom]

Honestly, it will be a tough one for Morocco. I know 1 thing for sure that Morocco will put up a good fight against them; but I'm not confident that they can overcome France.

1 way I feel they can win against France is if they hold the defence line and drag the game to a penalty shootout, then Morocco will have a favorable chance of winning because they have a good track record when it comes to penalties.

Anyways, I wish them all the best.

it's starting to be the quarter-finals and the games are starting to get really tough
I don't know who can win between the two teams, France is very strong but Morocco is also very strong.
In my opinion it will be a very tough match and also very physical given the strength of Morocco.

[Jossque]

In the Round of 16, France managed to defeat Paraguay, albeit with some difficulty. To be honest, I didn’t expect France to struggle this much, but it must be said that Paraguay put up a good fight against France, which has an exceptional squad despite Paraguay’s own quality. France, which controlled possession and played a dominant game, scored the lone goal that secured the victory in the 70th minute on a penalty kick by Mbappé. Paraguay deserves congratulations.

[meser#]

I watched the France vs. Paraguay match up to the 80th minute. Doué came on, a penalty was won on him, and Mbappé scored his seventh goal of the tournament, putting France 1–0 ahead.
I just watched the match highlights. In the final minutes, it was as if France were inviting Paraguay to come and score against them, but Paraguay simply didn't have the capability to do so.
Just as France advanced to the next round with a goal by Blanc when the two teams met in the 1998 World Cup, they advanced again in this match.

[bitLeap]

As we saw in the Paraguay VS France match, it wasn't even football, it was more like UFC. lol
I almost didn't want to watch it because there was no game to enjoy. France was aiming for football, but the Paraguayan players weren't. There were almost 20 fouls and not a single yellow card for a Paraguayan player? Something was wrong with with the referee in that match.

[Swordsoffreedom]

I watched the France vs. Paraguay match up to the 80th minute. Doué came on, a penalty was won on him, and Mbappé scored his seventh goal of the tournament, putting France 1–0 ahead.
I just watched the match highlights. In the final minutes, it was as if France were inviting Paraguay to come and score against them, but Paraguay simply didn't have the capability to do so.
Just as France advanced to the next round with a goal by Blanc when the two teams met in the 1998 World Cup, they advanced again in this match.

France may not have won by a large margin. But their gameplay was quite good. They focused on ball possession first in this match. As a result, France naturally had complete control of the match. Paraguay was able to create several chances. But they were not able to attack very strongly.

France had 76% ball possession in this match. This is incredible. It was not easy to keep 76% of the ball. At the same time, they were able to take 15 shots. 5 of them were on target. Paraguay's players were only able to take 5 shots in the entire match. France won by a narrow margin of 1-0. But their dominance in the match was worth seeing.

[Jossque]

Brazil will face Norway. I’d say this is a match where both teams have a real chance of winning. Although Brazil is considered the favorite heading into the game, Norway also has a good chance of winning. Brazil will definitely score in this match because they have some truly talented young players, and I think Norway also has a high scoring potential in this game. We can see that Norway has been a team that both scores and concedes goals in most of their recent matches, and the statistics show that Brazil isn’t a particularly strong defensive team either—they’re also a team that scores and concedes goals.

[Catenaccio]

I watched the France vs. Paraguay match up to the 80th minute. Doué came on, a penalty was won on him, and Mbappé scored his seventh goal of the tournament, putting France 1–0 ahead.
I just watched the match highlights. In the final minutes, it was as if France were inviting Paraguay to come and score against them, but Paraguay simply didn't have the capability to do so.
Just as France advanced to the next round with a goal by Blanc when the two teams met in the 1998 World Cup, they advanced again in this match.

Mbappe is like a player who was born to play and score goals in World Cup because it looks like everything are converged to support him. Playing for French national team in three World Cups from 2018 to 2026 when this nation have abundant star players is not a common chance. Mbappe luckily got that and he has been supported very well by his teammates. He is world class, talented and goal productive but without a strong team, support from teammates, his performances and scoring figure can be lower a lot.

Doue and Barcola are used alternatively and they can be good solutions for their attacking system when they need fresh solution. Another attacking player who can be helpful in coming matches is Chekri. The coming quarter final match with Morocco will be a hardest match so far for French national team because Morocco is a most quality team against France so far in World Cup 2026.

[sergiorus]

Something was wrong with the coach in that match.

Coach? Which one?

Or maybe you meant to say "referee"? That would make more sense...

[Jossque]

I believe one of the most exciting matches in the Round of 16 will definitely be the one between Mexico and England. On paper, England may look like the favorite in this match, but I see Mexico as a team that plays better as a unit than England and has the potential to pull off an upset. To be honest, I don’t think England will be able to beat Mexico in this match. I think there’s a high chance the game will go into extra time or even a penalty shootout. It’s hard to predict who will advance, but I’m rooting for Mexico to move on.

[Yabani]

I didn't like what the Paraguay head coach said at all after the match against France. In every game they played, Paraguay’s strategy was to defend and score a single goal—aiming either to advance or to secure points. They took the field with the same system yesterday, but it didn't work out.
There is no connection between what they said and the football they actually played.
Is the Cape Verde team wealthier than Paraguay? People all over the world watched the Cape Verde team with admiration, but I can't say the same for Paraguay.
It is a good thing France advanced; not seeing Paraguay in the next round is no loss.

[yixichloro2xx]

Argentina struggled quite a bit against Cape Verde but managed to secure a happy ending. Argentina took the lead in the first half with a goal by Messi, but conceded a goal early in the second half, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Early in extra time, Argentina retook the lead with a goal by Lisandro Martinez, but before the first extra-time period ended, Cape Verde equalized with a goal by Lopes Cabral. In the second extra-time period, Argentina scored the winning goal and, though it was a tough battle, managed to eliminate their opponent.

It wasn't even a bit , they struggled a lot. During the first half Argentina controlled the game, especially their midfielders whereby Cape Verde was unable to create chances. Entering the second half, the Argetine midfield was dead , that they were now the one sitting back to defend their one goal. Cape Verde players energy was limitless, they keep defending and attacking which Made Argentina compactness becomes useless. I thought the game would enter into penalty shootout especially when the Cape Verde equalized Argentina during the extra time. I don't blame the Argentina players, it is scaloni that I blame, you have young good players on the bench who can press, create chances and Make multiple runs e.g Simeone, Barco, Nico Paz yet he is bringing in old veterans to the game. Why was the Midfield looked lost . Argentina would have easily won this game if they pressed harder.

[Jossque]

Portugal and Spain will battle it out in this epic matchup to advance to the quarterfinals. Although Spain is considered the favorite, it would be ridiculous to say that Portugal will simply hand the match over to Spain without a fight. Portugal didn’t have a great group stage and, in my opinion, failed to put on a strong performance against Croatia, but since they’re heading into a high-pressure match right now, I think they’ll step up their game. I believe both teams have a very high scoring potential.

[emrecemsan]

We have our first quarter final matchup in our hands: France v Morocco.



It was really interesting to see France struggling that much. Paraguay did the best defending they could. However I'll add that they played very dirty! The referee of the match was horrible as well. 

Paraguay must have been shown at least a couple of yellow cards and even a red card. But they literally didn't get any... This referee shouldn't be given any match in big tournaments as of now. He doesn't know much about football clearly.

[sotelorene]

Honestly, it will be a tough one for Morocco. I know 1 thing for sure that Morocco will put up a good fight against them; but I'm not confident that they can overcome France.

1 way I feel they can win against France is if they hold the defence line and drag the game to a penalty shootout, then Morocco will have a favorable chance of winning because they have a good track record when it comes to penalties.

Anyways, I wish them all the best.

it's starting to be the quarter-finals and the games are starting to get really tough
I don't know who can win between the two teams, France is very strong but Morocco is also very strong.
In my opinion it will be a very tough match and also very physical given the strength of Morocco.

The game has been very tough right from the beginning of the tournament but this stage can be very critical, I think the last world cup it was France that knocked out Morocco in the semifinals, Morocco was very strong that season to the point they held so many big teams draw and won them in penalty but France was so strong they could not hold it and I imagine what it will be like this year but there is still a chance France can win again.

[Jossque]

The match between the U.S. and Belgium is going to be a bit of an odd one, to be honest. The U.S. has had a really strong run so far, and we can say they’ve put on a good performance. They comfortably defeated Paraguay and Australia but lost to Turkey. Looking at the most recent match between these two teams, we see that it wasn’t too long ago. In a friendly match played about four months ago, Belgium managed to defeat their opponent 5-2. Of course, this was just a friendly, but even so, seven goals were scored in the match. The U.S. is already a team that loves to score, and Belgium also has strong players on the offensive line. We’re in for a match where either team could win—in fact, it’s truly a three-way contest.

[sergiorus]

We have our first quarter final matchup in our hands: France v Morocco.



It was really interesting to see France struggling that much. Paraguay did the best defending they could. However I'll add that they played very dirty! The referee of the match was horrible as well. 

Paraguay must have been shown at least a couple of yellow cards and even a red card. But they literally didn't get any... This referee shouldn't be given any match in big tournaments as of now. He doesn't know much about football clearly.

Finals: Portugal vs. Argentina.

As they say, the most entertaining outcome is the most likely outcome.

[Jossque]

Argentina will face Egypt. Egypt is among the teams that have managed to both score and concede goals in every match they’ve played in the World Cup. Since they’ve scored and conceded in every game, they certainly have the potential to find the net against Argentina in this match as well. Argentina may be somewhat demoralized after their hard-fought victory over Cape Verde, and if Egypt can apply pressure early on, they might find the back of the net. In my opinion, it will be difficult for Egypt to advance in this match, but seeing Argentina struggle so much against Cape Verde might have given them a bit of a morale boost. I expect Argentina to defeat their opponent and advance to the next round.

[As-Soon-As]

Honestly, it will be a tough one for Morocco. I know 1 thing for sure that Morocco will put up a good fight against them; but I'm not confident that they can overcome France.

1 way I feel they can win against France is if they hold the defence line and drag the game to a penalty shootout, then Morocco will have a favorable chance of winning because they have a good track record when it comes to penalties.
Anyways, I wish them all the best.

it's starting to be the quarter-finals and the games are starting to get really tough
I don't know who can win between the two teams, France is very strong but Morocco is also very strong.
In my opinion it will be a very tough match and also very physical given the strength of Morocco.

The game has been very tough right from the beginning of the tournament but this stage can be very critical, I think the last world cup it was France that knocked out Morocco in the semifinals, Morocco was very strong that season to the point they held so many big teams draw and won them in penalty but France was so strong they could not hold it and I imagine what it will be like this year but there is still a chance France can win again.

France and Morocco will face each other in what will be the toughest and most competitive match of the season. It is very difficult to say which team will win this match because Morocco has entered this round with a huge margin. Winning against France is not that easy, only the team that performs well here can win.
If this match goes to penalties, Morocco will have a higher chance of winning, because every player in the Moroccan team is very experienced and patient. Because I saw that in the last World Cup, France lost to Argentina on penalties and failed to win the World Cup.