2026 WC USA (et al): Worldwide Opponents Watch [all R's]

Yes the team was completely overhauled because they didn’t win anything other than the French League where they have a massive financial edge on everyone else to the extent it’s not really a question.

And yes because a team with Mbappe, Neymar, and an older Messi played way below where you’d think it’d be because when you have a team where you have three players who don’t do the defensive work you aren’t going to hit your goals.

As for the standard it’s whatever the voters want it to be. And I think it’s a relevant factor that Mbappe gives zero effort on defense with his club team (he does try more on this front for France) in a way that completely throws off the team structure. It’s not as bad as Ronaldo with Portugal because he gives a lot offensively, but on the defensive side for Madrid it’s not that different.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing the pendulum swing back a little bit.

 

If ya got Haaland, then you can play direct.
He can make something happen with even the slightest half chance.

In the end, its about the talent.

Spain can play with their style because Rodri is a beast. I struggle to understand the posters that kind of undersell how good Rodri is as a central midfielder.
And when Rodri was done physically, all they did was bring on Premier League champ Zubamendi as a substitute. Must be nice. Meanwhile the USMNT is bringing Sebastian Berhalter off the bench!!!!!!!!!11

I think there's just an issue of these elite European teams controlling 75% possession and then being unable to do anything with it. That's happened to Spain in several games, notably against Cape Verde. it was Germany's downfall. Had tons of possession, and just couldn't create dangerous chances.

These teams bunker and make games a knife fight because it can be effective.
Argentina was BADLY, BADLY outplayed against Spain. They were in it until the end.
They almost leaned into it when they brought guys like Paredes and Simeone on. High energy, high intensity guys that are going to be fighters.

Maybe I'm just an old fogey who misses the Argentina of Juan Roman Riquelme. Hell, give me Ariel Ortega and Marcelo Gallardo. Andres d'Alessandro.
For Heaven's sake!!!!!!! Give me some South American flair!!! I get it. Messi was supposed to be that guy in this event.

Spain beat Portugal, France, and Argentina to win the title. Really worthy Champions!!!

 

Bob and '09ers would've handled these Spaniards.

 

I mean they did bring that for like 20 mins at the end of every previous knockout match. Just couldn't this time, lol. But yeah a more proactive approach might've spared themselves having to empty the tank so much each time.

 

Leandro Paredes played last three games for Argentina with cracked rib. https://t.co/RwWM7miwzi pic.twitter.com/RUbiqFKg0y

— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) July 20, 2026

He played great in spurts but these are the guys Scaloni kept rolling out there instead of healthy players. Wonder what other injuries they might have been hiding.

 

Disagree, ran straight to the ball. Collisions happen in the game.

 

Spain lineup that we beat in 09 at the Confederations Cup when they were the #1 team in the World.

..................ridiculous.

Iker Casillas, Juan Capdevilla, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Xavi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, Albert Riera, David Villa, Fernando Torres

Off the bench...............

Santi Cazorla, and Juan Mata.

They didn't even bring David Silva, Sergio Busquets, Alvaro Arbeloa, etc. off the bench.

That's one of those where you're like...........WHAT THE WHAT????? That's likely the best lineup and bench the USMNT has ever faced. They didn't actually have Andres Iniesta on the roster as he was injured.

When people talk about the best wins in the history of the USMNT, that one should be way high on the list. The best team we've beaten in a game that mattered. They won the 2008 Euros and the 2010 World Cup on either side. Spain has never won the Confederations Cup, and we're a reason why!

 

It's not about being an "Mbappe fan"; don't be corny. I've given objective, concrete reasoning for why I think Mbappe should be strongly favored to win it. The counter arguments against my points so far have been weak, relying on internet memes or narratives that fall apart under minimum scrutiny:

Is Mbappe the reason for Real Madrid not winning UCL? Let's dig into it. They were eliminated by Bayern 6-4 on aggregate, with Mbappe scoring over both legs. Note that Mbappe scored the 3rd goal, putting Madrid up 3-2 in the match and tying them on aggregate at 4-4. Bayern scored two goals after a late Camavinga red card to make it 6-4. Mbappe's fault?

Granted, a good team shouldn't ship 6 goals, perhaps and maybe that's evidence of a dysfunctional defense somehow caused by Mbappe. But Bayern also put 5 on PSG over two legs including 4 conceded at home. Bayern put 10 on Atalanta.

So maybe Real Madrid just went up against a team that is equally as strong -- certainly I don't think anyone says Madrid should definitely win that match-up -- and between two very equal opponents a red card became very decisive.

The dictator stuff is just internet memes, not really worth addressing IMO. Everyone credible has dismissed it.

 

Paul Gardner is rolling over in his [checks notes] . . . never mind.

 

Considering we scored the first goal relatively early (min 25) we actually had a very respectable amount of possession IIRC, > 40% for sure

 

The problem is that it's harder and harder to do that when there is less and less time spent in system. All of the national team worthy players are out after 2 to 4 years in Argentina's top flight. Some are out before any top flight experience. Spain, OTOH, get 8 players from Barcelona who never left the team. Brazil will never 1970 back. Argentina will not have 1986.

 

How many Ballons D’Or have Messi and Ronaldo won combined? A dozen?

If playing defense is a criterion for attackers, it ain’t heavily weighted.

 

Well, we both seem to agree that PSG was overhauled into a more balanced team when several players left, including Mbappe, and several others were brought in. Is this strong evidence that Mbappe is a detriment to his teams?

If this is a significant consideration, then it has to also apply to Messi two-fold, since his immobility hampered both his teams attack and defense. Unlike the case with Mbappe, we can point to obvious evidence to Messi's impact on defense, they conceded more goals than any other semifinalist, conceding in every KO match, even against inferior competition they would be expected to defeat. They also failed to generate consistent offense until the waning moments of matches.

The narrative of Messi "carrying" Argentina is also in question, as they might have been more competent using him as a supersub. Even with Messi, he failed to score on anyone better than Egypt: Alvarez broke the deadlock against Switzerland with a banger form outside the box; just as Enzo scored a banger to equalize against England.

 

Although I think the UEFA fans are being over the top about “football winning” in the end, it’s hard to overstate how cynical and unlikable Argentina was in the final. Nothing wrong with being disciplined and defensive. But they were also constantly fouling, and they almost entirely refused to go forward until the second half of overtime. I mean, it took like 115 minutes before a team with Lionel Messi leading the line managed to take a single shot, much less a shot on goal.

And then several Argentina players cheap-shotted Spanish players after the match. We expect middle schoolers to have more self-control.

It was dirty, drab, and petulant. World Cup finals are often cagey and cynical, but this was disappointing even by that measure.

 

We're probably not that far apart although I am curious to see your response.

I attribute the England loss to Tuchel's coaching decisions. The first half was even to slightly favorable for Argentina. England were dominating the second half until they scored and went into a shell in the ~55th minute.

That said, I would tend to step away from individual results and look at collective outcomes. We all know soccer can be a game of large playing quality differences and small scoring randomness. Per the above, would we really claim the US was close to or better than Spain when we beat them?

Argentina and Colombia looked relatively strong. Brazil and Chile are down. Arguably, Uruguay is down vs recent history (this may also be a coaching issue although not a tactical one). Paraguay is indeed Paraguay. That does not leave many challengers from South America. In my view, 2/6 looked impressive. I expect more from South America.

France, Spain, England looked strong. Norway, Switzerland, and Belgium relatively strong. Germany out in PKs but looked off the mark.

 

I think there’s a reason Messi isn’t playing at the highest level in Europe anymore and it’s because he can’t do the work defensively anymore (but something that he did do when he was younger). But Mbappe has no excuse given he doesn’t have any physical limitations.

When Luis Enrique came to PSG he did so on the promise that they would clear out Mbappe and Neymar because he wanted a team who would do the work defensively. He did want to work with Mbappe because he thought he could get him to do so. He couldn’t and part of the reason he wasn’t sad to see him go to Madrid.

As for Messi he absolutely did carry Argentina to the final and he was one of the leaders at the World Cup in both chance creation and goals scored. They don’t make it to the final without him. Scaloni sort of figured out how to make it work and part of it is having all these players who make up for it by doing all the running. But it did limit their approach defensively and I think we saw the limits of that approach against Spain.

This is true of France also btw. They couldn’t really press teams because of Mbappe and this limited their defensive approach from Spain and options for getting the ball back when Spain was trying to hold it. Now like Messi Mbappe contributed a tremendous amount on the offensive side (and he does try a bit more on defense for France).

Meanwhile Spain was the most aggressive counter pressing team in the tournament. They were really good at holding the ball but when they did lose it they were super aggressive about getting it immediately back.

 

If the tournament were properly officiated, I doubt Argentina make it to the semis the way they played. I don't mean VAR conspiracies, but allowing repeated nasty fouls, reckless challenges, unsportsmanlike conduct and tactical fouls go repeatedly unpunished without yellow cards throughout most of Argentina's matches. Arguably you could say all teams were treated with this standard, but it's one that clearly benefits Argentina; no other team wants to elbow players in the back or punch people in the head.

England by the end of the first half were clearly better than Argentina, IMO. Spece was winning his battle against Simeone (who had 5 fouls by the end of the first half without receiving a yellow card, because it was the only way he could stop Spence) and had put in two dangerous crosses back-to-back and England were starting to have a clear advantage in the match (weirdly they won a corner at the end of the half but the ref blew for half-time instead of letting them play).

England lost because Tuchel made the most baffling coaching decisions I remember seeing a coach make in any World Cup. Where any of us would have subbed on Rashford, Saka, Tonie or ANYONE that could provide and outlet and counterattack danger, Tuchel sat on his subs until Argentina equalized after taking Gordon of for a defender. Just suicidal IMO. He should've been fired before the end of the tournament.

 

I think Argentina definitely did not comport themselves very well after losing. But also went into the game knowing their only real chance was making it into a street fight.

And it was because despite the scoreline being only 1-0 this was a complete domination by Spain.

 

I think FIFA should have a mini tournament with Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. No refs. Charge pay-per-view. Would probably need to be played in the Thunderdome.

 

I guess La Liga has a bit more balance, or at least better in the top 3 or 4, than BL1. But the Kane numbers are eye opening to me anyway. Some may way their respective accomplishments differently but it is obviously a case where reasonable people can disagree.

 

This final reminded me a lot of 2010 where the Dutch basically played anti-socce against Spain. I also had the same feeling of relief that justice had prevailed when Spain finally broke through.

It's also pretty uncanny comparing this Argentina team to 1990 - the other time they got to the final and didn't score and used similar tactics to brute force their way to the final.

 

I think it's safe to say we won't be really competing to win the World Cup until at least 2046.

Will take at least another 20 years to be in the mix (e.g. when current 0-10 year olds are aged 20-30). And we'll still depend on dual nationals raised in Europe.

 

Two guays enter, one guay leaves!

 

Here's a list of every country that will win a WC from now until Armageddon:

Brazil
Argentina
France
Spain
Germany
Italy (if you squint real hard)

That's it. For the rest of us, the goal is to make our eventual defeat more impressive.