The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be starting on June 11th and ending on July 19th. All of the best soccer players around the world play each other in a tournament to represent their countries. There will be 48 different countries participating. The matches will be held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The top players in the world such as Messi, Ronaldo, Halland, Lamine Yamal and more will be playing against each other in this event.
The teams that have the best chance to win the World Cup this year are Spain and France.
Spain has the best player in the world, Lamine Yamal. A student at FMS, Victor V, said Spain had the best odds to win this year. When asked why, he said, “Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, a really good midfielder, and David Raya as the goalie. They play really good together and David Raya saves every shot.”
France also had a very good chance, as they have players such as Mbappé and Olise. FMS student Kamran A says, “They have the most goated team ever.” France also made the finals in the last World Cup, hosted in Qatar of 2022.
Kamran says that this year the best players are, “Lamine Yamal, Neymar, Messi, and Ronaldo.” Mbappé is also widely considered one of the best. Many people say Messi and Ronaldo are the best players ever and they are correct, however, despite what many people think, Victor has said, “Messi’s not going to be too good because he plays for MLS. Ronaldo’s gonna be benched.”
This year, the U.S. is hosting the World Cup for the second time, alongside Mexico, who is hosting the World Cup for the third time, and Canada who is hosting the World Cup for the first time. When the students were asked about whether or not they like this, Victor said, “Yeah because, it’s different continents each time when hosting the World Cup and those are the main countries in North America.”
Kamran also said, “Yeah, it’s pretty good because I know a lot of people who love soccer in Mexico and America, I don’t know about Canada, I don’t know if they’re really about soccer, I mean, they’re just about hockey.” So, it’s good that Mexico and America are hosting, but maybe Canada should stick to hockey.
Now, many countries such as Poland and Nigeria didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year. When the students were asked if they were surprised, they both agreed with each other. Kamran said, “No, not really,” and Victor also said, “ No. I don’t think there are any countries that surprised me about qualifying.”
The best country that didn’t qualify in the World Cup this year was Italy. They lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their qualification game. It was very shocking and no one expected it. When we asked Kamran if they should’ve qualified, he said, “I really feel like they should be in the World Cup, because that team is really good and they have won a World Cup before, but I feel like they might be falling off so, yeah.”
Victor had a different opinion as he said, “I mean, Italy, they used to be really good, but now, I don’t think they’re that good anymore and a lot of their players aren’t good.”
The finals will be held at Metlife Stadium, NJ, one of the best arenas in the world! So, this year’s World Cup is going to be spectacular!
