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

[virasog]

Egypt got the first goal but they must avoid the mistake they made in their last match against Australia where they scored and began to relax which made Australia to equalise. I know Argentina is not an easy team to win but Egypt need to take advantage of this 1 goal lead and make another attempt if they can get another goal. With what Egypt is playing after they scored, Argentina will get an equaliser because they just got a penalty but unfortunately, Messi missed the penalty for the second time in this world cup. Maybe it's not Messi's destiny to score through a penalty so he should better allow any of his teammates to play penalties because if they end up losing this match to Egypt he will be criticised for missing that penalty so he must avoid anything that will stain his good impression in the world cup.

In the ending minutes, Argentina scored their third goal otherwise the match was about to go to the extra time / penalties. By the way, it looks very disappointing for the team Egypt that they were about to win the match and worked really hard. However, they qualifeid till this stage because if we look their history in the preivous Fifa Tournament, did not qualified in the 2022 World Cup where last time played 2018 and 1990 World Cup before, and both of the times they got out from group stages still at this time they at least reached to group of 16. In total, they played 4 Fifa World Cup includng this 2026 WC.

[meser#]

I watched the Switzerland-Colombia match up until the first period of extra time, but I was indescribably bored.
Five minutes into the first period of extra time, I turned off the TV and went to sleep.
I just found out the result: Switzerland became Argentina's quarter-final opponent after a penalty shootout.
Not a single moment from the match stuck in my memory. It was the worst game of the quarter-finals. I had thought Colombia would advance, but it didn't happen.

[ZeroVinsonN]

Am I the only one who is noticing a lot of hate and attacks against the Argentina team and it's fans on social media?
I have literally been on Twitter(X) for some hours now and there have been hundreds or even thousands of Cristiano Ronaldo fans accusing Argentina to have some given advantage by the referee and the FIFA in general.

I would have never seen so many people wishing for Argentina to lost this tournament before?

Have you experienced something like this as well? Or is it only my personal Twitter feed which may be giving me some false perception on the state of this tournament?

What's the point in trying to pin it on Ronaldo or his fans, there are alot of people out there who believe Argentina matches were rigged in their favour, you are most likely a Messi fan yourself so you probably won't see the same things these other people are seeing and there is nothing wrong with that but coming to claim that the numbers you used of Ronaldo fans are the ones saying it was rigged is probably just you trying to ragebait them, it's wrong to just generalize these things.

[Ale88]

I watched the Switzerland-Colombia match up until the first period of extra time, but I was indescribably bored.
Five minutes into the first period of extra time, I turned off the TV and went to sleep.
I just found out the result: Switzerland became Argentina's quarter-final opponent after a penalty shootout.
Not a single moment from the match stuck in my memory. It was the worst game of the quarter-finals. I had thought Colombia would advance, but it didn't happen.

Since the moment I saw the draw I thought this was probably the most equal match among all. And that meant it could have gone two ways: one of the teams would score early in the game and we would have a very interesting match or the two teams would simply cancel each other out. Unfortunately it was the second case.

[EarnOnVictor]

This is something that made me feel like crying, imagine the pressure especially when all hope is lost, there comes Messi w d his warriors fighting to stay alive in this FWC... Can't say much, I think this should put the debate to bed.
Egypt is the version 2 of Senegal, leading and losing the game. Can't say more on this guys (Egyptians) because they are the cause of their own eviction.

Do you know why I was even angry? It's simple, those Egyptian guys never believed in themselves, period! I didn't care about who wins that match, but it's so annoying that after you were engraced with 2 goals to nill, you couldn't defend it, just because of pressure, but the psychology to counter it is simple. If Egyptians, instead of playing the cowardice, they had meted Argentina with much fire and pressure instead of allowing them to pressure them while they only attempted to defend, it would have played out differently because it will balance it. It's only psychological. The best form of defense is attack, and that would have neutralised Argentina's pressure.

[giammangiato]

I watched the Switzerland-Colombia match up until the first period of extra time, but I was indescribably bored.
Five minutes into the first period of extra time, I turned off the TV and went to sleep.
I just found out the result: Switzerland became Argentina's quarter-final opponent after a penalty shootout.
Not a single moment from the match stuck in my memory. It was the worst game of the quarter-finals. I had thought Colombia would advance, but it didn't happen.

Out of boredom, I also watched the match, only the penalties were fun to watch, at least someone was shooting on goal to score goals:D
I confirm that it was a boring match, they managed to get through, but I don't think they will be able to face Argentina with these performances, in any case they deserve compliments, they certainly did better than us Italians and that's a fact.
I was also expecting a more aggressive Colombia.

[yenerbatmaz]

Just as I started watching the Argentina vs. Egypt match, Egypt's second goal was disallowed following a VAR review.
In my opinion, it was the right decision. Then Egypt found a second goal again, and this time I thought, "That's it, it's over." When the cameras panned to Messi, he was even looking at the scoreboard to see how much time was left.
Just as I was thinking Argentina would be eliminated, they scored a goal. Five minutes later came the second goal, and then a third arrived in the final minutes; Egypt ended up losing a match they had been leading 2-0.

After the match, the Egypt manager made a statement along the lines of, "If they wanted Argentina to advance, why did they even play the match?" Seriously? What kind of statement is that? You should look at your own team's stupidity instead. Whenever Argentina scored on the pitch, the entire Egyptian bench was signaling for VAR.

I have never seen a post-match statement like that. I would have liked to see Egypt advance too, but it wasn't to be. Congratulations to Argentina.

Messi organizes his teammates well. The guy has missed two penalties so far; had those gone in, he would have reached 10 goals in the tournament.

[OsaiEmma]

Just as I started watching the Argentina vs. Egypt match, Egypt's second goal was disallowed following a VAR review.
In my opinion, it was the right decision. Then Egypt found a second goal again, and this time I thought, "That's it, it's over." When the cameras panned to Messi, he was even looking at the scoreboard to see how much time was left.
Just as I was thinking Argentina would be eliminated, they scored a goal. Five minutes later came the second goal, and then a third arrived in the final minutes; Egypt ended up losing a match they had been leading 2-0.

After the match, the Egypt manager made a statement along the lines of, "If they wanted Argentina to advance, why did they even play the match?" Seriously? What kind of statement is that? You should look at your own team's stupidity instead. Whenever Argentina scored on the pitch, the entire Egyptian bench was signaling for VAR.

I have never seen a post-match statement like that. I would have liked to see Egypt advance too, but it wasn't to be. Congratulations to Argentina.

Messi organizes his teammates well. The guy has missed two penalties so far; had those gone in, he would have reached 10 goals in the tournament.

Honestly, it was a funny statement. As you've stated earlier, Messi missed a penalty; all they had to do was defend their 2 goals and they couldn't, now they're blaming FIFA for the brilliance of Messi, it's so funny honestly.

Messi is a great player, howbeit with a bad record or having the most missed penalties in the world cup; ironically, the highest goal scorer too , that's a crazy feat.

I for once thought Argentina would be eliminated, but they sailed through and won the game. Congrats to them and kudos to Egypt for pressuring the defending champions the way they did, almost clenched a victory.

[alankasman]

Egypt had a high chance of winning. But the bad referee repeatedly decided in favor of Argentina. They showed yesterday how crazy Argentina is. Despite repeated pushing and fouls, the referee did not take any action against them. However, when Egypt scored the second goal, they directly disallowed their goal and decided in favor of Argentina. Ah, it's as if Argentina had bought the referee in advance. I am not satisfied with yesterday's result. Egypt was definitely cheated. I understand how the best team in the world, Argentina, won.

They had a pretty good chance of beating Argentina in that match because time was running out. However there were several options that could have allowed Argentina to advance to the next round. Many refereeing decisions favored Argentina leading many to believe that the match was clearly a win for Argentina. This was due to the referee's numerous decisions that clearly helped them often without the referee's consent.

And I really appreciate the extraordinary struggle carried out by Egypt because from the first minute they have fought as hard as possible with the aim that they can provide resistance against the team whose status is the defending champion but unfortunately many controversies that occurred in the match were more in favor of Argentina and sometimes I really agree with your statement that they seem to have booked the referee from before the match so it is natural for the referee to have to do what makes this World Cup the most controversial thing that makes Argentina able to become champions again with the word back to back.

[satscraper]

Egypt got the first goal but they must avoid the mistake they made in their last match against Australia where they scored and began to relax which made Australia to equalise. I know Argentina is not an easy team to win but Egypt need to take advantage of this 1 goal lead and make another attempt if they can get another goal. With what Egypt is playing after they scored, Argentina will get an equaliser because they just got a penalty but unfortunately, Messi missed the penalty for the second time in this world cup. Maybe it's not Messi's destiny to score through a penalty so he should better allow any of his teammates to play penalties because if they end up losing this match to Egypt he will be criticised for missing that penalty so he must avoid anything that will stain his good impression in the world cup.

In the ending minutes, Argentina scored their third goal otherwise the match was about to go to the extra time / penalties. By the way, it looks very disappointing for the team Egypt that they were about to win the match and worked really hard. However, they qualifeid till this stage because if we look their history in the preivous Fifa Tournament, did not qualified in the 2022 World Cup where last time played 2018 and 1990 World Cup before, and both of the times they got out from group stages still at this time they at least reached to group of 16. In total, they played 4 Fifa World Cup includng this 2026 WC.

This match has shown that hard efforts alone are not enough to win, and they have to be combined with the skills which were shown by Argentina. Romero, Messi, and Enzo Fernandez proved this in the second half, so Argentina's win can be considered as the fitting result. I was not expecting any result other than an Egypt defeat. So the outcome was quite expected.

[Barikui1]

Out of boredom, I also watched the match, only the penalties were fun to watch, at least someone was shooting on goal to score goals:D
I confirm that it was a boring match, they managed to get through, but I don't think they will be able to face Argentina with these performances, in any case they deserve compliments, they certainly did better than us Italians and that's a fact.
I was also expecting a more aggressive Colombia.

This was a game where both teams were of equal strength, so I wasn't surprised that it went to penalty shootout after playing out a goalless draw, and wwhat I didn't find attractive was how boring the game was, no real attacking play that led to a goal, and we the neutral fans wasn't entertained as we wanted, but I believe that Switzerland can't afford to perform this poor against Argentina if they really want to progress to the next round because Argentina is on a different level to Colombia.

[Hewlet]

This is something that made me feel like crying, imagine the pressure especially when all hope is lost, there comes Messi w d his warriors fighting to stay alive in this FWC... Can't say much, I think this should put the debate to bed.
Egypt is the version 2 of Senegal, leading and losing the game. Can't say more on this guys (Egyptians) because they are the cause of their own eviction.

Do you know why I was even angry? It's simple, those Egyptian guys never believed in themselves, period! I didn't care about who wins that match, but it's so annoying that after you were engraced with 2 goals to nill, you couldn't defend it, just because of pressure, but the psychology to counter it is simple.

Bro! there is nothing simple about the situation the Egyptian players were at. obviously, it was looking like they were playing against the referee and that the game was fixed against them. all the poor officiating decision that went against them is enough to demoralize any team and once things starts going wrong for a team, it can even get really worse. this is just very annoying to think of and as someone that believed that after their second goal was made void and they still went on to score another that they deserved the win, i have not gotten over that loss. it is extremely painful.

Truth still remains that regardless of the poor officiating, Argentina played as a team that needed the win even more and for Messi, he has shown over and over again that he is in a completely different world of his own. he was a different class in that game.

[The Founding Titan]

The last dance for the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Christian Ronaldo, though was not the expected outcome but was a competition worth celebrating. Spain deserved the win without a doubt because they were the better side, though the winning goal came late and quite unexpected.

Portugal looked like they were afraid of advancing with the ball or rather holding on till the penalties,  because the ball kept revolving around the midfield region and no creativity or movement that could be goal threatening. Ronaldo did not have the best chances yesterday and actually underperformed which is understandable considering his age, but the game was worth the wait too.

It was a good game, if Portugal had performed better then they would have had a shot at winning but things happened the way they did and there is nothing that can be done about it again, Ronaldo can retire as the legend that he already is, it would have been nice if he had been able to get his hands on the world cup but that's no longer a possibility now, regardless he will still be the GOAT, Portugal can go home now and think on all of the things they did wrong and hopefully make corrections for their own sake.

The game was not bad just that Spain was so stupid yesterday that they threw away all their chances and the kind of opportunities Lamine Yamal was missing yesterday I was so shocked. If Spain had a good finisher yesterday the game would not have ended that way as Portugal would have concede a lots of goals. And again Spain was so lucky they didn't enter penalty kick because I'm very sure Portugal would have defeat them just like the previous one.

And Portugal didn't miss chances? Let's not forget that this is football we are talking about here, if the Portugal team had actually been a team then maybe we would be talking about how they won instead, Spain performed admirably with what they had as did Portugal and they should both be commended for that, it's sad that Portugal had to go but both countries couldn't have moved forward, one had to go for the other, Spain should maximize effort to perform even better in their coming game, for their own sake.

[Solokan]

Egypt let a 2–0 lead slip against Argentina in the final 15 minutes. They couldn't hold onto their advantage and conceded three consecutive goals, eventually losing 3–2.
With that comeback victory, Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals.

Yes, it's really unfortunate. Egypt was already two goals ahead at that time, and Egypt was actually just buying time. But unfortunately, Egypt failed to keep its goal from conceding and allowed Argentina to score three goals. Sometimes I don't understand Egypt, allowing them to concede so many goals when Egypt should have been more enthusiastic when they were ahead in terms of goals. But yes, this shows that Argentina played well and was finally able to turn things around. The Argentine supporters in the stadium looked very happy because their team finally won, while many Egyptian supporters were certainly disappointed because their team failed to win that match.

Yes, Argentina will now advance to the quarterfinals and of course they will meet Switzerland. I think the quarterfinal match between Switzerland and Argentina will be very exciting. Who do you think will win in that match, Switzerland or Argentina? I think it's very difficult to predict that match because Switzerland and Argentina are strong teams.

[Sexylizzy2813]

I don't think I have watched any game that is as interesting as thus game between Switzerland vs Colombia, both sides showed that hunger to book a tick to the next round, counter after counter, if not for this hydration break I don't see these guys stop running just to make something happen. So sad to see Colombia go in this competition, they have all the chances to get a goal but that final touch is the problem, all they did ended up against them and I would have love to see them play Argentina because they are the best match for them, if they play against each other the Argentina side would reduce the speed at which they operate because Colombia are familiar with their style of play but unfortunately Switzerland won the game at the end of the day.

It's been hard for teams to easily take down these Columbians, they fight with all they have and I have been noticing them for some time. If they don't score you, they wouldn't allow you to score easily. I see them as a pain in the ass of other teams. Although, I rooted for them to qualify because of their resilience in the game, they have this hunger of not pulling back even though they are playing a bigger team with more stars than them, we saw that in the Portugal game but Switzerland maybe were in another level and help them to a draw for the full 120 minutes. Of course the penalty shootout as I have always said is for anybody. Here there's no master in it because even the best around the world do miss from the spot.

Switzerland are really going to be a pain in the ass like you said but Argentina will have a test of it first and if they manage to get pass Argentina then anything can happen because Argentina too are like them, enduring pressure and if you score them it becomes hard because they will come in full force to get a goal just like what we saw against Egypt. Well I don't have issues with Messi missing the penalty but is like this guy doesn't want any of his goals to come from the spot and that is how it has been right from the start, but they need to be careful because all what we saw yesterday between Egypt vs Argentina and Switzerland vs Colombia is never going to repeat itself, it will be a different ball game and hopefully it will end at 90'mins.

[pewboy]

But this is a tribute match for a world soccer legend. A loss would mean Spain ends Portugal's run and simultaneously brings Ronaldo's World Cup journey to a close'so that in the next World Cup, we won't see a player who rose to prominence through hard work and discipline rather than natural talent.

Ronaldo should be honored for everything he has done in these very long years in all these editions of the world cup, he absolutely seems to me to be a person who has given a lot in these years, for everything he has done he should be rewarded with a lifetime achievement award, i grew up with him and i think he is truly number one.

[EarnOnVictor]

This is something that made me feel like crying, imagine the pressure especially when all hope is lost, there comes Messi w d his warriors fighting to stay alive in this FWC... Can't say much, I think this should put the debate to bed.
Egypt is the version 2 of Senegal, leading and losing the game. Can't say more on this guys (Egyptians) because they are the cause of their own eviction.

Do you know why I was even angry? It's simple, those Egyptian guys never believed in themselves, period! I didn't care about who wins that match, but it's so annoying that after you were engraced with 2 goals to nill, you couldn't defend it, just because of pressure, but the psychology to counter it is simple.

Bro! there is nothing simple about the situation the Egyptian players were at. obviously, it was looking like they were playing against the referee and that the game was fixed against them. all the poor officiating decision that went against them is enough to demoralize any team and once things starts going wrong for a team, it can even get really worse. this is just very annoying to think of and as someone that believed that after their second goal was made void and they still went on to score another that they deserved the win, i have not gotten over that loss. it is extremely painful.

Fine, that referee could be aggressive at some point, but that shouldn't be a basis for demoralisation, as these guys are professional and the officiating was reasonable to a good extent, IMO. Where they got it wrong was by not meeting pressure with pressure. If you noticed, shortly after the Egyptian second goal, Argentina started became hungry for goals and were extremely coordinated and professional while mounting extremely pressure on the defence of Egypt. That's where Egyptians needed to gear up. That was the only saving grace they had. If they could measure it up with Argentina's status at that time, the field would rather be balanced instead of cowardly trying to defend when they are not so good at that. But if they had mounted extra pressure with accurate passes and vicious attacking instead of defending only, Argentina might luckily score only 1 goal. That is where boldness and self-belief comes in, it's psychological. Egyptian team lacked that.

[blue Snow]

Am I the only one who is noticing a lot of hate and attacks against the Argentina team and it's fans on social media?
I have literally been on Twitter(X) for some hours now and there have been hundreds or even thousands of Cristiano Ronaldo fans accusing Argentina to have some given advantage by the referee and the FIFA in general.

I would have never seen so many people wishing for Argentina to lost this tournament before?

Have you experienced something like this as well? Or is it only my personal Twitter feed which may be giving me some false perception on the state of this tournament?

I’ve noticed that too, and that’s exactly what’s happening. Hahaha… Ronaldo’s fans are disappointed and can’t seem to get over the fact that their idol not never won a World Cup trophy in his entire career. That’s why they’re trying to attack Argentina. They’re jealous that Messi has already won the World Cup. As for me, I just laugh at the behavior of Ronaldo’s fans. Well, you have to understand, they’re disappointed and heartbroken, so naturally they want to vent their frustration by accusing the referees of cheating or FIFA of cheating.

[Cryptmuster]

This is something that made me feel like crying, imagine the pressure especially when all hope is lost, there comes Messi w d his warriors fighting to stay alive in this FWC... Can't say much, I think this should put the debate to bed.
Egypt is the version 2 of Senegal, leading and losing the game. Can't say more on this guys (Egyptians) because they are the cause of their own eviction.

#Messi_Greatest-Of-All-Time

Egypt were just unlucky, they held on very well throughout the match and made the most of every chance they created in attack. But toward the end, they just couldn't withstand Argentina's relentless pressure. The Argentinians built up incredible momentum in the closing stages, and by then they were impossible to stop.

Once Argentina equalized to make it 2–2, it was clear that Egypt would struggle to hold them off any longer. The only question left was whether the match would go to extra time or if Argentina would complete the comeback in regular time.

[Jostern]

But this is a tribute match for a world soccer legend. A loss would mean Spain ends Portugal's run and simultaneously brings Ronaldo's World Cup journey to a close'so that in the next World Cup, we won't see a player who rose to prominence through hard work and discipline rather than natural talent.

Ronaldo should be honored for everything he has done in these very long years in all these editions of the world cup, he absolutely seems to me to be a person who has given a lot in these years, for everything he has done he should be rewarded with a lifetime achievement award, i grew up with him and i think he is truly number one.

What lifetime achievement awards are you talking about ? He has been playing and he is getting paid, and he has won several trophies, and he has won so many accolades which is a personal accolades, Pele, and Maradona who have played football and also achieved a lot and are no longer here with us, don’t you think they’re the once that should be considered for a lifetime achievement awards, this players have won the World Cup but Ronaldo haven’t won the World Cup, he has absolutely done nothing in the World Cup, he has no contribution in the World Cup, Personally I don’t see anything good he has done that would warrant anything such as a lifetime achievement awards.