Fascinating first half, now that everyone knows what xG is

7/19/2026 4:56:54 PM

Feels like Arg has spent the whole tournament crying to the refs

7/19/2026 5:14:05 PM

Should've been a goal...

[Edited on July 19, 2026 at 5:45 PM. Reason : That one counts! ]

[Edited on July 19, 2026 at 5:55 PM. Reason : First shot 118' in]

7/19/2026 5:34:22 PM

Dominant Spain performance. Argentina honestly very lucky to even make the final, and Martinez had to stand on his head to get them to ET.

7/19/2026 6:09:01 PM

I enjoyed the match!

As I do every couple years, I’ll try to get into EPL and then kinda lose interest after a few months. But I promise I’ll try again!

[Edited on July 19, 2026 at 7:09 PM. Reason : H]

7/19/2026 7:07:57 PM

Quote :

"Feels like Arg has spent the whole tournament crying to the refs"

They are the absolute worst when it comes to any kind of sportsmanship. There is a video floating around of Cucurella walking near Messi and scratching his own lip or something very trivial. Messi immediately runs up to the ref crying that Cucurella was covering his mouth and talking to him, demanding a red card. That is the kind of dirty bullshit they were trying to scrape by with in the final when they got shut down. Credit to Martinez though, he seemed like the only Argentina player that actually showed up. He made a World Cup record number of saves while the Spanish keeper barely had to even do anything. I think Arg had like two shots on goal the whole game.

Then after the game, that Arg guy who got red carded starts trying to fight/rip the training kit off of a Spanish player who wasn't even on the pitch. And the whole Arg team turned their back on the Spanish team during the presentation of the trophy itself. What a bunch of sore loser babies. There weren't even any controversial calls or anything in the game.

7/20/2026 9:11:01 AM

Yea the Messi thing was during the red card shenanigans, I think

Very Chris Paul coded

7/20/2026 10:26:12 AM

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DalTcEbxCnY/

7/20/2026 10:55:53 AM

Hate to beat a dead horse with the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate, but I just saw a video of Portugal vs. [I think] Uzbekistan. An Uzbeki player walked up to Ronaldo covering his mouth and Ronaldo told him to put his hand down because he could get a red card for it, then gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and ran off. Admittedly Portugal won that game and it wasn't a final, but the difference in sportsmanship in general is jarring.

Like dude Messi is almost universally recognized as the best player in the world and has won pretty much everything possible. He should let the talent and athleticism do the talking for him, not rely on desperation tactics. It reminds me of the Zidane headbutt. Just unnecessary and tarnishing his reputation.

7/20/2026 11:04:59 AM

Messi has a hell of way to go before tarnishing his reputation like Ronaldo has

it’s not even close

7/20/2026 11:33:53 AM

More Opta

Quote :

"Excluding own goals (which have no xG value), 294 goals were scored from 271.3 xG at the 2026 World Cup. It's the first time ever that a World Cup has seen a +ve difference between goals and xG on record (since 1966). Finishing at this World Cup was better than ever before. "

7/20/2026 1:25:35 PM

Regarding Messi, his reputation, and using questionable tactics…one thing that has always impressed me about Messi is his lack of flopping. 9 times out of 10, if he gets clipped, or put on the ground, he just sits there for a few seconds to wait on the ref’s decision. He never rolls around grabbing an appendage. +7 cred just for that alone.

Also, don’t forget to cancel your FoxOne subscription.

7/27/2026 9:09:10 AM

Damn. UEFA just pulled out of all future FIFA competitions .

7/30/2026 2:18:42 PM

IF FIFA continues with proposal to sell World Cup stakes to private equity. Joined by CONCACAF!

7/30/2026 7:36:24 PM

Add the AFC (Asia) to the mix.

This idea is not going well for FIFA so far.

And you hate to see it. . .

7/31/2026 7:01:18 AM

I guess this plan is temporarily retracted?

8/1/2026 10:52:33 PM

Gianni gonna get booted out? Seems like a lot of nations are NOT happy that this was a surprise. And I can’t imagine Trump getting Balogun reinstated went over well either.

8/2/2026 11:20:54 AM

Yeah, it didn't, and the US still managed to totally embarrass itself against an actual quality opponent.

So, there was really no point to creating further global ill will. Thank you for another stable genius move, President Trump!

8/2/2026 12:34:56 PM

The US played and beat two quality opponents and didn't try against a 3rd.

Belgium was the best team we payed but not order of magnitude better

8/2/2026 1:53:10 PM

Regardless, it was a distraction and a hugely globally unpopular move which made no difference at all in the final outcome under the circumstances. Would we have lost to Belgium even worse without Balogun?

8/2/2026 2:05:31 PM

^^lol, Belgium is an order of magnitude better than Paraguay, Australia and Türkiye.

We are firmly in the third tier.

Having balogun probably did help us, but the score wouldn’t have been much different without him.

8/2/2026 6:21:55 PM