Re: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

I have enjoyed watching every World Cup in football for the last 30 years or so.
After the 1986 World Cup and Maradona, I thought no one would be able to top it, but then other great football stars came along like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho and later Messi and Ronaldo. It is the natural course of life, some leave, others come. I am sure that at the next World Cup we will see new football stars and enjoy great football again Grin

Mbappe will surely be a big star at the next few world cups, and I'm sure that Neymar has not yet said his last word in the Brazilian national team.

But if you are a true football fan then you will really miss Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The next World Cup will bring new stars but the living football wizards like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will be nowhere to be found. And you can never equate Neymar and Mbappe with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
there is so much comparision about the Messi and Ronaldo
I think they are both superstar in their own life - they have influced the life of people and have struggled alot to acheieve this sucess

Yes it is true that we are going to miss Messi and Ronaldo for there great achievement and we hope to see new players that is going to dominate that position soon. The world cup is one of the bigger football competition in the world and seeing that we are going to miss these two players is a big absence in the history of football so far. There are players that are coming up and is going to replace them when the time comes. They have really occupied many of the big position and therefore there tenure is elapsing for a similar good athletes that can replace them.

As far as I know, only Cristiano Ronaldo who have expressed that Euro 2024 might be his last dance but now that he's with Al Nassr, we're not sure what will be his plans in the future as Al Nassr expressed that they might extend Ronaldo's contract if he still wanted to play but I think it's already unlikely since he will be over 40 years old by the time his present contract ends. But for Messi, latest speculation is that he will be with the team in the upcoming World Cup because they are the defending champion and that will be likely his last dance.

But I am still not sure whether Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will play the next World Cup or not? However I personally see no chance of Cristiano Ronaldo playing, but Lionel Messi as the reigning World Cup champion captain may have some chance of playing if he is able to perform exceptionally well at the clubs. In fact, for me, the World Cup would not be complete without living legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Why do you think Ronaldo has no chance to play in the next World Cup? The new Portuguese coach invited Ronaldo to the national team again, after the World Cup in Qatar, which means that he is still seriously counting on him.
Ronaldo is no longer as effective a striker as he was a few years ago, but he is still physically fit, can still score goals and wants to play for Portugal. While that is the case, it will be difficult for any Portuguese coach to leave him out of the Portugal national team. Ronaldo is an institution in Portugal.
As for Messi, I think I read his statement somewhere that he still wants to play for the Argentinian national team, so it is not impossible that we will see both Ronaldo and Messi again at the next World Cup.

cristiano ronaldo is currently 38 years old, we are in 2023 and the next world cup will be in 3 years that is in 2026 and when it arrives in 2026 cristiano ronaldo will be 41 years old and looking at that age of 41 years he will be very old so the chances him playing in the starting 11 in the 2026 world cup are very low, look that in the national team of portugal there are many good strikers who are being the center of attention in big teams, being that they are younger than ronaldo so it is clear that the coach will put those good younger strikers to play at the beginning and ronaldo will be sitting on the bench

the problem arises from the fact that ronaldo is not a player who accepts sitting on the bench, so for the time being like qualifying games and euro games, the coach will always put ronaldo in the starting 11, but i very much doubt that in two years time the coach will always keep ronaldo in the initial 11, and we need to note that ronaldo is very popular and any coach of the portugal national team feels that pressure if he doesn't put ronaldo in the beginning but that will change because ronaldo's age with another 2 years will be slow and will be exposed to constant injuries