He wasn't the best player at the 2026 World Cup, not even close! Messi was by far the best, followed by Bellingham, Haaland, Mbappe and finally Rodri. These scandalous awards are a disgrace to football.
It was 50% Enzo Fernández getting himself sent off in the middle of the pitch, and 50% Scaloni for setting the team up like a small national team and getting absolutely every substitution wrong. What was he trying to do? Play on the counter-attack with four central midfielders? Enzo couldn't play on the left, and De Paul couldn't play on the right either. If the intention was to play a 4-4-2 and counter-attack, he should have fielded Nico González and Giuliano together. It’s also baffling why he wasted an unnecessary substitution at halftime by swapping Montiel for Molina, who plays the same position. Finally, in extra time, while playing a man down—why didn't he take Messi off? You can't defend with just eight players; you need at least nine. This entire analysis focuses solely on Argentina; of course, Spain deserves credit for their performance. Just look at where their players compete. Did anyone imagine Argentina could beat an elite team with players from Inter Miami, Boca, and River? Winning the World Cup required players competing at the European pace. There have been many humiliating moments in the history of the Argentine national team: the 6–1 loss to Czechoslovakia in 1958, failing to qualify for the 1970 World Cup, the 5–0 defeat by Colombia in 1993, the 4–0 loss to Germany in 2010, and the two finals lost to Chile. Yesterday's performance undoubtedly makes the top ten list. Zero shots on target in two hours of play.
Yeah, so I think I agree with you about who the best players were. But Spain’s midfield was so dominant that I don’t mind Rodri getting it, even though I don’t think he was the best player. It feels like a recognition of something genuinely extraordinary from Spain, which I’m fine with. I think what Messi did was extraordinary too, and I was surprised he didn’t get the Golden Ball, but my reaction to Rodri getting it was basically just “meh, fair enough.”
In the World Cup Involvement in every Clutch Goal scored by their team (Goals that either put their team ahead or equalized the match) Player’s SofaScore Rating compared to their Team’s Rating
Broadly speaking, Scaloni got it wrong throughout the World Cup. The team failed to press and struggled in many matches. Johan Cruyff used to say that "anyone can play football if you give them five meters of space," yet Argentina allowed themselves to be dominated by many opponents by sitting back in a low block. Perhaps this was due to the advanced age of certain players and the decision to deploy them in positions other than their natural ones on the pitch.
Scaloni's decisions were horrendous.. a terrible starting lineup and horrible substitutions. I don't know what happened before the match, but Argentina's players looked very angry and didn't even seem to try. It was a horrendous performance with zero attacks throughout the entire 90 minutes. They didn't even pass the ball to Messi.
You play with what you got. You can't reinvent the wheel on a matchday. Spain has a specific culture and way of playing that is taught from a very young age. It is certainly true for La Masia, but it extends beyond it. It doesn't always work. They failed many times, and the public criticized them. The current generation under De la Fuente is spectacular. The final was not won by the decisions on the matchday. This or that substitution would make no difference. It was won many years ago. It was won by a coherent football culture and by a hard work of players and staff involved. Absolutely deserved by Spain.
Spain played well and deserved the win, but Argentina was an embarrassment, managing zero shots on target. Every other opponent—even Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia—managed to get shots on goal against Spain. Argentina had the squad to create more goal-scoring opportunities.
Leo Messi telling the players before the game to "Stay calm" and "Forget about everything else." "Let’s stay calm, boys. Forget about everything else. Forget about everything. Let’s just think about playing, that’s all." pic.twitter.com/3LNI8WXaIi— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) July 20, 2026
I don't know what the ******** happened before the game, but everything was off.. from Scaloni's decisions to Paredes' pointless angry acts.
I have to disagree with you there. I also believe that, overall, Messi was the tournament's best player; the others you mentioned were fantastic too, but no one should be up in arms about the choice of Rodri, even if we don't agree with it. He was arguably the guiding force behind the best team, and he made key players like Vitinha, João Neves, Tchouaméni—and, of course, the Argentine midfielders—look like novices. I’m not a big fan of FIFA’s decisions regarding these kinds of awards; for instance—and I say this as an admirer of Messi who considers him the greatest footballer in history—wouldn't you consider FIFA's decision to award the World Cup Golden Ball to Messi to be just as outrageous? Siento discrepar contigo. Yo también creo que Messi, globalmente, ha sido el mejor jugador del torneo; los otros que has nombrado también han estado fabulosos, pero nadie debería echarse las manos a la cabeza por la elección de Rodri, aunque no estemos de acuerdo. Seguramente ha sido la brújula de la mejor selección y, ha hecho que futbolistas tan importantes como Vitinha, Joao Neves, Tchouameni y, por supuesto, también los mediocentros argentinos, pareciesen principiantes. No me gusta muchas las decisiones de la FIFA respecto a este tipo de premios; por ejemplo, aunque me considero admirador de Messi al que le pongo en la cúspide del fútbol en toda su historia, ¿no considerarías igualmente escandalosa la decisión de la FIFA de dar el Balón de Oro de la Copa del Mundo a Messi?
I think the key for Spain really is that they have this specific way of playing that they’re all taught. A key aspect of NT football is that the teams don’t actually have much time to train together. So most teams aren’t all that organized and do not necessarily execute tactics all that cleanly. This means it is huge advantage to have a well-organized team that is all on the same page as each other. Anytime a NT has some way to do that despite the limited training time together, it’s a big advantage. Sometimes we see that with NTs that have a core that’s from the same club team. This Spain team has that to some degree. But the bigger thing IMO is just that when everyone from a country is taught the same way of playing, it’s a lot easier for them to have great chemistry playing that style of play together on the NT.
They could have created more scoring opportunities. They could have also conceded 6 goals as a result of changes. Losing only 1-0 after extra time with 10 men on the pitch and having few chances to equalize at the end seems like a great deal compared to losing 6-1 because you tried to create more goal-scoring opportunities. Things could have easily gone way worse. Also, players will not approach a game against Argentina in a final the same way as they do against Cape Verde or Saudi Arabia. It is not comparable.
4. FRANCE 7.25 Mbappe 6.38 Dembele 6.38 Olise 6.14 Rabiot 6.00 Upamecano 6.00 Tchouameni 5.75 Barcola 5.71 Kounde 5.67 Saliba 5.40 M. Kone 5.38 D. Doue 5.38 Maignan 5.17 Digne 4.50 Cherki 4.40 T. Hernandez 4.33 Lacroix 3.50 Male Gusto ++ Barcola ++ Mbappe ++ Rabiot ++ M. Kone ++ Upamecano xxx Cherki xxx T. Hernandez xxx I. Konate xx M. Thuram xx Mateta xx M. Gusto xx Digne xx Maignan xx Saliba xx Lacroix x D .Doue 3. ENGLAND 6.75 Bellingham 6.43 Saka 6.29 Rice 6.14 Kane 6.13 Anderson 6.00 Guehi 5.67 Gordon 5.60 Eze 5.50 Spence 5.50 Rogers 5.50 O Reilly 5.43 Pickford 5.25 Rashford 5.20 Madueke 5.00 R. James 4.75 Stones 4.63 Konsa 3.50 Burn 3.33 Quansah +++ Bellingham +++ Spence +++ Eze + Rice + Anderson + Saka xxx Konsa xxx Quansah xxx Rashford xxx O Reilly xx Watkins xx R. James x Toney x Stones X Burn x Pickford 2. ARGENTINA 7.38 Messi 6.57 Romero 5.86 Lisandro Martinez 5.75 Tagliafico 5.63 Em. Martinez 5.57 Lautaro Martinez 5.57 E. Fernandez 5.50 McAllister 5.50 Medina 5.40 Thiago Almada 5.33 Paredes 5.29 Nico Gonzalez 5.00 Montiel 5.00 Otamendi 5.00 Senesi 4.88 Alvarez 4.86 De Paul 4.50 N. Paz 4.33 G. Simeone 4.29 Molina +++ Messi +++ Tagliafico +++ Romero +++ Medina +++ J. M. Lopez +++ Lisandro Martinez ++ Thiago Almada + Paredes xxx Molina xxx De Paul xxx Alvarez xxx N. Paz xx Lautaro Martinez xx G. Simeone x Senesi X Lo Celso x Barco x Otamendi 1. SPAIN 7.00 Porro 6.75 Cubarsi 6.50 Rodri 6.43 Olmo 6.38 Laporte 6.13 Cucurella 6.00 Yamal 5.88 Oyarzabal 5.88 Pedri 5.75 Merino 5.71 A. Baena 5.57 Fabian Ruiz 5.50 M. Llorente 5.38 Unai Simon 5.00 Ferran Torrres 4.75 N. Williams 4.00 Gavi 3.50 Pino +++ Porro +++ Laporte +++ Rodri +++ Cubarsi ++ Cucurella ++ A. Baena + Unai Simon + Merino + Olmo xxx Gavi xxx Yamal xxx Pedri xx N. Williams xx Zubimendi x Pino x E. Garcia
I think a fundamental thing we should remember is that Argentina is just not actually that talented, especially in 2026 with no Di Maria. They’ve managed to do really well in recent years on the back of a combination of great performances from Messi, abnormally good camaraderie as a group, the ability to dig deep in difficult moments, winning a few penalty shootouts, etc. But the talent level isn’t that high and honestly that was just impossible to hide yesterday against Spain. Just for reference on this, here’s a description of their starting lineup in this final: - Their GK (who we should note did play great in the final, though he was not good in the rest of the tournament) plays for Aston Villa. - Their fullbacks play for River Plate and Lyon. - One of their CBs plays for an almost-relegated Tottenham team that gave up the 4th most goals in the EPL. The other CB plays for Manchester United but has barely played in years due to being crippled with injuries. - Their midfield includes a 32-year-old MLS player who never played for a big club. Another midfielder plays for Liverpool but is coming off a genuinely bad season there. Their final midfielder plays for Chelsea and is actually a talented player (though incidentally, he was the one red carded). - Their LW was an Atletico Madrid substitute that’s just been loaned around in recent years. - Their other non-Messi forward is an Atletico Madrid player. He is actually talented, but lest we get too carried away we should remember he couldn’t manage to get himself a big role at Man City and had to leave for a smaller club. - Meanwhile, their substitutes included (1) a 38 year old River Plate player; (2) a Boca Juniors player; (3) two Atletico Madrid squad players; (4) a Marseille player; and (5) a Bournemouth player. Granted, Lautaro Martinez is a really good player that somewhat inexplicably didn’t get any playing time in the finals. But even so, this just really isn’t a team riddled with high-end talent. It’s a relatively middling team talent-wise that also isn’t even at the peak of its powers. They’ve typically played a lot better than the sum of their parts so the chemistry is clearly there. But honestly the talent just wasn’t there to compete well with Spain.
BEST XI: A: Diogo Costa - Porro, Cubarsi , Romero, Nuno Mendes - Rodri, Vinicius jr, Bellingham, Messi , Quinones - Mbappe B: Kobel - Hakimi, D. Sanchez, Laporte, Cucurella - Rice, Rabiot, Saka, Olise, Dembele - Haaland C: Bono - D. Munoz, Upamecano, Guehi, Perisic - P. Berg, Anderson, I. Sarr, D. Olmo, Trossard- Kane Team average rating: 1.ESP 5.91 2.FRA 5.65 3.ENG 5.53 ..5.ARG 5.47 6.MAR 5.46 ..8.BEL 5.35 ..12.SUI 5.22 ..14.NOR 5.18
TOP 60: 1.Messi 2.Mbappe 3.Rodri 4.Bellingham 5.Cubarsi 6.Porro 7.Haaland 8.Vinicius jr 9.Quinones 10.Dembele 11.Olise 12.Rice 13.Romero 14.Laporte 15.D. Sanchez 16.Diogo Costa 17.Dani Olmo 18.Kane 19.Saka 20,Nuno Mendes 21.Cucurella 22.Rabiot 23.Tillman 24.I. Sarr 25.Trossard 26.R.Alvarado 27.Manzambi 28.Kobel 29.P. Berg 30.Oyarzabal 31.Bono 32.Hakimi 33.Schjelderup 34.Yamal 35.E.Anderson 36.Upamecano 37.Gordon 38.G .Puerta 39.Undav 40.Summerville 41.Merino 42.Guehi 43.Tielemans 44.Ounahi 45.Perisic 46.Fabian Ruiz 47.R. Leao 48.M. Araujo 49.Just 50. Y. Diomande 51.Enciso 52.Gill 53.Singo 54.D. Munoz 55.Lopes Cabral 56.Beach 57.Lisandro Martinez 58.Eustaquio 59.Saibari 60.Lautaro Martinez HM A: Shobeir, Vozinha, Em.Martinez, Alisson, Tagliafico, Spence, Enzo Fernandez, McAllister, Pedri, Bruno Guimaraes, Vite, Salah, Odegaard, Barcola, B. Diaz, El Khannous, Amad Diallo, Baena, Ferran Torres, De Ketelaere, Lukaku HM B: Ati Zigi, Asare, Verbruggem, Unai Simon, Livakovic, Courtois, Z. Suzuki , Beiranvand, Zakaria, K, Diatta, Castagne, Razaeian ,M .Amir Murillo, Kounde, Dumfries, Akanji, Vasquez, Mbemba, Gust. Gomez, Saliba, Pico Lopes, R. Dias, Diney Borges, Kim Min-jae, Krejci, van Hecke, R. Rodriguez, Mazraoui, N. Brown, K. Nakamura, Lira, Bentancur, M. Caicedo, Eze, Ayari, K. Sano, Tchouameni, Joao Neves, N. Saliba, Sangare, McKennie, F .de Jong, Berge, Bouaddi, Paredes, Xhaka, Vanaken, Wirtz, Mane, Ndoye, Yebiah Zamora, N. Angulo, N .Pepe, R. Vargas, J. Arias, L. Diaz, Gakpo, Maseko, D. Doue, Il. Ndiaye, Rayan, Thiago Almada, Baturina, Bobb, Elanga, Cipenga, Nico Gonzalez, Pulisic, Lee Kang-in, B. Fernandes, J. Quintero, De Bruyne, Rogers, J. Ito, Arda Guler, Musiala, Balogun, Brobbey, R. Jimenez, Isak , Matheus Cunha, Gyokeres, Wissa, Alvarez, Rahimi, Shomurodov,, Cristiano Ronaldo, Embolo
The players' attitude was very strange. There was a lot of talk about it in the Argentine media today. Still, I think it's just a trivial conspiracy theory—like when Verón played poorly against England in the 2002 World Cup.