Even though the first round of the playoffs hadn't even reached its halfway point yet, the three hosts' performance at the World Cup can be regarded as good. Canada not only reached the playoffs for the first time in its history, but also managed to advance one round. Mexico and the United States won their groups, even if not with the strongest squads. The Mexicans, the second among the host nations, will take the field in the opening round of the playoffs. The group stage in their performance left only positive impressions. In three games, Mexico did not concede a goal, beating all opponents. South Africa and the Czech Republic had no chances against Javier Aguirre's charges; only South Korea offered a worthy resistance. The Asian side conceded a rather soft goal and had a chance to equalize already in stoppage time of the second half, but luck was on the hosts' side. The upcoming opponent is undoubtedly the strongest of those the Mexicans have faced so far. Ecuador took a long time to settle into the tournament, until it pushed its stay to a critical limit. In the first round the South Americans unexpectedly lost to Côte d'Ivoire, immediately complicating their lives. An even greater bewilderment was caused by the draw with Curaçao, during the match with which the goalkeeper of the outsider managed to save 15 shots on target. The specter of catastrophe hovered here. In the final round of the group stage, Ecuador faced the necessity to beat Germany, because even a draw and finishing third would not allow Ecuadorians to continue in the playoffs, given the weakness of their tiebreakers. The clash with the German team can only be described as triumphant. The 2-1 victory, clinched, allowed the Ecuadorians to collect four points and not think about how many points their rivals from parallel groups will collect. If we take into account that the Ecuadorian team finished second in the South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup behind Argentina, one can say that in the match against Germany it simply demonstrated its level. Unlike the opening matches of the World Cup... It seems there is no clear favorite in this pair, so it is worth choosing a double chance in favor of the South American underdog.