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

[Davidvictorson]

These historical pictures of Lionel Messi and baby Lamine Yamal are significant to the finals. Some religious people will say that the meeting between Messi and the baby is prophetic.  Nineteen years after this picture was taken, both players would meet in the World Cup finals. This match is like a game between the GOAT and a potential successor. The game is highly unpredictable because both sides have shown great quality.

I usually laugh at how people and sports commentators make their commentary on Messi.
And this particular one is very funny.
There is nothing prophetic about this neither is there any metaphysical meaning attached to it.
Finally, in football, no player is a successor to anyone. They are all in their own league and performing to their own capabilities, talents, and team coherence.

[Ruttoshi]

Argentina defeated England with a last-minute goal and pulled off yet another incredible comeback. Everything seems to be going their way, as if Messi is going to lift the trophy again this season.
The final will be between Spain and Argentina. We’ll get to watch Messi and Yamal face off in the final. Spain is, of course, the favorite, but it looks like Argentina might win this match and take home the trophy.

None of them is the favorite until, the game comes to an end because in recent matches, the favorite ends up losing the game. Argentina knows how to mount pressure on their opponents to force them make mistake in order for them to get an equalizer. I love their fighting spirit. It shows that when you're determined, you can achieve your goal.

The finals will be a do or die affair. Argentina players still have more experience than Spain in the finals. Experience will decide who wins the game.

[Iranus]

England's mistake was that they started defending, and if you score a goal against Argentina you have to be busy scoring another goal and another and another as if you were desperately losing. If you shut down in defense you can't withstand the pressure. They have Messi who is very good at playing, looking for fouls, making passes, shooting. You have to get them all out of the box after midfield. You can't shut down like England did. The culprit was England's coach.

You are right. England's players gave Argentina a chance  to attack. Argentina was able to attack a lot even  after conceding a goal in the  second half. Created a lot of  chances. This was possible because england could not mount any strong counterattack. As a result, argentina got the opportunity to attack with their full  strength. Argentina won the match by scoring two goals in the last  6 minutes. Although england performed well in the first half , they lost in the second half due to  their defensive gameplay. I did not expect  such stupidity from Tuchel.

[Woodie]

Source
These historical pictures of Lionel Messi and baby Lamine Yamal are significant to the finals. Some religious people will say that the meeting between Messi and the baby is prophetic.  Nineteen years after this picture was taken, both players would meet in the World Cup finals. This match is like a game between the GOAT and a potential successor. The game is highly unpredictable because both sides have shown great quality.

That's one decrypted prophetic message right here..but only one problem Messi the goat 🐐  is almost at the end of his chapter and we need to be graced by the future..could this be that moment team Spain 🇪🇸 with Yamal taking centre stage open that new chapter  

You know what, I want fall for this..already we are told there is a scripted world cup with Messi being the chosen one..at the end of this football ⚽️ is played on the pitch and not through gossip or whatever it is  

[EarnOnVictor]

But regardless, I think we all have to admit that Argentina has excellent quality and deserves to be in the final.
Argentina will face Spain in this year's World Cup final. This will be an ideal final because the two teams are quite evenly matched, making it very difficult to predict the outcome of the final.

Based on what had happened already in this world cup, I wouldn't even say one country can win the other again, so long as they are good for the task, let them come to the field and prove themselves to us. A lot of heavily favoured countries are no more, and were ousted out by the underdogs. Though I still see Spain as a very strong country to win this tournament, yet Argentina is a very good country at what they do on the pitch also. Just as it was difficult to predict France vs Spain and England vs Argentina, that exactly is how difficult to predict this final. All I could say is that there might not be an extra time.

[martinom]

Bellingham defending Messi was a great thing; before he got tired and let Messi find gaps, the coach should have replaced him with another player to do that job, but we didn't see that. In my opinion, if Messi had been covered well, England would have won the match easily.

In fact, he couldn't do much with this wild Argentine and let's also remember that Lionel Messi is playing his last World Cup: he also gave his soul to win another one, let's say the last one.
Someone like him, even if he wasn't very young, had a crazy impact on the team.

[9ja Amaka]

Argentina defeated England with a last-minute goal and pulled off yet another incredible comeback. Everything seems to be going their way, as if Messi is going to lift the trophy again this season.
The final will be between Spain and Argentina. We’ll get to watch Messi and Yamal face off in the final. Spain is, of course, the favorite, but it looks like Argentina might win this match and take home the trophy.

I never rated Argentina that high in this competition, but I think they have shown that they can do it. I thought England was going to win the match, especially after taking the lead and maintaining it past 80 minutes,  but I also think the fault is from thomas Tuchel that choose to take off his attacking players and decide to defend, which invited more pressure to the team. I still give kudos to the Argentine national team fir their resilience and never give up attitude.
I really think the final is very hard to predict, most of us sees Spain as the favorite,  but I think Argentina has shown that they can beat any team, so I will just sit back and enjoy the final.

[SirLancelot]

Tuchel thought he could defeat Argentina by playing defensively. I also agree with you that Tuchel has not learned from his mistakes  in previous matches. Tuchel has proven this again.

We saw in the match against Egypt that Argentina scored 3  goals in the last 15  minutes to secure a 3-2 victory. We  have never seen any other team make such a comeback even after being behind by  2 goals. We also saw in the match against Switzerland that Argentina became terrible in the  last minute. Tuchel created a  completely defensive strategy to counter Argentina's attacks. And it did not work.

If the England team had counter-attacked, then naturally the argentine players would have been under pressure and their attack speed would have decreased. But England only played  defensively. As a result, the argentine players were able to create many opportunities to attack.

In the second half, England was totally playing crap after having an early lead. They needed to have an aggressive approach because this gave them a better chance and also put pressure on Argentina, but things were not good. Their defensive approach allowed Argentina to have pressure on England their counterattacks put them down, and they conceded two goals.

Argentina is always given a perfect score while they are down this increases their performance and gives them a boost. Messi was also exceptional, exceptional with two assists at a crucial time, giving Argentina a historic win and another spot in the final. The last four games give a real view of Argentina's strength because they never give up and always keep their best performance in all conditions. This always brings them success and goals.

[m4r1o]

This time, i think it could be England. They have shown their quality and, in my opinion, surprisingly good teamwork throughout the tournament. On the other hand, Argentina is also a very strong team, but I'd actually like to see them face France in the third place playoff.

the quality on England's part was there and how, but this didn't mean that in the end they risked the possibility of going to the final out of fear, they played with the fear of conceding goals and it was a total siege, this is what i happened to see, in reality i think that Argentina weren't even the favourites.

[Agbam]

In the end, my prediction came true: Spain vs. Argentina in the final.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5431360.msg66933390#msg66933390

I can’t wait to see Yamal and Messi in action on the same field in the final.

If Messi sees this photo, he’ll surely be surprised. He never would have imagined that a baby he once bathed would now be in the World Cup final, facing off against him.

This is the best script ever written in real life… Who would have thought the random family that was selected to be baptised by Messi and the baby in 2008 will become his heir at Barcelona. Also wore his jersey numbers at Barça and was blessed with that tricky left foot and football intellect above his age.

Messi will actually be pleased meeting him on the pitch even if he loses, this time it’ll be Messi passing the mantle of GOAT Status to the baby goat lol..

Lamine Yamal has always wished to play against Messi now he gets his chance but it’s not gonna be easy, this Argentines since the knockout stage always pull a magic trick in the dying minutes. Spain should watch out for that

[banana33]

Especially in the World Cup, there is no such thing as the winning team winning the title again. When the team is strong, that team will win the World Cup. Today's second semi-final will create some speculation about the champion team, if Argentina can win, then the final will be a bit uncertain or the possibility of Argentina winning the final will be more. If England can win today, then Spain will have a higher possibility of winning its second World Cup. The reason for this is that Spain is much ahead in terms of team performance, team permanence. I honestly want to see Spain vs Argentina (teamwork vs teamwork / Barca new boy vs Barca old boy).

Argentina won thanks also to Messi's work which should never be taken for granted, in fact he made two assists for two fantastic goals, this is also something to consider in addition Tuchel played his chance really badly, putting all the defenders possible and in the end Argentina scored.

[Adbitco]

England's mistakes are all on Touchel. He chose to change the strategy to defend the 1-0 result too early, the English team basically stopped attacking and they played less and less, leaving the control of the match to Argentina. Huge mistake, he should have known better. On the other side we had Scaloni who, instead, was playing with a lot of offensive players and it paid off.

Exactly, his the sole reason why they lost that match last night, with all the pressure coming his teams way he still chose to defend. Removed his attacking midfield to even get more defenders, I was like, was this how this man won the champions league with Chelsea that year? Even if it was the same strategy, England doesn't have that defence that will withstand such massive pressure. After getting in defenders and going down, that was when he started taking defenders out to bring in attackers, I was just laughing last night, this coach was just a joke. You wanted to mount pressure after going down. Argentina winning that match was as a result of the English coach giving them the opportunity to win.

[Zaguru12]

the quality on England's part was there and how, but this didn't mean that in the end they risked the possibility of going to the final out of fear, they played with the fear of conceding goals and it was a total siege, this is what i happened to see, in reality i think that Argentina weren't even the favourites.

I don’t know why we are all acting surprised with how England approached the game immediately they scored it was clearly Tuchel plan right from the start we all saw that from his selection he was picking players that can actually defend. He thinks this was the champions league final against Manchester City where he pulled that off. I usually say the best way to attack is to keep the ball not throwing or kicking it back to your opponent. How do you manage to take out almost all attackers for defenders while defending a 1-0 slender lead that could go to extra time.

Sometimes I say some managers do not learn because if they do he should be aware of the fact that Egypt tried it and they actually didn’t get through even with two goal lead,  yesterday I thought Tuchel was smart enough to have bring players that can hold possessions like Kobbie Maino or bring in Rashford and Watkins early for counter but he was actually interested in defending headed goals and stil got knocked out of it with it.

[CryptoBuds]

Based on what had happened already in this world cup, I wouldn't even say one country can win the other again, so long as they are good for the task, let them come to the field and prove themselves to us. A lot of heavily favoured countries are no more, and were ousted out by the underdogs. Though I still see Spain as a very strong country to win this tournament, yet Argentina is a very good country at what they do on the pitch also. Just as it was difficult to predict France vs Spain and England vs Argentina, that exactly is how difficult to predict this final. All I could say is that there might not be an extra time.

Netherlands and Germany were considered favorites for the World Cup by many football experts. Both teams were eliminated in the round of 32. Many said that Ronaldo would win the World Cup for the first time. This did not happen either. Then we saw the strongest squad of the World Cup, France, eliminated in the semi-finals. France and England were considered hot favorites in the semi-finals. But Spain and Argentina qualified for the final.

In the two semi-finals, we saw the extraordinary gameplay of Spain and Argentina. Both have strong squads. At the same time, we are forced to praise their match strategy. In the final match, we will see a great fight between the two managers Fuente and Scaloni.

Both teams that qualified for the final are strong and strategic. Anything can happen. Both have equal chances of becoming world champions. It would not be surprising if Argentina wins the World Cup again.

[eaLiTy]

Just like Sinner earlier, I feel that Spain is set to win the FIFA WC again regardless of England or Argentina being their opponent primarily thanks to their epic team combination. They started off slowly, but picked up pace at the right time in their tournament.

It is entirely possible for Spain to win. Their defensive game is well established but their performance in the very first match against Cabo Verde was dismal and like everyone else who placed a bet on that match, I lost big time.   Definitely for me their most impressive performance was against France.

But when it comes to Argentina, they have faced obstacles and had to win matches after conceding goals. Against Jordan, they conceded a goal and finally won. Against Cabo Verde, Egypt, and Switzerland, they conceded two goals before winning, and it was the same against England. So, I am expecting both teams to score, and I won't be surprised if the match reaches extra time, with penalties deciding the winner.
 

[Sammye3]

I came across a post which talked about the possible disciplinary actions on Argentina for the display a banner which showed a bit of political friction between them and the British.

https://x.com/i/status/2077634998174368255 (BBC Sport).

It was really an unexpected comeback from Argentina against England in the semi finals and everyone could see how much passion filled the stadium after the win, it was an outstanding performance from every Argentine player that kept hope alive till the last minute. Messi took control of the game torturing the England defence until there was a result, that is unbelievable for a player at 39yrs with so much strength and resilience.

What are your thoughts on this possible disciplinary action?

[Gost ms]

England's mistake was that they started defending, and if you score a goal against Argentina you have to be busy scoring another goal and another and another as if you were desperately losing. If you shut down in defense you can't withstand the pressure. They have Messi who is very good at playing, looking for fouls, making passes, shooting. You have to get them all out of the box after midfield. You can't shut down like England did. The culprit was England's coach.

You are right. England's players gave Argentina a chance  to attack. Argentina was able to attack a lot even  after conceding a goal in the  second half. Created a lot of  chances. This was possible because england could not mount any strong counterattack. As a result, argentina got the opportunity to attack with their full  strength. Argentina won the match by scoring two goals in the last  6 minutes. Although england performed well in the first half , they lost in the second half due to  their defensive gameplay. I did not expect  such stupidity from Tuchel.

Yes I agree with you that England suffered from not creating enough pressure and not attacking. If we had seen enough attacking on the pitch then maybe Argentina would not have won this match. England's biggest mistake was to give Argentina the opportunity to attack. If England had attacked a little bit then Argentina would have been a little bit scared and Argentina would not have had the opportunity to attack as much. As we saw in the match between Spain and France they not only strengthened their defence by scoring but also kept their attack going.

[New Judgement]

England's mistake was that they started defending, and if you score a goal against Argentina you have to be busy scoring another goal and another and another as if you were desperately losing. If you shut down in defense you can't withstand the pressure. They have Messi who is very good at playing, looking for fouls, making passes, shooting. You have to get them all out of the box after midfield. You can't shut down like England did. The culprit was England's coach.

You are right. England's players gave Argentina a chance  to attack. Argentina was able to attack a lot even  after conceding a goal in the  second half. Created a lot of  chances. This was possible because england could not mount any strong counterattack. As a result, argentina got the opportunity to attack with their full  strength. Argentina won the match by scoring two goals in the last  6 minutes. Although england performed well in the first half , they lost in the second half due to  their defensive gameplay. I did not expect  such stupidity from Tuchel.

Since England went defensive against Mexico and it worked well for them after they were reduced to 10 men, perhaps Tuchel thought they could do the same thing with Argentina but unfortunately it didn’t work out. I won’t blame Tuchel he was just doing what he thought was the right for his team to win. If it had worked out as he planned, I guess we would be praising him by now.

[Merit.s]

Since England went defensive against Mexico and it worked well for them after they were reduced to 10 men, perhaps Tuchel thought they could do the same thing with Argentina but unfortunately it didn’t work out. I won’t blame Tuchel he was just doing what he thought was the right for his team to win. If it had worked out as he planned, I guess we would be praising him by now.

It's not in all games, you play defensively. You need to check the kind of opponent that you're playing with, the remaining time left and how many men you're playing with.

It was just too early for a defensive game when England is playing with a complete squad. Argentina cannot be prevented from scoring only if you have few minutes left and not when you have up to 30 minutes left. Tuchel killed the game.

[Accardo]

That's one decrypted prophetic message right here..but only one problem Messi the goat 🐐  is almost at the end of his chapter and we need to be graced by the future..could this be that moment team Spain 🇪🇸 with Yamal taking centre stage open that new chapter  

Yamal sharing one pitch with Messi is indeed a new era of football that shouldn't have happened, growing up to excel alongside Messi in this world cup competition was unexpected, but it's a great sign of how football evolved in this era, after this final fight, it'll be a new beginning of an era for Yamal, Haaland, and maybe Mbappe.