Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 279. (Read 62619 times)

In fact, I feel very sad that we might not see living legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2026 World Cup. No one can really stop age. Everyone loses to age one day.

I understand your point but considering the fact that both Ronaldo and Messi haven't released a statement yet, then there is still a chance that they will play in the next WC. Right? All of these are mere speculations and we're just trying to weigh the chances if they will or they won't. Just like Ronaldo, we all thought that UEFA will be his last dance but right now, that's almost impossible as he's now with Al Nassr.

That could be resolved with a simple solution; get them to train together time to time, friendlies and all that. If they can do that, if these teams could play like once a month on average, that would mean that there will be some connection, and suggest them to keep in contact with each other as well.

You could literally get them to train in Europe, would be very weird but if they want success, they need to think outside the box for sure. Look at European clubs picking kids that are just 16-17 years old from these nations, you can't just ask them to come to Brazil all the time, so meet with them in Europe and go around and talk with them in each nation they are in.

Brazil is a strong team in football and they won the trophy multiple times, in this world cup they got unlucky during penalty shootout and we know all know penalty shootout is total about luck and Croatia got lucky with their strikes .
Argentina and Brazil both are the strongest teams of all times.

There is no dearth of talent in Brazil. Even for the 2022 Qatar edition, they were the bookmaker's favorites by a long distance. But then, one mistake during the knockout phases can result in the team failing to qualify for the next round. And this time it was Croatia, which surprised Brazil during the quarter-finals stage. BTW, Argentina has only failed to qualify just once. That was in 1970, when Peru and Bolivia finished ahead of them in CONMEBOL qualifiers Group 1. Peru, Brazil and Uruguay qualified during that year from CONMEBOL.

That's an extraordinary statistic that even other countries that have won the world cup have also not qualified for qualification, such as Italy at the World Cup Qatar, which did not play. Brazil has always been able to qualify for the World Cup are the fact as well as the individual quality of the players no need to be doubted and being one of the countries with a lot of good player material and that has prevented many other players from finally being able to enter the team list core at the last World Cup

One common issue which I can think about both Brazil and Argentina is that the local leagues in these two nations are not very strong. And it has been that way for the past many decades. Local leagues (Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Argentine Liga Profesional de Fútbol) can't afford the insane salaries that are being offered by the Europeans. So almost all of the national team members play for European clubs and this results in a lack of co-ordination when they play for the national team. But this issue will be there forever and they need to adjust with it.

I mean, Brazil is the only team in the world that has qualified to every single World Cup in history.

Also, they have won it five times, the current record.

Plus, they are at number one in the FIFA ranking today.

Yeah, I think they'll manage 

Surely we all know about Brazilian quality but right now things are not working for them with last time they won in 2002 after this they are facing humiliations as well and their player's coordination is also now biggest problem for them with quality is still amazing and talent is also unanimous with this all now if Brazilian Soccer Federation wants to have better results then surely they can bring this rule even just for experiment and hire any coach from European Union for the next four years and then check the change because most chance they will be improved and having better changes which will help them for having another good time in soccer for their country.

I think the problem from which Brazil suffers is not related to the quality of players, as Brazil always produces new talents and exports them to the world. The problem lies in the coaching and team managing mentality. If you look at European teams, you will find a mutual factor between all of them, which is the seriousness and commitment on the field, and that is what Brazil misses, in my opinion. Remembering the last match for them in the World Cup, they received a goal in the very late minutes because some players left their roles and followed their emotions, while Croatia didn't give up and played until the last minute of the match.
Talking about the coaching problem, I guess the Brazil football federation don't recommend a non-Brazilian coach, but after all these disappointments, they may consider signing a European coach, as there's enough time to make some changes in the mentality before the next World Cup.

You may "think" that, but in reality it is quite different. In both Argentina and Brazil, there is a vast network of scouts, which means that there are a lot of people who are looking for young talent all the time. Before those kids are scouted, they are pretty poor and even after they are scouted, they are pretty poor until they sign a professional contract, and after that they are above regular people, but when they sign with a big club?

It doesn't matter if you are in a poor country like Argentina, you still get paid a lot. Pele played with bare foot but Pele also played in 50's and 60's, we are 60 years after that, there are tons of changes and during those times not many nations aside from a few had any of this.

Who gonna win the Title Best Football Coach Men/Women
Below is the shortlisted Candidates.


Sarina Weigman - England Head Coach
Pia Sundhage - Brazil Coach
Sonia Bompastor - French Football Manager



Pep Guardiola - Spanish Football Manager
Lionel Scaloni - Argentinian Association Football Manager
Carol Ancelotti - Italian Football Manager

Source: FIFA

Well, the truth is, I don't think CR7 will change the possibility of playing for his country, he is a very nationalist player, it would not look very good if he gave up his national team just to play for Arabia, what I can say is that he is a player who before being a footballer he is an athlete, so that makes him a person who is very persistent, I think that if he can play another world, people will support him to play, and if he is at the level he can do it, age is just such a number Maybe he doesn't move like before, but there's no denying that he can score big goals, in any case, there's a long way to go before the World Cup, and a lot can happen.

Well, the comparison may sound quite denigrating, but it should be noted that players from almost all countries are rising a lot, Europe is producing very good players, of course they are having a lot of success thanks to the European soccer schools. They take 2-3-year-old children, while in Brazil and part of South America they have another type of development, what dominates the most are those players who are trained on the street, who do not have the option of a good school, and they have to go out Go ahead like this, such is the case of Antony from Brazil, an exceptional player, but when you play with so many players who come from academies where they have a lot of development, it's difficult. A Brazilian player always stands out from the rest, just like the Argentines, what I'm saying is that these players have natural talent, they are born with it.

I think that all this affects, also in some countries that have everything they have not developed their football at 100%, but the case that most attracts my attention is the Japanese who aim to be the world champions in a certain time.

Seeing that picture with all the big winners of the all times World Cup events I find it very strange that Brazil is 20 years without winning it.This clearly means that their time when they used to dominate world football has gone and you cannot pretend to win the World Cup with players like Neymar who think more about his hair than he thinks to give success to the national team.I believe this to be a change in mentality in Brazil and now we need to change this back to how it was in the glorious time of Romario and Bebeto in 1994 and then of Ronaldo in 2002,those were phenomenal players and not Neymar with friends.

Yes the generational question also plays a role again and again. Spain is a great example for that. You could be wondering why they just won a single World Cup so far, but that was the time when they were full of superstars and won the EURO 2008, WC 2010 and EURO 2012. That was just crazy how strong they were. They are still not bad, but they did not manage to win another title so far.

Brazil has a team with lots of potential at the moment. Argentina remains to be seen because Messi was certainly still pivotal to their game despite his age. The whole role he took on and the burden he carried was big, but that doesn't mean he can't be replaced collectively. Not one to one, but collectively.

France is a damn strong team and we'll see what other European teams might make it to the top.

I can agree with you on Latin America, but not with Africa. Latin American players are naturally superior in football skills. Most of the population in countries such as Brazil and Argentina are descended from Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, where football is traditionally the most popular sport. Around 25 million people of Italian descent lives in Argentina (almost two-thirds of the population). Ethnic Italian population in Argentina and Brazil is more than that in Italy right now. Lionel Messi for example, is descendant of Italian immigrants from the region of Marche in Central Italy.

But I can't agree that African players are genetically better suited for football. In that case, why none of the African countries have managed to perform well in the World Cup? Don't give the example of Morocco, because most of their player were either Arabs or Berber (closer to Europeans than Sub-Saharan Africans). Africans maybe more skilled compared to North Europeans, but I don't think that they can beat the Latin Americans.

I'm not really sure about that. Pele was playing with no shoes. Argentina definitely doesn't have the money to spend of elite training compared to European standards.

They simply are better at the game natively. Brazil and Argentina are the top two countries in the FIFA ranking: https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men

But to your point, many European countries have players that are genetically from Africa, like Mbappe in France. They have the skills from their genetics, and they get the support of the European countries. best of both worlds.

Like you rightly pointed out, the success of every nation in football is a combination of talent and talent development. Any nation that is fortunate to have skillful or good footballers and invest on infrastructure and the welfare of these players would always win trophies.
A typical example are the European nations. They are able to identify talents at a very tender age and use thier modernized equipments to develop such talent. South American nations like Argentina and Brazil are also doing the same them. But most nations in Africa and South America, have the talents but lack the relevant infrastructure and financial resources to develop these players. Some wealthy nations like the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc has all the sporting facilities but they lack enough football talents.

Everything in football is all about team work and you don't expect to be the best. If other do not pass the ball to you, you might to even score or let alone holding the ball. I could remember when they signed Ronaldo everyone was jubilating so why the complain now. That is one of the problems we so have in football. We do have high expectations from a particular player forgetting that we all are humans. He can not do more than his power so let just expect an improved result soon.

Agreed, with most of these countries football is much connected with their culture. For Asians to win a Cup it takes more time and right now it is beginning to progress. When someone is good in  sport, he/she needs to be recognised and supported by the government with better infrastructure and coaching. In Asian countries this is lacking and over time realisation will make them give good competence against the South American and European Countries.