It’s pretty much the dream World Cup semi-final line-up.
Favourites France against Euro 2024 winners Spain and holders Argentina versus their old rivals England.
The World Cup organiser wants to ensure the top-ranked countries do not meet earlier in the knockout rounds, thus potentially creating blockbuster games later in the tournament.
The same ranking system was used for the Club World Cup last summer.
📝 @TimSpiers
🔗 https://t.co/p5OU7jrDyo
GESTO DEL MÍSTER PARA RENOVAR!!!?
Se comenta que el DT, Thomas Christiansen habría realizado un gesto de aceptar una rebaja en su salario, para lograr cerrar su renovación con la Selección Mayor de Panamá.
La FEPAFUT parece haber cambiado su opinión luego de dicho gesto.
Pressure continues to mount on Gianni Infantino following the decision to suspend USMNT striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban at the World Cup, with more than 70 European lawmakers calling for an investigation into FIFA and its president regarding the principle of political neutrality.
Balogun was sent off in the U.S’. round-of-32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina and was set to be banned for the round-of-16 game against Belgium, though FIFA’s independent disciplinary committee suspended the ban and the 25-year-old subsequently started in the 4-1 defeat.
Before the match, Belgium appealed the decision but it was dismissed by FIFA, global soccer’s governing body.
More from @AdamCrafton_ and @samjoseph_17 ⬇️
🔗 https://t.co/9n3IaKrkR2
It's Lionel Messi at the World Cup. Lionel Messi on football's grandest stage. Lionel Messi when his country needs him.
He redeems himself for his first-half penalty miss with a fine half volley that hits the palm of Mostafa Shobeir, rattles the bar and ends up in the net. Argentina are level against Egypt.
It's his 21st World Cup goal — his eighth of this tournament. Special.
The wild World Cup trend that says Norway is destined to win it all. 🇳🇴🔮🏆
Since 2002, any team that knocks out the country that beat Japan goes on to lift the trophy:
✨ 2002: Brazil 🇧🇷
✨ 2010: Spain 🇪🇸
✨ 2018: France 🇫🇷
✨ 2022: Argentina 🇦🇷
✨ 2026: Norway... ? 🇳🇴
I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, save this post and read it later. If you’re a night owl like me, this is a good late-night read.
Do you know the worst thing about Cristiano Ronaldo?
It’s that he set the standards for what defines a legend… and in the end, he couldn’t even live up to the standards he created himself.
After winning Euro 2016, Ronaldo said:
“You can’t become a legend until you win a trophy with your national team.”
It was an obvious dig at Messi.
Argentina had just lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, and Messi was going through the toughest period of his international career. Those words only added fuel to the fire.
Where was the respect for a rival, Ronaldo?
The surprising part was that social media completely embraced that narrative. Messi was labeled a bottler, while Ronaldo was declared the winner of the rivalry—at least in the media, not on the pitch.
Then Messi retired from international football, came back, won the Copa América, and suddenly they were level in major international trophies.
What happened next?
Ronaldo fans started saying that one Euro is worth more than a hundred Copa Américas, claiming there was no competition in South America. Not true—but that became the excuse.
Then Messi went on to win the World Cup.
This time, the excuses changed again.
They claimed FIFA had fixed the tournament for Messi. That the World Cup was scripted in his favor. They simply didn’t know what else to say.
Then Ronaldo himself came out with one of the strangest quotes imaginable:
“A legend’s career can’t be defined by just seven games.”
At first glance, it sounds reasonable.
But beneath it was another attempt to diminish what Messi had achieved.
Before the World Cup, they insisted it would be Ronaldo’s tournament. On paper, Portugal had a fantastic squad. If the manager couldn’t get the best out of them, that’s Portugal’s problem—not Ronaldo’s.
Yet that same Portugal squad wasn’t any weaker than the Argentina team Messi led to the 2014 World Cup final—the same team people mocked Messi for not carrying to the title.
Just a couple of days ago, Ronaldo said:
“The World Cup doesn’t define my career, whether I win it or not.”
A statement that directly contradicts what he had said years earlier, when he admitted that winning the World Cup would make him feel completely fulfilled.
Now you’re 41 years old, Cristiano.
By your own standards:
* You have 5 Ballon d’Ors, not 8.
* You have one European Championship, not two Copa América titles.
* You never won the World Cup.
* You have four European Golden Shoes, while Messi has six—even though you’re an out-and-out striker.
So what now?
Will you keep playing until the next World Cup and become the first player to appear in one at 45, hoping to finally win it?
If we judged you by the standards you created, you wouldn’t qualify as a legend.
Of course, nobody actually judges you that way. Everyone still recognizes you as one of football’s greatest legends.
The real mistake was comparing Ronaldo to Messi in the first place.
That rivalry was exaggerated from the beginning by the media and figures like José Mourinho.
Messi conquered every major trophy available to him, shattered records that once seemed untouchable, and at 39 years old he’s still competing with Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland—the stars of the next generation—for the Golden Boot. And honestly, he could still win it.
What made Messi beloved by so many fans is that he never tried to diminish Ronaldo’s achievements.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, repeatedly made comments that many interpreted as attempts to downplay his greatest rival’s accomplishments—and that’s never an admirable trait.
Cristiano helped create a generation that thinks belittling other people’s achievements while constantly glorifying your own is a way to establish dominance.
Good bye. Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo estuvo en conferencia de prensa: una de las mejores en que he estado en mi carrera
Pocas veces si es que alguna vez había oido a un atleta de ningún deporte expresarse tan bien y hacer tan interesante una conferencia que duró más de media hora
Habló en tres idiomas
#CopaMundial #WorldCup #Mundial #CristianoRonaldo
@JCDefutbol De acuerdo, en parte. “El fútbol son camadas” dice un viejo adagio. Pero hay excepciones. España, por ejemplo, dsps de esa última camada campeona del mundo, ha seguido allá arriba con muchos nuevo talento producto del sistema de formación y reclutamiento implementado.
La FIFA le cerró la puerta a Bélgica. La RBFA intentó apelar el "perdón" a Folarin Balogun (USA) por su expulsión ante Bosnia y Herzegovina, pero el Comité de Apelación declaró la solicitud INADMISIBLE: Bélgica no es parte del caso y no tiene legitimidad para reclamar.
Oficial de FIFA.