FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

[Gallar]

Are you blind? When someone (Balogun) gets a straight red for this foul, and Messi doesn't even get a yellow, what else can we talk about?
Messi is the princess of FIFA, only fools could deny it. Believe me, I'm cynical, and I made a decent amount of money at this World Cup betting on Argentina, because I knew they'd get help and were a safe bets.
I understand pointlesness arguing with people who do understand how a tiny house edge destroys gamblers, but they don't understand how a small (and sometimes large) favoritism in Argentina's favor gives them a huge advantage over their opponents. But that's irrelevant already – this World Cup has flushed Argentina's legacy down the drain, and the whole world saw how pathetic they are, even with FIFA's support.
By the way, yes, they had no class when they won the World Cup (remember the actions of their idiot goalkeeper and the racist chants), and when they lost, they didn't show any class either. I'm glad they showed their true colors, hehe.

Yes, I also felt surprised by what happened to Argentina in this World Cup. But at first, I tried to think positively about them. But after watching several matches played by Argentina, strange things began to appear. So from there, I also felt that Argentina seemed to be favored by certain parties. Because honestly, the most unpleasant thing was when Argentina faced Egypt. In that match, I felt that something was wrong with Argentina. Because basically, if everything in that match had gone well and there was no cheating, I think the story of this World Cup could have been different.

Because in that match, it was also possible that Argentina would have lost to Egypt. Because Egypt's dominance in that match was truly excellent. But for some reason,, Argentina seemed to have a significant advantage, so that's why Egypt lost to Argentina. So, even though I'm not an Egyptian supporter, I feel their sadness at not being able to advance to the next round due to all this strangeness. So,, with this in mind, I hope that in the future, things like this won't happen again in the world of football.

[Tonimez]

Are you blind? When someone (Balogun) gets a straight red for this foul, and Messi doesn't even get a yellow, what else can we talk about?
Messi is the princess of FIFA, only fools could deny it. Believe me, I'm cynical, and I made a decent amount of money at this World Cup betting on Argentina, because I knew they'd get help and were a safe bets.
I understand pointlesness arguing with people who do understand how a tiny house edge destroys gamblers, but they don't understand how a small (and sometimes large) favoritism in Argentina's favor gives them a huge advantage over their opponents. But that's irrelevant already – this World Cup has flushed Argentina's legacy down the drain, and the whole world saw how pathetic they are, even with FIFA's support.
By the way, yes, they had no class when they won the World Cup (remember the actions of their idiot goalkeeper and the racist chants), and when they lost, they didn't show any class either. I'm glad they showed their true colors, hehe.

Yes, I also felt surprised by what happened to Argentina in this World Cup. But at first, I tried to think positively about them. But after watching several matches played by Argentina, strange things began to appear. So from there, I also felt that Argentina seemed to be favored by certain parties. Because honestly, the most unpleasant thing was when Argentina faced Egypt. In that match, I felt that something was wrong with Argentina. Because basically, if everything in that match had gone well and there was no cheating, I think the story of this World Cup could have been different.

Because in that match, it was also possible that Argentina would have lost to Egypt. Because Egypt's dominance in that match was truly excellent. But for some reason,, Argentina seemed to have a significant advantage, so that's why Egypt lost to Argentina. So, even though I'm not an Egyptian supporter, I feel their sadness at not being able to advance to the next round due to all this strangeness. So,, with this in mind, I hope that in the future, things like this won't happen again in the world of football.

This world cup tournament really hit hard on fans all over the world. The outcry and the frustration was real. Along the line, everyone felt like this tournament was initially designed for Argentina from Inception. Argentina was the super team that played mostly the supposed weakest teams from the beginning and only met a good team from the semi final when they met with Argentina. But then, despite meeting with these weaker teams, FIFA was still getting accusations of influencing the games through the referees and VAR refusing to revisit some suspicious acts that could mar the journey of Argentina.

Their funny ride didn't just start with Egypt, if Messi had received his rightful red card for his foul during the Algeria game, Argentina could have probably dropped out at the round of 32 before he will finish his 3 march ban. Argentina struggled almost all through the tournament and their game against Spain in the final clearly revealed how unworthy they were to reach the finals. The good thing is that they didn't steal their way into winning the game at the end, justice was served with the record of worst performance by any team at the world cup final since history, having zero shots in the first 90 minutes of the game and zero shots on target in 120 minutes. That was a good justice so fans can have something to hold on to. The plan was for Messi to win everything and France football already started releasing memo that winning the balon Dor is no longer limited to players in the European side all aimed at paving the way to hand it over to Messi but the whole plans still didn't work.

[Razmirraz]

Snip.

In football, there are some heroes whose actions don't show on the scoreboard, but they play a huge role in the team's success. They constantly cover space, just like Rodri did. Rodri did exactly that in the final. By staying constantly active and taking the right positions, he controlled the midfield. He neutralized the opposing team's most important player. The value of such players is sometimes only understood when their impact on the field is gone.

image source: TikTok
I'm still wondering, from what perspective FIFA gave an assessment that chose Rodri as the player who got the golden ball. In fact, if you look at the whole thing, starting from the group stage, Messi who is now 39 years old, really carried Argentina back to the 2026 World Cup final. Messi performance this time was even more surprising than when he won the 2014 Golden Ball. The statistics of the two are very different, even though I am not a Messi supporter, I assume there is an oddity in determining the player who gets the golden ball.

WhoScored Ratings
Messi 8.82 (1st)
Rodri 7.30 (32nd)

WhoScored MOTMs
Messi 6 (1st)
Rodri 0

Official MOTMs
Messi 5 (1st)
Rodri 1

FIFA Power Rankings:
Attacking
Messi 8.28 (3rd)
Rodri 4.35 (233rd)

Creativity
Messi 8.21 (2nd)
Rodri 5.92 (80th)

All the data above cannot lie, but FIFA has full control in determining which players deserve certain awards.

[Glen Hoddle]

Snip.

In football, there are some heroes whose actions don't show on the scoreboard, but they play a huge role in the team's success. They constantly cover space, just like Rodri did. Rodri did exactly that in the final. By staying constantly active and taking the right positions, he controlled the midfield. He neutralized the opposing team's most important player. The value of such players is sometimes only understood when their impact on the field is gone.

image source: TikTok
I'm still wondering, from what perspective FIFA gave an assessment that chose Rodri as the player who got the golden ball. In fact, if you look at the whole thing, starting from the group stage, Messi who is now 39 years old, really carried Argentina back to the 2026 World Cup final. Messi performance this time was even more surprising than when he won the 2014 Golden Ball. The statistics of the two are very different, even though I am not a Messi supporter, I assume there is an oddity in determining the player who gets the golden ball.

WhoScored Ratings
Messi 8.82 (1st)
Rodri 7.30 (32nd)

WhoScored MOTMs
Messi 6 (1st)
Rodri 0

Official MOTMs
Messi 5 (1st)
Rodri 1

FIFA Power Rankings:
Attacking
Messi 8.28 (3rd)
Rodri 4.35 (233rd)

Creativity
Messi 8.21 (2nd)
Rodri 5.92 (80th)

All the data above cannot lie, but FIFA has full control in determining which players deserve certain awards.

It has been unfair to Lionel Messi, because of course Messi has the right to receive the Golden Ball. However, in any case, Lionel Messi has the right to receive the award, but this is an injustice to FIFA, it is not possible to accept it because Rodri is not likely to receive the Golden Ball in any way, yet FIFA has given the award to Rodri. Whereas Messi has the right to receive this award.

[Ale88]

I read Zlatan's comments today and they made a lot of sense to me. The Golden Ball doesn't necessarily have to go to a player from the winning team. It's an individual award and it could just as easily have gone to a player from the other team in the final. Looking at the tournament as a whole, Messi's contribution to Argentina was far greater than Rodri's contribution to Spain. Without Messi, Argentina might have been eliminated in the quarter final. Messi practically carried his team to the final all by himself. Frankly, Spain could've won the championship even if Rodri hadn't played. They have such a strong roster.

Also regarding the best goalkeeper Martinez could've been chosen instead of Simon. Simon didn't even make many saves in most of the matches. Spain's defense is so strong that very few shots were on goal. I think the criteria for individual awards should be a bit different from the team's overall performance.

The Golden Ball is supposed to be a prize for the whole season. The simple idea that Messi could win the Ballon d'Or just because he scored against Jordan, Algeria and Austria, while paying the rest of the season on holiday in Florida, is ridiculous. It's actually an insult for the players who still play in serious competition and face real opponents every week.

[d5000]

Along the line, everyone felt like this tournament was initially designed for Argentina from Inception.

Sorry, no. Look at expert interviews. Even asking an AI will give a a result that from people who really understand football there was no conspiracy. (Oh, the AI could be part of the conspiracy too! Well, ok. )

There were some errors by the referees, but most of the time, they were equally benefitting both teams. In the final, for example, one goal was very likely wrongfully anulled to Spain (the other goal was clearly offside), but the red card against Enzo Fernández was also a very hard decision (it was a foul but the yellow card is at least debatable).

The fact that Argentina always seemed to have more power in the last minutes can be attributed to Messi's habit to save forces for the decisive moments. He mostly wandered around slowly, so Argentina had effectively one player less during some time of each match. But then if the team needed him, because they got into disadvantage or needed a goal to prevent penalties, he accelerated and unleashed his true potential.

[Majestic-milf]

 I think this debate about if FIFA favored or tried to favor Argentina will finally rest because Spain are now the winners. Football isn't something we can fully grasp because the moment you feel you've understood it, something will come up and confuse your understanding. Argentina battled like every other team and the fact that people kept saying it was rigged was what baffled me because if you start rigging, you'd continue to when it matters most which is the finals but it was clear that Spain were the better side being that a team like Argentina couldn't register any shot on target.

[babo]

I think this debate about if FIFA favored or tried to favor Argentina will finally rest because Spain are now the winners. Football isn't something we can fully grasp because the moment you feel you've understood it, something will come up and confuse your understanding. Argentina battled like every other team and the fact that people kept saying it was rigged was what baffled me because if you start rigging, you'd continue to when it matters most which is the finals but it was clear that Spain were the better side being that a team like Argentina couldn't register any shot on target.

I think the same too, they tried to give him a giant hand but in the end they came up against reality, the reality of a much stronger Spain even if they didn't have any attackers capable of putting it in.
this has always been a bit of a problem for Spanish football
excellent setters and players, but very few quality attackers

[Shishir99]

Living here in Argentina, I can tell you that local media and fans are discussing all sorts of theories because the body language of the squad coming out of the changing room felt so unusual compared to their usual energy. People also pointed to Scaloni's post match press conference, where he seemed noticeably off and hesitant with his answers.

There are plenty of local rumors circulating about external pressures or internal issues surrounding AFA, but nothing has been proven or confirmed. While it's always tricky to separate post match emotion from reality in football, the intense speculation locally shows just how shocked everyone was by the performance. We'll just have to wait and see if any concrete details ever surface.

I see that several media already working on finding out what was the issue. I saw a news the other day that FBI was discussing some possible money laundering thing done by AFA in the US. They are also talking about the banner thing which Argentine players had in their hand after the England match. I am a Brazil fan myself, and I have zero Idea why Messi did not win the Golden ball. Rodri did not scored a single goal, he did not assist a single goal during the entire World cup, how could he win the Golden ball? I am not sure how Golden ball winner is selected. I hope we hear the real news by someday. At least some players will speak out after a certain period of time.

[Lillominato89]

I think this debate about if FIFA favored or tried to favor Argentina will finally rest because Spain are now the winners. Football isn't something we can fully grasp because the moment you feel you've understood it, something will come up and confuse your understanding. Argentina battled like every other team and the fact that people kept saying it was rigged was what baffled me because if you start rigging, you'd continue to when it matters most which is the finals but it was clear that Spain were the better side being that a team like Argentina couldn't register any shot on target.

I think the same too, they tried to give him a giant hand but in the end they came up against reality, the reality of a much stronger Spain even if they didn't have any attackers capable of putting it in.
this has always been a bit of a problem for Spanish football
excellent setters and players, but very few quality attackers

I agree with both of you; Argentina were given a huge helping hand in this World Cup. Mr Infantino did everything he could to get them into the final, but unfortunately for them, Spain were far stronger, and you can see that in the statistics too. They didn’t even let them have a single shot on goal! They were lucky the match didn’t end with more goals.

[ZeroVinsonN]

This FIFA and the entire world cup committee that were responsible for the selection of the individual award did a wonderful and fair justice to the awardees.

I heard some of my friends arguing that, the Fifa best player award that was going given to Rodri should have been given to Lionel Messi, Messi played well and wonderfully throughout the tournament but I don't think he deserved the award.

I personally, am a Barcelona fan which automatically makes me a Messi fan, but if truth must be stated there is no one in the entire squad of the world cup tournament that deserved the award than Rodri.

The best Goal Keeper (GK) award that was given to Unia Simone was so deserving because he only conceded 1 goal throughout the tournament. No one but Pau Cubasi should have been given the best young player award because he is one of the young players that played a wonderful and composed game in all matches played.

So for some of us that thinks otherwise about the awards given to the awardees, such people should come with there personal list on who the awards should have been given to.

Most people think that awards should always go to the popular players and the reason for that mindset is that when they watch these games they are only ever interested in the players they like, their favourite players are the only ones they see with everyone else seeming like supporting characters to them, like the 'Messi should have been the best player' group, Messi played really well in this world cup but he wasn't the only one.

[Luzin]

like the 'Messi should have been the best player' group, Messi played really well in this world cup but he wasn't the only one.

I tried to find a real comparison between Messi and Rodri. For Messi at his age, this is really amazing. He can perform more effectively than Ronaldo. Maybe even Haaland and Mbappe. But if you look deeper, Messi is the best in attacking. However, if you judge by influence on the team as a whole, Rodri becomes the most dominant player in affecting the team. It seems this is what makes him chosen as the Best Player of the 2026 World Cup. Maybe this could be an endless debate because there are different arguments. But if you look at the stats, it seems Rodri has more roles for the team. But the best player might be different if Messi manages to win this year. IMO

[Yabani]

I think this debate about if FIFA favored or tried to favor Argentina will finally rest because Spain are now the winners. Football isn't something we can fully grasp because the moment you feel you've understood it, something will come up and confuse your understanding. Argentina battled like every other team and the fact that people kept saying it was rigged was what baffled me because if you start rigging, you'd continue to when it matters most which is the finals but it was clear that Spain were the better side being that a team like Argentina couldn't register any shot on target.

Messi should have received a red card in the match against Algeria but didn't. Had he been sent off, he would have faced a suspension of at least two matches, and I don't know if Argentina could have made it to the final.
In my opinion, this is precisely the point that draws criticism.
Apart from that specific incident, I never felt that Argentina was being favored.
Ultimately, Spain became the champion, and those comments ceased.
Had Argentina won the title, those debates would have continued indefinitely.

[Cryptmuster]

I tried to find a real comparison between Messi and Rodri. For Messi at his age, this is really amazing. He can perform more effectively than Ronaldo. Maybe even Haaland and Mbappe. But if you look deeper, Messi is the best in attacking. However, if you judge by influence on the team as a whole, Rodri becomes the most dominant player in affecting the team. It seems this is what makes him chosen as the Best Player of the 2026 World Cup. Maybe this could be an endless debate because there are different arguments. But if you look at the stats, it seems Rodri has more roles for the team. But the best player might be different if Messi manages to win this year. IMO

I think it's almost pointless, because a true team leader does a lot of work off the field, especially in the locker room, training, and so on. So we only see part of the work that happens on the field. And in this case, Messi also only works in attack and clearly doesn't do enough in defense. Whereas,  Rodri or another versatile midfielder would work both in attack and defense. So I think these discussions are pointless.

[laspol65]

I think this debate about if FIFA favored or tried to favor Argentina will finally rest because Spain are now the winners. Football isn't something we can fully grasp because the moment you feel you've understood it, something will come up and confuse your understanding. Argentina battled like every other team and the fact that people kept saying it was rigged was what baffled me because if you start rigging, you'd continue to when it matters most which is the finals but it was clear that Spain were the better side being that a team like Argentina couldn't register any shot on target.

Messi should have received a red card in the match against Algeria but didn't. Had he been sent off, he would have faced a suspension of at least two matches, and I don't know if Argentina could have made it to the final.
In my opinion, this is precisely the point that draws criticism.
Apart from that specific incident, I never felt that Argentina was being favored.
Ultimately, Spain became the champion, and those comments ceased.
Had Argentina won the title, those debates would have continued indefinitely.

The Argentine team had a special advantage, which is why they were able to reach the final match. Because the Argentine team performed so poorly in the final match, it is natural for the fans to have this fear and suspicion. I have seen in interviews that the Egyptian players called the referee cruel, and the players hinted that the referee helped the Argentine team a little.
If the Argentine team had performed well, then of course it would have been a competitive match with the Spanish team, but the Spanish team performed so well that they only made a few attacks in the whole game, which were very easy attacks.

[satscraper]

I'm still wondering, from what perspective FIFA gave an assessment that chose Rodri as the player who got the golden ball.

I think FIFA decided to follow the simplest route in deciding to give this award to the footballer who plays for the winner of the World Cup. If Argentina had won, the golden ball would have gone to Messi. As it turned out to be Spain who won the World Cup trophy, they chose Rodri as the best player from Spain's team. In my view Rodri really deserves it, as without him Spain could not have won the title.

[Frankolala]

I'm still wondering, from what perspective FIFA gave an assessment that chose Rodri as the player who got the golden ball.

I think FIFA decided to follow the simplest route in deciding to give this award to the footballer who plays for the winner of the World Cup. If Argentina had won, the golden ball would have gone to Messi. As it turned out to be Spain who won the World Cup trophy, they chose Rodri as the best player from Spain's team. In my view Rodri really deserves it, as without him Spain could not have won the title.

Rodri is a one holding that midfield which made it difficult for the Argentines to gain possession of the ball and easily penetrate into their defense. He is the team leader and has shown that in several ways through his performance. He deserves it since Spain won the world cup. The golden gloves was also given to Unai Simon for that reason.

[Jostern]

I'm still wondering, from what perspective FIFA gave an assessment that chose Rodri as the player who got the golden ball. In fact, if you look at the whole thing, starting from the group stage, Messi who is now 39 years old, really carried Argentina back to the 2026 World Cup final. Messi performance this time was even more surprising than when he won the 2014 Golden Ball. The statistics of the two are very different, even though I am not a Messi supporter, I assume there is an oddity in determining the player who gets the golden ball.

WhoScored Ratings
Messi 8.82 (1st)
Rodri 7.30 (32nd)

WhoScored MOTMs
Messi 6 (1st)
Rodri 0

Official MOTMs
Messi 5 (1st)
Rodri 1

FIFA Power Rankings:
Attacking
Messi 8.28 (3rd)
Rodri 4.35 (233rd)

Creativity
Messi 8.21 (2nd)
Rodri 5.92 (80th)

All the data above cannot lie, but FIFA has full control in determining which players deserve certain awards.

I think football have passed a point where we have to be looking at strikers alone or attackers, there are midfielders who are also doing there jobs diligently, you don’t expect a midfielder or a defender to be having such numbers as a striker or an attacking player, a midfielder have his role in the team, same thing is also applicable to a defender who also have his roles in the team, considering the position of the player in midfield you might not see a very high number of goals and assist to their names, because they’re expected to be giving pass to the strikers and attacking players, so I believe FIFA didn’t just look at strikers like Kylian Mbappe and Messi who scored more goals and assist in the Tournament, there is also Olise who gave more assists in the Tournament.

However I believe FIFA have a technical team Panel Group, who are responsible for selecting the best players all throughout the tournament, and the shortlisted players are voted for by an international media groups who have also been selected by FIFA to vote for the best player in the Tournament, whichever player that emerges as a winner of the votes wins the Golden Ball( which is, best player at the Tournament) I think this is how Rodri emerged as the Golden Ball Winner.

No doubts, Messi had a good Tournament, but he didn’t win the majority of the Vote, which is why he didn’t win the Golden Ball Award.

[martinom]

The world cup final was really tough for Argentina, I know people will talk a lot about it since Lionel Messi play for Argentina. Only Ronaldo fans would said Argentina was favored by the FIFA, but I don't know why they don't talk about how Lionel Messi was denied the golden ball. I know Rodri contributed a lot to the Spanish team but I don't believe he deserves the golden ball more than Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi scored 8 goals, 4 assists and had the most successful dribbles in this tournament and yet nothing else was awarded to him and people feel FIFA did the right thing and wiithout lionel Messi Argentina wouldn't have made it to the final.

Messi has already won at least 2 that he didn't deserve, so what did he do that was really important to deserve it? I'd say he's already won enough and that there's no question about quality but now it seems like we have to give it to him every time, Haaland has also done great things and in my opinion he deserves it even more than Messi.

[Silence Scream]

I tried to find a real comparison between Messi and Rodri. For Messi at his age, this is really amazing. He can perform more effectively than Ronaldo. Maybe even Haaland and Mbappe. But if you look deeper, Messi is the best in attacking. However, if you judge by influence on the team as a whole, Rodri becomes the most dominant player in affecting the team. It seems this is what makes him chosen as the Best Player of the 2026 World Cup. Maybe this could be an endless debate because there are different arguments. But if you look at the stats, it seems Rodri has more roles for the team. But the best player might be different if Messi manages to win this year. IMO

I think it's almost pointless, because a true team leader does a lot of work off the field, especially in the locker room, training, and so on. So we only see part of the work that happens on the field. And in this case, Messi also only works in attack and clearly doesn't do enough in defense. Whereas,  Rodri or another versatile midfielder would work both in attack and defense. So I think these discussions are pointless.

A player like Messi doesn't need to play defense. After all, it was Messi who brought Argentina to this level. It's not right to criticize the player who led the team to this level as captain in the final match. Spain, on the other hand, played to prevent Messi from playing. Argentina didn't even create a single chance. Spain had an easy victory and reached the final. Spain came to this point with many chances.