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

[Smartprofit]

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Personally, I don't see Portugal as the clear favorite in this match. Spain's chances of winning seem better to me! 🙋

Spain is the only team at this World Cup that hasn't conceded a single goal! And they've played some pretty strong opponents in their group. I truly think Spain could very well win this World Cup (they have every chance).

Like you mentioned, Spain has not conceded a goal in this World Cup, so I accept the fact that they are a difficult team to beat. But to become the World champions they need to beat teams like Argentina and France who are in great form.

Since I am a Cristiano Ronaldo fan, I would like to see Portugal replicate the UEFA Nations League Final result from last year, where both teams scored two goals each during the regular and extra time before going to the penalties and Portugal winning the cup.  

I am eagerly waiting for the match to start shortly.

Yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Spain-Portugal match! However, throughout the entire 90 minutes, I couldn't shake the feeling that I should have backed a draw. 🙋

Both teams, in my opinion, played far below their potential. I didn't see the dynamic, active play I expected before the live broadcast. The Spanish players seemed to be conserving their energy, focusing primarily on defending their goal. Portugal played more aggressively. Cristiano Ronaldo even came close to scoring twice against Spain.

I was already thinking that my bet on Spain to win ($25) would be lost... However, the referees extended regulation time by six minutes, the Spanish coach brought on fresh substitutes, and Spain scored against Portugal! I won $23!

Cristiano Ronaldo did his best, but age certainly takes its toll.  He couldn't play alone for the entire Portuguese team, which, in my opinion, really lacked the cohesion and consistency to win.💁

[Stavri]

this world cup is unfolding that proves fifa is anything but independent. Coming on the heels of Qatar 2022, the rescinded red card was the final straw, utterly destroying global trust in FIFA.

[Sim_card]

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

I have been wondering why I haven't seen any outstanding performance from Ketelaere in their previous matches because I know how he's always contributing to Atalanta victory since he arrived at the club. Finally, he got his moment yesterday against the US team as he scored two classic goals in the first half to put his men at ease.

[Abdulzuruku01]

I never expected the outcome of this game to be so I thought  even if Belgium were to win it’ll be by a narrow margin but 4:1 I don’t think anyone expected that. Congratulations to them, they’ve really improved from their shaky start.

No one should naturally expect the outcome of the USA vs Belgium to be as high as 1-4, but it's a deserving outcome with the ignoble actions of the US president and FIFA; that's too dishonourable. Belgium appealed the Folarin Balogun's red card reversal, yet FIFA ignored that and even contested it, so on the pitch is the only option to settle the scores since it's not the fight of Belgium alone, but the world of sports at large.

Most of the people were not in support of what FIFA did, which it just felt like a political power used against FIFA, although the injustice didn’t affect them, because in football is not all about the power, but the strength in the pitch, no one was expecting to see such a result but it happened. We all know that Belgium is a strong team and faced with USA one of the host countries we know things might be different for them, but it’s didn’t turn out that way. I will say a congratulations to Belgium for moving to the next round in the World Cup, hope there are ready for Spain.

[kizilhare]

So, has the US been eliminated from the tournament now? I won't believe it until an official statement comes from FIFA.
I think an announcement could come at any moment—with FIFA finding some loophole or excuse—saying that Belgium has been eliminated and the US has advanced to the next round.
After all, they rescinded Balogun's suspension just because the US lacked a striker.
That’s why I’m approaching this cautiously.

[Sithara007]

I find it really hard to digest the results so far. Brazil, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands and Croatia have been eliminated. On the other hand, Norway and Morocco have advanced to the Quarterfinals stage. And I won't say that these were entirely unexpected results. Brazil have been struggling even to qualify from CONMEBOL. Germany and Netherlands have been struggling for sometime, and Italy hasn't made it past qualifiers for more than a decade now. The face of global football is rapidly changing. And it is happening even within each confederation.

Excellent analysis.
Many other football enthusiasts have made similar observations and comments as well.
My comments on this just as before is that why this is happening is because we are moving from an era where the stars if these teams have retired or are retiring to an era of new stars rising up and that will take a couple of years for us to see these teams do what they used to be known for in world championships.

That's what happened to both Spain and Italy. But the outcome has been quite different in these two cases. After the golden generation retired, both these teams were in a state of flux. In case of Italy, despite the emergence of several promising younger players (such as Mateo Retegui), they have been unable to perform at the previous level. On the other hand, Spain is performing at a level that can be compared to what it was two decades back. I am not sure how this can be explained. And there are several other examples from UEFA and around the world, but I chose the most obvious ones.

[Callido]

Most of the people were not in support of what FIFA did, which it just felt like a political power used against FIFA, although the injustice didn’t affect them, because in football is not all about the power, but the strength in the pitch, no one was expecting to see such a result but it happened. We all know that Belgium is a strong team and faced with USA one of the host countries we know things might be different for them, but it’s didn’t turn out that way. I will say a congratulations to Belgium for moving to the next round in the World Cup, hope there are ready for Spain.

USA had a huge defeat in the round of 16, they couldn't withstand Belgium after using political benefit to sustain a player that was awarded a red card for a tackle that deserves a red card. USA thinking to go past Belgium is something crazy, USA dreams of winning the World Cup has come to an end, it happened fairly, right on the pitch.

Despite his presence in the game, USA was unable to deliver, it held no value after all what Trump did and FIFA allowing the plea.

[Minor Miner]

USA had a huge defeat in the round of 16, they couldn't withstand Belgium after using political benefit to sustain a player that was awarded a red card for a tackle that deserves a red card. USA thinking to go past Belgium is something crazy, USA dreams of winning the World Cup has come to an end, it happened fairly, right on the pitch.

Despite his presence in the game, USA was unable to deliver, it held no value after all what Trump did and FIFA allowing the plea.

USA tried their best to win the match. Even the political influence created to break the confidence of the players of Belazim. Even then they could not win till the end. And I'm glad they didn't win. Their performance is not that strong. They do not deserve the round of 16.

Belgium played brilliantly from the start of the match. The team confirmed the victory with a margin of 4-1. The first half ended 2-1. In the second half we saw only Belgium's dominance. Spain is going to face Belgium in the quarter finals. This match will also be very exciting. Both teams are in good form.

[Synchronice]

What a sentimental World Cup we have in 2026. Neymar's Brazil lost and it was the last match for Neymar. Ronaldo's Portugal also lost and it was the last match for Portugal. Besides that, countries like Germany and Netherlands lost too. The only beautiful moment OG football fans have right now is Messi's Argentina, which almost lost against Cape Verde. Today is a very important day for all Argentinians and Messi fans.

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

It's such a shame that Trump really called FIFA to have that suspension postponed. It's really such a shame that FIFA also immediately agreed and also said that their decision wasn't affected by the White House.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Argentina vs Egypt and Switzerland vs Colombia tonight, I think we’ll see both South American teams advance to the 1/4 finals.

It’s starting to shape up nicely now, we are getting to the business end of the competition.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

What a sentimental World Cup we have in 2026. Neymar's Brazil lost and it was the last match for Neymar. Ronaldo's Portugal also lost and it was the last match for Portugal. Besides that, countries like Germany and Netherlands lost too. The only beautiful moment OG football fans have right now is Messi's Argentina, which almost lost against Cape Verde. Today is a very important day for all Argentinians and Messi fans.

It's because many of them are very old players so this World Cup is their last attempts to play and achieve something with their teams. Like Ochoa, surely he did not hope to win World Cup title with Mexico but the other players like Neur, Modric, Neymar, Ronaldo actually began this World Cup with their target is a trophy. It's hard for these players and their fans to accept a fact that their teams were out and their careers also come to endings. They can try to play one or two more seasons but four more seasons till World Cup 2030 is impossible.

It's time to goodbye all of them in international career and hope them the best in their remaining seasons at club levels. Some other players are possibly playing their last World Cup matches are Messi, Lukaku and De Bruyne, let's see how far they will go with Argentina and Belgium.

[Smack That Ace]

I watched the entire match, to be honest, I didn't find the match exciting at all. Although the last few minutes were exciting, overall we saw poor performance from both teams throughout the match. It wasn't because the defense of both teams was strong, but rather because both teams had a messy attack. Lack of finishing and unplanned attacks were part of the game. That's why Spain managed to score only 1 goal in 15 attacks and Portugal didn't score a single goal in 10 attacks. Even most of the attacks from both teams were off target. However, congratulations to Spain for winning the match by scoring the winning goal in extra time. All the legends except Messi have now been eliminated from the World Cup.

When two very strong teams face each other, the matches become  so boring. The main reason for this is  that the teams do not  want to lose. So their main target is to keep the defense  strong, and then they attack. We saw the same thing in this match.

Both Spain and portugal attacked a lot. But I agree with you that it  was not a very exciting match. Both attacked  slowly. Their target was not to concede any goals. But in the end, portugal conceded a goal. After  90 minutes, they conceded a goal. They were unlucky, for sure. I thought the match would go to  extra time.

[MArsland]

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

It's a good thing the US national team was eliminated, especially since Balogun red card was suspended, leaving many questions about FIFA credibility. Now we have the strongest team remaining in the quarterfinals. Belgium score exceeded expectations, their performance deserves praise, and they are another dark horse after Norway.

[bangjoe]

This is Messi's chance as well to lead the top scorers at this World Cup, seeing how Egypt were not as strong against Argentina as last season's winners, and yes I think they should be, Argentina can get more goals against Egypt this time.

But it is not as easy as we talk about because every team that is already in the current phase I think their strength should not be underestimated especially Egypt which throughout their history this time they are in a phase like this, but I really believe that Egypt will provide enough resistance to make them Argentina will experience difficulties especially Moh Salah is in a pretty good performance with his colleagues especially they in this match will fight as hard as they can with the aim of giving victory to their supporters who are currently waiting for victory in the match against the defending champions, namely Argentina.

Seeing how the match against Australia won Egypt was much more dominating the match very well but even though it was like they had poor goal productivity so they could only take this match to the penalty round to fight for a ticket to the round of 16, but Argentina was different even though against Cape Verde they were quite fierce but the goal productivity could not be covered, in this case Argentina could be far superior to Egypt, maybe 2-0 or 3-0 which could be taken by Argentina, I know that Egypt have Moh Salah but besides having Messi Argentina also have FIFA you have to remember that too.

[Volgastallion]

BOOOMMM, what was that, what happened yesterday was not expected by anyone, i mean who can predict team USA out of the world cup in this way, i was expecting to see them winning and to be honest in a super comfy way, but nothing of that happens and between a good Belgium and a horrible USA with some players making some silly mistakes they ended up losing badly 4-1 with no chances.

[Rockstarguy]

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

This issue of the red card given to Balogun during the match between the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina; I think Donald Trump would have just overlooked the red card. His calling the FIFA president to review the decision is just as if FIFA has been compromised, but FIFA claims the decision was taken by an independent body just to make it look as if FIFA never bowed to the pressure of Donald Trump. To be frank, this issue has caused many fans to lose hope in FIFA for not standing by their decision. Suspending the red card didn't even change the performance of the USA.

[B-BossMan]

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

I was very happy as the match ended this way, now people would stop complaining that the FiFA world cup officials and the president are not doing the right thing concerning the Balogu's red card postponed. So I was even thinking that, if the balogun's didn't participated in this match against Belgium, they will lose the match, now even with the Balogun they were defeated shamefully. Well-done played to the Belgium for this great victory.

Today my mide is at the Egypt presently, the Argentina are facing Egypt today  and from the mainly looking at the fixtures I know definitely the match is going to tough enough, but I prefer Egypt should win the match. They're my favourite.

[paco92x]

Despite the U.S.A having Balogun’s suspension postponed, they suffered a defeat against Belgium. Even though Balogun’s red card was postponed, he didn’t play very well during the match. Belgium eliminated them with a victory that truly humiliated them. All three national teams were eliminated as hosts, and I’m eagerly waiting to see which of the remaining teams will come out on top. In my opinion, Charles De Ketelaere was the undisputed star of the match. Finishing the game with two goals and one assist, De Ketelaere played a major role in securing the victory.

Justice has been served to the USA; they tried to bend the rules in football, and the game has spoken for the people. Not that Belgium was super dominant, but rather it was down to the mistakes that happened in the USA defense. It's simple: when you try to cheat, it will backfire on you.

[martinom]

This match seems to be a very interesting match and in my opinion I think it's hard to predict. The bookmakers might favor Spain to win this contest and I really can't talk much about that. What I think is its a 50/50 match because I think they are both of the same level and the both team has not been at their best in this World Cup.  What I am very sure is that is going to be an interesting match as I have mentioned, and I also think it's going to produce at least 3 goals, so I will just watch the match and enjoy it.

bookmakers never take and never get it right, i believe that despite it going like this, i enjoyed the draw, there are players who need to be seen and who deserve to be seen and in these two teams there are so many of them so it was an incredible pleasure to see them play like this, and then what about Cristiano Ronaldo despite being 41 years old he is still there at the top.

[Slow death]

Behind Belgium's victory with a big score over the USA, there is one thing that is beyond our knowledge regarding the applicable rules made by FIFA.

Many TV commentators and even people very involved in politics began to politically interpret President Trump's connection to the FIFA president, claiming that Trump had the power to influence results, which is absurd. This defeat for the USA clearly proved them wrong.

If President Trump and FIFA truly had so much power to influence the outcome to benefit the USA, then Belgium would have lost. The red card was reviewed by the FIFA disciplinary committee, not by the FIFA president, and the rules were followed and applied. Everything was legal. Similarly, the USA lost because Belgium was stronger, and everything was fair, and the referee was fair.