FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 36.

mv1986

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Quote from: slapper on September 07, 2024, 10:13:24 AM

Saudi Arabia needs some major work. Sure, they beat Argentina in the last World Cup. That was an absolute hell of a moment. But a dynasty cannot be built on one win. They're drawing against Indonesia, losing to Jordan. That isn't going to be enough. I'll give them that the Saudi league is improving. They are investing heavily in famous players, but it is just part of the picture

You cannot simply purchase a team and hope they will gel over night. It takes time, it takes chemistry. Saudi Arabia's got talent, but they need to figure out how to play as a unit. 2026 World Cup? They still have a great distance to go. Against China offers an opportunity to demonstrate their seriousness. No more excuses, no more relying on individual stars

There you go, they are investing in famous players. But they don't need famous players who mostly have their careers behind them. The best way for them would be to offer players an environment where they feel comfortable and easily accustomed to, such that younger players with great talent would decide to go there. And this is not going to happen. They can sign 10 Ronaldo's and it wouldn't change much about their league. Yes there will be a little buzz and some improvements, but to really level the playing field with Western or South American top football nations, a lot more than signing famous players in their mid 30s has to happen. The issue really is that a player who signs a contract with tens of millions of dollars per year is probably not performing as well anymore. It is not as if they go up one level per every 10 million paid. Ronaldo is still trying his best, but is he improving the league? As in, all the players are getting better? I am not too sure about their approach, let alone the sustainability of a concept that is purely based on money.

mv1986

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Quote from: Forsyth Jones on September 07, 2024, 01:39:47 PM

Yeah, have you seen how he plays? He looks at every angle, as if he were planning his next moves. He doesn't act like a normal player. He's always focused. Always ahead of his opponent.

Some players like Messi and Neymar have the natural ability to dribble and do their tricks without even looking at the ball. It's brilliant. It's like they were made for it!

Although it should be said that Neymar is nowhere near Messi ever. Neymar is a diver, he is overdoing a lot of things. He is focused too much on doing the trick to make a show instead of making the game for the opponents ore dangerous. Of course Neymar has some great talents and no doubt his technique is amazing, but in terms of efficiency on the pitch and what he can deliver for his team, Messi and Neymar are playing in different galaxies. That's the simple reason why Neymar never had a chance to become the best player in the world. He is the kind of guy who wants to entertain himself. Messi is the kind of guy who does the things to win the game and he does whatever it takes. And this whatever in his case means that it is still spectacular.

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Quote from: uneng on September 07, 2024, 03:12:13 PM

Brazil won yesterday against Ecuador, but didn't inspire much confidence on the public, because the were higher expectations over Brazilian squad. During the first half, Brazil totally dominated the field, while Ecuador adopted a defensive stance. However, from the second half till the end of the match, Ecuador balanced the gameplay and put some pressure over Brazil, especially on the final moments of the game.

The problem was that Ecuador had a hard time shooting in the direction of the rival's goal. Defensively speaking the team is quite decent, with the exception of the goalkeeper, but Ecuador's attack is terrible.

Anyway, if Brazil had a strong team, they would have managed to score at least one more goal. I don't know if the problem are the players lacking skills, or if it's just that there isn't chemistry between them.

I tend to see Brazil's recent problems lie in their manager inexperience in handling star players, we can see that almost every line of Brazil has talented players. A narrow win over Ecuador was enough to secure 3 points, although fans hope they can score more goals and show their dominance. The most important thing is that Brazil can qualify and play in the 2026 World Cup, after previously playing badly and losing many points. Dorival Junior seems to be fielding his best squad, but his managerial strategy has not been fully proven to be able to encourage players to develop better.

Next Brazil will face Paraguay, on paper Brazil is still the favorite team, although the match has the potential to be troublesome for both teams. If Brazil manages to secure 3 more points, and Colombia loses against Argentina, then Brazil will move up to third place in the standings. Overall Brazil is not on the right track, they need to find a better manager to be able to become a dominant force in the next World Cup, I see Dorival Junior is not so respected in the dressing room.

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Fourfourtwo is an idiot if they think Maradona is better than Ronaldo. I can see Messi being better, I also think that Messi is better than Ronaldo as well, but that's my personal opinion and I understand why someone would say Ronaldo is better too, I don't care and I respect that.

However, if you think Ronaldo is not at the very worst case second best player ever, then you have never watched Ronaldo or Maradona. I have watched Maradona, hell you can watch his highlights right now on youtube if you want, and even that alone would tell you how Ronaldo is wildly better.

In fact, I would pick Zidane over Maradona and I am not even joking. Only one I can't comment on is Pele, because I have never seen him play, only his highlights and I can say that times were different and he looks much worse player but at the time others were even worse, so he looked much better than everyone, he was beyond his era. Messi and Ronaldo, no matter how you rank them, will always be one and two, rest you can move, but those are the best top two.

uneng

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Brazil won yesterday against Ecuador, but didn't inspire much confidence on the public, because the were higher expectations over Brazilian squad. During the first half, Brazil totally dominated the field, while Ecuador adopted a defensive stance. However, from the second half till the end of the match, Ecuador balanced the gameplay and put some pressure over Brazil, especially on the final moments of the game.

The problem was that Ecuador had a hard time shooting in the direction of the rival's goal. Defensively speaking the team is quite decent, with the exception of the goalkeeper, but Ecuador's attack is terrible.

Anyway, if Brazil had a strong team, they would have managed to score at least one more goal. I don't know if the problem are the players lacking skills, or if it's just that there isn't chemistry between them.

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Quote from: Alpha Marine on September 07, 2024, 03:14:00 AM

Two years after the World Cup, Argentina is still looking like the best national team in the world. If they continue with this form for the next two years, they might win the World Cup again because, compared to the other big teams, there have been no big improvements since the World Cup except for Spain.
Even without Messi this team still plays incredible football and they dominate teams as well. there is so much confidence among the squad and the unity that has been created is very strong. They might go ahead to win a back to back world cup at this rate.

Is South American football coming back in full force? Despite the poor form of its rival Brazil? We will see in the 2026 World Cup and I would not be surprised if Argentina won the title again.

Quote from: Hanadawa on September 07, 2024, 12:45:58 AM

Quote from: mv1986 on September 06, 2024, 04:42:11 PM

-snip-

I agree to put Messi in the first position. He has the number one talent in the history of football. His body balance is absolutely insane. He almost never dives and that is helped by his physical balance and his incredible dribbling ability. Don't forget also his vision and IQ of the game which is very genius. Messi is like someone who plays his character on Playstation because he can see and predict the movement in almost the entire field.

And in the second position I think CR7 is very worthy. He is a human being with many fantastic records. Currently CR7 is the first footballer to get 900 goals officially. Ronaldo is an icon of hard work to achieve success. His discipline and healthy life principles have made him an inspiration to many people. I think Messi is an alien with natural talent and CR7 is a machine with hard work and dedication.

Yeah, have you seen how he plays? He looks at every angle, as if he were planning his next moves. He doesn't act like a normal player. He's always focused. Always ahead of his opponent.

Some players like Messi and Neymar have the natural ability to dribble and do their tricks without even looking at the ball. It's brilliant. It's like they were made for it!

Volgastallion

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Bolivia making his tricks again? Playing a super high altitude to win some points and destroy the hopes of every single team only for the fact that nobody who doesnt live there can even run in such high altitudes.

I think FIFA needs to do something with that, also for me is not good for Bolivia because they are not gonna improve in anything doing this like all this years, all the tournaments are not gonna be played at that altitude so when they go down to the normal meters are gonna be a disaster again.

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Quote from: Polkeins on September 06, 2024, 02:29:31 AM

Really unexpected defeat of Venezuela and also with such a big score, and before this victory over Venezuela Bolivia had lost 5 of its previous games and had only 3 points in the group, against 9 for Venezuela, but after the defeat of Chile, Bolivia moved up to 7th place, ahead of Chile and Paraguay.
Argentina beat Chile in a tough match. Argentina was able to score the first goal only in the first half, and then at the end Chile went on the attack to get back, but conceded 2 more goals, so despite the score 3-0 victory was not easy for Argentina.

That's right, for me personally Venezuela's qualification could get very complicated now, because the next match is against Uruguay and basically Uruguay is playing at a very high level of football, and I hardly think Venezuela can beat them. I could say that this match could end in the best case scenario with a draw or at least that Uruguay could win. I base this on what I saw against Bolivia, where all the players really looked like logs.

Miles2006

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Quote from: Fiatless on September 06, 2024, 12:57:28 AM

https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/06/ive-won-two-trophies-with-portugal-dont-need-world-cup-cristiano-ronaldo/

After scoring his 900th career goal in the UEFA Nations League yesterday, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo insisted that he is not desperate to win the World Cup. The 39-year-old legend claimed that he is playing to enjoy the game of football. Furthermore, he believes that winning the Euros is equivalent to winning the world and has already won two trophies. The Portuguese side beat Croatia by two goals to one and Ronaldo scored the second goal.

Maybe he has given up hope of winning the World Cup and is no longer interested in competing with his arch-rival Lionel Messi. It is also possible that he might be retiring before the next World Cup.

Ronaldo is right, I mean with this kind of mentality any footballer can accomplish anything without much pressure although Cr7 is very emotional and that’s one thing I love about him. He always have this unique determination when playing also knowing fully well he didn’t get the 2024 Ballon d'Or nomination including Messi shows it’s time for a new era. No hard competition between both Messi and Ronaldo since they’re both successful and they’ve a great name in the history of football, Cr7 is just enjoying his moment and achievement now and I love it.

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Quote from: Zlantann on September 07, 2024, 06:09:19 AM

In the last World Cup, Saudi Arabia surprised the world when they won Argentina. However, the improvement in the local league has not really impacted the national team. The Arabian Falcons have not had an impressive international game recently. In the last three games, they drew giant Indonesia, lost against Jordan and had a convincing win over Pakistan. The local league have not started raising quality Indigenous players. They are still investing in experienced players that will help the SPL to develop. Maybe in the next ten years, we will start having Saudi players nominated for Ballon d'Or. Their next game will be against China which is an important game.

Saudi Arabia's manager Roberto Mancini confirmed with their players recently loss regular position in their club after many top European players signing by Saudi Pro League teams. The first round qualifying match against Indonesia, have poor performance with Saudi Arabia national team and Indonesia team success secure one important points for the first appearance on third round qualifying.
Upcoming match, Saudi Arabia will China have defeated many goals on the first match by Japan and its important match to secure three points and get opportunity directly qualify to next round.

The qualifying third round match for Asian zone have begin and left many matches, still early for predicting which one national teams have large opportunity get the top second standings position will qualify automatically to next round after some top teams have poor performance and failure reach three points.

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Quote from: AmoreJaz on September 06, 2024, 05:50:05 PM

Quote from: LUCKMCFLY on September 06, 2024, 01:24:38 PM

Quote from: Pandu Geddon on September 05, 2024, 10:50:52 PM

A loss for Saudi Arabia. In terms of FIFA ranking, they are better. From their meeting record, they are also more favored. But a draw at home is not good for them. Rumors in the media say that Mancini's players are not getting much playing time in the main squad when at the club. Especially their defenders. Is this the impact of competition with players from outside Saudi Arabia in the last few seasons?

These FIFA dates have been very tough and could have turned out favourable for those who prepared better, that doesn't mean they're doing badly , this is for anyone, we all know the impact of Saudi football now that its league is taking a very competitive turn, what happened is that in the 90 minutes Anything can happen, we remember what Saudi Arabia did to Argentina in Qatar , it showed what they are capable of , there is Still a long way to go and I think this will help them open their Eyes and realise that things can go wrong at any moment and move Forward.

In the field, we really can't tell their actual performance or the final scores. Just look at Saudi vs Indonesia. I guess, a lot were rooting for Saudi to really win their match and not get a draw. So they understand now that even with big names in the team, it doesn't guarantee the winning chance of the team.

Saudi Arabia needs some major work. Sure, they beat Argentina in the last World Cup. That was an absolute hell of a moment. But a dynasty cannot be built on one win. They're drawing against Indonesia, losing to Jordan. That isn't going to be enough. I'll give them that the Saudi league is improving. They are investing heavily in famous players, but it is just part of the picture

You cannot simply purchase a team and hope they will gel over night. It takes time, it takes chemistry. Saudi Arabia's got talent, but they need to figure out how to play as a unit. 2026 World Cup? They still have a great distance to go. Against China offers an opportunity to demonstrate their seriousness. No more excuses, no more relying on individual stars

Lidger

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Quote from: mv1986 on September 06, 2024, 01:38:03 PM

Quote from: Fiatless on September 06, 2024, 12:57:28 AM

https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/06/ive-won-two-trophies-with-portugal-dont-need-world-cup-cristiano-ronaldo/

After scoring his 900th career goal in the UEFA Nations League yesterday, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo insisted that he is not desperate to win the World Cup. The 39-year-old legend claimed that he is playing to enjoy the game of football. Furthermore, he believes that winning the Euros is equivalent to winning the world and has already won two trophies. The Portuguese side beat Croatia by two goals to one and Ronaldo scored the second goal.

Maybe he has given up hope of winning the World Cup and is no longer interested in competing with his arch-rival Lionel Messi. It is also possible that he might be retiring before the next World Cup.

Well, well... I guess he has let the world known all too often that he is in it to win it. He is not the kind of guy who plays football for recreational purposes and only wants to enjoy and doesn't care whether he wins the title. Of course he wants to win the title as that is the one thing that is missing for him. I bet if he were to win the World Cup 2026 in Mexico + USA, we would see him crying for half an hour straight on the pitch. Which is ok, I have no issues with that, but playing it down like that now is atypical for him. It doesn't fit into the picture he has been drawing for so many years and for good reasons. Surely he wants to win the title, but I guess there is a sense of realism and he knows that it takes an awful lot to really hold that trophy in his hands. Winning the World Cup is brutally hard and nothing that can ever be planned even if your team is the huge favorite.

As long as Ronaldo wears the Portugal jersey, he will try to lead the team to a respectable position. Every player's dream is to win the World Cup. If any player is asked if you want to win the World Cup or you want to be the best player then I think every player will answer without thinking that he wants to win the World Cup for his country. Cristiano Ronaldo has tried throughout his long career to bring the team to the World Cup but his single effort did not achieve such an achievement but he has not given up yet, he will wait until the 2026 World Cup. Maybe even in the 2026 World Cup, there will be no shortage of his efforts but still it will be seen that he has to end the World Cup journey with failure. Perhaps after the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo may be seen retiring from all forms of football.

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In this preparation for the World Cup, has anyone here watched Brazil's victory over Ecuador in a World Cup qualifying match?

I watched it and despite the victory, I honestly say that I didn't like the game because it seemed like they did just enough to secure the victory and secure the still "bitter" fourth place in the standings, with 10 points.

Despite being technically qualified, much more is expected from a team like this that is still eight points behind leader Argentina.

It was a game with little performance in which despite having dominated possession of the ball, they were unable to create clear chances to score throughout the match... they misplaced many passes again and had a lot of difficulty in linking up in the attacking half and little creativity to overcome Ecuador's strong defensive block.

The second half was also worrying when Ecuador applied aggressive physical pressure with three hard-working forwards and left Brazil with no space to play.

Anyway... it was a victory, but even if they qualify for the World Cup, this is not the Brazil I want to see playing in 2026.

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Quote from: AmoreJaz on September 06, 2024, 05:50:05 PM

Quote from: LUCKMCFLY on September 06, 2024, 01:24:38 PM

Quote from: Pandu Geddon on September 05, 2024, 10:50:52 PM

A loss for Saudi Arabia. In terms of FIFA ranking, they are better. From their meeting record, they are also more favored. But a draw at home is not good for them. Rumors in the media say that Mancini's players are not getting much playing time in the main squad when at the club. Especially their defenders. Is this the impact of competition with players from outside Saudi Arabia in the last few seasons?

These FIFA dates have been very tough and could have turned out favourable for those who prepared better, that doesn't mean they're doing badly , this is for anyone, we all know the impact of Saudi football now that its league is taking a very competitive turn, what happened is that in the 90 minutes Anything can happen, we remember what Saudi Arabia did to Argentina in Qatar , it showed what they are capable of , there is Still a long way to go and I think this will help them open their Eyes and realise that things can go wrong at any moment and move Forward.

In the field, we really can't tell their actual performance or the final scores. Just look at Saudi vs Indonesia. I guess, a lot were rooting for Saudi to really win their match and not get a draw. So they understand now that even with big names in the team, it doesn't guarantee the winning chance of the team.

Maybe it is assumed that Indonesia will be the target in Group C of the Asian Zone, but I was surprised to see Indonesia's improvement in this qualification, they really troubled Saudi Arabia which is known to be superior in this Group, it seems that Mancini looked nervous in this match and full of anxiety in hosting Indonesia, and Mancini's feelings were right that Indonesia actually played well in defending attacks from Saudi Arabia, actually Saudi Arabia could have won the match if Salem Al Dawsari's penalty kick was saved by Marten Paes who had just started his debut with Indonesia.

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Quote from: Zigabel on September 06, 2024, 05:58:38 PM

Quote from: AmoreJaz on September 06, 2024, 05:50:05 PM

In the field, we really can't tell their actual performance or the final scores. Just look at Saudi vs Indonesia. I guess, a lot were rooting for Saudi to really win their match and not get a draw. So they understand now that even with big names in the team, it doesn't guarantee the winning chance of the team.

Saudi is improving in their games now, before now they were very poor in their performance, I think their league improvement is now helping them play football better than they had done before now. Indonesia isn't know for the game of football, they do more of Olympics competition than they do with football. Teams victory is always independent of big names even if big names are advantages but not the reason for which a team myst win.

In the last World Cup, Saudi Arabia surprised the world when they won Argentina. However, the improvement in the local league has not really impacted the national team. The Arabian Falcons have not had an impressive international game recently. In the last three games, they drew giant Indonesia, lost against Jordan and had a convincing win over Pakistan. The local league have not started raising quality Indigenous players. They are still investing in experienced players that will help the SPL to develop. Maybe in the next ten years, we will start having Saudi players nominated for Ballon d'Or. Their next game will be against China which is an important game.

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Quote from: nullama on September 07, 2024, 05:46:03 AM

Quote from: Forsyth Jones on September 06, 2024, 04:23:57 PM

~snip~
A list of the TOP10 best players in history was released according to FourFourTwo magazine. Despite being considered the King of Football, especially in Brazil, Pelé came in 4th place. Do you agree with this list or do you have different personal preferences?

These kinds of things are very dependent on personal opinion.

Also I think it is because of the time passing...

Most people today have never seen Pele playing. So it is hard to compare that player with say, Maradona, or even Messi, which you can see multiple videos today.

In any case, the game itself has changed a lot from Pele times. It's almost a different sport, much more competitive today.

The gameplay too have changed a lot in past and at present. The rules are different. The technology have opened up newer approach.
The health and fitness are different. Players are being able to play for longer time with better fitness. Pele retired at the age of 31 while Ronaldo and Messi seem to be playing till their 40s.
The exposure too is much higher. Players back in time played very few games. The traveling time was greater. The competition and tournaments were less often.
So, it would be difficult to determine the best overall players and it would be better to break down the time period at least to a quarter of century to compare players.

nullama

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Quote from: Forsyth Jones on September 06, 2024, 04:23:57 PM

~snip~
A list of the TOP10 best players in history was released according to FourFourTwo magazine. Despite being considered the King of Football, especially in Brazil, Pelé came in 4th place. Do you agree with this list or do you have different personal preferences?

These kinds of things are very dependent on personal opinion.

Also I think it is because of the time passing...

Most people today have never seen Pele playing. So it is hard to compare that player with say, Maradona, or even Messi, which you can see multiple videos today.

In any case, the game itself has changed a lot from Pele times. It's almost a different sport, much more competitive today.

Alpha Marine

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Two years after the World Cup, Argentina is still looking like the best national team in the world. If they continue with this form for the next two years, they might win the World Cup again because, compared to the other big teams, there have been no big improvements since the World Cup except for Spain.
Even without Messi this team still plays incredible football and they dominate teams as well. there is so much confidence among the squad and the unity that has been created is very strong. They might go ahead to win a back to back world cup at this rate.

Quote from: Plaguedeath on September 06, 2024, 03:36:51 AM

9 from 11 players are from Holland, they're not a great player, so they can't play for Netherlands. Instead they're playing for Indonesia since their parents or grandparents were from Indonesia.

If Indonesia play without Dutch people, Saudi Arabia should have scored 3-5 goals.

I wonder if you say the same thing about France. Majority of the players that play for France are from other countries, mostly African countries but the whole world gets upset when people point that out.

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Quote from: Pandu Geddon on September 07, 2024, 01:11:28 AM

Quote from: Hanadawa on September 07, 2024, 12:45:58 AM

I agree to put Messi in the first position. He has the number one talent in the history of football. His body balance is absolutely insane. He almost never dives and that is helped by his physical balance and his incredible dribbling ability. Don't forget also his vision and IQ of the game which is very genius. Messi is like someone who plays his character on Playstation because he can see and predict the movement in almost the entire field.

And in the second position I think CR7 is very worthy. He is a human being with many fantastic records. Currently CR7 is the first footballer to get 900 goals officially. Ronaldo is an icon of hard work to achieve success. His discipline and healthy life principles have made him an inspiration to many people. I think Messi is an alien with natural talent and CR7 is a machine with hard work and dedication.

Ronaldo's performance is indeed not as good as when he was young. but he still has the ability to play if trusted by the coach for the World Cup. not many players can still be productive in scoring goals at Ronaldo's age. even if he is not played and is only on the bench or is part of the national team coaching team, I think he can still be a source of encouragement for the Portuguese national team.
we have not seen an extraordinary talent like Ronal born in the Portuguese National Team. he is an extraordinary player, and maybe Portugal still can't afford to lose him in the team. a world cup without Messi and Ronaldo, damn, we haven't seen a competition like that again at this time. they make football very interesting to continue watching.

Majority of people would have more interest on the world cup when both players Ronaldo and Messi are in attendance because they are extraordinary players and can change the game anytime to be in their favor. We have seen them done it many times from their youthful age till now and it is still possible for them to do it in 2026. I also hope to see Ronaldo as part of Portuguese national team in the forthcoming world cup because his present will be a big motivation to the players and a threat to the forum opponents on the pitch.

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Brazil has successfully to gets the winning result from Ecuador 1-0 i have to says the match is not easy because Ecuador also very discipline and Rodrygo can be considered as man of the match because he scored the only goal in this match and this is positive result from Brazil before facing Paraguay on September 10

However i just realize that seems Brazil has facing crisis for striker position because since qualification stages started the manager only playing Rodrygo, Vinicius and Edrick for different matches on that position which actually their real position is not centre striker but i can see the manager has no choice because Brazil currently have no world class striker

Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 36. (Read 62675 times)