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

[eightdots]

now that’s what i call a match. spain was completely in control until belgium scored. now the score is 1-1, and both teams need to play it a bit safe. conceding a goal out of the blue could mean being knocked out of the tournament.

Merino has made it 2-1 and now Spain has the lead with just little time left, it very well seems like Belgium is getting eliminated at this point, and Spain heads on to the quarterfinals,
It's was indeed a difficult one to predict, I kind of underated Spain and thought Belgium will have this one, but Spain has a strong team and their win is well deserved.

As you said, it was a very difficult match to predict because both teams have the strength to beat their opponents. Spain didn't play as well as I expected and they will have a very hard time in the next round. Belgium could have attacked more and taken more risks.

Spain can score goals, but I think they struggled to implement their game plan. They need to play better in the next match because their opponents are very strong.

[Soonandwaite]

The super-sub has scored... and once again a substitute has decided the match. just two minutes on the pitch and Merino has already scored the decisive goal.
it was a thrilling match, and Spain are now through to the semi-finals, where they’ll face France. so there’s guaranteed to be a European team in the World Cup final.

[HelliumZ]

now that’s what i call a match. spain was completely in control until belgium scored. now the score is 1-1, and both teams need to play it a bit safe. conceding a goal out of the blue could mean being knocked out of the tournament.

Merino has made it 2-1 and now Spain has the lead with just little time left, it very well seems like Belgium is getting eliminated at this point, and Spain heads on to the quarterfinals,
It's was indeed a difficult one to predict, I kind of underated Spain and thought Belgium will have this one, but Spain has a strong team and their win is well deserved.

Yes, I thought that the Spain-Belgium game would end in penalties but instead,Merino scored the winning goal in the 88th minute to help Spain reach the semi-finals.However Spain played much better than Belgium and attacked about 18 times and missed the target eight times, so this shows how aggressive Spain was in today's match and in the end, Spain was able to snatch victory. However, the spell will eventually face France in the semi-finals. However, Belgium played much better, eliminated themselves from the quarter-finals and could not give as good a performance as expected in today's match. Still, many good wishes for Belgium.

[Agbamoni]

Mikel Merino, for the second time, delivered Spain in the World Cup a few minutes after he was substituted in the last minute. Clutch player of all time.
Lamens of Manchester United had an opportunity to replace Courtois when he had an injury. Instead of Lamens to show the same effort, he rather caused the mistake that led to the second goal for Spain. No wonder Courtois cried when he was leaving the pitch. He knew this may be the end of the road for Belgium in the World Cup. Another narrow win for Spain. If they play this way against France, they wont qualify for the final.

[Forsyth Jones]

Finally, my friends, we are reaching the final stretch where only the favorites make it. With Spain's match over, advancing them to the semis, we have France and Spain in the semi-finals and 04 other teams to define two spots in the semis. We're nearing the end.  

I didn't follow Spain's games much, more of Argentina, England, and a little bit of France and brazil. Personally, I think France has a great chance of winning the World Cup. They have a very strong team now.

Curiously, Spain is in second place as a favorite in the Polymarket, above Argentina (which I think will be a finalist along with France).
 


Another team that was a surprise was Norway, which has been having a great World Cup. The team plays for Haaland, unlike brazil, which avoided passing the ball to its star player, Neymar jr. They didn't want to win that game, Neymar was seen several times begging for the ball, gesturing. They weren't hungry for victory, Norway was... which was infuriating. Who else thinks the same? Argentina plays for Messi, France for Mbappé and Dembele.

[Crypto Library]

It was a rebound and any goalkeeper can still do the same. Courtois was also scored with a rebound in the first half. The two shot that led to the rebound was too hot which was why it slipped off their hands.

Merino has done it again for Spain. He came from the bench and give them a winning goal against Portugal and now against Belgium. What a supersub. Spain will meet Argentina in the semifinals.

It is true that in case of rebound shot the possibility to defence is not possible because here the goalkeeper most of the time not ready because of his first saving.
But what I want to say here is that Belgium's first goalkeeper Courtois has turned back many such goals and I think if he had been on the field, he would not have let this hundred rebound shots go to waste.
Anyway congratulation to Spain team but the next opponent team is the Argentina on semi-final I hope so on that match the FIFA and the referee on corner favour the Argentina.

[MK-74]

Spain defeated Belgium 2–1 to become the second team to reach the World Cup semifinals.
Spain were clearly the better side throughout the match and fully deserved the victory.

Belgium fought hard and did everything they could to stay in the game, but they couldn't find a way back.

With this win, Spain set up a blockbuster semifinal against France. It promises to be a fantastic match, and I'm expecting a highly competitive battle between two of the tournament's strongest teams.

[Stavri]

now that’s what i call a match. spain was completely in control until belgium scored. now the score is 1-1, and both teams need to play it a bit safe. conceding a goal out of the blue could mean being knocked out of the tournament.

Merino has made it 2-1 and now Spain has the lead with just little time left, it very well seems like Belgium is getting eliminated at this point, and Spain heads on to the quarterfinals,
It's was indeed a difficult one to predict, I kind of underated Spain and thought Belgium will have this one, but Spain has a strong team and their win is well deserved.

Yes, I thought that the Spain-Belgium game would end in penalties but instead,Merino scored the winning goal in the 88th minute to help Spain reach the semi-finals.However Spain played much better than Belgium and attacked about 18 times and missed the target eight times, so this shows how aggressive Spain was in today's match and in the end, Spain was able to snatch victory. However, the spell will eventually face France in the semi-finals. However, Belgium played much better, eliminated themselves from the quarter-finals and could not give as good a performance as expected in today's match. Still, many good wishes for Belgium.

Spain has reached such a level that imo they’ve come incredibly close to the pinnacle of total football. they are literally giving a masterclass on how a team attacks and defends as a whole unit with every single player.

[criptoevangelista]

Spain did really well in today's match, scoring a goal right at the very end. It was a highly contested game that anyone could have won. It's going to be a beautiful semifinal against France. I expected less from this World Cup, but I was wrong, the games have been great, highly competitive, and the teams that qualified all have a great chance of becoming champions. Personally, I'm rooting for Argentina among these teams. I'm a huge fan of Argentine football and all the grit and passion that country's teams have.

[tiCeR]

Spain did really well in today's match, scoring a goal right at the very end. It was a highly contested game that anyone could have won. It's going to be a beautiful semifinal against France. I expected less from this World Cup, but I was wrong, the games have been great, highly competitive, and the teams that qualified all have a great chance of becoming champions. Personally, I'm rooting for Argentina among these teams. I'm a huge fan of Argentine football and all the grit and passion that country's teams have.

They did well, but they benefitted from this poor man. I don't want to attack him because I believe the whole world will attack him. It doesn't feel good.

How can the world continue? Praise the achievements. Let us not be attackers.

[AYOBA]

Yes, I thought that the Spain-Belgium game would end in penalties but instead,Merino scored the winning goal in the 88th minute to help Spain reach the semi-finals.However Spain played much better than Belgium and attacked about 18 times and missed the target eight times, so this shows how aggressive Spain was in today's match and in the end, Spain was able to snatch victory. However, the spell will eventually face France in the semi-finals. However, Belgium played much better, eliminated themselves from the quarter-finals and could not give as good a performance as expected in today's match. Still, many good wishes for Belgium.

I also thought as much when I saw that the match is almost come to an end I was expect them to go for an extra time for 15 minutes, but in deed with the much efforts of the Spain they where able to add a score which doubled their lead to got a wonderful victory over the Belgium, is like the Spain always time their die minutes goal. Because this is exactly what they did in round 16 matchup against Portugal, everyone where given hope that the game will end up in penalty but with within a few final minutes of the games Mikel Merino was able to score a goal in the die minutes, which is exactly what he did today again against Belgium as it stand now Spain has direct advance to the Semifinal.

[juttsab@]

France performed brilliantly as usual, but Morocco didn't perform as competitively as I expected, there was a huge difference in their attack,

France had 22 shots, Morocco only 5, France had 9 shots on target, while Morocco only had 1.

I never expected Morocco to be so bad in attack. The possession of the ball was equal for both teams in the match, but there was a huge difference in their attack.

France missed a penalty first, it was an opportunity for Morocco, but they couldn't use it, and in the end they lost 0-2, I expected a tough match, but France won the match easily.

France beat Morocco by 2-0 in the Quaterfinals and now they are the first team in the semifinal. First half ended 0-0. France won a penalty and Mbappe missed bono saved it . In the first half both teams kept possession equally. With 51% possession Morocco didn't create single big chance ,0.04 xG and only 1 shot . France with 49% possession created 3 big chances and 13 shots having an xG of 1.91. In the second half Mbappe scored a goal in the 60th minute and provided an assist in the 66th minute Dembele scored 2nd goal . Again in this half Morocco kept 53% possession but no big chance created and just 4 shots France created 3 big chances ,1.77xG and 3 shots. Dembele is names as player of the Match. Now France will face Spain in Semifinal 1 .

[coinlary]

Finally,  it just  a goal difference as predicted earlier. Doku almost ruined that though,  alll thanks to the defenders, Belgium can now rest by going back home .

Up next, is a tough stage for both Spain and France ,  I believe both have all it takes to go band for band (not money here  )

Another team that was a surprise was Norway, which has been having a great World Cup. The team plays for Haaland, unlike brazil, which avoided passing the ball to its star player, Neymar jr. They didn't want to win that game, Neymar was seen several times begging for the ball, gesturing. They weren't hungry for victory, Norway was... which was infuriating. Who else thinks the same? Argentina plays for Messi, France for Mbappé and Dembele.

After getting to the current stage, it shouldn't really be a surprise. I don't  know why there's a bit of gap between Norway and England , I expected something tight.

[Stavri]

Spain did really well in today's match, scoring a goal right at the very end. It was a highly contested game that anyone could have won. It's going to be a beautiful semifinal against France. I expected less from this World Cup, but I was wrong, the games have been great, highly competitive, and the teams that qualified all have a great chance of becoming champions. Personally, I'm rooting for Argentina among these teams. I'm a huge fan of Argentine football and all the grit and passion that country's teams have.

Yeah... Spain doesn't lose possession easily. When they do, they win it back very quickly. This allows them to dictate the tempo against any opponent. Cohesive defending, collective attacking, short key passes, high technical capacity and excellent positional awareness sum up this style of play. Spain did really well.

[Oluwa-btc]

I hate that they're already attacking Manchester United goalkeeper already all over the internet. He will never be Andrea Onana 2.0.

One costly error do not make him a bad goalkeeper. I hope he keeps his head high up. Now this is also one of the core reasons why Merino wad literally called up. Two goals in the last two games to see them in the next round against France. Lamine Yamal though, is he has honestly underperformed in this tournament.

[Zaguru12]

As you said, it was a very difficult match to predict because both teams have the strength to beat their opponents. Spain didn't play as well as I expected and they will have a very hard time in the next round. Belgium could have attacked more and taken more risks.

Spain can score goals, but I think they struggled to implement their game plan. They need to play better in the next match because their opponents are very strong.

Belgium since after that game with Senegal which they started poorly they have actually improved a lot in their games and the reason why this game was hard to predict, while I wasn’t even expecting the outcome to be over 2.5 goals I was actually with the belief that it will stretch to the extra time but the game changed once when they lost their two best players most especially the Courtios injury which destabilize that team because that merino goal could have been dealt with very well by senne Lemmens. Hardly luck to Belgium, for Spain it is actually going to be a very tough game for them and also for France themselves

[retreat]

As I said, Spain won this match, but only by a narrow margin over Belgium. Courtois did a great job holding off so many attacks from the Spanish players, but their defense was quite poor, which led to them conceding two goals. Still, Belgium played well enough to put up this kind of performance, it's just that their run had to end in the quarterfinals. The next match is France vs. Spain, it's like an early final because both teams are so strong, but my feeling tells me that France will win this one.

[pawel7777]

After their great performance against the USA, I expected a bit more of an even game than what we saw today from Belgium.
Spain were on another level and dominated in every aspect. But at least Belgium did what no other rivals of Spain could do and scored a goal.

I think Belgium's goalkeeper is, at least to some degree, responsible for losing the 2ng goal. He should've punched the ball to the side instead of trying to catch the shot, which resulted in the ball bouncing of him straight under Merino's feet.

So yeah, the first semi-final pair is known. We'll see France Vs Spain. Whoever wins it will likely be the favourite to win the final.

[Ndabagi01]

The super-sub has scored... and once again a substitute has decided the match. just two minutes on the pitch and Merino has already scored the decisive goal.
it was a thrilling match, and Spain are now through to the semi-finals, where they’ll face France. so there’s guaranteed to be a European team in the World Cup final.

Spain played well, they’re calm in the midfield and only take attack when it is needed and they take dangerous ones as we’ve seen in this game. Belgium didn’t really got to pressure Spain, they outclassed them and did extremely well to deserve the win in this game. Spain is the stronger team and most predicted team to win and make it to the semifinals and they eventually did it in the end.

Another team that was a surprise was Norway, which has been having a great World Cup. The team plays for Haaland, unlike brazil, which avoided passing the ball to its star player, Neymar jr. They didn't want to win that game, Neymar was seen several times begging for the ball, gesturing. They weren't hungry for victory, Norway was... which was infuriating. Who else thinks the same? Argentina plays for Messi, France for Mbappé and Dembele.

Haaland is the best player at Norway now that the team will be looking up to score for them in their game against England. They are not the better team to advance but England is. Although, I will not be surprised to see Norway advancing and eliminating England. They play very well defensively and have been showing such a great defensive game to frustrate  their opponent in the game. Haaland could score a goal but there is no certainty that Norway will qualify ahead of England tomorrow.

[tiCeR]

As I said, Spain won this match, but only by a narrow margin over Belgium. Courtois did a great job holding off so many attacks from the Spanish players, but their defense was quite poor, which led to them conceding two goals. Still, Belgium played well enough to put up this kind of performance, it's just that their run had to end in the quarterfinals. The next match is France vs. Spain, it's like an early final because both teams are so strong, but my feeling tells me that France will win this one.

Good point, but I think it is not very supportive. Now it is going to be very interesting.

I believe they all have good intentions, but looking at football, we need corrections.