FIFA World Cup 2026 - Discussion Thread

@scottish_carson It's a good point, Spain should have put this to bed.

@Chris Davies I think the foul looked accidental but FIFA change the rules so much I'm not sure if accidental is a foul or not anymore. Id make a wager that if it were the other way around it would have gone to VAR.


Edit: GOOOOOOALLL JUSTICE!
 
To defend as perfectly as Argentina did for nearly 120 minutes is a skill, and a physical toll. It was a masterclass from them in how to shut a game down. But it seemed like a strange decision - you're both clearly good enough to be there, why not try and play? They must have huge regrets now.

Their aggression after the final whistle, Paredes running at Spain players to push them over, is unreal. Trying to spoil their moment because you lost? How can you argue about losing a game you didn't have a shot in until you went a goal down? Have some class, seriously.
 
Chris Davies said:
Anybody outside of Argentina think that Spain goal should have been disallowed? In a final, for VAR not to get involved in that is absolutely shocking.
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I am always reading on many forums this var is not involving.

Isn't VAR always on the line in direct communication with the referee? The official referee is only watching when they told him it is better to check. But in cases like this, don't they tell him it's a clear foul, and he doesn't even need to "confirm" his choice?
 
Felt bad for Lionel Messi. But still, he will leave football legacy so high after what he did in Qatar 4 years ago.

Congratulations to both finalists who were fighting so hard for this World Cup. Especially Spain 👏👏👏👏👏👏

In all seriousness, they knocked out Uruguay, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Argentina with a solid defence and midfield. 1 goal conceded is another record for any World Cup winners.

For the record, the fewest amount of goals conceded by any World Cup winners before this year's World Cup was 2. France in 1998, Italy in 2006, and Spain in 2010 achieved this rare feat. Italy didn't even conceded a single open play goal during their last triumph (an own goal vs USA and a penalty by Zidane in the final vs France).

Also thanks for all of you guys, it was a pleasure to enjoy the tournament alongside you all. Hopefully Spain will defend this title at home soil 4 years later :DD

marqisspes6 said:
Its really sad, the only two players that were really playing a WC final were Messi and el Dibu. Sad ending for Messi career honestly.
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Not much luck for him. He even played a major football final in the same stadium with Argentina before (the 2016 Copa America Final vs Chile) and lost (he even missed a penalty during the shootout).

After that final loss vs Chile, Messi announced his international retirement, but then he came back stronger and went on to win the World Cup in 2022.

Also, another European team won the World Cup held in the Americas. Funny that Argentina was also behind this unfortunate record. Same with Spain this year, Germany 2014 at that time also made Messi toothless for 120 minutes in the final held in Brazil, and they won the World Cup after scoring only just one goal in the extra time.
 
Never doubt these coincidences:

2010
World Cup opener being Mexico vs South Africa
World Cup official song by Shakira (she even performed this song during both World Cup opening and closing ceremonies)
8 Barcelona players in the Spain squad for 2010 World Cup (David Villa joined Barcelona after that World Cup, though)
Spain entered the World Cup as reigning Euro champions 2 years ago
Spain's tough start in World Cup (a 0-1 loss to Switzerland)
Spain beat Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo was on his prime at that time)
Spain reached the World Cup final after beating the dominant German team in the semifinal (Germany scored 13 goals up until the semifinal and only conceded 2 goals; 4 of which came against England and Argentina)
Spain won the World Cup

2026
World Cup opener being Mexico vs South Africa
World Cup official song by Shakira (she performed this song during both opening and the World Cup Final halftime show)
8 Barcelona players in the Spain squad for 2026 World Cup
Spain entered the World Cup as reigning Euro champions 2 years ago
Spain's tough start in World Cup (a goalless draw vs Cape Verde)
Spain beat Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo is now close to the retirement)
Spain reached the World Cup final after beating the dominant French team in the semifinal (France scored 16 goals up until the semifinal and only conceded 2 goals)
Spain won the World Cup

Also, EA Sports simulated the World Cup winner in the last 4 World Cups and it went alright. Now they picked Spain for this World Cup, and the pattern is now unbroken.
 
Very boring final, mostly for Argentina's catenaccio, but they were totally spent, so it's kind of understandable. As expected, Spain was too organized (it's impressive, they play like a club!) and definitely the better team won the Cup. I think this World Cup was quite good overall, I'm not a fan of the larger tournament and I hated the group stage, but the elimination phase (final aside) was super entertaining! 🙂
 
Overall the World Cup was pretty decent and Spain thoroughly deserved to win it.
Argentina were lucky throughout and I would be absolutely disgraced if that was my club or country who played and acted like them.
Absolute scum some of the Argentinians - They were dirty cheating c**ts in the final and glad they lost.
Ottomendi needs an oscar for the dive to get the Spain goal disallowed.
The half time show was bizarre as well, was good for the kids but why have upbeat party music and then allow Debby Downer (Mr Bieber) to come on and completely and utterly ruin the mood with some depressing slow song - It's like lets all go to a rave but half way through, crack out some Beethoven.

The 48 team format was a winner in some ways as the knockouts were better - Anyone can beat anyone on their day and the knockout phases although pretty predictable showed this could of been the case and some teams just being unlucky.
So the first 2 and a half weeks were pointless, completely pointless with little jeopardy.

If FIFA now decide to have 64 nations in the WC it just means the first 3 weeks of the tournament will be pointless.
Spain will be in a group with Jamaica, Caracao and Botswana, with the top 2 going through.
So then the round of 32 will then be a complete walkover for the best nations.
It is all well and good having more teams but the teams will be seriously uncompetitive, I even reckon Exeter City would get out the group stages at a 64 team World Cup.
 
bsmaff said:
It is all well and good having more teams but the teams will be seriously uncompetitive, I even reckon Exeter City would get out the group stages at a 64 team World Cup.
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Millwall wouldn't...

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bsmaff said:
Overall the World Cup was pretty decent and Spain thoroughly deserved to win it.
Argentina were lucky throughout and I would be absolutely disgraced if that was my club or country who played and acted like them.
Absolute scum some of the Argentinians - They were dirty cheating c**ts in the final and glad they lost.
Ottomendi needs an oscar for the dive to get the Spain goal disallowed.
The half time show was bizarre as well, was good for the kids but why have upbeat party music and then allow Debby Downer (Mr Bieber) to come on and completely and utterly ruin the mood with some depressing slow song - It's like lets all go to a rave but half way through, crack out some Beethoven.

The 48 team format was a winner in some ways as the knockouts were better - Anyone can beat anyone on their day and the knockout phases although pretty predictable showed this could of been the case and some teams just being unlucky.
So the first 2 and a half weeks were pointless, completely pointless with little jeopardy.

If FIFA now decide to have 64 nations in the WC it just means the first 3 weeks of the tournament will be pointless.
Spain will be in a group with Jamaica, Caracao and Botswana, with the top 2 going through.
So then the round of 32 will then be a complete walkover for the best nations.
It is all well and good having more teams but the teams will be seriously uncompetitive, I even reckon Exeter City would get out the group stages at a 64 team World Cup.
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I think if they want to expand they should just remove the group stage entirely because let's face it, it's the most boring phase of the tournament. Have 64 nations go directly into a knockout system. The team you draw is based on the usual pre world cup qualifications. That would add instant jeopardy and make it exciting from start to finish. Remove extra time and go straight to penalties too while they're at it.
 
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