2026 World Cup

[OllyM97]

You know, if I was one of the England squad that hadn’t played a second until now and was picked for the third place game, I’d be inclined to tell Tuchel to shove it.

Apart from FIFA further lining their pockets the game is utterly meaningless.

Neither team want it. The players clubs definitely don’t want to risk their player getting injured in it.

Yeah, it’s absolute nonsense. You think anyone is watching that at 10pm at night?. It’s an absolute shambles that it’s even a thing.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Yeah, it’s absolute nonsense. You think anyone is watching that at 10pm at night?. It’s an absolute shambles that it’s even a thing.

And the players must hate it even more than the fans.

 

[OllyM97]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgmk7mnnyjeo. FIFA being absolute cringe until the end. Infantino is a vacuous jellyfish of a human being.

 

[Demfad]

yeah, probably. To be fair, i've been saying that for quite a while and somehow the team manages to find a reason to give me hope. I mean, we went from Maradona to Messi in less than a generation. And it took the coaching staff over a decade to figure out how to make use of the greatest footballer in history. Let that sink in. We've also had some amazing teams (2002, 2006) which delivered absolutely nothing, but could have easily been champions. It happens. Frustrating as **** but it happens.

So yes, we will not expect much, but we didnt expect much from this wc either. WE've had commercials about it. No team in Argentine history has entered a WC with such a low bar in terms of pressure. We demanded nothing because they had already give us everything. yet here we are again, playing a WC final.

I've had a good run: i've seen my national team win 3 wc finals, lose 2 and lets see how this sunday's game plays out. Countless copa america's. And that's the what, now about the how: i've seen the greatest goal in history scored against a bitter rival, but that wasnt enough; we had to score the most popular and controversial goal, too. On the same game. We've come back from the dead, quite a few times. We've seen Messi lose final after final in copa america and wcs, retire from the national team, only to come back and win it all. ALL. If there is a footie god, that mothafucka loves the **** out of us.

let me say this again because people have a short memory. Messi did so poorly in the national team, SOOO poorly that he actually said he wouldnt play anymore. Press, journos and quite a few argentines argued he shouldnt play anymore. I am not talking about a 39 yo Messi. I am talking about Messi at his peak. This happened.

The point i am trying to make is, yes, i expect a dry spell, but i've been wrong about this. Time and time again. Hope i am wrong again.

I may be wrong but I think Messi sufferred a little under Maradona's management?
I think Messi ahs achieved more but IMO peak Maradona was better than peak Messi.

I think the commercialization of football towards Europe has particularly hurt Brazil. Previously Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Spain portugal had a particular possession based highly technical style coming from each league. Bar Spain thats alsmost all gone now and Spain are benefitting from this.
Argentina are hanging in there in the Messi era but my hunch is that If the leagues keep diminishing there will be less wins for SA teams and things may favour Spain in particular.

I think competitors (including France and England) will have to focus more on transitioning to break possession. England and France should have head well practiced transition efforts to wrest control from teams. Particularly important for International teams where possession/parked bus matches are far more common.

Now I come to my point as to where I see Ireland in this conundrum....eh......

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Ok, two things.

First: Spain are favourites. No buts, no ifs. End of.

Second: I genuinely cannot understand people writing us off. Again. I can understand people rooting against us, obviously. We’ve collected animosity like no other national team in sporting history. We don’t mind. We like it. Love it, actually. But writing us off again? That’s the part I struggle with. Not emotionally, but intellectually. Few things offend me more than a story with a stupid villain or enemy. This is gargantuanly stupid. They might even get away with it, but that's not the point. Why take a chance? before a WC final?

I don’t even have an issue with people who genuinely believe it could be onesided. Football is unpredictable by its nature, and Spain are an incredible team. But what fascinates me is how many people seem to ignore what being dismissed does to this Argentina side. It unites us. It gives us a common goal, something to fight against together, a purpose.
And you don’t need to be an expert to see the cohesion, the belief, the determination running through this group. It's there, it's palpable, obvious.
And one of the reasons is that we know stories need to end and this is probably this team's ending. Not just Messi’s story. de Paul, Otamendi, tagliafico, etc etc. This is it.

And, again, they know it. Fullyy aware. They know they can lose. But if you want to stop them lifting that trophy again, you’re going to have to kill them. Burry every single of those bodies to the ground. No shallow graves. Maybe throw and exorcism or two, just in case.

This is the end of a cycle. The final chapter. And they have the chance to make it not just special, but spectacular. Sublime. Unique. You wanna stop that? You're gonna need a bit more than just raw talent.
This is their last dance. Their (hopefully) swan song. Their magnum opus.

Again: can they lose? Of course.
Are they favourites? Clearly not.
But would you write them off? You’ve got to be bloody mental.

All in Argentina.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Ok, two things.

First: Spain are favourites. No buts, no ifs. End of.

Second: I genuinely cannot understand people writing us off. Again. I can understand people rooting against us, obviously. We’ve collected animosity like no other national team in sporting history. We don’t mind. We like it. Love it, actually. But writing us off again? That’s the part I struggle with. Not emotionally, but intellectually. Few things offend me more than a story with a stupid villain or enemy. This is gargantuanly stupid. They might even get away with it, but that's not the point. Why take a chance? before a WC final?

I don’t even have an issue with people who genuinely believe it could be onesided. Football is unpredictable by its nature, and Spain are an incredible team. But what fascinates me is how many people seem to ignore what being dismissed does to this Argentina side. It unites us. It gives us a common goal, something to fight against together, a purpose.
And you don’t need to be an expert to see the cohesion, the belief, the determination running through this group. It's there, it's palpable, obvious.
And one of the reasons is that we know stories need to end and this is probably this team's ending. Not just Messi’s story. de Paul, Otamendi, tagliafico, etc etc. This is it.

And, again, they know it. Fullyy aware. They know they can lose. But if you want to stop them lifting that trophy again, you’re going to have to kill them. Burry every single of those bodies to the ground. No shallow graves. Maybe throw and exorcism or two, just in case.

This is the end of a cycle. The final chapter. And they have the chance to make it not just special, but spectacular. Sublime. Unique. You wanna stop that? You're gonna need a bit more than just raw talent.
This is their last dance. Their (hopefully) swan song. Their magnum opus.

Again: can they lose? Of course.
Are they favourites? Clearly not.
But would you write them off? You’ve got to be bloody mental.

All in Argentina.

I think writing anyone off in a final is stupid. Crystal Palace beat Man City in the FA cup final the season before last and I don’t think anyone would argue that the gulf between Argentina and Spain is anything remotely like the gulf between City and Palace.

I get the whole “us versus the world” thing but you’ve also got to accept that there’s also some good reasons for the animosity against Argentina.

Argentina have a history of, shall we say, embracing the dark arts, it’s in your DNA. You do it extremely well, it’s admirable in a way. Take the England game, there was a moment early on when Anderson got smacked in the back of the head but done so well it didn’t get picked up on.

Then there’s the constant harassing of the refs, the time wasting, the historic moments of cheating like the hand of god. But still, on top of all this, and I say this from a place of love, the Argentinian fans don’t exactly come across brilliantly in a lot of tournaments with monkey chants and other vile racist songs and what have you.

Now, so you don’t think I’m hating on Argentina let me hate on England as well to show you I’m objective, lol. England have exactly the same negative perception globally. It’s not because everyone is being mean to England it’s because they had a hooligan culture for many decades (as well as racist stuff) firmly embedded within. Scotland call them “chair chuckers” lol.

I was saying to my son the other day, one of the things you’ll never see pro players do is goad the other team after after they’ve lost a pen shootout. The only time I have ever seen this, the only time, is Argentina doing it to the Dutch in the last WC qtr finals. It was actually horrible to see and it did, and still does, really make this Argentinian team very unlikeable. Weirdly, though, Messi seems like a sweetheart.

I’m sure most of these players are good guys really they’re just test match animals and, as I’ve been saying, a lot of this is just cultural as well but a lot of the animosity towards Argentina isn’t unwarranted.

I also am biased as even though I’m a Spurs fan I absolutely hate Romero as he’s the worst captain Spurs have ever had, even though, on his day, he is one of the best CBs in the world.

 

[OllyM97]

I really want Messi to win another WC but I just can’t bring myself to support that Argentina side. From a footballing point of view they are everything I hate about the modern game - the bullying of referees, the use of Dark Arts, the goading of opposition players, not respecting other countries’ anthems (England fans let themselves down on that score too). Of course the Argentina team won’t care what the outside World thinks of them, which is a trait that i begrudgingly admire about them. All that counts is winning and they don’t care how they do it.

I’m in two minds about this game the closer it gets - on the one hand Spain are the far superior footballing side and really should win this one with a bit to spare if they play to their max - but this Argentine side has a will to win that I’ve very rarely seen in any sports team before. They would literally die for their country on that pitch and they never know when they are beaten. The more adversity that gets thrown at them, the stronger they get - Scaloni even said that himself. They will never go away and that makes them dangerous. If this game is level after 60/70 minutes then I would start to favour Arg.

Argentina won’t beat Spain comfortably but could they win a game of chess that comes down to one moment of brilliance?. Absolutely. You can’t write this team off, however much I’d like to @Cruz_del_Sur.