Λπαŋδιαŋεʐε Ιβε

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Lol. He is beyond parody at this point.

Also, "historically accurate"? It's a work of fiction featuring imaginary Greek gods.

[Ankor Inclán @ankorinclan]

En octubre de 2011, Luis de la Fuente fue despedido del Deportivo Alavés después de nueve jornadas. Las llamadas dejaron de llegar. Pasó dieciocho meses sin trabajo.

Siguió yendo al mismo bar a desayunar. Siguió leyendo el periódico. Un día de 2013 encontró un anuncio pequeño en las páginas de deportes: la Real Federación Española de Fútbol buscaba entrenador para sus categorías inferiores. Llamó a Iñaki Sáez, antiguo seleccionador, que lo conocía. Mandó el currículum. Esperó.

La Federación le ofreció el puesto. El contrato duraba tres meses. La misión: clasificar a la sub-19 para el Europeo de Lituania. Sin garantías más allá de eso. De la Fuente firmó el 1 de mayo de 2013.

Lo que vino después fue un trabajo invisible. Campos juveniles, contratos cortos, categorías que nadie sigue. En 2015 ganó el Europeo sub-19 con un equipo que incluía a Rodri, Mikel Merino y Unai Simón. Luego la sub-21. Luego la absoluta. El 19 de julio de 2026, en el MetLife Stadium de Nueva York, levantó la Copa del Mundo.

Trece años después del anuncio en el periódico.

La carrera de De la Fuente no tiene la narrativa habitual del crack que triunfa: no dirigió al Madrid ni al Barça, no pasó por ningún gigante europeo, no tuvo un momento de revelación brillante que el mundo aplaudiera. Tuvo dieciocho meses sin llamadas, un anuncio pequeño, un contrato de tres meses y la decisión de presentarse.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Great thread. To which I would add that there was no Trump or Milei in office in 2022. No genocide in Gaza, or Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir loudly backing Argentina in 2022 either.

So yeah, things change. Messi remains one of the greatest to play the game but Argentina were legitimately loathed by a lot of people in this World Cup, social media algorithms aside, for reasons outlined ok the thread below and by me above. As an England fan whose team were knocked out by Argentina, I obviously wanted to see Argentina lose despite my admiration for Messi as a player.

[The Footy Feed @TheFootyFeed]

Peter makes a very valid point 😂

[IM🇵🇹 @Iconic_Mourinho]

I have been thinking about why Argentina are so hated by everyone.

Is it all the polemics with FIFA? I don't think that explains everything.

Is it Messi hate? That doesn't make sense, because all the neutrals also seem to hate Argentina.

And I think I found out the reason.…

For the first time in 30 years, Argentina won trophies. And within 5 years, they became the most hated NT in the world.

Are they hated because they win? No, past World Champions didn't get this hate (in fact, those teams got more admired after winning).

They're hated because of how they handled success.

Let's elaborate:

In many sports' rivalries it's easy to spot who is the dominant team and who is the smaller team, just by looking at each team's posture. This can be called the "big brother x little brother effect."

The "big brothers" are teams that are consistently the best, and they know it. When they win, they see it as a natural result of their superiority. So they shake their opponents' hands and move on to the next one.

Most dominant clubs in each league usually behave like this (Bayern is the best example). Good examples are also NTs such as Germany, France, Brazil, and Spain (more recently).

The "little brothers" are teams that feel like the eternal underdog. When they beat their "big brothers", they have to gloat, rub it in everyone's face and make it last. They do whatever is necessary to beat the bigger team (even unethical behavior). These teams are sour losers and obnoxious winners.

A great example is Atletico Madrid. But in international football, the best example of this - by far - is Argentina.

Since the dawn of football, Argentina have been the little brothers to Brazil. When Argentina won their first World Cup, Brazil already had 3. Argentina had Maradona, but Brazil already had "King Pele". For every world class player Argentina produced, their neighbours Brazil produced 5. Decades and decades of this.

What can you do? You accept your fate. You are the little brother. You taunt, you provoke, you do anything to get out of Brazil's shadow. For every relevant achievement, you rub it in everyone's face and you don't let anyone forget.

Then came the 2020s. Brazil entered a football crisis, and Argentina finally won again. But, unlike previous World Champions, they felt the need to rub it in all their opponents' faces, so no one would forget.

But why are they still so attached to this obnoxious posture in 2026? Brazil have gone decades without winning the World Cup, while barely producing any remarkable players. Argentina were going for back to back World Cups!

Why not win with some class? Why not be the big brother, finally? This would be the time.

Maybe this "little brother" phenomenon can also be individual…

How is the life of Argentina's players most of the time?

Apart from Messi, McAllister and Lautaro, it doesn't look great…

6 of them actually play for Atletico Madrid.

Enzo has never even won a domestic trophy. At Chelsea, it's been all disappointing seasons, while being highly disliked by many of Chelsea's fans.

Romero's club career is also a disaster. No domestic trophies. Tottenham went downhill right after signing him. He's also highly disliked by many of Spurs' fans.

Emiliano Martinez spent his career as an Arsenal reject, and later joined Gerrard's Villa, where he's never won anything.

Even Otamendi, who played for Pep's Man City, was always seen as the weak link of that team, the perfect target for opponents.

Argentina has a culture of "little brother", but most of their players also became "little brothers" in football. So they kept feeling like underdogs, even after winning 3 trophies in a row with the NT.

This was the year they should have become the "big brothers" and started behaving like a winning team.

They didn't. They became an example of how not to act in sports.

They became hated because they couldn't handle their own success.

Argentina, the greatest "little brothers" in football history.

[. @prime_jordan1]

You don’t play this way for an entire tournament unless you know boss calls have been made

[Cris @CrisLee99]

😳😂🤣🤣🤣

[AI @nonewthing]

The ultimate revelation of this World Cup and football season is that control is an essential ingredient in football success. Not having a primary playmaker, metronome or holding midfielder is almost equivalent to playing with a man down.

To win, you need top players everywhere + control.

In this sense, Portugal & England are the biggest disappointments of the tournament, given that they had the winning formula but either blew it or threw it away.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Yes!!!

Spain win. Justice is done.

[Football on TNT Sports @footballontnt]

Bukayo Saka has played just 356 minutes at this World Cup, but has provided 6 goal contributions 😳

3 goals. 3 assists… Averaged a goal or assist every 59 minutes. Just imagine if he was fully fit all tournament 👏

[AI @nonewthing]

I have never seen Olise outplay Saka on the same pitch.

[Martyn Ziegler @martynziegler]

Good move not to have played Saka for a single minute of the semi-final to keep him fresh for the prestigious bronze medal match.

[❄️ @footyhan]

Six world cups played and he never faced Brazil, England, Spain or Portugal even once.

[Roger Bonet "Ruxi" @Ruxiiii4]

Bukayo Saka.

England look much better with a player like him. He slows the tempo down, makes better decisions, and gives the team greater control in possession, allowing them to sustain attacks for longer periods.

Gordon and Madueke offer more pace, directness, and transition threat, but it's clear England sacrifice a significant amount of control when Saka isn't on the pitch.

He is also England's best player at delivering crosses to the far post, giving them a much greater threat when attacking from wide areas and crashing the box with Bellingham and Kane.

There's a reason why he's so important to Arteta's Arsenal.

[Victory @VictoryOwai]

One thing I've noticed about Arsenal under this current regime is that they rarely allow themselves to be bullied in the transfer market.

People forget that Arsenal wanted Moisés Caicedo badly, but the moment Brighton kept pushing the price higher than what the club believed was reasonable, they walked away.

Same thing happened with Benjamin Šeško. Arsenal admired him, but when RB Leipzig's demands became too much, they stepped back.

Same with Mykhailo Mudryk. Everyone remembers the saga. Shakhtar wanted an enormous fee, Arsenal refused to be dragged into a bidding war and Chelsea took him instead.

Even Sandro Tonali. Arsenal liked him, but once the overall cost became excessive, they moved on.

The only deal they refused to walk away from was Declan Rice. And every single day that passes makes it look like money well spent. Arsenal clearly believed he was worth breaking the bank for, and so far he's proving exactly why.

So when I see people saying Arsenal must pay whatever Newcastle ask for Bruno Guimarães or whatever Aston Villa ask for Morgan Rogers, I just don't see it happening.

If Arsenal believe the valuation isn't fair, they'll simply walk away. They've done it before and they'll do it again.

Arsenal have shown time and time again that they'll pay big when they truly believe a player is worth it. But they won't pay any price just because another club demands it. That's been their strategy for years now, and I don't see it changing this summer.

[SAVE A SEAT FOR ME (Simon & Schuster, 2026) @NewBlackMan]

"A teenager turns down Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA and Michigan to take graduate-level coursework as a college freshman at Berkeley, and the response from the people paying him millions isn’t excitement. It’s suspicion. That was never a scouting report. That was a diagnosis. And the disease was intelligence."
https://t.co/PToZcTIglv | @theGrio

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

⏪ 25 years ago today...

Sol Campbell became a Gunner 👊

[Fullcourtpass @Fullcourtpass]

The 76ers owner on their trade for Jaylen Brown

“We couldn’t believe it either… we can’t believe we were able to get Jaylen Brown for what we gave up.”

(Via @BillSimmons, h/t @Savageboston)

[NBACentel @TheNBACentel]

An NBA executive was “uncomfortable” seeing Jaylen Brown walk around the facility with an active library card, prompting his sudden trade.

(Via @ChrisBHayne)

[Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @JPHilllllll]

I love that 90% of World Cup results mean people flooding the streets of Queens