{"id":8867,"date":"2026-03-28T12:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/8867\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T12:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:39:07","slug":"ronaldo-out-but-excitement-high-usa-vs-belgium-mexico-vs-portugal-heat-up-world-cup-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/8867\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo Out But Excitement High: USA vs Belgium, Mexico vs Portugal Heat Up World Cup Preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The FIFA World Cup is around the corner, and you can literally feel it in the air. Rosters are getting finalized for the biggest event in the world, and this weekend will have a lot of say in that. Many of the leagues, including the English Premier League, are on pause for FIFA\u2019s international break, as many players are away from their club teams to play for their country. This weekend will be one of the final tune-ups before World Cup action, so of course, we\u2019ve got some international friendly picks for you all!<\/p>\n<p>Not many sports can say they play regardless of the weather, whether it be rain, sleet, shine, or snow. Soccer doesn\u2019t let the conditions stop the game, and luckily, this weekend, there&#8217;s fantastic weather across all three of our games on Saturday. The weather won\u2019t have much impact, so these games will be decided by the form of the men on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Toronto vs. Iceland &#8211; 1 PM<\/p>\n<p>We kick it off with my home nation, Canada, taking on Iceland. I see Canada walking away with the victory, and no, I\u2019m not being a homer, they are just that much better than Iceland. The moneyline won\u2019t net you anything here, so my first pick will be Iceland to score 0 goals (+100). Canada is riding a 4-game unbeaten streak, and hasn\u2019t allowed a goal in each of those games, so expect them to shut out Iceland. Canada doesn\u2019t concede many, but on the opposite side, they struggle to score as well. If you want some bang for your buck, I would take the exact score of Canada 1-0 (+450).<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by Alexis Quiroz\/Jam Media\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5ea8363103cd6787a88c485ba83f6726.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Alexis Quiroz\/Jam Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>USA vs. Belgium &#8211; 3:30 PM<\/p>\n<p>On to the nation I now call home, Team USA, will take on Belgium, right here in Atlanta, Georgia. The two teams will clash in the Mercedes-Benz Dome, so whether the roof is open or not, field conditions will be perfect. Belgium is on fire. Since new head coach Rudi Garcia took over in January 2025, they\u2019ve lost just once, and during this UEFA qualifying run, they\u2019ve scored a blistering 29 goals. Team USA has found its groove lately, but I believe this Belgium attack will be too much for them to handle, especially with star defender Tyler Adams still out with a knee injury. Take Belgium moneyline (+130). I see this being a high-scoring affair, well, the highest out of these three games, so take Folarin Balogun (+200) to score for Team USA. Multiple players will score for Belgium, and I believe one of them will be Kevin De Bruyne (+270).<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/72b249a9639d8a37eacce22556e7bb66.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Mexico vs. Portugal &#8211; 9 PM<\/p>\n<p>The nightcap of this splendid day of soccer will be Mexico vs Portugal. This game will be the first in Mexico City\u2019s newly renovated stadium as well. This game was highly anticipated for another reason as well: Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfortunately, he will not be able to see the pitch due to injury, which is a heartbreaker for Mexican fans. But for Portugal? No Ronaldo, no problem. Take Portugal moneyline (-105), they have never lost to Mexico, and it won\u2019t start today. For the final bet of the day: Both teams to score &amp; over 2.5 goals (+120). Mexico consistently finds the net against Portugal, and I believe they\u2019ll do it again here, even if it comes in a losing effort.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP via Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6ba52552e0a252c16e2f58be6306a69c.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>weather.com content writer Toby Adeyemi bridges the gap between trends and culture, a skill he&#8217;s honed over years at Yahoo Sports, EBONY, and Essence. Toby&#8217;s built a career finding where sports, music, and culture intersect, and now he&#8217;s bringing that same lens to weather, exploring how atmospheric events shape the moments, communities, and conversations that matter most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FIFA World Cup is around the corner, and you can literally feel it in the air. Rosters&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,210,4894,6133,4559,2423,2196,2732,335,6157,4544],"class_list":["post-8867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-canada","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-english-premier-league","tag-folarin-balogun","tag-iceland","tag-kevin-de-bruyne","tag-mexico","tag-portugal","tag-team-usa","tag-tyler-adams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116306848256171382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}