Did you really believe that Spain could win Argentina?

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I did not initially believe that Spain can expressly beat Argentina the way they did. I thought it was going to be a near 50-50 game and perhaps in favour of Argentina in the first 90 minutes but the game was completely different. Spain played like they have been waiting for that moment to teach Argentina how to play the game. Winning by only 1 goal does not even depict the quality of football that Spain brought to New jersey. Only few will think that Spain would start a chance against Argentina. The end result is the product of hard work, Spain took the trophy while Messi cried.

Well, maybe not directly related but if Messi cried, what then is Ronaldo supposed to do? This are the two renowned world football celebrities who fans are always comparing to each to know who is better, who has acquired/earned more trophies and who has earned less, and I believe that all through the career of this two star players, they were always silently competing with each other.

Now, Messi already has a world Cup to his name while Ronaldo doesn't, and both of this two likely won't be playing in the next world Cup in 2030, who do you think should cry more?

And speaking of Spain and Argentina, many may not have believed that Spain will beat Argentina but I know one person who did believe this, he was even the one telling me to bet on Spain, that spain will beat Argentina but I refused to listen to him because I was not very sure, turned out he was right, unfortunately, he's not on this forum.

[Agbe]

Did you really believe that Spain could win Argentina?

Yes and I was saying that before even the final match began. I was saying that Argentina was playing with those teams that were.not too tough for them to play and FIFA was careful enough t peer them with the weak teams, and I wanted Spain to play with them either in the round or 32, 16 or the quarter final to see their real strength but they were unlucky to meet Spain at the final and if Argentina met France at the final, from what I saw, they would have loss again for Argentina to carry the trophy. I was believing that if Argentina played with Spain, they would have been eliminated earlier.

[Derekfunds]

Did you really believe that Spain could win Argentina?

Yes and I was saying that before even the final match began. I was saying that Argentina was playing with those teams that were.not too tough for them to play and FIFA was careful enough t peer them with the weak teams, and I wanted Spain to play with them either in the round or 32, 16 or the quarter final to see their real strength but they were unlucky to meet Spain at the final and if Argentina met France at the final, from what I saw, they would have loss again for Argentina to carry the trophy. I was believing that if Argentina played with Spain, they would have been eliminated earlier.

Why did you think that if France would have played with Argentina they would have lost against Argentina? Because clearly nothing Argentina played in the finals and it was really a surprising thing to many people, that how would they defeat England with a come back and then could not perform against Spain in the finals. I'm sure France would have delt with them mercilessly because they were just defending the entire 90 minute and I'm sure Spain would not have been able to play England the way they played Argentina.

[Grace333]

Where you guys' faith in Argentina? Because it’s Argentina or because of Messi being part of the Argentina team?

Spain is a strong team, you know, and most of the bets I see online have been staked against Argentina, except for a few. I did not bet on this final; I just streamed and watched it, and I was ready for anything, not expecting much from any of the teams anyways. Congrats to Spain.

A large number of football lovers believe Argentina was going to win because Messi in all their previous games has been proactive right from their first game and has been a major goal contributor to the goals scored throughout the entire fixtures played by Argentina, unfortunately for Argentina and Messi fans, Spain was fully prepared with quite a good possessive football. This final tells alot about Spain because they didn't just played a regular final, they dominated the whole game as though Argentina doesn't have a good midfield.

[Agbe]

Why did you think that if France would have played with Argentina they would have lost against Argentina? Because clearly nothing Argentina played in the finals and it was really a surprising thing to many people, that how would they defeat England with a come back and then could not perform against Spain in the finals. I'm sure France would have delt with them mercilessly because they were just defending the entire 90 minute and I'm sure Spain would not have been able to play England the way they played Argentina.

we analyse teams base on the closet performance of their matches and for the 3 matches of France before they were knockout from the third place, they were not doing well and their ratio of overall performance was poor and if they take that skillful position to play with Argentina, it would have been a clear win for Argentina. France didn't have a perseverance in a 90 minutes game but Argentina has the strength in the 80 minutes time to score their opponents and you could see that in the final match with Spain. If Spain was not an understanding team, Argentina would have scored them before the final whistle. Argentina was oppressing Spain in the 3 minutes times left to blow the whistle but Spain hold them tight. England change tactics with France game and the way England played with France was the same way Spain playing in the final. England fucked up with the match against Argentina because when you are playing with an experienced team like Argentina, you don't gather all your players at the back to defend a goal instead you set your players in normal way and only be fast in attacking and coming back quickly to defend the back. But they packed everyone to the defense to protect a goal. With that heavy defence, I predicted two things to happen when I was watching the match. Definitely Argentina would score from a long distance shot or a penalty because has everyone gather there, it would be very difficult for Argentina to penetrate so what they would have done was to look for a penalty to score and the first prediction came to pass.

[Awaklara]

I'm sure France would have delt with them mercilessly because they were just defending the entire 90 minute and I'm sure Spain would not have been able to play England the way they played Argentina.

The coach will apply different strategies for each opponent. That's the result of analyzing the playing style observed from previous matches.
The Spain vs Argentina final really showed how difficult it was for the Argentine players to develop their game. The strategy they used didn't work and actually ended up showing a rough style of play. If France were to face Argentina in the final, it wouldn't necessarily be easy for France either.

[yixichloro2xx]

Spain was far better than Argentina. Before the world cup started my prediction was that Argentina will be eliminated in the quarterfinals/Semi final, I never really expected them to reach the final. Moreover if we look at this current Argentina tactics , they were so over dependant on Lionel Messi, and he turned up for most games. I will still put the blame on Scaloni who believes he can drag Spain to penalty shootout by defending. Spain are one team you can't defend against because of how they keep possession and create key passes. Alot of fans believed Spain are one the favorites, even EA sports predicted it too. Spain conceded 1 goal throughout the tournament, that's shows how strong their defence was. But I feel the game would have been better, if Argentina played like the way they used, maybe they could even get a chance to win.

[Bryan jessy]

Where you guys' faith in Argentina? Because it’s Argentina or because of Messi being part of the Argentina team?

Spain is a strong team, you know, and most of the bets I see online have been staked against Argentina, except for a few. I did not bet on this final; I just streamed and watched it, and I was ready for anything, not expecting much from any of the teams anyways. Congrats to Spain.

A large number of football lovers believe Argentina was going to win because Messi in all their previous games has been proactive right from their first game and has been a major goal contributor to the goals scored throughout the entire fixtures played by Argentina, unfortunately for Argentina and Messi fans, Spain was fully prepared with quite a good possessive football. This final tells alot about Spain because they didn't just played a regular final, they dominated the whole game as though Argentina doesn't have a good midfield.

Spain came prepared than they had even been, of course they were going to play with one of the best team so they ensure their strength matches with their opponents not just matching but far better, It just happened that this year win was made for Spain, I was surprised when Spain won the game because almost everyone was Into Argentina and before the game some persons already declared Argentina the winner, some persons lost huge amount of money after the game because of their believe, games are unpredictable we never can tell the outcome not matter how sure we feel we are.

[abaeze]

This is something unbelievable that when you so much have believe on something or even so much trust a particular Team win they often failed people. Realistically I didn't even believe that Spain could win Argentina 1-0 where even most of my friends where fans of Argentina including me because I have that trust on Argentina.
To my latest surprise, Spain took over by 1 and that is what its ended with.

For those who pick Argentina to win, how was your slip, Messed up right?
This is to show that you shouldn't rely and put more trust on a particular team. I think, this is a great lesson we all have to learn.

To be honest, I didn't know Argentina would play so badly in the final. At one point, their performance made me think it was a rigged match. Especially when I saw that they were far behind Spain in both passing and attacking, and even Messi, who has gained worldwide fame, was like a silent spectator.The difference between the performance that Argentina showed in the final and the performance that they showed on the otherdays before the final is like the other team. If Argentina had played a competitive game with Spain, it might have been acceptable.

[Dump3er]

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To be honest, I didn't know Argentina would play so badly in the final. At one point, their performance made me think it was a rigged match. Especially when I saw that they were far behind Spain in both passing and attacking, and even Messi, who has gained worldwide fame, was like a silent spectator.The difference between the performance that Argentina showed in the final and the performance that they showed on the otherdays before the final is like the other team. If Argentina had played a competitive game with Spain, it might have been acceptable.

Honestly there is a reason that this was the worst World Cup final ever played. I think it was said that this is the first time in the history of World Cup football that one team finished the regular time without a shot on target. What is so weird about it is that this wasn't Spain against some lucky underdog from Africa. It was Spain against the World Cup winner from last year and if anyone said to me before the match that Argentina won't have one shot on target in regular time, I would have sold my house and bet against him.

[lombok]

Honestly there is a reason that this was the worst World Cup final ever played. I think it was said that this is the first time in the history of World Cup football that one team finished the regular time without a shot on target. What is so weird about it is that this wasn't Spain against some lucky underdog from Africa. It was Spain against the World Cup winner from last year and if anyone said to me before the match that Argentina won't have one shot on target in regular time, I would have sold my house and bet against him.

It was a big disappoint of the end, neither of the teams showed their best. It was unimaginable to a football fan since it was during normal time and the failure to create a shot on target. This was a dreadful portion of the epic entanglement and it would be one of the most tedious in the history of the tournament.

[Jubilee58]

I was very neutral in the FIFA world cup finals, the reason is because, I new the two countries are capable of lifting the FIFA world cup trophy. Argentina was the defending champion, and was able to get to the 2026 FIFA world cup finals, so is not a team or a country to despise. On the other side, the Spanish team also showed strength and consistency right from the group stage, and only conceived just one goal till the final stage. So such a team is not also to be despised. Honestly, Spain deserve the world, they didn't only win the world cup buy luck, but their fitness also earned them the FIFA world cup 2026 trophy.

[Dunamisx]

What Argentina thoughts of those world cup final wasn't what they met on ground when the match started, Spain really surprised them and they were so frustrated to the extent of being unable to deliver anything, it got to an extent that they have to transfer aggression upon Spain players because of this vexation, which shouldn't be, these are taught us so many lessons about reality in what we do, sometimes things don't really appear to us the way we thought of them until we get into the actual situation before we know what is at stake.

[HelliumZ]

In fact, before the final started, I had high hopes that maybe the Argentine team would make Argentina the World Cup champion for the last time with Messi's voice and that Argentina would break Brazil's 62-year-old world record this year. But after the match started, the picture turned upside down, where Argentina would dominate Spain, while Spain dominated Argentina. Even in the first 45 minutes, Argentina could not take a single shot on any goal post. And my expectations completely changed, where it seemed that Argentina might concede half a dozen goals, but only Martinez performed well as a goalkeeper. If Argentina's goalkeeper Martinez had not made several saves, Argentina would have conceded many goals. However, I did not like Argentina's game that day at all, especially when watching Argentina's game, it seemed that Argentina was not playing, but instead a weak team was competing with Spain.

[Fortify]

This is something unbelievable that when you so much have believe on something or even so much trust a particular Team win they often failed people. Realistically I didn't even believe that Spain could win Argentina 1-0 where even most of my friends where fans of Argentina including me because I have that trust on Argentina.
To my latest surprise, Spain took over by 1 and that is what its ended with.

For those who pick Argentina to win, how was your slip, Messed up right?
This is to show that you shouldn't rely and put more trust on a particular team. I think, this is a great lesson we all have to learn.

It is not by some fluke that either of these teams were in the final, they both played to a very high quality throughout the tournament and it's actually surprising you think Argentina were some how leagues ahead. You just have to watch them and read the news to see that for whatever reason, lots of decisions seemed to move in their favor - maybe because it's Messi's last tournament and there was some weird soft spot to see him hit some lifetime career world records. Other teams were arguably given more cards and decisions against them when facing Argentina. Even the odds were not favoring Argentina for the final and they were pretty balanced - so your assumption seems way off the mark.

[Ishicryptic]

Spain was far better than Argentina. Before the world cup started my prediction was that Argentina will be eliminated in the quarterfinals/Semi final, I never really expected them to reach the final. Moreover if we look at this current Argentina tactics , they were so over dependant on Lionel Messi, and he turned up for most games. I will still put the blame on Scaloni who believes he can drag Spain to penalty shootout by defending. Spain are one team you can't defend against because of how they keep possession and create key passes. Alot of fans believed Spain are one the favorites, even EA sports predicted it too. Spain conceded 1 goal throughout the tournament, that's shows how strong their defence was. But I feel the game would have been better, if Argentina played like the way they used, maybe they could even get a chance to win.

Spain truly proved that they were a better team, not only by winning Argentina, in the final and lifting gold in the world cup they showed quality football throughout the tournament, in the end it became clear to their believers and doubters that they are the most formidable team. We have to also give it to Argentina because it is not easy to fight their way through to the final of the world cup, it doesn't matter if they would have been eliminated in the quarter and semi finals they still scaled through which is beyond mere luck. Another formidable team was England, which would have perhaps given Spain a tougher fight than Argentina, but I'm still happy for them to earn the third place. We would wait and see if Spain would still display a formidable team in the next world cup that they have automatic qualification as the defending champion.

[Pandorak]

(...)

To be honest, I didn't know Argentina would play so badly in the final. At one point, their performance made me think it was a rigged match. Especially when I saw that they were far behind Spain in both passing and attacking, and even Messi, who has gained worldwide fame, was like a silent spectator.The difference between the performance that Argentina showed in the final and the performance that they showed on the otherdays before the final is like the other team. If Argentina had played a competitive game with Spain, it might have been acceptable.

In my opinion, Spain didn’t just beat Argentina, they completely crushed them, dominating from start to finish. They made life difficult for the defending World Cup champions. Spain tactics were highly effective in launching wave after wave of attacks against Argentina defense. It’s also clear that they dominate the midfield, while Argentina spent more time defending than building attacks. They seemed trapped and struggled to break out. Even when they were trailing, they had almost no chance at all to launch an attack that would threaten Spain defense. So, it can be concluded that Spain performance was truly extraordinary.

[mindrust]

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To be honest, I didn't know Argentina would play so badly in the final. At one point, their performance made me think it was a rigged match. Especially when I saw that they were far behind Spain in both passing and attacking, and even Messi, who has gained worldwide fame, was like a silent spectator.The difference between the performance that Argentina showed in the final and the performance that they showed on the otherdays before the final is like the other team. If Argentina had played a competitive game with Spain, it might have been acceptable.

Honestly there is a reason that this was the worst World Cup final ever played. I think it was said that this is the first time in the history of World Cup football that one team finished the regular time without a shot on target. What is so weird about it is that this wasn't Spain against some lucky underdog from Africa. It was Spain against the World Cup winner from last year and if anyone said to me before the match that Argentina won't have one shot on target in regular time, I would have sold my house and bet against him.

Every new world cup is worse than the last time for the last 20 years or something imo. Not sure I even remember the last good world cup. France '98 was very good... 2002 was also not bad... It started to get worse after that.

The games are not even fun to watch most of the time. Everybody is smart, everybody plays it like a robot. I miss stars like Ibrahimovic... Ronaldo/Messi were fun but even they weren't enough to save the world cup.

[uchegod-21]

(...)

To be honest, I didn't know Argentina would play so badly in the final. At one point, their performance made me think it was a rigged match. Especially when I saw that they were far behind Spain in both passing and attacking, and even Messi, who has gained worldwide fame, was like a silent spectator.The difference between the performance that Argentina showed in the final and the performance that they showed on the otherdays before the final is like the other team. If Argentina had played a competitive game with Spain, it might have been acceptable.

In my opinion, Spain didn’t just beat Argentina, they completely crushed them, dominating from start to finish. They made life difficult for the defending World Cup champions. Spain tactics were highly effective in launching wave after wave of attacks against Argentina defense. It’s also clear that they dominate the midfield, while Argentina spent more time defending than building attacks. They seemed trapped and struggled to break out. Even when they were trailing, they had almost no chance at all to launch an attack that would threaten Spain defense. So, it can be concluded that Spain performance was truly extraordinary.

The fact is, the reason everyone believed that Argentina would win was because of Messi. The team's overdependence on Messi was quite too much. I was also guilty of this; I couldn't believe my eyes while watching. I least expected the outcome we all got that day.

Lots of people lost their bets because, just like me, they never saw that outcome coming.

Spain indeed outdid themselves. The World Cup final was one of the most unpredictable matches I watched during the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament.

[Baki202]

A large number of football lovers believe Argentina was going to win because Messi in all their previous games has been proactive right from their first game and has been a major goal contributor to the goals scored throughout the entire fixtures played by Argentina, unfortunately for Argentina and Messi fans, Spain was fully prepared with quite a good possessive football. This final tells alot about Spain because they didn't just played a regular final, they dominated the whole game as though Argentina doesn't have a good midfield.

That was what we were all thinking, but dip down, I know that many of us do not want Messi to win, because Ronaldo is no longer in the picture, and if Messi does not win, there will be less comparison between them, and since Spain won, no one is talking about yamal, and because the boy has a great talent, that is what is making everything reduce because the way they were shading Ronaldo, I was not really happy, and all I wanted was Ronaldo to win the world cup and also Messi was unable to win this time, they begin another talk regarding Messi's previous victory.

I just love how the whole thing ended, and now we're going to rest because there were a lot of memes about people mocking Ronaldo, and what irritates me is that they forget the kind of record this guy broke. I remember the days when Ronaldo used to perform, and because of his previous archivement, he should be respected.