Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time to win the 2026 World Cup – live
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jul/19/spain-v-argentina-world-cup-2026-final-live-updatesOpen linkView original on feddit.ukSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on feddit.ukhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jul/19/spain-v-argentina-world-cup-2026-final-live-updatesOpen linkView original on feddit.uk
301 replies
someone snuck this little gem into the article
Alt text: Screenshot from the article showing two captioned images. First image shows a winning team celebrating. It is captioned, "Rodri lifts the trophy! Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA"
The second image shows Gianni Infantino speaking with Donald Trump. It is captioned, "Gianni Infantino carefully explains to Donald Trump that he is not part of the spanish national team. Photograph: Javier García/Shutterstock"
Holy fuck, let's see how long it stays up
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jul/19/spain-v-argentina-world-cup-2026-final-live-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6a5d539e8f0826309aef6ac0#block-6a5d539e8f0826309aef6ac0
Edit: for when they change it: https://web.archive.org/web/20260720001221/https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jul/19/spain-v-argentina-world-cup-2026-final-live-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6a5d539e8f0826309aef6ac0#block-6a5d539e8f0826309aef6ac0
Fucking lol. Still up.
Still up
Still up
You missed this one 🤣 thank you Guardian I had a good laugh
I mean they are better than Trump's ONE TIE™️ and 4" heels.
Lmao, seems to have been taken down now, thank you for the archive linkThe link to the image itself doesnt work, but it's still there in the article itself, I just didnt know how to navigate the weird timeline format thing or whatever is going on there
Still up for me on the original site.
Thank you for the correction, I just didnt know how to navigate the weird timeline format :)
Doing the People’s work, not all heroes wear capes, a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man, etc…
The guardian link is down for me lol
We watched the ceremony in a restaurant after the game. Trump tried to stand with the team for the jumping celebration photo. It was a half creepy lurker, half senile old man moment. Then the FIFA asshole dragged him away. So the caption is accurate.
Here's hoping that the next time we see Trump getting a golden shower is when the pee tapes are released
No that's good. I thought it was one of those optical illusions from the mall kiosk
Senile Gramps out on a stroll. Better call the nureing home
I’m just happy Argentina lost.
you and everyone else.
Some info from the southern hemisphere : Argentinians have such gigantic egos that one of their challenges to other south americans is "¿Cuantas copas tenes?" which translates to "How many (world) cups do you have?".
They are on the same continent as brazil. THE TEAM THAT HAS THE MOST FOOTBALL WORLD CUPS IN THE WORLD.
Denying them their fourth is fantastic. Even better, Milei can't use this to bolster patriotism as people keep living in the realities of argentina.
Although I'm pretty certain that he is going to enjoy busting out the militarised cops for the inevitable riot in buenos aires. I'd shed a tear for the poor Fast Food establishment they keep burning to the ground, but fuck them yankee burgers.
I don’t know much about sports, let alone soccer, but what I’ve learned about Argentina makes them seem like poor sports
Oh shut the fuck up and go be racist to someone who doesn't deserve it or something. It's all your country is good for.
Lol. You don't have anything to so you just start throwing insults around. Classic kb warrior. Also, there's a big difference between racist and xenophobic. My comment and country are neither of those 🤷♂️ Maybe next time spend some more time thinking of a proper comeback.
Ya deja de llorar amigo 👃
Calling other people classless while dishing out xenophobic insults lol are you even from spain?
No soy español pero si me parecen muy molestos los Argentinos que se la pasan defendiendo el fútbol Argentino, tampoco es como que puedan defender otra cosa cómo la economía.
As my friend said: You have to be really crappy for the rest of Latin America to support the colonizer
I’m happy that Argentina lost too. They played shit football and their best claim for a title was for “dirtiest player of the tournament”.
My vote is split between Fernández and Simeone, although the latter surely is making his daddy proud.
Hopefully one day it's your country that can make you happy. I know mine has.
I’m Spanish. I have plenty to celebrate about today.
Congratulations. I honestly thought France / Spain would be the decider but Spain's consistency was amazing. One goal conceded all tournament is the stat that says it all.
A well deserved win. Lots of sore heads over there today I'm sure.
Touché!
I watched in Rome and people didn't even celebrate. The ones that did sung "españa" and clapped three times, that was it. You I think that was the worst part was losing to a country with so little passion xD You couldn't even write lyrics for your own national anthem.
Rome is not in Spain.
Why the fuck would people in Rome have passion for Spain?
This guy was expecting them to go out into the streets of Rome in the middle of the night and start behaving like animals.
Which tells you exactly what they think “Argentinian passion” is.
Because they were spaniards, genius. It was a large field with people from both sides.
They didn't even celebrate in the stadium so I don't know why I was surprised.
There's no way you're not a troll. Every comment you've made is so fucking dumb and ignorant that it shouldn't be possible for you to be able to write.
And yet, it is. Baffling, I know.
Everybody wanted Argentina to lose due to their player's and fan's behaviour. You are not helping the case at all.
Sure dude. My behavior is totally reprehensible. Denying false claims is an awful thing to do. My bad. Next time I'll just go with the social media narrative.
Not only I’m ecstatic that Argentina lost against Spain but I’m even more happy that the Spanish humiliated them with a fun, smart and enjoyable game leaving Argentina without a ball and with the only option of dirty tricks (sometimes just violence).
Moreover, I thought messi was playing but I didn’t see him once, weird…
Again, hopefully your country will some day make you happy. Even today I'm delighted to have witnessed a group of olayers that gave us two copa america, a finalissima and a world cup. Winning yesterday woul've just been icing on the cake.
And don't kid yourself. Spain yesterday had good control of the ball but they weren't smart nor fun. The match was boring af.
The messi comment is the typical envious one. You'll never have a player like him and it hurts. Sucks to be you. Also, Lamine did have the ball and he did fuck all.
The match was boring because argentina were playing haramball. And even that wasn't enough to stop spain.
Argentina didn't register a single shot for 90 minutes and you think Spain weren't smart or fun ?
Argentina is washed as soon as Messi retires. You guys aren't making it out of the group stages in 2030.
Here's to hoping you're wrong 🤞 Good luck to you as well next time, whoever you're rooting for.
Except that they did? Envidioso.
Not at all.
That's ok. You're allowed to be wrong.
Thanks for not kicking me for it. Good start.
You'd only need to be kicked if you were too good, not too bad.
Glad Spain won, they were by far the better team. Argentina are just a bunch of bullys, I'm surprised they didnt get more yellow cards.
Paredes finishing the game was Infantino's gift
giftgriftIt wouldn't be FIFA without some shameful corruption of one sort or another.
Argentina's Fascist leader is aligned with Trump and hence the corrupt FIFA, so they could do what they wanted.
It's not about the amount of fouls, it's about what the fouls were.
Enzo's first yellow was complaining after faking a foul.
Argentina played dirty, their yellows were completely deserved and they did absolutely nothing but petty moves the entire game.
Glad Spain won. It's a mystery that Argentina, with the level they offered last night, even made it so far.
I don't think it's as much about the level of Argentina and more about the level Spain plays at. There's basically no team that can beat them at the moment. The best you can do is defend and hope they don't score (like Cape Verde did). They are so dominant and so good at holding the ball that they even made a team like France look incompetent. .
Most of the Argentina players didn't play at their best (just like they've done all tournament) but Spain also just made it impossible for them. Add to that the injuries and forced subs of both of their starting centre backs, the red card and that idiot Paredes coming and only kicking players instead of the ball and there was just no chance of them achieving anything.
I feel bad for Messi, he really dragged the team all the way to the final only for his teammates to completely give up once they got there. It made it easy for Spain to neutralize Messi and with that, all threat from Argentina was gone. If Messi retires (which I think he will), I think Argentina won't be much of a threat for the foreseeable future.
If you want to buy that narrative, sure. Go ahead. There was no "dirty" play, you sound like someone who never watches anything outside the world cup.
Only one team came to the final to play football, Spain had 20 shots 12 on target, Argentina had 2 shots with none on target in 120 mins of football. Argentina came to spoil the game and hoped to steal it on penalties. If I was an Argentina fan I would be embarrassed by the team and even more so by their petelent display at the end physically assaulting the Spanish players. The Argentinians had no right to be that upset, they were never in the game.
Football was the real winner.
And the 2 they had were only after conceding. Until minute 106 it was 0/0.
I watch football every week, Paredes should have seen 4 yellows, Argentina plays a game of grabbing and pushing to irritate the opponents and then starts little fights to break the rhythm of the game.
Maybe that's how it is in South America, I don't watch South American football but in Europe that's trash and with a good ref you start seeing yellows for repeated faults even on small offenses until it stops.
With your eyes closed?
thugs in action
Paredes was way too violent. However, if you watch the video you'll see both how garcia taunts him and how Gavi hits him from behind. Both sides were at fault here, bot only one is Argentina and that's all some see.
Argentina consistently delivers teams that are a disgrace to football and sportsmanship.
I think that's called "envy". But sure dude, whatever you say.
I don't think Spain is envious
Of argentinian passion? Yes. They have literally told me more than a few times.
0 shots on goal in 120 minutes is hard to be envious about.
A single match does not define your national team. Although it's normal to have such a short memory being a spanish supporter. You were only just born in 2010 after all xD
You'd probably say that the football that Paraguay offered wasn't dirty either. Lmao.
See? You can't even name a football club. Also, Spain made 80 fouls and argentina 88 in the entire tournament, but Argentina is "dirty". Another interesting stat, Argentina players were fouled 86 times, whereas Spain's were fouled 70.
But sure, keep repeating the hate narrative.
Why would I name a football club? Are you alright?
Again, it's not about the numbers. There is no stat on the severity of fouls. Did you even watch the matches? Or are you willfully blind to the shit your favorite team does?
I don't know how you guys play football in South America, but in the rest of the world we tend to follow the rules and play the game, rather than try and takedown the opponents.
Again spoken like a true world cup spectator. There's really nothing to say to people like you that know nothing about the sport.
no dirty play? Except Messi, who played like a champ, almost the whole team was a gang of thugs.
Messi tried to get Cucurella ejected for covering his mouth while he was speaking to a teammate. Bitch move.
The irony is that the rule that would have sent him off is enacted because another racist incident by an Argentinian player, Gianluca Prestianni.
Someone forgets to mention the second goal for Spain nullified because one of the argentenian defence faking a foul. Such sportsmanship...
Thought Spain was off side, just barely?
After Argentina's disgraceful, imperialist sign and knowing the piece of shit they put in office: good, fuck 'em.
personally I could give two fucks about adults being paid to kick a ball around on live TV; this goes for any kind of sport, for me.
however, watching the one Argentinian guy in the comments here (and presumably, many more Argentinians elsewhere like him) get extremely salty over this, and get ratio'd every comment, that's peak entertainment. Chef's kiss.👌
Argentina played a dogshit game and their players were shoving Spain constantly. Multiple instances of someone getting shoved to the ground outside of play. They deserved more cards than they were given. Oh and 0 shots on net rofl. If that fan is mad, it's because there's nothing to be proud of.
Incredible, thank you for sparing me having to watch the match to find out.
What a bunch of whiny man-children. Professional sports really does bring out the absolute worst kind of tribalism in people, next to actual war.
Argentina shouldn't have even been allowed to finish the game if the appropriate number of cards had been shown. Multiple two footed challenges, multiple technical fouls in the midfield stopping play, multiple hits from behind, several players literally shoved to the ground while the play was dead.
Piss poor officiating and piss poor play. And despite that Spain simply dominated for 3/4 of the play and when they didn't Argentina was gassed anyway.
I am not about to excuse anything Donald Trump has done, is doing, or will do; but as an American I am so glad our whiny manbaby of a pedophile in chief and his fawning sycophants have not been the only international embarrassment of the World Cup. Really. Genuinely over the moon. By the sound of things this is at least equally as funny if not even more so than "reversed a referee decision, lost anyways"
There was also that brawl after
And Messi looking embarrassed at his teammates' being sore
Haha thanks for pointing that discussion out. It was hilarious. The passion and soreness people can have about 22 adult millionaires running after a ball and trying to kick it into a net is just insane.
I was curious, I looked up Messi's net worth. Are you sitting down? $1.1 BILLION. People paying hundreds and in many cases thousands and thousands of dollars to watch a billionaire play a kids game. I don't get it either, but sports isn't about logic to fans.
when we start paying teachers better than pro sportsball players, I will probably be able to enjoy sportsball more.
Do you listen to music or watch movies?
What was Scaloni thinking, sending them out again?
the thing about Argentina is, they always try and walk it in!
Fuck FIFA but anything that makes Trump more grumpy is good news. This will be remembered as Trump's Jesse Owens moment. Not only didn't he manage to kick Spain out of NATO and cut trade with them, he also had to give them medals.
The crowd booing Trump was the best part of WC 2026.
He also spoiled the American team by interfering
I don't watch soccer and they probably didn't, but if it came out that USMNT threw after that, I wouldn't blame them. Their reputation would take decades to recover if they won that next game.
Watching it on SBS in Australia, during the trophy lift i saw that orange fuck trying to stand next to the team, and after the shot one of the commentators said "they just just edit him out", lol.
And they did! Every shot of the trophy lift afterwards during the telecast it was just Spain. Good shit SBS!
https://lemmy.world/post/49653955
An entire post about exactly this.
Can't wait for Trumpy Wumpy to give the cup to Spain after consistently trying to sanction it.
I was honestly waiting for him to steal the trophy again this year.
They should verify it's the real trophy and not a Temu counterfeit.
That baby is so senile he probably forgot
The thing about Ar[gentina] is, they always try to walk it in.
What was Scaloni thinking bringing Gonzalez on that early?
One of the tensest matches of the cup, the only reason being the Spanish inability to get the ball the last few meters inside the goal. Otherwise it would have been the most one-sided. Including the group stage. Tbh Argentinian defense did their job amazingly.
I mean try to get the ball in when every time you outplay an Argentinian player you get an elbow to the back or a foot between your legs.
The Argentinian team played like utter cunts. And then got into a fight when they lost.
If their offense had shown up that might have mattered
And what a goal. The third goal to be counted (during 1st there was a foul and 2nd was off side by like 5cm). Header from Williams Jr. and good shot from Ferran.
It is a bit tough that the best game of the tournament was the Spain - France semi, but at least the best team won.
Spain's undoubtedly a great team but my god their style is so boring. I found their win against France both impressive and dull.
It's boring like a Rubens painting or a Rodin sculpture.
They're kind of the Yngwie Malmsteen of football.
Thank you for translating to Guitarist
Well I wouldn't want former Guitar World subscribers to feel left out
Now I want to see someone arpeggio the ball.
I guess it’s boring if you don’t understand the game?
I've been watching the game for over 30 years. Still boring. Give me France England or Germany Curaçao.
It’s hard to believe that you understand the game and yet you prefer a match (France v England) where they played like in training.
Yeah, at least they played football, not judo.
"Tiki-taka is boring" is pretty common criticism.
It's not bad as long as Spain doesn't have a lead. As soon as they do, the way they smother a game with possession and endless, pointless passing is boring (even if incredibly skillfull). If they score early, you'll be watching a team play keep away for 80 minutes. Their ideal game is they score once and then nothing else of note happens. If you're cheering for them you won't mind but it isn't much fun if you're watching as a neutral. In my opinion, anyway.
It's almost like watching Dead Puck era hockey.
You won’t find many people who know anything about football, and think Spanish style of play is “boring”.
I’m not sure which matches you have watched, if any, but this is a mischaracterization. They play with a possession based strategy and constantly rebalance the field using short passes, in order to exploit numerical advantage, and this never changes. Look at the matches versus Austria or Saudi Arabia in this World Cup, classification matches to the WC, or any other match during the Euros 24 before quarter finals.
Now, if you think that Spain scores less on average, compared to other teams, take a look at the knockout stage: most games were won by a one goal difference, and, if we remove the third place match outlier, Spain is right in line with every other team in terms of goals. In terms of expected goals and shoots on target, Spain is first and second respectively [0]
This is the same team you believe plays “keep away”.
[0] https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/statistics/team-statistics
Nah, Spain is well known for having a tedious play style.
Yup. Casuals don’t like it at all.
Nah mate, most people like scoring more than keep away. Lay off the farts.
You mean casuals.
Spain always plays for possession. It's fucking awful to watch. Like a baseball game with two great pitchers, but they both give up an early hit so there's not a no-hitter in play.
I'm glad it was Spain that did it to them. Eff you, Argentinian fans. You're awful racist shits.
I missed that. What racist stuff happened?
They were caught singing racist songs against French players after they won Copa America a couple years ago.
Why they did it when France didn’t compete in the tournament (for obvious reasons), we will never know.
Made monkey noises and gestures to black players the argentinians did
The fuck? Not disbelieving but you got a link?
Best i could find that isnt with a person "reacting" or that "explains why argentinian fans are the worst". Didnt just happen to IShowSpeed but also towards the french team as faar as i know. Didnt follow it much and rn its all flooded with the aftermath of them losing. But it has happened in the past world cups too from what i got told
Cheers. I appreciate the effort bud.
Literally nothing. It was just one stupid xenophobic (there is a difference) song 4 years ago and, apparently, it meant that a whole nation that has throughout its history has always been inclusive has now always been racist.
People love to hate and algorithms love to feed that.
Not just one time. As someone from south-america, Argentinians are always racist against other south-americans. Playing against an Argentinian in an online match is a guarantee to hear a racist slur.
As my wife said last world cup
Ah, online gaming. A place known for respect towards everyone involved.
Should I say that all brazilians and chileans are racist for insulting me as soon as they learn that I'm from Argentina? Or should I realize that people talk shit behind the mic all around the world and that most are underage?
Seriously. Travel. I've encountered south americans all over the world and they've shown me (and I've shown them) nothing but kindness.
The real world is much more welcoming than what the virtual one would lead you to believe, and that's not an accident.
Gaming is pretty wholesome anymore - even COD and League are pretty much fine these days. The occasional asshole pops up sure, much as with any other large gathering of humans, but it's nothing even remotely like it was back in the day (hey you kids, stop touching my grass). I can play Helldivers 2 with my mic on and everything, never had anyone even be weird about it. It's pretty cool to see that all the work put into fixing the culture in gaming has actually paid off.
I've never played cod or league tbh but rocket league and overwatch are pretty much the same as always (meaning, not very friendly). You do run into nice people every now and then (I've even made long lasting friends like that) but it's generally not the case.
Maybe the region has something to do with it but it's unfortunately not what I'm seeing in south america.
Just so you know, this kind of stuff is so childish and transparent you might as well say "Ackshually, Trump is an ephebehebephile, not a paedophile, there's a huge difference"
ITT: Salty Argentinian fans replying to every comment about their crappy performance.
To be fair to them it's just one guy. You pull on his string and he GOES, god dammn.
Oh man, mods should probably step in but boy am I glad they didn't. It's so obviously going over like a damp fart in a small car, but they're so spirited in trying to maintain the illusion that it's not. The sheer quantity of stubborn yet performative ignorance would almost be admirable (if, you know, they weren't a racist stooge). Absolutely wonderful to see someone who completely deserves it getting obliterated that hard, I really needed that today.
Explains why a single one of my neighbours in my appartment block was going nuts (shouting loudly and even banging on a pan) last night at around 11PM.
(I'm in Portugal)
I loved how quiet it was when turkey dropped out. Aaah. That was a beautiful morning. I was prepared for much noise
Yeah, when Portugal itself dropped out (curiously at the hands of Spain) all the World Cup excitement suddenly cooled down a lot.
I was actually able to watch TV News again as the news went from being about football 75% of the time down to almost the usual 10-20%.
Spain play is just in an another league... it's a miracle we made it this far and also, that we managed to mantain the counter at 0-0 for so much time.
Well done spain.
Btw, I am appreciative of your, as in, you, Siegfried, sportsmanship in this thread and sorry you're associated with the other guy.
I was hoping Messi would win to end his career like that, but I'm also not upset that Spain won either. That goal was crazy awesome.
A back head pass by Nico, Merino pulling a defender and opening for Ferran to score. It was a pretty good goal.
But I guess that it requires some football knowledge to appreciate it?
Good? Yes. Awesome? No.
Man that remind me of my asian parent, never satisfied with my score.
True? Maybe. Good analogy? No.
It was awesome when you're Spanish.
Feeling? Yes. Goal? No.
Che que salado estás.
No hay un disturbio que debes ir? La tienda de hamburguesas cerca de obelisco no va a quemarse su solito.
Tal vez sacate la bronca al Millei.
Literally just google what happened last night. People celebrated and nothing burned down. Sorry to burst your bubble buddy.
...you guys celebrated losing?
Also, I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatch, there's this whole week for people to organise and what not. I'm sure you guys will set something up.
They already have.
https://elpais.com/deportes/mundial-futbol/2026-07-20/asi-fueron-los-disturbios-en-el-obelisco-tras-la-derrota-de-argentina-ante-espana-en-la-final-del-mundial.html
Rofl. Nice one.
We did. Because this generation of players deserved it. They weren't up to the task, but that doesn't diminish their efforts nor their accomplishments.
Both teams are considered the best in the world.
Will this mean Miku will be Spanish? Any fanart of Miku joining the Spanish Inquisition?
The trump jinx is real.
That wasn't in the script.
It was if you watched Spain play any of its matches. They always controlled the ball like like there wasn't even another team on the field. Of course Messi wasn't going to get an opportunity to do anything.
Looks like everyone got successfully distracted from the epstein files and the genocide in gaza
Yes, that's right, brother, they organised the World Cup specifically to distract from the Epstein files. Crafty bastards had it planned since 1930!
It really wouldn't surprise me if this powerful Machiavellian cabal of pedos have existed since long before that. I'm not saying that it was actually planned this way, of course, but maybe we shouldn't be so quick to rule it out. :P
It was decided in 2018, two years into Trump’s first precidency. Maybe not to distract from the Epstein files, but that was what followed nevertheless.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_bids
Trump planned in 2018 to lose the 2020 election specifically so he could be president again when this World Cup happened to allow it to be a distraction from the Epstein files.
Haha right, and that was only to stir up chaos to make path for third term!
It would be harder to believe that the winning team got awarded by a pedophile but that is now history. Governments and regimes have been using entertainment to distract and manipulate the public long before the 1930. A century later a football match is enough to make most people forgot about pedophiles running the country and an ongoing genocide.
OK, I'll explain because you seem to honestly not know how the FIFA World Cup is organised.
USA won the bid to organise the 2026 WC in 2018. The WC itself happens always once every four years.
Meaning: unless they're employing some stunningly excellent crystal ball operators, they could not have planned to use the 2026 WC as a smoke screen for the Epstein files OR the Gaza situation.
You don't seem to understand something really simple: an already planned and happening event can be used as a smoke screen. If you browse the news you will see nothing about the epstein files or the genocide in gaza but trump handling the world cup. Halftime shows have never been a thing in soccer and the president of a country is not supposed to deliver the cup. This already planned event was milked as much as possible to work as a distraction for all the shit that is currently happening in the world and it worked incredibly good.
Mate, the football World Cup is ALWAYS the largest sports event worldwide.
Sure, big events can be used as smoke screens but saying anything here was done on purpose is just showing your ignorance towards what the WC is. They had to have planned it in 1930 for it to happen now, they had to have known that the Epstein files would be a thing in 2016 when the bid started, and pulled some strings to win in 2018, and all that to use the largest televised event to hide the Epstein case.
It's just ridiculous. Those two events have nothing to do with one another.
Especially since they have an easier method available - Trump's (Epstein's?) billionaire buddies own all the US media! They can just decide that the files are to be buried under news about happy puppies and that's exactly what would happen.
On top of that, you don't seem to understand how moden news outlets (especially those online) and their readers work. The news outlets publish whatever garners clicks. People click outrage pieces the most, but they get bored quickly. Why do you think Zelenskyy is non-stop circling the world and talking to world leaders? He's doing all in his power to keep Ukraine in the media, because if it was up to the general public, the news coverage would be similar to that of the Sudan civil war right now - which is negligible. The elites don't even have to do anything for people to just lose interest, clicks to subside, and news agencies to move on from Epstein to other topics.
from the previous commend i made: "Halftime shows have never been a thing in soccer and the president of a country is not supposed to deliver the cup. "
You are acting more ignorant than anyone else here because i never said that everything was done on purpose
Read what's in the epstein files, you seem to have no clue.
replace happy puppies with soccer
You just said yourself that billionaire owns all the US media and they can decide what news are about.
They can't decide to use the WC as a smokescreen, because the WC happens once every 4 years and the host is selected 10 years prior. You can't really pump it up to "become" a smokescreen, because it already is the largest televised event on the planet.
What you're saying is the equivalent of suggesting that "the elites" have made the Sun to shine brightly on a July day in Texas. That's the default state of things, mate, nobody got to decide on that.
I'm only going to reply to this, because the rest is just silly, or commenting on standard Trump behaviour, which is "president of a country is not supposed to do" period.
1 goal. Sounds boring.
Better than the last one that ended in penalty shootout. For me winning on penalties is not winning at all. It's basically a tie and definitely a lesser World Cup win.
Rules are rules. Goal is goal. Win is win. Loss is loss. Tis just a game