FIFA WC USA-Mexico-Canada 2026

[Ansem]

4 hours ago, zekekelso said:

Obviously what Canada needs to do is station a large military presence in Germany. From a soccer standpoint, it's the best thing the US has ever done. 

We used too after WWII and throughout the Cold War but they were shutdown eventually. 

Too bad indeed...

[Ansem]

I decided to post this video of Pulisic, by far the best American playing the game today. He's playing at Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga, Germany 1st division.

They are playing Monaco from League 1 (France) tomorrow in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Monaco lead the serie 3-2 On aggregate.

Not sure that many Americans knows who is and how important he is for the future of your national program. So there it is.

 

[Mack_king]

On 17/04/2017 at 0:44 PM, Nacre said:

While I agree that the Premier League is awful at developing English players, the second division of English football is stronger than leagues like Eredivisie. Surely teams like Watford and Fulham can be relied upon to take the academy graduates of Liverpool and Chelsea on loan.

Yes but as you must have seen already, Netherlands are having troubles of their own in the qualifying stage. 

Sure our 2nd division is strong but it's not strong enough to provide quality players capable to rival against France, Italy or Spain.

The fact that we're giving Jermaine Defoe a chance says a lot about our team...

[Mack_king]

19 hours ago, Ansem said:

I decided to post this video of Pulisic, by far the best American playing the game today. He's playing at Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga, Germany 1st division.

They are playing Monaco from League 1 (France) tomorrow in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Monaco lead the serie 3-2 On aggregate.

Not sure that many Americans knows who is and how important he is for the future of your national program. So there it is.

 

Superstar is a bit of a stretch. He's talented but no superstar. He's on the bench as we speak against Monaco.

1 player is not enough to get you to the promise land 

[Mack_king]

On 17/04/2017 at 11:19 AM, Ansem said:

I'd resume why were bad in this list:

•Complacency: We were actually an average to ok team up until 1986. We were about equal to the US while having the better record when playing them. The CSA just figured out "don't fix what's not broken". But everyone else got better while we stall.

•Indifference: Canadians like Americans were indifferent to the domestic game. Americans has NFL, MLB and NBA while we only cared about hockey and CFL. So whatever the CSA was doing, no one cared so they resumed their incompetent management. The 1994 WC changed the US but it didn't trickled down on us.

•2000: Best team we ever had. We won the World Cup by beating Mexico and Columbia. Most of the players were playing in Europe which explained this era which I will admit was a bit of an anomaly.

Finished 3rd in 2002. We lost to the USA

lost to the US again in 2007 but Julian De Guzman was MVP of the tournament.

Then it went downhill...we became bad then worst.

•2008- Major League Soccer: MLS was granted permission to operate in Canada by the CSA. It was believed that the NHL model would be replicated for soccer. In hockey, Americans and Canadians are equals in the top league giving opportunities to both sides. Each countries are responsible for the development at lower tier, USA with the NCAA and Canada with the CHL. 

However, after expending to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (top Canadian markets) MLS deemed the Canadian expansion over and severely restricted Canadian players to access the league via their domestic rules not counting Canadians as domestic. This meant very little minutes were played by our players and less than 5% of the league were from here. So we stagnated, unable to improve.

•2012 Brazil qualifiers: We had a good team and it was believed to be able.to go to Brazil, then the epic collapse happened in San Pedro Sulas in Honduras where we got crushed and eliminated. While the older generation didn't care about soccer, mine did and denounced the CSA incompetency. Everyone got fired and decided to start from scratch.

•2014 Victor Montagliani: He took over and started the ground work for a division 1 Canadian league and blocked new teams from joining the US system. He started the Canadian bid for 2026 and became CONCACAF president. The grassroots level got a massive overhaul and the English style was deemed obsolete.

We think we can qualify for Qatar. The new manager wants into have the South American approach to soccer from the bottom up with an emphasis on offensive rather than defense + counter attack. The Canadian Premier League will help deepen our bench while our elites will be the core of the team and better supported.

This was our 1st game under new management against Scotland and tied. We didn't have our best players so if we can play like that without Larin, Davies, and Tabla, the future looks promising.

If we can get all our dual citizens playing in Europe to commit to Canada like the Americans did, we'll have increased our chances to make 2022.

Very entertaining post. The 2000 team was talented. Lack of depth on the bench will sink you everytime. 

Sorry for stealing Tomori although he could still change his mind and play for Canada 

[Durban Sandshark]

On 4/17/2017 at 10:19 AM, Ansem said:

I'd resume why were bad in this list:

•Complacency: We were actually an average to ok team up until 1986. We were about equal to the US while having the better record when playing them. The CSA just figured out "don't fix what's not broken". But everyone else got better while we stall.

•Indifference: Canadians like Americans were indifferent to the domestic game. Americans has NFL, MLB and NBA while we only cared about hockey and CFL. So whatever the CSA was doing, no one cared so they resumed their incompetent management. The 1994 WC changed the US but it didn't trickled down on us.

•2000: Best team we ever had. We won the World Cup by beating Mexico and Columbia. Most of the players were playing in Europe which explained this era which I will admit was a bit of an anomaly.

Finished 3rd in 2002. We lost to the USA

lost to the US again in 2007 but Julian De Guzman was MVP of the tournament.

Then it went downhill...we became bad then worst.

•2008- Major League Soccer: MLS was granted permission to operate in Canada by the CSA. It was believed that the NHL model would be replicated for soccer. In hockey, Americans and Canadians are equals in the top league giving opportunities to both sides. Each countries are responsible for the development at lower tier, USA with the NCAA and Canada with the CHL. 

However, after expending to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (top Canadian markets) MLS deemed the Canadian expansion over and severely restricted Canadian players to access the league via their domestic rules not counting Canadians as domestic. This meant very little minutes were played by our players and less than 5% of the league were from here. So we stagnated, unable to improve.

•2012 Brazil qualifiers: We had a good team and it was believed to be able.to go to Brazil, then the epic collapse happened in San Pedro Sulas in Honduras where we got crushed and eliminated. While the older generation didn't care about soccer, mine did and denounced the CSA incompetency. Everyone got fired and decided to start from scratch.

•2014 Victor Montagliani: He took over and started the ground work for a division 1 Canadian league and blocked new teams from joining the US system. He started the Canadian bid for 2026 and became CONCACAF president. The grassroots level got a massive overhaul and the English style was deemed obsolete.

We think we can qualify for Qatar. The new manager wants into have the South American approach to soccer from the bottom up with an emphasis on offensive rather than defense + counter attack. The Canadian Premier League will help deepen our bench while our elites will be the core of the team and better supported.

This was our 1st game under new management against Scotland and tied. We didn't have our best players so if we can play like that without Larin, Davies, and Tabla, the future looks promising.

If we can get all our dual citizens playing in Europe to commit to Canada like the Americans did, we'll have increased our chances to make 2022.

Adding to your brilliant point about the slow demise of the Canadian men's national soccer program's fortunes, Canada Soccer did indeed miss out on some solid players that could've helped them like Owen Hargreaves, who opted to play for England and was at Bayern Munich, and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who opted to play for his native nation Bosnia-Herzegovina on its World Cup debut. In fact, that Bosnian team has several players like local product from my hometown Vedad Ibsevic and Edin Dzeko who got raised in other nations during their youths because of the civil war there.

That 1986 World Cup team, while leaving Mexico not scoring a goal (and we all know what happens to teams that have this happen to them--they don't immediately qualify for the next one like China 2002, Greece 1994, and Australia 1974) they did hold their own against France, the Soviet Union, and Hungary. It was a ragtag team of mostly amateurs but did benefit from the dead-by-then NASL's inertia in having a few Canadian players and a coach in Tony Waiters, formerly of the Vancouver Whitecaps, with some top-level NASL experience. Hell, many of them were in the indoor soccer's MISL, THE top soccer league at the time in the USA, like Bobby Lenarduzzi, Carl Valentine, Branko Segota, and Tino Letteri. By the mid-1980s, the Calgary Boomers, Edmonton Drillers, Montreal Manic, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Toronto Blizzard all were either defunct or struggling financially. There was even talk of the turning the Montreal Manic into a Team Canada patterned much like that monstrosity south of the border with the Washington, DC-based Team America in 1983 for the next season. And this was when the USA was still in the midst of an international soccer dark ages. Surely, there's a solid ESPN 30 For 30 about that period, the NASL's rise and fall, and the Canadian portion there. There was the CSL that got created afterwards to boost the domestic development but had no influence on the national soccer scene there and was met with indifference. 

Surely those players from the latter half of the previous decade like Julian De Guzman and Dwayne DeRosario would gladly give their arms and legs for a taste of the World Cup for Canada. By 2026, actually well before then, I do hope the MLS would reconsider classifying Canadians as domestic players

[Durban Sandshark]

On 4/16/2017 at 1:27 PM, Mack_king said:

But the United States football is very different than the rest of the world, that's why no one believes it possible for the US to win it. 

You got to start from scratch and build the program from the ground up, from kids starting to kick the ball around all the way to Major League Soccer. By doing that, you instaure an identity and overall style of play. That's how Germany was able to completely rebuild their program. 

Injecting more money in MLS and attracting stars in the twilight of their career doesn't bring the US any closer to a World Cup. As a matter of fact, most of the US recent success is due to Klinsmann coming to the exact same conclusion.

The talent in the United States isn't good or deep enough. So Klinsmann traveled the world and found as many footballers  playing in top leagues that were eligible to a US passport or dual citizens as he could and signed them up. US born players performing in European league provided a solid base to support them. That's how the US we're able to ascend to the level they are now.

Don't get me wrong, the USA is a good team but not an elite team. Pulisic is a jewel for the the US team and undeniably their best prospect for the near future, However, if Messi or Ronaldo, even Neymar can't win a World Cup for their country, it proves the importance of the whole team needing to be elite players. USA has an elite player in Pulisic and perhaps Bradley but not at the other positions.

I have no doubt that the US can one day be a contender but it won't be in 9 years. If you saw the last world cup, Germany and Argentina were by far the better teams and I assure you they have elite superstars at every positions. For the United States to build such a team takes time and a great program, believe me, its still a work in progress in England.

We have the superior league compared to France and Italy, but they've been consistently better in international tournaments than us. It's a source of frustration to us since tradition seems to overrides reasons in the minds of those running the English program.

In regards to the Confederation cup, best not to take it that seriously. Countries don't always send their best players to that tournament, hence FIFA wanting to replace it with a 32 team Club World Cup.

As for Leicester City, I apologize but we can't compare club level and national team. They function too differently. 

 

Agreed that an overhaul on the men's program for US Soccer in emulating the DFB from Germany in the previous decade may be in need. Having a very nice level top-flight national soccer league in the USA with some Canada sprinklings in the form of the MLS is very important, for one major reason, deepening the national soccer talent pool, something the old NASL failed to achieve effectively. But it's not the Barclay Premier League, La Liga, or the German Bundesliga. We do have a solid team that has a World Cup appearance pedigree since 1990 that's always since been at the top three CONCACAF qualification teams, but we have really more of a yeoman team even with players with some experience in top leagues across Europe. One that's got very good players and strong goalies and defenders but not possessing global superstars, with all due respect to Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, and Clint Dempsey. It's a team that can surprise for a time or two and generate mainstream American sports interest during its World Cup campaign. But not always depending on the matchups facing them. Team must have some serious bench depth; I seriously don't think we'll be serious World Cup contender in the foreseeable future. It might take a generation. And yes, we in the United States lack the decades-built prominent soccer sports culture that many nations have, even dating back to the old American Soccer League that held ethnic teams which made the sport non-mainstream to older Americans at the time. 

Pulisic surely has the goods to be our first bonafide global soccer superstar, barring a series of injuries. But he's still a kid and needs more serious international experience. We can also could use some young players who not only posess a high soccer IQ but also some creativity. Sometimes soccer here in the US, despite the tremendous strides made to its credit in the last few decades since Paul Caligiuri's goal in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in November 1989 to finally get the USA back in soccer's grandest stage, the United States still has some ways to go. We are more of a mishmash with our soccer cultural influences still trying to figure it all out with our uniqueness; we used to pattern after England for the longest since that's was deemed as the best with its sphere of influence then mixed with a bit of Germany. Now we turn towards the Hispanic influence that's still emerging. 

[Quaker2001]

Insider: FIFA rejects exclusive path for USA's joint 2026 World Cup bid

[LatinXTC]

Oh I'm disappointed. I was hoping this article would be about FIFA rejecting the super stupid menage a trois North American bid from going forward and request the US get rid of at least 1, if not both tagalong friends.

[Durban Sandshark]

Won't happen. Not as long as at least two of the three nations with solid World Cup pedigrees are in it (hint: Canada isn't one of them). Hell, Canadian soccer perhaps needs this WC bid boost more so than the other two who are of course more than capable themselves to get back into the competition after being out of for so long. 

[Roger87]

That was expected to be honests.

[Quaker2001]

Fifa votes overwhelmingly to fast-track 2026 World Cup bid process

[Roger87]

Unless UEFA is allowed to compete or Argentina-Chile-Uruguay went for 2026, this is CONCACAF for lose.

[Quaker2001]

Fox, Telemundo Set for $500 Million Windfall on 2026 World Cup

[Durban Sandshark]

If the Bell Media TV networks were smart and cater to Canada's growing Latin/Hispanic communities, they will allow Spanish and Portuguese-language sublicensing on the likes of Univision Canada and TeleLatino. This will also apply to Italian language coverage like for the Azzurri's games, for they enjoy a strong following up there too. No doubt CTV and RDS will get the entire coverage of Team Canada's games up there and extensive analysis of them. TSN will have the bulk of them now with multiple channels under its stable.

For Telemundo, my estimation will be that NBC Universo will have the bulk of the US Spanish games with Telemundo coming in for the simultaneous final group games. Possible that the Latin American blue bloods like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay along with the USA to attract the masses might have their games shown on Telemundo.

[gotosy]

World Cup 2026: Morocco confirms it will bid to host tournament

 

The Moroccan Football Federation has announced it will bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

The deadline for countries to express their intention to bid to host the tournament is Friday with Morocco the only confirmed bidders so far.

The United States, Canada and Mexico announced in April that they intend to put forward a joint bid.

The World Cup has only been hosted once in Africa - in South Africa in 2010 - and this is Morocco's fifth bid.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) gave its backing to a Moroccan bid in July.

A total of 48 teams, rather than the current 32, will compete at an expanded tournament in 2026 after changes announced by Fifa earlier this year.

The decision on who will host event will be made in 2020.

Fifa's rotational hosting policy means Africa is one of four confederations that can bid to host the 2026 finals as Europe (Russia 2018) and Asia (Qatar 2022) cannot be considered.

 

BBC

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40898920

[Nacre]

I really hope that Morocco wins. A Canada-Mexico-USA cup would be a diplomatic nightmare for the USA.

The Caribbean Football Union has been making noises about withdrawing from CONCACAF and creating their own independent confederation, but CONCACAF has outmaneuvered them by taking over the organization of the CFU youth tournaments. Many of the Caribbean national federations were furious with the FBI and the CA/MX/USA bloc even before this. But I am not sure if that will translate into more votes for Morocco.

[mr.bernham]

9 hours ago, gotosy said:

World Cup 2026: Morocco confirms it will bid to host tournament

 

The Moroccan Football Federation has announced it will bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

The deadline for countries to express their intention to bid to host the tournament is Friday with Morocco the only confirmed bidders so far.

The United States, Canada and Mexico announced in April that they intend to put forward a joint bid.

The World Cup has only been hosted once in Africa - in South Africa in 2010 - and this is Morocco's fifth bid.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) gave its backing to a Moroccan bid in July.

A total of 48 teams, rather than the current 32, will compete at an expanded tournament in 2026 after changes announced by Fifa earlier this year.

The decision on who will host event will be made in 2020.

Fifa's rotational hosting policy means Africa is one of four confederations that can bid to host the 2026 finals as Europe (Russia 2018) and Asia (Qatar 2022) cannot be considered.

 

BBC

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40898920

Can't wait to see the cup in Morocco! 

Seriously, America is shooting itself in the foot with a joint bid with Mexico. Mexico is very unstable and does not have the kind of money for the security that would be required and expected of an American World Cup. America just needs to either go it alone or join up with Canada.

Maybe Australia should bid? Would love to see a World Cup there.

[FYI]

Can't see Morocco 2026 for various reasons. First, not right behind Qatar 2022 (especially when the awarding of 2026 will take place two-full years before Qatar has even hosted 2022). Second, just like Mexico, there would also be several concerns with Morocco. And third, after the debacle that was the 2018/2022 double allocation, FIFA I'm sure wants something much more solid this time around. It's gonna be either North America or Australia (if they bid) for 2026 (unless FIFA will also allow bids from UEFA countries, just in case). 

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, mr.bernham said:

Maybe Australia should bid? Would love to see a World Cup there.

As part of the Asian Football Confederation, Australia's not eligible, particularly directly after Qatar 2022.

[FYI]

^Isn't Australia part of the OFC? According to the article, Australia would qualify.

"In May, Fifa announced a four-stage bidding process for the 2026 tournament with a final decision in May 2020. It later confirmed that the previous two World Cup hosts, Europe and Asia, will not be eligible to host the tournament.

That left North America’s Concacaf (which last hosted in 1994), Africa’s CAF (which last hosted in 2010), South America’s Conmebol (Brazil in 2014) and Oceania’s OFC (never)."

[Nacre]

Australia is in AFC not OFC.

Even though I personally dislike Morocco (I have an aunt and uncle who moved there 8 years ago) it is a completely different animal than Qatar. It is more similar to Turkey: a second world country with extensive links to both Europe and the rest of the Muslim world. But unfortunately I don't think they will find enough votes. Sub-Saharan Africa hates them as much as the Caribbean hates the USA.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Nacre

[Sir Rols]

27 minutes ago, FYI said:

^Isn't Australia part of the OFC? According to the article, Australia would qualify.

"In May, Fifa announced a four-stage bidding process for the 2026 tournament with a final decision in May 2020. It later confirmed that the previous two World Cup hosts, Europe and Asia, will not be eligible to host the tournament.

That left North America’s Concacaf (which last hosted in 1994), Africa’s CAF (which last hosted in 2010), South America’s Conmebol (Brazil in 2014) and Oceania’s OFC (never)."

Australia left the OFC about 10 years ago. We needed better competition. We were the most recent Asian Cup host (and current title holder).

[FYI]

2 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Australia left the OFC about 10 years ago. We needed better competition. We were the most recent Asian Cup host (and current title holder).

Yes, thank you. I just read that after further looking into it when another member also mentioned that Australia is not in the OFC. So Australia left in 2006, I wasn't aware of that. I'm not a big soccer fan, so wasn't fully in the know. Thanks again for the clarification.

[FYI]

Gosh, I guess that doesn't leave FIFA with a lot of good options for 2026 then. Other than North America (the U.S. mainly), or maybe Argentina (in South America), there wouldn't be too many other credible options left, unless FIFA relaxed their rules of who can or can't bid for the next round.