Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 249. (Read 57875 times)

Apart from Messi winning the trophy.  We saw an African team for the first time to getting into the semi-finals which is the Morocco team, it was surprising and very interesting to Morocco having that impressive performance in the competition.  The next World cup will definitely come with something new.

I have no doubt, in the next World Cup we will have several tools and improved technology! Especially when it comes to an extremely significant and important event that is the World Cup.

Oh, I almost forget ... get ready guys, because I'm sure that several teams will be prepared for the next World Cup, and I have no doubt that some small and unknown teams will surprise many people!

It's crazee how soccer is blowin' up worldwide, espeshally with all these sik players comin' outta Asia and Africa makin' moves in top Euro leagues. Im tellin' ya, it's a win-win situation for everyone involved. These players get invaluabel experience while they're home countries get a boost in infrastructure and trainin'.

But, lemme tell ya, the real kicker is the uniqe style and perspective these players bring to the game. You got the technical prowess of African players mixed with the tactical disciplin of Asian players? Bro, that's a recipe for some next-level soccer.

As a huge soccer fan myself, I've been witnessin' the rise of Asian soccer for a minute. I still remeber when my home team, South Korea, made it to the semis of the 2002 World Cup. That was a game-changer for our country, and it's inspired a new generation of ballers. Now we got players like Son Heung-min tearin' up the Premir League.

Every World Cup we see something new. In this world cup as we got to see the world cup trophy in the hands of the best Lionel Messi in history, it is very lucky for our generation. We expect to see more innovations in the next World Cup, and everyone wants the new team to make a big splash and take home the next World Cup.

Yes, you remembered a subject that was not previously discussed.
I also believe that football these days has changed compared to football in the past.
Nowadays, it is not just football that is involved, but there are other aspects that are also used, for example publicity/merchandising, several top players, from time to time appear on TV, participating in some commercial of products or other things like that.

Unlike football in the past, where basically the main objective is become a winner.

I think it would be better to host the World Cup in one country. Because even if there is no problem with the player or the team, the travel cost will be high for football lovers to watch the game. These aspects need to be considered by FIFA.

Well, those were golden times, for that year it had not been born yet, but the way they describe it sounds like it was a very good football demonstration, now football is going in another direction, I don't know, but I think that before football had In another sense, it was more focused on team plays, now there are many stars, each country develops many players who are almost geniuses and the countries that have been powers since the start of the World Cup have always had the same relevance, we cannot Denying that some teams have also become powerful, football in general has improved, and that is remarkable.


Of course it is like that, they have had very good players who have stood out, I don't know if you remember that goalkeeper who was short but very good and popular, he excelled in the USA94 World Cup, his name is Jorge Campos or as they called him "Campitos", also other legendary players like "Rafa Marquez" or like the popular "chicharito" who played for Real Madrid, due to this Mexico has a very good history in terms of soccer, what happens is that they are from Concacaf and that tie is much easier than CONMEBOL, which is where Argentina and Brazil are, which is something else.

It's actually going to be three countries hosting the next world cup, USA, Canada, and Mexico.

They have never done this before, only two teams have hosted it before, Korea-Japan 2002.

It will definitely be a tricky world cup to organize, so we'll see how it goes. It's probably going to bring more money to FIFA though...

Nowadays football has become more globalized. A lot of players from Asia and Africa are participating in European leagues such as the English Premier League, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga. Here they are competing against the best in the sport and gaining valuable experience. Even back home in these Asian and African countries, the level of infrastructure and training has gone up. Quality of local football is also improving in these two continents. In the end, Africa and Asia are where the population still remains young. So the future belongs to them.

I think FIFA Know what they are doing by making two countries to host the world cup. This might be the first time this is happening but we need to understand that there are many countries that are very ready to host the world cup and due to the competition, I think FIFA has the option or power to decide who will host the next world cup entire.
 Whether there are two countries hosting the world cup, we will need to try this out if it is going tobe a better option foe  peopl.

I totally agree with you, most especially on the part you said if we the competition a world cup, then there should be room enough for every continent to be represented, African football is indeed growing, just look at what the Moroccan team played in last year's world cup, they amazed the entire world, no body expected them to make it to the semi finals but they did, it, like you said, shows that even the so called small teams are now waking up and are prepared to shock the world.
2026 world cup would be so interesting to watch.

I also confess this is a relevant topic and that it can generate a lot of debate about it.

Well, we still don't have a concrete answer about that, whether or not it will affect the quality of the next world cups.

But it's not every team that has a relevant performance during the games, small teams can surprise the others, but most of the time not, but I confess that this could generate a lot of surprises, well, just look at Morocco in the last world cup .

Let's see what the future awaits us.

No doubt, Mexico got influenced by some things in the South America which includes football and I'm already expecting that they will reach further than the other 2 countries that will also host the WC namely, Canada and USA.

While for America, their most loved and most watched sports is basketball and baseball, and then rugby comes in 3rd (which is football in America while soccer was named rather than football). Same as Canada, they too got their own sports like ice hockey which comes in 1st.

I will go a little further in your answer.
The African continent is one that urgently needs more places in the world cup, the current 5 places does not match what the teams have evolved, just think that in the last cup some strong teams did not participate, like Nigeria and Egypt.
Morocco, from Africa, came in 4th place, an excellent result and with merits.

Speaking of Asia, from 3.5 to 8.5 places also got better. I disagree with you a little bit about the level of the Asian teams.
Look at Saudi Arabia, who beat Argentina and showed a good level of soccer in the other matches. They didn't qualify, but they played well.
South Korea, played very well, disqualified against Brazil, but they played well too.
Japan, qualified first in a group that had Spain, Germany, and Costa Rica, and narrowly missed qualifying for the quarterfinals because they played against Croatia, 3rd place.

Iran and Australia in my opinion also played well, you can see that they have evolved over the years.
Only the Qatar team that I thought was weak, but it was their first participation in a World Cup, it was easy to see that they were nervous, but in the second and third game they managed to play a little better.

And one last thing I would like to say is that maybe what is missing for the national teams to evolve is to participate in the World Cup, to play against other stronger teams, with more pressure, with a lot of people watching.
This can help raise the level of soccer, so it can be a very good factor that will help develop soccer even more in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Central America.

While it can be argued there could be a decrease in the quality of the world cup at the earlier stage, this is not as clear, after all as we know almost in every single cup before this expansion there were a few powerful teams that do not make it, this was the case of Italy, so not only slightly weaker teams will make it to the world cup with the additional spots, good teams will also make it that simply had trouble during the qualification stage to the world cup.

The answer is no. maybe for the African continent, with the addition of the quota of world cup participants it can encourage them to further increase their football level. but for asia, especially asean, i doubt it. it is still too early for asean countries to participate in competing in the world cup championship. So, will the addition of the team to 48 entrants increase the level of the world cup. I say again, the answer is no. I don't know yet how the mechanism will be implemented in the 2026 world cup, and how this system will be implemented. So, I can't assume too much.

However it seems, there will be more weak teams compared to strong teams. what is certain, the 2026 world cup will not be better and more competitive as before. in the end, the participants who will enter the higher rounds are the countries that are always the favourites.

If you remember, some of the most exciting matches during Qatar 2022 involved teams from Africa and Asia. One of the African teams (Morocco) even managed to reach the semi-final stage. There is no point in giving half of all the slots to Europe, when the difference in quality between European teams and the rest of the world is now negligible. BTW, UEFA fans have nothing to worry. In absolute numbers they are getting the largest increase as the quota for that confederation increases by 3 for the 2026 edition (for CONMEBOL it is only +2).

I understand your way of thinking, but it may not exactly be 3x more expensive to watch the 2026 world cup than the other cups, and we have many variables.

In Qatar the hosting was more expensive, expensive beer, and for us from South America, the airfare is quite expensive too.
In the United States it is easy to find cheap hosting, food is also cheap, and airplane tickets are also much more affordable.
For Europeans it must be the same thing to fly to Qatar or the United States. For people from Asia, it might be a more expensive trip.

In the United States the infrastructure is also very good, and transportation is relatively cheap, even though the country has continental proportions.
It might be a little more difficult if someone wants to follow the games in the 3 countries, but think about the other side, the Mexicans for example, will be able to follow 10 games in their country, something that would be very difficult if there was only one country instead of 3.

Any choice makes it easier for a group of people and harder for others. But I think the decision of 3 hosting countries was right, it will have more benefits this way.

The FIFA World Cup is about to get lit! With the expansion to 48 teams, we're gona see some seriouss excitement, diversity, and unpredictability up in here! Can you imagin the group phase with even more teams battling it out for a spot in the knockout roundss? It's gonna be off the hook!

I'm especially pumped to see how the teams from Asia and Afrika represent on the world stage. It's their time to shine and show us what they're made of. And let's not forget the impact this could have on the growth of football in those regions. Majorr moves, people!

Of coursee, with more teams, there's a higher chance of mediocrity creeping in. FIFA better makes sure they're selecting the best of the best from each region so we dont have any snooze-fests. And let's not forget the logistical challenges that come with hosting more teams. But hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get to itt.

Dude, if you want to watch just 32 teams playing in the world cup, then you can do one thing. You can skip the group phase and then watch from the Round of 32 onwards. For fans like me, the expansion to 48 teams is the best thing that has ever happened with the FIFA world cup. It will add more diversity to the tournament, by including more teams from Asia and Africa. The current setup, being dominated by UEFA gets quite repetitive. Obviously the Europeans will be upset about it, but they need to admit that the era of European dominance in world football is over.