2026 World Cup - News, Updates and discussions

[SpursFlu]

Wow that didn't take long. The bodies still warm TSN

[Copes]

3 hours ago, mpg_29 said:

TSN showing again why I'm glad OneSoccer exists: 

 

Tweet OneSoccer was replying to is deleted. What was this about? 

[Atlantic]

Petition to move this back into CAMNT pls (and maybe even name it Road to 2026?)
 

Anyway, I know we still have the Morocco game to go through but with chances of pulling off a miracle run over why not discuss about how we are going to get even better. 
 

I am spitballing here so apologies for the poor sentence structure. 
 

- Ideally would like to see the CPL grow by a few more teams, definitely need a team in Quebec to help round up some of that talent that Montreal doesn’t find. 
 

-More CPL success stories like Victor Loturi and have a plethora of guys at every position playing at alright to decent levels in Europe (Scotland, Norway, Denmark, etc…) that aren’t CanMNT material per se but help beef up our depth considerably. 
 

-Have more top level youngsters at the MLS level who get big money transfers to very good European leagues (Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and the Top 5). 
 

-Much more consistent and functional youth system that has a lot more friendlies to help introduce dual nats to the confederation. 

-Consistently get good opponents for friendlies that are going to test us and not just park the bus for 90 minutes. (No more Barbados, T&T, Bermuda and generally speaking no CONCACAF opponents outside those from the Octo). Doesn’t necessarily have to be the Brazil and France’s of the world but teams like Japan and Uruguay more often. 
 

Would love to hear other peoples thoughts. I’m so proud of how far this team has come and feel the best is yet to be seen!

Edited November 28, 2022 by Atlantic

[mpg_29]

10 minutes ago, Copes said:

Tweet OneSoccer was replying to is deleted. What was this about? 

Oh they deleted it? It was TSN basically saying now that Canada is out post the flag of who you are going for.

[TGAA_Star]

6 hours ago, Atlantic said:

Petition to move this back into CAMNT pls (and maybe even name it Road to 2026?)
 

Anyway, I know we still have the Morocco game to go through but with chances of pulling off a miracle run over why not discuss about how we are going to get even better. 
 

I am spitballing here so apologies for the poor sentence structure. 
 

- Ideally would like to see the CPL grow by a few more teams, definitely need a team in Quebec to help round up some of that talent that Montreal doesn’t find. 
 

-More CPL success stories like Victor Loturi and have a plethora of guys at every position playing at alright to decent levels in Europe (Scotland, Norway, Denmark, etc…) that aren’t CanMNT material per se but help beef up our depth considerably. 
 

-Have more top level youngsters at the MLS level who get big money transfers to very good European leagues (Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and the Top 5). 
 

-Much more consistent and functional youth system that has a lot more friendlies to help introduce dual nats to the confederation. 

-Consistently get good opponents for friendlies that are going to test us and not just park the bus for 90 minutes. (No more Barbados, T&T, Bermuda and generally speaking no CONCACAF opponents outside those from the Octo). Doesn’t necessarily have to be the Brazil and France’s of the world but teams like Japan and Uruguay more often. 
 

Would love to hear other peoples thoughts. I’m so proud of how far this team has come and feel the best is yet to be seen!

I agree with just about everything 💯 as far as what we need to do for preparation for 2026 and the steps here to go about it

[BearcatSA]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:14 PM, Atlantic said:

-Consistently get good opponents for friendlies that are going to test us and not just park the bus for 90 minutes. (No more Barbados, T&T, Bermuda and generally speaking no CONCACAF opponents outside those from the Octo). Doesn’t necessarily have to be the Brazil and France’s of the world but teams like Japan and Uruguay more often. 

We have to get back to this and we will, I am sure.  I was thinking about this while watching Senegal v Ecuador (we've hosted them before 2012 and should do so again).  Senegal would be a good neutral Euro site opponent.  That is a good level of opponent for now.

[TGAA_Star]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

We have to get back to this and we will, I am sure.  I was thinking about this while watching Senegal v Ecuador (we've hosted them before 2012 and should do so again).  Senegal would be a good neutral Euro site opponent.  That is a good level of opponent for now.

Canada if they want to go up also against other African opposition then I would suggest Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast or Ghana for friendlies

But for South American opposition I would go Brazil or Argentina this time

But for European opposition if you can swing it then I would suggest reigning European Champions Italy 

[TGAA_Star]

Yeah of course sure but our 2026 preparations in a sense have to start as soon as we are on the plane back home to Canada

Meaning our men's program has to immediately start laying down the groundwork for 2026 which means:

 

- Building on the success of our qualifying campaign which lead up to us qualifying for Qatar and playing in it by doing well in Nations League or by God even winning our first piece of silverware since 2000 by winning Nations League in our own confederation 

- Also preparing for Gold Cup 2023 and building a team for that by bringing in newer players whilst retaining our players from Qatar

- If rumors are true, we enter Copa America 2024 to help us prepare for 2026 as hosts and do well there 

- Then also prepare for the 2025 Gold Cup as well

 

But for the 2026 World Cup I wonder if we have like a mini tournament where we invite certain terms to play us in like a 4 to 8 team tournament or something like just right before the World Cup in April or May of 2026 especially since the 2026 World Cup starts on June 8, 2026 and ends on July 3rd

[youllneverwalkalone]

2 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

We have to get back to this and we will, I am sure.  I was thinking about this while watching Senegal v Ecuador (we've hosted them before 2012 and should do so again).  Senegal would be a good neutral Euro site opponent.  That is a good level of opponent for now.

Senegal has a pretty amazing squad on paper. And deep too. I was really surprised looking through all their players on TM. They would be a challenge for sure. I was thinking that good Euro opponents who missed out of WC22 would be a good place to start Czechia, Sweden, and Greece come to mind. It would be nice to play in front of supporters who care about the result.

[BearcatSA]

Just now, youllneverwalkalone said:

Senegal has a pretty amazing squad on paper. And deep too. I was really surprised looking through all their players on TM. They would be a challenge for sure. I was thinking that good Euro opponents who missed out of WC22 would be a good place to start Czechia, Sweden, and Greece come to mind. It would be nice to play in front of supporters who care about the result.

How about Norway if Haaland is called up and starts?  

[youllneverwalkalone]

I'd watch that. 😀

[Kadenge]

The first 2 groups have gone the way most expected with the Netherlands, Senegal, England and USA moving to the round of 16. Today we may see the first upsets with the Saudis v Mexico, who have not looked good. Argentina should beat Poland in the other game

[Big_M]

After Martino, Martinez is gone also

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/roberto-martinez-belgium-manager-croatia-b2237182.html?amp

[youllneverwalkalone]

Not really surprising. I wonder what he wants to do? Young enough to get back into club football, although 6 years is a long time to be away.

[Aird25]

We were disappointing this tournament. Not necessarily in how we played, but in our naivety to get results. Very, very poor

[TGAA_Star]

Like I said earlier Canada needs to focus their attention or the Men's program needs to focus their attention on 2026 now. Especially now that Canada is officially eliminated from Qatar, Canada needs to hit the ground running on preparations for 2026 especially now that Canada is one of the host nations. But it begs the question of Canada being a host nation on if we automatically qualify for 2026 or if we have to take part in qualifying for our own tournament which then makes no sense. But even so Canada has to put their primary focus towards 2026 now which means focusing on CONCACAF Nations League, Gold Cup 23 and 25 but also developing more of our young players so then that way we eventually have a change of the guard with some of our old vets.

[Razcal]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/01/world-cup-organisers-consider-ditching-three-team-group-format-for-2026?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

World Cup organisers consider ditching three-team group format for 2026

"That could lead to a 104-game World Cup if the top two in each group, plus the best eight third-placed sides, go through to a 32-team knockout stage – which is 40 more than will be played at Qatar 2022."

Edited December 2, 2022 by Razcal

[narduch]

I love the World Cup but that is a lot of games

[Floortom]

9 hours ago, Razcal said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/01/world-cup-organisers-consider-ditching-three-team-group-format-for-2026?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

World Cup organisers consider ditching three-team group format for 2026

"That could lead to a 104-game World Cup if the top two in each group, plus the best eight third-placed sides, go through to a 32-team knockout stage – which is 40 more than will be played at Qatar 2022."

Sounds awful. Cant wait to settle in for an evening of Qatar, El Salvador and Burkina Faso

Really will dilute the excitement of the world cup

[TGAA_Star]

9 hours ago, Razcal said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/01/world-cup-organisers-consider-ditching-three-team-group-format-for-2026?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

World Cup organisers consider ditching three-team group format for 2026

"That could lead to a 104-game World Cup if the top two in each group, plus the best eight third-placed sides, go through to a 32-team knockout stage – which is 40 more than will be played at Qatar 2022."

But it is fair

[Copes]

Honestly I prefer 4 team groups to 3.

[TGAA_Star]

16 hours ago, Copes said:

Honestly I prefer 4 team groups to 3.

Thank you I'm glad that we can all agree that 4 team groups with every team playing 3 group games in their group is more fair than 3 team groups

But that being said

Seeing the 2026 projected depth chart and seeing the ages of our players going into 2026, our team is going to get older and honestly we need to bring in more younger players so then that way we will have that perfect mix of youth and experience. But that being said if Atiba is gone then I would give captaincy to Osorio for 2026 because he'll be 34. So he'll most likely be playing in his last World Cup too on home soil so that's why I would give it to him. But we also need to bring in more dual Nationals as well.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Along with a senseless proposal for an international qualifying round to get to 32 teams for 2026… which would make so many host cities unnecessary ......wait for it....

He wants Canada to have to qualify for 2026.

If you have Twitter give him an earful...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/dec/11/globalise-the-final-round-of-qualifying-and-a-32-nation-world-cup-may-still-add-up

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Unnamed Trialist

[TGAA_Star]

Ended up doing a mock draw months back on BigSoccer but that was with 3 team groups but did one with 4 teams for 2026 and the mock draw for USA, Canada and Mexico looked like this well my mock draw that I did looked like this:

- Group A- Canada (hosts), Norway, Syria, Tunisia

- Group B- France, Korea Republic, Ivory Coast, Panama

- Group C- Netherlands, Croatia, Australia, Costa Rica 

- Group D- USA (hosts), Nigeria, Ukraine, Japan

- Group E- Belgium, Serbia, Ecuador, Honduras

- Group F- Spain, Poland, Cameroon, UAE

- Group G- Mexico (hosts), Chile, Wales, Mali

- Group H- Argentina, Switzerland, Ghana, Jamaica 

- Group I- Portugal, Colombia, Senegal, New Zealand 

- Group J- Germany, Uruguay, Iran, Egypt

- Group K- England, Denmark, Morocco, China

- Group L- Brazil, Italy, Saudi Arabia, DR Congo

[RJB]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:10 AM, TGAA_Star said:

Really hoping Infantino decides that it will be 4 team groups with 12 groups of 4 teams and top 2 advance into the Round of 32 because then that way you avoid collusion in 3 team groups

Top two from 12 groups only means 24 advance. The problem (or positive I guess) about twelve groups of four is that a round of 32 would include 8 third place teams that likely don't deserve it, or if you go straight to a round of 16 instead then 8 second place teams don't advance who likely do deserve to. 

A 48 team tournament is fundamentally flawed.  They want to maintain a 7 match route to win so as to complete it in the same amount of time, but they can't do that without odd numbered groups.