2026 FIFA World Cup: FINAL - Argentina vs. Spain

2 infidels. Absolute judas

 

You want a real conspiracy… zoom into the picture… that’s not even Nahuel Molina!

 

look how much space and 3 defenders on the other side all trail back with dibu which gives ferran all that room instead of one or two being there to block the shot

 

We could have just played Barco but Scaloni was clearly way too attached to his old gang. He values camaraderie over anything.

I've always adamant of not wanting Nico G since 2022. I got my wish at the time but he eventually returned.

If wasnt Lautaro's winner, we would still be talking about this....

 

Spain's core is still young. Lamine Yamal 19 years old, Curbasi 19, Pedri 23, Nico William 24...

I can see them continue to dominate Europe Championship next and possibly World Cup.

If Argentina want to revenge in 4 years, it's time to start new blood.

 

This is like the worst performance i've seen in World Cup final, especially from a defending champion and how the team played before the final.

Piss me off that only after conceded, they started to wake up and actually created chances.

What had they done before that? Tried to get the match to penalty shoot out from beginning?

 

Every problem we had can be attributed to Scaloni's tactics, player selection and delusions. He won so much he forgot how to take a critical look at his team. He wanted to play some weird counter attacking while conserving energy. We only saw us play when we are in danger.

He had so many options on the bench. He could have rotated every game. He could have realized that Molina was the weak link. Could have tried 3-5-2. Enzo and Mac were never working, too similar at this point and they cannot hold the ball. He doubles down on working them for 1000s of minutes. There was no midfield without Paredes which should not be the case. You should be rotating and trying until you get the right combo. That's what got Scaloni out of a group stage elimination in 22'

 

Yea, I think as Pekerman said above, we tried to absorb Spain's high press in the first half without exerting ourselves too much, unless a counter was on. Starting Nico G and RDP was not a wise decision. They further contributed to our lack of ball control and giveaways on top of burnt out Mac and Enzo.

I bet we were going to change in the 2nd half as the game went on 0-0 but Scaloni got handcuffed by the Lisandro and Romero injuries, and Enzo's red card was the final nail in the coffin.

I havn't been able to analyze the game too much as I cannot re-watch it and I don't plan to.

 

The disappointing thing is that we’ve lost three out of our last four finals. If we had just won* at least one of those three losses, it wouldn’t feel so bad. It really does feel like we’ve underachieved even though we’ve been in the most finals in the last 50 years…

 

Interesting stats from Whoscored: Rodri and Fabian started only in 17 and 13 games respectively in 25/26 season in their leagues. At the same time Enzo started in 35 games and Mac in 31! Rodri minutes: 1,515, Fabian: 1,132; while Enzo: 3,121, Mac: 2,664. No wonder that Spanish midfield had fresher legs in the final! Also, raises additional questions on the squad workload management by Scaloni.

 

Based on what we saw, Scaloni has zero workload management. Besides, Alvarez played almost 50 matches for Atletico Madrid last season + 8 games for Argentina leading up to this tournament and then he was played in all 8 games . Scaloni basically turned him into Nico G 2.0.

The team energy bar was basically at 20% upon reaching the semi and we practically used all the remaining of it to dominates and beat England in last 30 minutes. As soon as we saw Enzo, Mac, RDP trio + Nico G in starting 11 for the final, we all knew what's coming.

 

Another thing I'd like to point out, while Argentina has a superb semifinal record, they dont have great record in final. Argentina reach 30 CA finals but only won 55% of them. Germany is similar, they blew 4 WC finals and 4 WC semis plus 3 Euro finals & 3 semis. Italy was able to matched them with less semi and final appearences.

That said, I wouldnt look at it as somekind of a bad curse since reaching more final means you have bigger chance to add another trophy. At the end of the day we're still most successful team in Copa and 4th best team at WC.

 

excellent point, you have to ask what were the 4 staff doing with this load management it was quite pathetic since the start of 2025

 

Something about the 2026 World Cup final still doesn't sit right with me. I'm not saying there was a conspiracy, but there are a lot of decisions that seem difficult to explain.

• Why were three of Argentina's starting defenders—Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero, and Gonzalo Montiel—substituted late in the match?
• Why did Enzo Fernández pick up such avoidable yellow cards? One for dissent after rejecting the referee's decision, then another near the end of the match. That's very uncharacteristic for a player of his composure.
• During the national anthem, the players had the same fire and intensity they showed before the England match. Yet once the game started, that intensity seemed to disappear.
• Why didn't Leandro Paredes start when his experience and aggression could have helped control midfield?
• The biggest head-scratcher: this was the tournament's highest-scoring team, yet they had zero shots on target after 90 minutes. That's almost impossible to reconcile with everything they'd shown throughout the competition.

There are other things that raise eyebrows too:

• The tactical approach seemed unusually passive compared with previous matches.
• Several key players appeared below their normal level at the same time.
• The attacking combinations and pressing that had been Argentina's biggest strengths were largely absent.

 

Sadly, this would remain a big question mark for decades to come much like R9 condition & Brazil in 1998 final.

 

I think as scaloni mentioned we have to settle with the fact that they were a better team that day.It's the only healthy way to cope with our lose

 

I thought Paredes had a serious rib injury but hes back to playing? And zero reports on Licha's and Romero's injuries???

Montiel for Molina is one of those Scaloni AI automated subs that should have never been made. Might as well brinf Lautaro and play with 3 defenders. And why was Nico G taken out? Let him die on the field. We really should have taken out Enzo on a yellow. Weird was that Lo Celso also supposedly could have started. The game plan makes zero sense from Scaloni if he was aware of the fitness issues.

 

They were better than Argentina playing with major handicap. This is like a special win scenario in PES or something having to sub out 3 defenders then play a man down

 

I just think Scaloni overcoached and scared this team into being afraid of being blown out. Nevermind that Spain blows chance after chance nearly every game and only averaged a goal or two. Well with the old guys he kept trotting out there, yeah probably not a good idea to open up, but surely there was a way to go for it in the second half with some smarter subs. By the end of the first half, we were actually starting to look a little threatening, but then that all changed when we went back to disruptive game plan.

 

We already looked somewhat like that for large part of the games againts Switzerland & Egpyt. Just slow & lumbering pace and basically opponents settled, find their rhythm and do what they want.

If you think about it, we conceided 1 againts Spain which was the same like when we played Jordan, England & Switzerland. CV & Egypt did more damage to us than Spain.

The difference was that we're unwilling to attack againts Spain from the start. Spain completed 800 passes was nothing new. They completed 1000 passes againts Russia & Morocco back then but nobody says they deserves to win, instead people went for the "underdog played well" narrative.

When Italy beat Spain in 2021 Euro, Spain had 66% possesion and 16 shots. They had 20 againts us for comparison. My point is, our negative gameplan & ridiculous subs were the reason why Spain looked like an unbeatable team. I dont buy this "Spain is a perfect unbeatable machine" crap. Seriously, Bielsa's Uruguay was able to shut them up and Spain goal was their only shots on target.

 

Spain committed 105 fouls and received 6 yellow cards and 0 red cards.

Argentina committed 109 fouls and received 14 yellow cards and 1 red card. https://t.co/0ApDKDPoFM

— S🕊️🇸🇪 (@8bdrssss) July 24, 2026

These are dumb stats because of course the two teams that played the most games (third place game notwithstanding) have the most fouls in the tournament, lol. But I remember people complaining it was rigged because Argentina didn't get as many cards for the fouls they made, and here's Spain with almost as many fouls and less than half as many cards. I guess that means it was rigged for Spain all along? Of course not.

 

These whole rubbish such as providing meaningless stats & showing random pics of a players stumbling or making contact with opponent socks without context then claim this or that team gets helped are the proof that social media algorithm rewards and pushing a rage baits posts.

 

Spain had crazy fouls thay should have been carded just this game alone.

And 100% on Scaloni overcoaching. Just start the best fit players and rotate. You dont need surprise lineup changes and stupid energy saving tactics

 

Don't forget that Argentina's 4th all time leading goal scorer in the prime of his career (1 goal away to tie for 3rd) was left on the bench for 120 minutes.

I know we got handcuffed with the injuries, but spending a sub on one of our best performing players Montiel....to put in Molina...I swear sometimes I could manage this team better. Put Alvarez/Lo Celso/Barco at LM and Lautaro up front. Solved.

It is what it is, Spain were the better team, starting with their manager.