Referees named for Argentina vs. Spain in World Cup final

1. Brothers and sisters. Let’s forget about analyzing the game for once and enjoy the final. We will win and get the 4th star.

   I remember world cups where we went in with coaches and analysts who were probably under the influence of white powders, and believe me when I tell you that we used to analyze lineups, formations, which side of sofa to sit and everything that you can think of lol. But now we do have a group of coaches who actually know what they are doing, and a group of players who give their all. Let them do their jobs and let’s do our part.

   And don’t forget that Sunday we will probably see the last match of Messi in a world cup. I just saw the video of Messi wearing the blue shirt in that Serbia game, flanked by Lorenzo and Pekerman, and almost cried. Sunday is probably the last time.

   • well said.

2. Spain is not a fair team like we all think, They have already started the Atletico Madrid drama for Alvarez transfer just to distract him. This is just to divert him. Just before the WC Final.

   I mean they play well and are a great team, They don’t need to do all these, Back end drama.

   • And that piece of shit Barca president, Joan Laporta, is saying Spain will win if the referee is fair. This guy is pathetic and takes a dig at Messi every chance he gets.

     Real Madrid gets countless penalties in La Liga, yet he never has the guts to question the refereeing there. But now he comes out with this nonsensical comment, fully aware that Messi, the greatest Barca player of all time, is leading the opposition.

3. Have you noticed that all of our players had their heroic moments (even De Paul who we criticized played great when he came on) expect for 2 players, one of them is Molina and the other one is….ssshhhhh keep quite (hopefully the final is his moment).

   • So you are saying Tagliafico will score the winning goal on Sunday? 😉 😉 wink wink.

     • hahahahahah

4. Lionel Scaloni is absolutely genius manager, his in-game management is GOATED.

5. We all blame Manila for Godon’s goal in the semi-final, but is it only Manila’s fault, Taglafico’s fault here? He could not clear the ball properly.He went backhill with the putt without clearing the easy ball. The ball was not cleared well and reached the feet of the opposite Rice, who quickly passed to Rodgers who was standing empty and Taglafico was out of position when Godden scored from Rodgers’ cross.

   • That doesn’t change how awful that marking attempt was or the fact that Molina looked like a complete liability from the very first minute. Yes, Tagliafico made a mistake, but your job is to do your part and make sure that mistake doesn’t end up hurting the team. There was plenty of time and space to recover since it happened well away from the goal.

     Virtually all of England’s threat came down his side. He was also the main reason Argentina conceded against Switzerland and shared plenty of the blame for Cape Verde’s second goal. He’s been one of Argentina’s worst performers at this World Cup, offering very little both offensively and defensively.

     Then Montiel came on against England and put in a great performance.

     • ANd the problem is we have to start Molina again atleast for 60-70 minutes after that Montiel can come as super sub
       Apart from Molina each and every national team player is peaking

6. Another final on Sunday. The fourth in a row, an incredible achievement.

   It will be against an excellent team.
   Cucurella and Porro are wingbacks that like to come forward to help their offence. They leave a lot of space behind them. We need players who can make runs on the flanks if we capture the ball. Messi cannot make those runs time and again on the right side. So, we need Simeone. He is not a gifted player, cannot dribble past players but works his ass off. He will make tens of runs to help the team and put pressure on the wingback make use of the space. Nico Gonzalez or Alvarez can do that on the left side.

   Spain’s midfield can pass the ball around like crazy. Rodri, Olmo and Ruiz (or Pedri) have trained their whole life with Johan Cruyff’s philosophy, “If we have the ball, the opponent cannot score.” This is so true and one of the reason Cruyff is considered the most influential coach in football. Taking the ball away from those 3 midfielders will be THE challenge in the final. They basically performed a huge rondo during the France game. The French just kept chasing the ball. We should outnumber them by playing with 4 midfielders.

   Lamine Yamal is one of the world’s best players. Containing him will be hard, very hard. Tagliafico will need to be at his best to shut him down and Lisandro should back him up for the occasions Yamal dribbles past Tagliafico.

   Our weakest link is Molina. Spain will surely have noticed that. Spain will probably field Williams against Molina. I cannot imagine that Molina will contain the threat of Williams. Will Montiel do the trick? Maybe, but given his playing style he will probably get a yellow early in the game. If we can somehow fix this issue, we stand a chance.

   In the centre Lisandro and Romero will take care of things. Hopefully, Spain’s appeal to get them suspended for showing the Malvinas banner will not be honored by FIFA. If that is the case (unlikely) then we have to play Senesi and Otamendi… Without Romero and Lisandro, our chances drop considerably.

   The game
   It is of vital importance that we score first. Spain will have to come forward and Messi will see possibilities to exploit the space that will open up.
   If we concede first, Spain will not make the mistake Tuchel made but keep pressing and put faster players (Torres, Pedri, Williams) on the pitch to run into the spaces that will pop up because we push forward. We are then likely to concede more, although Spain has difficulty scoring goals.

   Fingers crossed for our victory and send Messi off with the biggest trophy of all.

   • Insightful observations. Thanks for posting. This is why I come here to read the comments.

   • “Spain’s midfield can pass the ball around like crazy. Rodri, Olmo and Ruiz (or Pedri) have trained their whole life with Johan Cruyff’s philosophy, “If we have the ball, the opponent cannot score.” This is so true and one of the reason Cruyff is considered the most influential coach in football. Taking the ball away from those 3 midfielders will be THE challenge in the final. They basically performed a huge rondo during the France game. The French just kept chasing the ball. We should outnumber them by playing with 4 midfielders.”

     Actually, Spain has not faced a single team in this world cup that can challenge this. They played Portugal, who have a great midfield in paper, but paper and on field is totally different. A team’s midfield is not just the midfielders, but what it wants to do. Rodri has been the best central midfielder in this world cup, but do not forget what do we have. Argentina has the most comparable midfield setup to Spain that can kick their butt. Also, Olmo is not a midfielder – he’s their team’s joker like ours is Messi. And they play with 2 central midfielders along with two jokers – Olmo and Baena. While Lamine is basically what Simeone was against England, but obviously one is a better attacker than the other. Their strengths are their fullbacks, who are better than ours.

     We play with Paredes-Enzo-Macalister (sometimes with De Paul along these guys). The curious part about the final will be to see how Spain reacts when they see that the other team are just as good on the ball as them. How do they cope with that? Do they attack more, or do they just decide to play in their half by keeping the ball?

     I think as always, Sunday’s game for us will be similar to a lot of games where it is tightly contested but Messi pulling couple of rabits out of his hat.

7. Read the English media and they’ve already found their scapegoat
   “The German manager”. Very little credit is being given to Argentina players, while responsibility is being shifted away from England’s overhyped Premier League stars.

   The headline everywhere seems to be: “Tuchel single handedly lost the game.”

   But that’s not what happened.

   The moment Argentina decided to play with more intensity in the second half and commit more players forward, they started dominating England from the very first minute after the restart. Gordon’s goal completely changed the narrative, but it came out of nowhere and was largely the result of Molina’s mistake. If that goal never happens, Argentina go on to comfortably control and steamroll England based on how the rest of the match was unfolding.

   Even the English players’ interviews contradict the media narrative. Tuchel didn’t instruct them to drop into a low block immediately after taking the lead. The plan was to keep attacking and score another goal. Harry Kane himself admitted that Argentina’s pressure and the number of players they committed forward pinned England back, leaving them unable to play out from their own half.

   So England didn’t sit deep because Tuchel told them to. They sat deep because Argentina outplayed them and forced them into it.

   Yet the media narrative would have you believe England were playing like prime Barcelona until the goal, and then a “psycho” Tuchel suddenly turned them into Atletico Madrid and cost them the match. It’s a misleading story than acknowledging that Argentina raised their level, took control of the game, and forced England onto the back foot. Argentina deserves far more credit than it’s getting.

   • Did you even watch the game?

     I agree with you the we should be getting more credit for our performance but Tuchel stuffed up and went defensive. He subbed 2 midfielders and 1 defender off to put 3 defenders on. One of those was his goal scoring midfielder. That speaks volumes, it doesn’t matter what you think or say.

     They weren’t playing amazing and we still most likely would have put the pressure on but Tuchel fell asleep at the wheel. He brought on 2 attackers at 90+6’. That certainly helped us.

     • @Riquelme

       You clearly didn’t watch the game and don’t even know when he made those defensive substitutions. You’re just repeating the English media’s slops, which has been pushing this nonsense all day to take credit away from Argentina and pin the entire loss on one man.

       He didn’t make defensive substitutions immediately after the goal. His first defensive sub came around the 72nd minute, about 25 minutes after England scored. By that point, Argentina had been dominating and had already created at least three clear cut chances.

       The first defensive change was Konsa for Gordon because Messi had switched to the right wing and was putting in arguably his best performance of the tournament. England needed someone to deal with him. That substitution was forced by the way Argentina was overwhelming them, not because Tuchel had suddenly decided to park the bus. The instructions were still to push for a second goal, but England simply couldn’t cope with Argentina’s pressure, so they added another defender for stability.

       The rest of the defensive substitutions came in the 82nd minute. That’s when Tuchel finally decided to protect the lead for the last 10 minutes.

       How is that a bad tactical approach? Almost every manager does the same thing when protecting a narrow lead late in a match. The narrative that Tuchel parked the bus for the last 40 minutes is simply false. Argentina forced England deeper with their quality. The actual intention to fully park the bus only came in the final 10 minutes…

       • I disagree. I don’t like the English media and I’m so happy they underestimated us, but Tuchel cost them the game.

         Your maths is as poor as your memory, how did you calculate 25 minutes? Goal 55’ and Gordon off 72’. Isn’t that 17 minutes and actually only around 13-14 minutes when you factor in the hydration break and subs? Also, Nico came on at 64’, that’s when the game really swung our way, so about 5 minutes of play before Gordon went off. We probably had 2/3 half shots just like them, before Nico came on.

         After we then brought on De Paul’s fresh legs (at 72’ also) and the impact he was having from the right, and then Lautaro at 81’, Tuchel immediately brought on 2 defenders at 82’. He stuffed up. I’m not complaining, it helped us, but it’s reality. You’re just too blind to see it. The best form of defence is offense. The Egypt coach did the same thing, he stuffed up and so too Mo with his poor ball protection. It’s easy to stuff up against us, we are hunters now also and no longer just the hunted. We never give up when other teams do.

         I’ve been reading your comments on here all tournament and you’ve been so negative and mostly on auto repeat, thinking you know tactics and who should play, blah, blah, blah, you think you know it all, even better than Scaloni. You’re only happy now, momentarily, because we’ve made back-to-back finals. God forbid we lose to Spain, we’ll never hear the end of you unless the AFA sack Scaloni and appoint you as the manager 🤦‍♂️ then our team will be worse than Sampaoli’s 🤷🏼‍♂️

         • https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2026/07/14/argentina-national-team-coach-lionel-scaloni-press-conference-world-cup-england/ ( the reply of sergios comment )

           Not once have I criticized Scaloni but infact defended him. You’re just making things up and idk why . Feel free to quote a single comment where I did. In fact, I was one of the people defending Scaloni against the endless abuse and name calling this sub was throwing at him after the Switzerland game ( source provided ). So why are you lying? Is it because you were one of the people insulting Scaloni and didn’t like being called out? Just like you’re still downplaying Argentina’s great victory and pushing the english narrative that it was all about England’s mistakes, as if Argentina had nothing to do with forcing those mistakes ?

           And why does it matter whether it was the 17th minute or the 25th minute? The statement came from England’s own captain, who said the coach wanted them to attack but they couldn’t. Are you seriously claiming you know more about what happened than England’s own captain? Or is your source Michael Owen or Gary Neville instead of the guy who actually played the game?

           The fact remains that the defensive substitutions weren’t made until the final eight minutes of normal time. The intention wasn’t to park the bus from the start. England simply couldn’t get out of their own box because Argentina kept them pinned back.

           The victory was everything to do with us, and less to do with tuchel. Heck scaloni had more influence in this game with his amazing subs than whatever tuchel did

   • Of course they are more concerned with why England lost, and where the blame lies, and expect England to fix it. They ARE English. That is the normal response.

     But they are unanimous in acknowledging the better team won, and in praising Messi. Every 30 minute rant from an English pundits contains 5 minutes of Messi worship, and some love for Enzo, Mac Allister, Emi, Romero, Lisandro et al based on what club they support. Zero resentment towards Argentina. Zero complaints about referring, or aggressive fouls.

     I am mightily impressed by the sportsmanlike response of English press, punditry, streamers, influencers, even the average fan to their heartbreak. I saw one English football streamer say “I want to see Jude cry at the end of the match” because he insulted Messi. The English never forgave Penaldo for that Rooney red card. They are all in on Messi.

     • @Chris Brown

       It didn’t matter to me, you’re actually the one who brought up the minutes and I just corrected you and now suddenly because you got the timeline incorrect it now no longer matters. Interesting approach.

       My sources are: I watched the game live, I watched the replay already and the highlights. I’m watching with my eyes and can clearly see how the match panned out. I’m not sure what’s blinding your reality and version of events. What are you so cut about exactly? So what if the English media says it was Tuchels fault? So what if he stuffed up tactically? He chose to make those substitutions and when he did, they weren’t Harry Kane’s calls to make, and they were the wrong move and as a result it cost them the match. The manager is to blame for those tactics. Who else do you blame?

       We played ok up until Nico’s introduction, a little better until Gordon’s withdrawal, and much better after. It’s reality.

       I’ve been an Argentina supporter my whole life and my first real taste of their success was when I was 8 years old in 1986. I truly believe they have the talent to reach another WC final in 2030. My love for them will never fade.

       I wish you would read comments a little closer and better. It’s ok if someone disagrees with you and your version of events and corrects you. You should really just cop it on the chin and take a different approach.

       I love Scaloni, always have and always will. No matter what happens or what decisions he makes. I was even in the stadium in the 2006 WC when he played the full match v Mexico. He is my favourite Argentina manager ever.

       • @Riquelme

         The argument was whether Tuchel decided to park the bus after England scored. That simply isn’t true. Harry Kane himself debunked that by saying the coach told the team to go for a second goal, but they couldn’t. So the entire claim that Tuchel intentionally parked the bus and only tried to protect a one goal lead falls apart.

         Kane’s statement matters because the coach communicates tactics directly to the players and gives them instructions. Football isn’t FIFA where you press the “Park the Bus” button and the CPU automatically does everything.

         So whatever you think you saw, or whatever convinced you that Tuchel decided to park the bus right after the Goal, is ultimately irrelevant. Just like it’s irrelevant how long you’ve been watching Argentina games.

         There’s no way to know just by watching the match whether Tuchel instructed England to sit back or whether Argentina forced them deeper. The strongest argument for the “park the bus” claim is that Tuchel brought on two defenders in the 82nd minute, which could suggest England were trying to protect the lead. But that’s still weaker evidence than Kane directly revealing what the manager told the players.

         And you still haven’t addressed the completely made up claim that I constantly trash Scaloni and leave negative comments in this sub. You made that up because you’re a bald Faced liar, and unlike me, you couldn’t back it up with a single piece of evidence.

         Imagine being 50 years old and resorting to lies just to gain an edge in an online argument. That’s honestly embarrassing.

         • You are such an interesting character.

           You’re still wrong about what Tuchel did. It’s clear to see based on the timeline of events I presented to you in my earlier post. I’m not repeating myself again.

           This is all you’ve done all this WC, argue when some challenges you, then tries to twist things around to make it out as if you were talking about something from a different angle, and the final thing you do is:

           you resort to calling people names. Just as you have done again.

           Go back through all your comments and you will surely see a pattern.

           I never said you criticized Scaloni. Or if I did, can you please point me to where I did say that? But there you go again, not being able to read other people’s comments clearly and being found to be incorrect again.

           Looking forward to your next post with more name calling. You are enlightening me and others. Thank you.

8. Am I the only one who thinks Juan Musso would have been a ideal stater vs Spain over Dibu ??

   • We live with Dibu and die with Dibu. He’s earned that respect because this squad wouldn’t be half as successful without him. He also isn’t doing anything bad enough to warrant being replaced. In fact, some of his long balls have been excellent, finding Argentina players in dangerous positions.

     Most importantly, the game could go to a penalty shootout, and Dibu is practically guaranteed to save at least two penalties.

   • Why would you think Musso would more suitable for this game than Dibu?

     • For the La Liga experince he got for atleti

   • Yeah, I think you are the only one 😂 Musso doesn’t bring fear to other teams, whereas Emi Martinez does.

9. If memory serves me right, Vincic ruled out a perfectly valid Lautaro goal through VAR in the first half against Saudi. But past controversies won’t decide this final. It will come down to tactics, in-game adjustments, substitutions, and whether Argentina can sustain its pressing against Spain.

   • I think it all comes by a full circle….

   • It actually did us a favor. If we’d beaten Saudi Arabia, we would’ve carried many weaknesses into the knockout stage and gotten eliminated. Scaloni would’ve stuck with Papu Gomez on illegal substances, an unfit Paredes, and Lautaro playing through injections. Enzo, Alvarez, and Mac Allister’s breakthroughs never would’ve happened and World cup winning neither

10. Whenever I m in this forum I don’t see any constructive criticism here, when the weakness reveals it becomes worse, when starts doing good it becomes best, in attacking purpose Argentina always has the depth with Messi and quality of attacker arge has, everything always needs to be clicked, if it doesn’t click it always has problems, I always says Argentina weak in that right back section, also there’s plenty of sections there’s always needs to be improved, as per as I see Spain is far better side than England both attack and defence if you want to win it you have to give your best

    • The only think Argentina needs in final is a good day for Emi Martinez which is missing whole the tournament…..I think Molina will be able to condemn Alex Baena on his side…..Tagliafico has to deliver vs Lamine Yamal

11. I have nothing for Scaloni….he is the mastermind…..the greatest coach after menotti and bilardo……he wil do the best and I’m hopeful of that

    • I agree 100%. Regardless of what anyone says or thinks, he is our best yet. He is a gentleman of the game and we have achieved the most success with him in charge. We love you Lionel Scaloni ❤️

      • Agreed. Scaloni is a National Hero. They should erect a statue of him in front the El Monumental.

        • For sure 💯 that would be well deserving.

12. Just positive vibes … nothing else … everyone else too please. No questions whatsoever on Scaloni … let him choose his players. I just have a feeling though that IF Yamal becomes threatening (though I doubt) we can put Barco for him … Barco is young, energetic and hard hitting too – can defend and attack both. But I will trust whatever Scaloni does.

    • Agree bro..Belive in team.. Young player will get regular chances after world cup..So stay calm.. Paz and barcca will start regularly after wc

    • Absolutely bro

13. Wow.. another great match and great result.. did not post anything as I was drinking the British tears 😃 just watching them go crazy in the tv studios and social media was hillarious. All those big mouth “pundits” and their predictions!! 😃😃 I think while stealing the word pundit from India they also changed its meaning Lol.
    We could have and should have scored a couple more and that would really show them their place, but its just another wish.
    What a tournament it has been and it couldve been even better if we had beaten portugal in the QF and Eng in the Semi.. OMG!! But lets think about the final.. the momentum is with us in this cycle, lets win as many trophies as possible before the drought cycle starts and it happens with all teams. LETS GET THE FOURTH STAR. VAMOS!!

    • Same here. I went and watch each and every videos of those bozos after the match. I have never seen a nation with such an inflated ego.

    • I agree with you both. They were so cocky and arrogant and just don’t understand how the EPL can be so rich and popular but yet our poor clubs, in comparison, produce some of the most incredible talent in the world. They think their players have equal talent to ours. They’re such dreamers. I’m so happy we brought them back down to earth. Write us off at your own peril. Bye! Bye!

14. What changes are we expecting in the final, if any? I don’t think Simeone is starting. Even if he did an okay job, his combination with Molina was poor and the ball was constantly leaking in from that side.

    I think Nico has a chance to start. Nico is good at defending, has pace, and with Tagliafico can completely shut down Yamal. Also, since Yamal isn’t known for defending and tracking back, Nico can hurt Spain on the counter, like Di Maria did to France in 2022. But the problem with him is he’s almost there, but not quite there.

    Another option Scaloni may choose is Lo Celso in the midfield. He will bring creativity, can do defensive work, and overall he’ll be taking more control in the midfield.

    But we’ll certainly see Messi dropping deeper into midfield in the Final.

    What do you all think?

    • You know your second option L celso starting, i also have the same idea, obviously scaloni wont change winning comination in the final game but this is an option. Regarding Simeone he is not good one on 1 player, but he is energetic and do dirty deeds, so maybe scaloni will against start him over for doing dirty work and then later will sub him off
      Its plain and simple, a midfield battle, if Arg wins the midfield battle against Olmo Rodri and Ruiz they will win the game.

    • Nicos red card against Yamal/Barca will remain on every ones mind, though I dont think its a bad option; one of Simeone/Nico is needed. Both our right and left side have been vulnerable, who knows Scaloni may come up with a back 3 line..lets see.

      • Yeah true

    • I never talk about who should play who should not ……. But I have an absurd feeling 🙂 this time ….. Barco can shut Yamal and add on attack … but he hasn’t got much minutes yet — so very bleak possibility.

15. Whatever comes, bring it on… I couldn’t sleep last night with all the excitement, and I probably won’t be able to sleep for the next few days either. It feels like time is moving way too slowly now. 😂

    Coming back to football, I’m not underestimating Spain. But deep down, when I look back at everything, I feel like we have a debt to settle with them.

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