FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

Mbappe and Yamal are the other idols I think FIFA like. Considering Trump’s hatred of Spain’s goverment through I wouldn’t be shocked if he is trying to get them not to win,

 

Lamento decirte que si, iba al ángulo y nadie la sacaba 😭 pic.twitter.com/KFyI6fmMqW

— тєѕѕ🦇 (@tessa0976) July 8, 2026

Puta jirafa de cagada, nos impidió vivir el momento mas épico de los mundiales

— Fran Vader (@rusia173837) July 8, 2026

"I'm sorry to tell you, it was heading for the corner and nobody was clearing it"
"F*****g shitting giraffe - he stopped us from having the moment of the World Cup"

 

The global football wankfest around Messi & Ronaldo should have come to a close after Qatar2022. Once Messi was helped to win the WC, then Ronaldo & Messi both then left Europe that summer to play in Saudi & MLS.

The continued discourse obsession with them two is no longer giving the games image any benefit. I'm praying FIFA stops rigging the WC in favor of VARgentina. It's not actually helpful to the growth of football as a global game, instead it's eroding it like some cancer

 

FIFA like the IOC and many other sporting bodies increasingly only care about what gets interest on the likes of TIk Tok. Messi and Ronaldo’s still get lots of attention on those platforms.

 

Seems obvious to me they want a France-Argentina final, Mbappe is the FIFA selected inheritor of the Messi/Ronaldo crown. They'd probably love a final where Mbappe scores in extra time to win it, like a formally televised passing of the torch.

 

Messi still adds something with a team working around him. Ronaldo is ridiculous.

I am angry about the yellow card situation. No way an Argentina player gets booked like Rice did in the first minute. No chance Messi gets booked for dissent like Harry Kane did and I doubt the penalty is given either. If Romero played for England he would have been booked so often they would have to put in an order with Waterstones for new stationery.

 

The difference is that Mbappe is thoroughly dislikeable.

 

You're not wrong but I'd caveat that by saying Messi and Ronaldo are not particularly likeable characters in my eyes either.

 

The social media talk is the France v Morocco match having all Argentine officials is to remove France due to Morocco being in cahoots in FIfA.

 

Ronaldo tbf comes across as a decent guy. He's always willing to interact with the mere mortals and seems fairly likeable

 

In a Africa v Europe game you have to have a referee from a neutral association, what if this guy is simply the best official? Do you know that he's not. Surely if Fifa wanted to enforce a fix they could get any referee to do, why would it have to be Argentinian?

 

Fireburn

 

They have it wrong, it's to ensure a France-Argentina final.

 

I think there is some unconscious bias going on and some teams mainly because they have Messi get refereed slightly differently, but don't think thee is any actually fixing going on.

 

I don't think it's strictly fixing in the traditional sense, they also seem to want the matches to be close, for example when England went 3-1 against Mexico there was a very realistic chance we could have ran away with the game 4-1 or even 5-1. The pen and red card were both plays that were allowed to progress and then pulled back by VAR almost a minute after, both game altering decisions and we've seen that plenty this World Cup, that's just an example of my own team so it's prevalent in the mind. If FIFA ever ended up in court they'd probably argue that football is entertainment and some degree of scripting is allowed but must remain behind a veil as to not interrupt the sense of sporting play.

I mean, Qatar? Bungs, Sepp Blatter, you'd have to be unwittingly lying to yourself to think they wouldn't do something like this with hundreds of millions, potentially billions at play. Even the most evil events in history were justified with best intentions.

 

It’s easy to tilt a game by giving yellow cards to one side earlier and letting fouls go

the cl final was a good example of Arsenal being penalised and pay now for the same things

 

I honestly don't know how you can come to that conclusion. He's one of the most unlikeable athletes I've ever come across in my life and that's without the credible rape allegations that exist against him.

 

I've seen YouTube videos of him where he's spent time with underprivileged and sick kids

 

They're good fans Mexicans

 

and then you just need to rely on Messi doing things that no one has ever done and no one else can do! easy peasy!

you can't manufacture that. you guys should be excited for Englands chances here Argentina aren't a true contender this year they are too old. Don't look for a way out while your team still has a chance to win it will just bring bad karma from the football gods.

Rio Ferdinand embarrassed himself for me.

 

Quansah tackle was a clear red card and then England gave away a clear penalty.
It would be match fixing to not give it.

 

Reading through this, i do believe Fifa and Uefa are biased or owned to an extent by Argentina and Spain. So they'll win everything (Ballon Dors included) as they have been reserved for La Liga and Spanish speaking players by nationality.

Question is where is England from all of this like what is needed to actually win any of this

FYI the only PL player who had won the Ballon Dor recently is Rodri who's Spanish and isnt the most deserving that year. Haaland also Robbed once.

What im getting on to is that when Real Madrid Boycotted that Ballon D'or Ceremony they won nothing for two years straight! Its like they were kicked out of some organisation or "The Favouritism Group" could it be linked to any sort of under ground corruption or something?

Sounds fishy to be honest

 

There are levels. A lot more people dislike Mbappe than Messi.

 

It's more to do with it being pulled back a minute after, personally the pen was a bit soft and the red card not obvious, it looked worse on replays when slowed down. It's not that I'm against the decisions, but more the circumstances around them, same with Egypt scoring the third and then being pulled back, this isn't something we see that often and in most goals you can find a potential foul at some point in the build up play if you look for a minute beforehand. The potential for corruption this way is actually something worth considering.