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

[KTChampions]

You are just speaking from a point of hate, there’s been inconsistencies with enforcing some of the rules in this tournament but it seems like most of y’all only see it when it concerns Argentina and Messi.

Tell me is it FIFA that arranged the teams to qualify the way they did, is it FIFA that made other teams lose their matches or draw to appear how they were in the knockout stages?~

Friend, you are just schizophrenic, just admit the problem and see a doctor before it harms you

It concludes a great script that was started years ago by UNICEF. Lamine Yamal wearing the Jersey no.19 won the World Cup on his 19th year on the 19th day of July, 2026.

  Yes, yes, you write that FIFA didn’t arrange anything for Messi, but UNICEF made a script for Yamal... Friend, just see a doctor.

It's only an obsessed Messi or Argentina fans that will see all that has happened in this year FIFA world cup or should I say even the 2022 FIFA world cup that will see it as a normal thing, but deep down Messi has been under the protection of FIFA for a very Long time, there are so many times things has gone wrong in the world cup since 2022 but it's always overlooked because it's Messi and Argentina,~

Yes, I'm genuinely scared reading their comments. In one post, they can admit the referees are siding with Argentina, but they still insist that "everything is fine." And look at what the person I quoted above wrote  

~ but I only thank God after all the robbery by the referees and FIFA president, Spain still did them dirty and the whole world is happy.

Yes, it's nice to see such an final. It only happens in happy ending movies – the crooks are beaten both on and off the field, the legacy was flushed down the toilet.

[Ummeettaa]

This FIFA and the entire world cup committee that were responsible for the selection of the individual award did a wonderful and fair justice to the awardees.

I heard some of my friends arguing that, the Fifa best player award that was going given to Rodri should have been given to Lionel Messi, Messi played well and wonderfully throughout the tournament but I don't think he deserved the award.

I personally, am a Barcelona fan which automatically makes me a Messi fan, but if truth must be stated there is no one in the entire squad of the world cup tournament that deserved the award than Rodri.

The best Goal Keeper (GK) award that was given to Unia Simone was so deserving because he only conceded 1 goal throughout the tournament. No one but Pau Cubasi should have been given the best young player award because he is one of the young players that played a wonderful and composed game in all matches played.

So for some of us that thinks otherwise about the awards given to the awardees, such people should come with there personal list on who the awards should have been given to.

[Cryptoprincess101]

the MVP of the tournament was given to Rodri … how? Rodri isn’t even the best Spanish player in this World Cup, there are about 8 Spanish players who were outstanding whereas Messi single handedly carried Argentina to the finals with stats and impact.

Don't even go there, Rodri contributed a lot to the success of Spain in the world cup, so he is deserving of the MVP award. Maybe Lionel Messi would have won the award if Argentina had won the world cup but sadly, they failed and Lionel Messi couldn't even perform at the final. Truly, Lionel Messi singlehandedly led Argentina to the World Cup final, but it's not enough compared to what Rodri has done in the midfield of Spain. Of course, there were many Spanish players that are deserving of the award but they all can't win it and from the assessment from FIFA, they found Rodri worthy of the award. 

[mikel_012]

To round it all, the MVP of the tournament was given to Rodri … how? Rodri isn’t even the best Spanish player in this World Cup, there are about 8 Spanish players who were outstanding whereas Messi single handedly carried Argentina to the finals with stats and impact.
Spain were able to win as a collective, there was no single individual outstanding more than the other, everybody did their bid but you won’t see that as Robbery because you’re blinded by your hate.

Spain was also in the finals and Rodri played with mastery in the middle field in the whole competition including the finals where he made Spain life very easy

Messi did what in the finals? Nothing

And I think it makes a difference that Messi carry was versus weak teams like Argelia and Austria. The same time Spain played Portugal, Belgium, France that are a lot stronger teams

[Versatile_choice]

the MVP of the tournament was given to Rodri … how? Rodri isn’t even the best Spanish player in this World Cup, there are about 8 Spanish players who were outstanding whereas Messi single handedly carried Argentina to the finals with stats and impact.

Maybe you should go and ask FIFA lol. Truly messi deserve the MVP of the tournament because he appears in almost all the match except this final and I'm not going to say that he doesn't show in the final rather they didn't give him the space to play. Does it mean they only give MVP to the winner? Because if not that I'm sure that they would have given it to messi because he played so well in the tournament.

I just felt bad to see that he didn't even win any award in the final stage, he put in so much effort in this tournament which I'm almost certain that he would definitely win an award but It seems that all his efforts was invain.

[Sexylizzy2813]

For me this Messi challenge and that of Balogun should not be compared at all, that of Messi wasn't as harsh as that of the USA striker but many people still see Messi's challenge as the type that deserves a red card, I can't say much on the Messi challenge but yet again if you hate Messi you say it not to say Messi is the princess of FIFA.

This isn't 1920. You can check the video and read the rules anytime – that kind of tackle is illegal, and on the strangest day, it's a yellow card (on a normal day, it's a straight red). Messi didn't get any card at all. But since you're a fanboy, you'll embarrass yourself by defending the most shameful decisions.
And yes, Messi is the princess of FIFA 

You sound funny, there are some tackles in some games that result to a yellow card or red card but if that same tackle happens in another game the decision won't be as same as the other one, so what I'm saying is that the ref and var officials have a way of making decisions and it might not be the way another ref will play out his own. You can call me anything you like but have you asked yourself if you're not saying all these because your own goat could not get that far in the FWC? Sometimes we shouldn't use sentiment to watch football, Messi was lucky and there's nothing we can do about it, if Messi had gotten a yellow card you people would still come back and complain that it was suppose to be a straight red card, just know this that there's nothing humans can do that 1 or 2 persons won't come out and complain, we can't please everybody.

[JiiBs]

Spain was also in the finals and Rodri played with mastery in the middle field in the whole competition including the finals where he made Spain life very easy

Messi did what in the finals? Nothing

And I think it makes a difference that Messi carry was versus weak teams like Argelia and Austria. The same time Spain played Portugal, Belgium, France that are a lot stronger teams

I hope this isn’t to discredit the impact of a great player because, though they had to fair against some not very great teams, his performance prior to the Spain match was exceptional. Scoring a hat trick in their first game and a brace in the second, the first 5 goals for Argentina was all Messi and was in the run for the highest goal scorer. Spain had a difficult time against Cape Verde and couldn’t register a goal but, Argentina did and Messi’s performance wasn’t lacking.

Against Spain however, Messi and his team of Argentine’s were humiliated, Spain was the only team playing while Argentina were out to just play dirty and be difficult. Messi is a great player still, regardless.

[pawel7777]

The tournament's official stats are released and can be seen here:
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/statistics

The Golden Boot winner is, of course, the tournament top scorer, Mbappe, who scored 10 goals and made 4 assists. The runner-up is Lionel Messi, with 8 goals and 4 assists.

The top-scoring national teams were jointly France and England, with 20 goals scored each. Strangely enough, England was a team with the most goals conceded, together with Iraq and Tunisia, with 12 goals conceded each.

Panama was the only team who hasn't scored a single goal.

[Fiatless]

Don't even go there, Rodri contributed a lot to the success of Spain in the world cup, so he is deserving of the MVP award. Maybe Lionel Messi would have won the award if Argentina had won the world cup but sadly, they failed and Lionel Messi couldn't even perform at the final. Truly, Lionel Messi singlehandedly led Argentina to the World Cup final, but it's not enough compared to what Rodri has done in the midfield of Spain. Of course, there were many Spanish players that are deserving of the award but they all can't win it and from the assessment from FIFA, they found Rodri worthy of the award. 

Scoring goals and giving assists is not the only means of rating the best players in the tournament. Many people might not see Rodri contributing to the match because defensive midfielders are not visible. However, they are the players that direct the pace and direction of the game. Spain conceded just a single goal, and this is a testimony that Rodri was doing a great job. His mastery of the midfield dictated possession and ensured that attacking threats were neutralised. In the finals Lionel Messi was caged, courtesy of Rodri

[BRINIRHA]

What was even more obvious happened at the end of the match when some Argentine players did not respect Spain where Paredes who was emotional and even seen slamming Gavi, Molina who hit Rodri while celebrating the victory and maybe there were many things that were not caught on camera but should be with this status if the Argentine players did not get any sanctions especially in the previous match there was a political issue this would be outrageous.  The World Cup is over but the sanctions should still apply because this is a form that I consider to be unhealthy in a sport that we know this is fairplay that has always been the motto.

It's the most chaotic World Cup I've seen not just about controversy for some teams but also for the USA as the organizer.

Argentina showed their frustration with their behavior. We all know how some Argentine players approach these situations. Unfortunately, they showed very little fair play and simply couldn't accept that Spain was the better team by a wide margin. Messi is a football genius, but this time he couldn't win the match on his own. As for the tournament itself, i think people will be talking for a long time about that red card and the rule changes that followed

I like how they play with the scheme and the pattern of play they do but for the World Cup over the last few periods they have looked too special which is given by FIFA so this raises another argument even though their performance is quite good.

Sometimes they provoke but when there are opponents who provoke back some Argentine players don't really show good things in terms of professionalism.  There will be further investigations into what happened in the final including the semi-final and some Argentine players should be sanctioned if fifa does its job well but while the alignment is still there then I'm sure all players will be exempt from sanctions.

The World Cup is now really over and we have to thank and appreciate some players like Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar because this will be their last stage in the World Cup. There are still some other players who retired but these 4 names remain legends.

[boyptc]

There it goes, only one goal for the finals of the world cup and that only shows how careful/scared they are.

But Spain did it better. Sorry for the Messi fans, I'm with you and I was counting for him to win this world cup.

Although things have been hard for Argentina, they also did good because they went through a lot and reaching the finals ain't easy.

Inexperienced players made up for the players he lined up to compete against Spain, and technically Spain makes good use of their opposition's tactical loopholes.

That's what they'll learn for their next if ever there's a next one to come and if they'll still be composed of the same players.

The Golden Boot winner is, of course, the tournament top scorer, Mbappe, who scored 10 goals and made 4 assists. The runner-up is Lionel Messi, with 8 goals and 4 assists.

They didn't win the finals but they've won as the best scorers of this world cup.

I think for each of them, it's heart breaking but there's still this part that they've won the hearts of their fans even more and much love from their countries.

[Ale88]

This year's 48-nation World Cup was shit, and if they raise it up to 64, it will be more and more difficult to watch. I think in that case I will start watching only from the Round of 16 matches onward. For me, no other format will be better than the 32-team WC. And then this bullshit with 6 countries as hosts. Things are getting out of control real fast.

I agree with you, there were so many useless matches that were just a waste of time. I've never watched so few World Cup matches as I have in this edition.

I also did not watch so many games in this World Cup competition but I do not think it is because of the format and the many games that were being played but I think it is because of the timing considering I am in a different continent entirely where most of the games fell into midnight during our sleeping time and to choose to watch those game is a clear and out cold sacrifice to have a messed up day in the following 24hrs. I think the competition was good, beautiful stadiums, and not very expected in a country when football is not the major sports. Most of the stadiums were more beautiful than the stadiums in England. And I know I am not the only person who was surprised by that.

I am in the "right continent" for the time, I could have watched pretty much every single game, I chose not to because I had very little interest. I really dislike what they are doing to the World Cup. 32 was the perfect number of teams to give everybody enough visibility, 48 was too much, and now it looks like it's going to be 64. I grew up loving football and the World Cup has always been such a magic tournament, now that magic is fading away. It's literally 100% business.

[Adbitco]

Spain made history after defeating Argentina in a one sided encounter, I don't think I will call that a competition because Spain totally outclassed Argentina in all departments starting from the kickoff to minute 90 and all the way down to extra time. It no news that match should have ended in a disgraceful manner for Argentina but they have Martinez to thank for that. Spain became the very first nation in the world for their women to hold the female world cup trophy and their men's team as well to hold the men's world cup trophy at the same time. For the first time in history, one nation which is Spain, both their men and women will be defending champions at the same time. Incredible team display from the Spanish team I must say, these guys truly deserve to be champions of the world with their beautiful football.

[Jegileman]

Spain became the very first nation in the world for their women to hold the female world cup trophy and their men's team as well to hold the men's world cup trophy at the same time. For the first time in history, one nation which is Spain, both their men and women will be defending champions at the same time. Incredible team display from the Spanish team I must say, these guys truly deserve to be champions of the world with their beautiful football.

It is said by many analysts that football won in the end, this statement speaks a lot of the Spanish team and how they relate to them is very obvious in the statement here. Argentina found their way to the finals but they met with a team that outclassed all of their performance so far in the competition, they will never forget that day in their lives because of how humiliating the stats of that much shows they were, but they’ll live it up and continue again. They have given their best for the shirt and this is commendable by them finishing as the first runner up in the World Cup after previously being the defending champions. Spain played beautiful football and it made their winning very easy to achieve in this finals.

[SUPERSAIAN]

Don't even go there, Rodri contributed a lot to the success of Spain in the world cup, so he is deserving of the MVP award. Maybe Lionel Messi would have won the award if Argentina had won the world cup but sadly, they failed and Lionel Messi couldn't even perform at the final. Truly, Lionel Messi singlehandedly led Argentina to the World Cup final, but it's not enough compared to what Rodri has done in the midfield of Spain. Of course, there were many Spanish players that are deserving of the award but they all can't win it and from the assessment from FIFA, they found Rodri worthy of the award. 

Scoring goals and giving assists is not the only means of rating the best players in the tournament. Many people might not see Rodri contributing to the match because defensive midfielders are not visible. However, they are the players that direct the pace and direction of the game. Spain conceded just a single goal, and this is a testimony that Rodri was doing a great job. His mastery of the midfield dictated possession and ensured that attacking threats were neutralised. In the finals Lionel Messi was caged, courtesy of Rodri

In football, there are some heroes whose actions don't show on the scoreboard, but they play a huge role in the team's success. They constantly cover space, just like Rodri did. Rodri did exactly that in the final. By staying constantly active and taking the right positions, he controlled the midfield. He neutralized the opposing team's most important player. The value of such players is sometimes only understood when their impact on the field is gone.

[Glen Hoddle]

Spain became the very first nation in the world for their women to hold the female world cup trophy and their men's team as well to hold the men's world cup trophy at the same time. For the first time in history, one nation which is Spain, both their men and women will be defending champions at the same time. Incredible team display from the Spanish team I must say, these guys truly deserve to be champions of the world with their beautiful football.

It is said by many analysts that football won in the end, this statement speaks a lot of the Spanish team and how they relate to them is very obvious in the statement here. Argentina found their way to the finals but they met with a team that outclassed all of their performance so far in the competition, they will never forget that day in their lives because of how humiliating the stats of that much shows they were, but they’ll live it up and continue again. They have given their best for the shirt and this is commendable by them finishing as the first runner up in the World Cup after previously being the defending champions. Spain played beautiful football and it made their winning very easy to achieve in this finals.

Those who compete are the only ones who are correct and enterprising, the Spanish team performed well from the beginning and performed aggressively with each team until the final. And in the final match, they responded appropriately to the Argentine team, the Argentine team stumbled in a way that has never been seen in such a bad game in the World Cup. However, it must be admitted that the goalkeeper of the Argentine team prevented the Argentine team from scoring more goals. The goalkeeper of the Argentine team played the best role and survived for a long time despite enduring great pressure.

[ingiltere]

I read Zlatan's comments today and they made a lot of sense to me. The Golden Ball doesn't necessarily have to go to a player from the winning team. It's an individual award and it could just as easily have gone to a player from the other team in the final. Looking at the tournament as a whole, Messi's contribution to Argentina was far greater than Rodri's contribution to Spain. Without Messi, Argentina might have been eliminated in the quarter final. Messi practically carried his team to the final all by himself. Frankly, Spain could've won the championship even if Rodri hadn't played. They have such a strong roster.

Also regarding the best goalkeeper Martinez could've been chosen instead of Simon. Simon didn't even make many saves in most of the matches. Spain's defense is so strong that very few shots were on goal. I think the criteria for individual awards should be a bit different from the team's overall performance.

[Hispo]

I have friends and a family member currently living in Argentina, he told me there were people on the streets anyways, sharing, drinking and having a good time in spite of losing the final against Spain.

On the other hand, I would not be surprised there were people in Spain who had to go to their jobs today in the morning while suffering from hangover because of the crazy celebrations there in the peninsula.

People from Spain are quite known in Europe for their hardcore way to celebrate football victories, not even mentioning their that quite open minded when comes to ways to celebrate occasions like this one.

It's not out of place for people in Argentina to celebrate, they may have lost the world cup but they still out did themselves by going as far as the final, how many other countries wanted to pull off something like that and couldn't, how many countries are still to even get anywhere close to the final, they won the last one and still played this one to the very end of it, if that's not worth celebrating then I don't know what is.

Right. But it is still quite bitter to try to celebrate something which could have been and in the end it did not happen, you know?

Also, I have seen in social media some people who worked making shirts, who had already made a lot of shirts of the Argentina football uniform with the additional start, expecting to sell them all after Argentina Victory, it ever happen, so it is fair to say they will have a very rough time trying to sell those shirts to anyone.
If they found a way to modify the shirt in order to remove the additional star, then they could have a chance to access to that lost liquidity.

[Sithara007]

Even smaller teams like Cape Verde have made a splash at the 2026 World Cup, proving that increased participation doesn't mean all matches will be boring. One of the big advantages of a 32-team World Cup was that the group stage was relatively short and each match was more important. With 48 teams, the number of matches increased, making it difficult for many viewers to follow the entire tournament. For those who like to watch all the matches, it can be time-consuming and tiring. Then, many may start watching seriously only from the knockout stage. However, having more teams than that would greatly reduce the fun of the World Cup.

Not just Cape Verde. Most of the smaller teams left an impression. The ones that come to my mind right now are Curaçao, DR Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Norway (you may wonder why I added Norway to this list. They played the FIFA World Cup after a lengthy gap of 28 years). It was fun watching teams such as Jordan, Uzbekistan and Haiti competing at the highest level. And look at the number of upsets we had. Norway managed to defeat Brazil, Paraguay defeated Germany and Cape Verde managed to hold the eventual champions Spain to a goal-less draw. All this was made possible only because of the expansion.  

[Tamaperdana]

the MVP of the tournament was given to Rodri … how? Rodri isn’t even the best Spanish player in this World Cup, there are about 8 Spanish players who were outstanding whereas Messi single handedly carried Argentina to the finals with stats and impact.

Don't even go there, Rodri contributed a lot to the success of Spain in the world cup, so he is deserving of the MVP award. Maybe Lionel Messi would have won the award if Argentina had won the world cup but sadly, they failed and Lionel Messi couldn't even perform at the final. Truly, Lionel Messi singlehandedly led Argentina to the World Cup final, but it's not enough compared to what Rodri has done in the midfield of Spain. Of course, there were many Spanish players that are deserving of the award but they all can't win it and from the assessment from FIFA, they found Rodri worthy of the award. 

Yes,, because Rodri is basically a midfielder, so that's why he really deserves the award. Because without a good midfielder, Spain certainly won't be able to play optimally. So I think Rodri really deserves this award, because he played very well as a playmaker in the midfield. Then talking about Messi,, he is indeed a very good player, and he also deserves the best player award.

But the problem is that in the final match Argentina did lose and Messi also in that match did not play too well, so that's probably the reason Messi was not chosen as the best player. Besides, I disagree with saying that Messi brought Argentina to the final, because basically other players in Argentina also contributed very well. So the point is all Argentine players also deserve to be appreciated for their struggle. Because Messi alone will not be enough to bring Argentina to the final. So that's my personal opinion.