Key events
Some of the highlights of the World Cup haven’t been related to playing the game, but instead have manifested in generational memes. Here’s a round-up of the best ones:
The leader of the UK political part the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, has called for the Football Association to withdraw from Fifa after accusing the organisation of “destroying the integrity of the beautiful game”.
Among incidents at this World Cup has been the US president Donald Trump calling the head of Fifa Gianni Infantino to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card. Davey said:
The only route forward is for the FA, along with other European governing bodies, to lead a co-ordinated exit from Fifa.
It is time for Uefa to step up and walk away from Fifa, and start working with other confederations to build a clean, transparent governing body that puts fans first.
Speaking of the final, Argentina and Spain have played one another in a World Cup before. It was during the 1966 tournament in the group stage, have a read of all the action from 60 years ago here:
Thank you Billy and hello everyone. The half-time show during the final tomorrow has mixed opinions amongst the fans but if you were to pick your dream performer for it, who would it be? Email us and let us know.
It’s time to hand you over to Sarah Rendell.
Strong and thorough views BTL on England and Tuchel …
Right, haven’t read the comments yet – just a couple ATL, and they’ve got me going again, especially the Leeds fan I agree with (talking about Bielsa).
Tuchel’s got to go for me.
We were sold the idea that he was the one to get us over the line. We all knew it would be future quarter-finals and semi-finals we’d be talking about.
The qualifying campaign was just fine, but then, on paper, you’d really expect nothing less, and I don’t think that’s being entitled.
Similarly, even though they certainly weren’t easy games, after the group (which we HAD to get through), England really should be putting away sides like DR Congo, Mexico and Norway in a World Cup, because, let’s face it, the whole tournament would have been seen by most of us as a failure had we not got them out of the way.
Great character and resilience shown in Mexico, and dealing with the heat in Miami were never going to be easy, but we were favourites for these games.
And already v Norway, we’d had questions raised by an almost complete lack of control, after that opening 25 minutes with the ball but going nowhere, creating nothing.
So Argentina was the test he came in for – this was where it got real.
And what we got was the meekest surrender from an England side I have ever seen in my life. And everyone at home could see something needed changing because we weren’t holding the ball, getting out and Messi and co were getting way too much space in and around our area.
Every part of this needed addressing at (or maybe even before) that final ‘hydration break’ but the truth is, none of it was.
Instead, we got an England team dropping further and further and further, inviting possession and chance after chance, so much so that it really could have been 4-1 to Argentina by the end, and none of us could have complained that we deserved anything else.
And that’s from leading 1-0 with 20 minutes left in a World Cup semi-final.
So maybe the final score has done him a favour here because it doesn’t look as bad as it actually was. But it really was worse than that score. We collapsed, offered nothing, and this manager we were sold on – the kind of astute guy we were told we needed to get us through exactly this kind of situation and mental fuzz….
He had nothing.
It was 2-1 going on 4-1, perhaps even 5-1 (look at the chances created and posts hit) and because this was such a spectacular, unprecedented even, absolute failure, I think the manager has to go.
We were warned by large periods of the performance v Norway. But this (after Gordon scored) was way, way worse.
Right then, another coffee….
More lines from Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino’s press conference at Trump Tower yesterday …
Trump indicated that he’d like the US to host another World Cup, but “this time we’ll leave Mexico and Canada out”, a remark which drew laughter from the assembled dignitaries.
Trump also shared that Infantino has approached him about the possibility of the US and China co-hosting a World Cup in the future.
Trump repeated that he was “forced to call Gianni” about the Folarin Balogun red card and said Infantino had “made yet another of his many good decisions”.
Trump repeated his claims about the 2020 presidential election being “rigged”, saying: “I was supposed to not be here right now. I was supposed to be president for eight years.”
It is not immediately obvious what Infantino’s reactions to these comments were but he thanked Trump for putting on “the greatest human social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed”.
Atmosphere B-, Affordability F – here’s how Jeff Rueter has graded America’s World Cup hosting duties …
A couple of World Cup TV reviews for you.
From the UK …
The BBC clearly hasn’t quite fathomed its post-Lineker roster, where he acted as host and a pundit who had been there and done that at a World Cup. You either love or loathe the energy of Micah Richards, but from the BBC ranks the former England No 1 Joe Hart was the one who stood out, with Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney often coming across as pedestrian as an England backline faced with an Argentina attack.
And the US …
Darren Fletcher won points for noting during England’s first knockout match that “if it’s coming home, it’s taking a while to get there”, but lost them all for his execrable “siuuu” to mark Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal against Uzbekistan, which sounded like someone dying mid-orgasm. In a World Cup that has seen much important and difficult work done to fit America’s artificial turf NFL stadiums with soccer-friendly grass, the reforestation of Landon Donovan’s head still stands out as this tournament’s most impressive single feat of terraforming.
I’ve just got a fairly respectable 10/15 in our challenging World Cup final quiz.
Have a go …
I’m very much looking forward to seeing Cherki play. It’s hard to argue that he’s been hard done by when France have so many incredible attackers but a man of his exceptional quality ought to have had more than 79 minutes.
And a couple of others who most of us in England won’t have seen much of but who are very highly spoken of – Zaïre-Emery and Akliouche.
Yes, one last chance this summer for us to get a glimpse of the highly rated Maghnes Akliouche.
Fifa has held a legends match in New York and it’s not taken Vozinha long to elbow in on this particular part of the retiree circuit.
I’ve done a brief search of a few ticket resale sites for tomorrow’s final and, if you’re in New York and interested in attending Spain v Argentina, then it’ll probably set you back around $7,000. If you find some spare cash down the back of the sofa then maybe you could stretch to the most expensive seats – upwards of $40,000.
To the wildfire smoke that is threatening to disrupt tomorrow’s final in New Jersey – from Matt Hughes in New York …
Wildfires in Canada’s wildlands have led to thick smoke spreading south across many of the United States’s eastern cities, with an air quality advisory altered from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” late on Thursday.
New York city hall’s emergency management officials issued a citywide code red for Tuesday to Thursday, telling residents to stay inside unless absolutely necessary and to avoid strenuous exercise, hardly conditions for the biggest match in global sport, which is expected to attract a worldwide television audience of 1.6 billion.
The smoke was clearly visible in downtown Manhattan, unlike the Statue of Liberty across the Hudson River that was temporarily hidden from view, with conditions so bad that many flights from New Jersey’s Newark airport were cancelled.
I’m still getting my head around the 2007 photo of Lionel Messi, 19, bathing Lamine Yamal, four months, for a Unicef calendar shoot.
Sid Lowe has done some digging to find out how it all came out …
The photograph was taken around Christmas 2007. Sport newspaper was putting together a charity calendar on behalf of Barcelona and Unicef, a studio set up in the away dressing room at the Camp Nou. Each player had a month and appeared with a child. Ronaldinho, the star, was July. Messi was January. Lamine Yamal was four months old. His mum, Sheila, had put him into a draw to take part. Monfort got the idea the night before when bathing his daughter, taking a plastic tub and a rubber duck with him. Although the baby was tiny and Messi was timid, with Sheila’s help he got a shot he was happy with.
We know most Brazilians will be supporting Spain against Argentina, but what about everybody else in that part of the world?
While Latin Americans have traditionally rallied behind football teams from the region who advance deep into the World Cup tournament, a flood of memes, jokes and criticism has made it clear there is one exception: Argentina.
In one photoshopped pic that went viral, Lamine Yamal – who leads Argentina’s opponents, Spain – is wearing a Brazil jersey. The snarky caption? “The hope of the Brazilian people.”
The fervour goes beyond the historic rivalry between Pelé’s Brazil and Diego Maradona’s Argentina: Mexico, Colombia, Chile and others are all hoping Lionel Messi’s Albiceleste bite the dust on Sunday. A similar phenomenon occurred before Argentina won its third World Cup title in 2022.
Colombian sociologist Germán Gómez told AFP that the “dynamic of solidarity … has been broken” with Argentina. He said the digital era and social networks have fuelled “narratives” that the team is a darling of football’s world governing body Fifa and its president, Gianni Infantino.
“Argentina has had help from referees,” said Francisco Santos, a Brazilian fan trading World Cup stickers at a shopping center in São Paulo, where cheers rang out when England scored first against Argentina in the semi-finals.
“We’re going to cheer for Spain,” said Juan Camilo Abusaid, a 28-year-old finance worker in Bogotá, Colombia.
Antonio López, 51, a police officer in Mexico City, described Messi as a “legend” but added: “If you’re going to sweat and break your back on the pitch to become champions twice, I accept that. If referees are going to help you, I don’t.”
At a press conference, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, jokingly asked journalists which team they were supporting in the final. “Spain! Spain!” they replied.
For Mexican anthropology professor Jorge Negroe, a specialist in social studies of sport, “this World Cup has proven to be very political.”
“I really don’t like Javier Milei (Argentina’s president) at all,” said Rachid Sjoberg, a 29-year-old agricultural laboratory operator in Santiago, Chile. “The idea that he would then boast about having won the World Cup if they win does not sit well with me.”
Messi himself has acknowledged the strong feelings around whether the team wins or loses. “Four years ago, we achieved what we wanted: to play the final and be the best for four years. Once again, we have shown that nobody gives us anything for free, and we have put ourselves among the two best again,” he said. “Let it hurt whoever it hurts.” AFP
OK, let’s talk about the final. Spain’s late-goal-getter Mikel Merino has been doing exactly that with Sid Lowe in New Jersey …
Coming from the bench isn’t the ideal plan for any player, but when you join a national team that’s as strong as I and Lautaro have, you value every opportunity and try to help your team if you come on or if you don’t. You focus on the present, embrace the situation, and think of yourself as the guy who can do it. I have complete belief in myself, my ability: every time I come on to the pitch I think I can have impact. In the final, I hope anyone [Spanish] is the hero. The trophy belongs to all of you, not just the 11 on the pitch.
It’s important to have ego as a footballer. With all the criticism from outside, you need it. But you also need the humility. Players come to the national team because they’re important [at their clubs] and find a new reality. It is easy to talk about ‘family’ but when things don’t go well, when they’re difficult, is when you truly see that. It’s thanks to Luis and the squad he assembled, focused on being a good human first and then being a good footballer. That helps a lot when it comes to spending a lot of time together. We know each other very well, we know when to joke, when to be silent; that’s the strength of the group. That after 46, 47 days all together, we’re still …
It is interesting to see the dial shift quite so quickly on Thomas Tuchel. There was something heroic about choosing to sit back (albeit with 10 men) against Mexico but now …
I’m a Leeds fan.. Leeds fan love Bielsa, we do.. yes we got rid of him, when were getting pumped by teams with FAR better players than us.. but we love him, we worship him.. we have murals of him around Leeds.. It’s not because he got us into the prem, it’s because he made a mediocre team play wonderful, fearless football. I know, I know, he didn’t do well with Uruguay.. That’s not my point.. my point is, don’t let them tell you that all you want is to win.. We don’t, football is so much more than that, we want to see life on the pitch, it’s theatre, and we want to see a team who represents the best of us, what we aspire to be… we want to see fearless, beautiful football. We want to see a team that attacks, that creates, that innovates.. and if we lose, we lose… I thought Tuchel understood that after the Croatia game.. He clearly didn’t.
Wayne Rooney has honoured his pledge following Norway’s run to the World Cup quarter-finals by rowing down the Hudson River in New York.
Norway’s fans delivered some of the most memorable images of the 2026 tournament with their ‘Viking row’ celebration, leading the former Manchester United and England striker to promise he would take to Liverpool’s River Mersey if they toppled Brazil in the last 16.
Erling Haaland ensured they did with a brilliant late double and he challenged Rooney to keep to his word.
The 40-year-old has done just that, albeit swapping Merseyside for New York, alongside fellow BBC Sport pundits Micah Richards and Joe Hart.
“I loved it. The [Norwegian] fans were brilliant, weren’t they? So we’ve done it out of respect for the fans. We gave it our best shot!” Rooney said.
Addressing Haaland directly, Rooney added: “Enjoy it. We’ve seen a video of you dancing in Marbella, so hope you enjoy this!”.
Norway pushed England to extra time in the quarter-final before succumbing to Jude Bellingham’s winner. PA Media
The fallout from England’s exit continues. Jonathan Liew’s column is cutting and a must-read …
“If we lose, we lose in our way,” Tuchel told his players at half-time in the opening game against Croatia, a call to arms that generated some of the most thrilling football England have played at a major tournament in my lifetime. Where did that go, Thomas? Or: where did that Thomas go? Perhaps at some point on the road to the Azteca, or in the heat of Miami, Tuchel lost the simple faith that had brought England to this point.
In other through-the-looking-glass events, Trump’s comments were put to Thomas Tuchel in his pre-France press conference in Miami. The England head coach was not overly pleased …
“Do you use Donald Trump as your witness for the case or … ?” asked Tuchel.
We defended in a deep block. That’s what you do if you defend in a block. You defend in a block. We were not active enough. We could not escape the deep block. That is what teams build: togetherness and mentality is translated to in football terms. We defend as a 10 and as an 11. Together as a team, the team spirit, the togetherness, the mentality that this team built in the last six and a half weeks, is not to be questioned.
Ed Aarons was there …
Trump: England made mistake putting Kane ‘on defence’
Donald Trump joined the chorus of criticism over Thomas Tuchel’s defence-minded approach against Argentina as the United States president questioned the England manager’s “unusual” use of his golf buddy Harry Kane.
The inquest into Wednesday’s late 2-1 World Cup semi-final collapse to their bitter rivals is well under way, with fans and pundits alike panning the head coach’s tactics and substitutions in Atlanta.
In a World Cup event at Trump Tower in New York, the US president surprisingly joined those questioning Tuchel as England ready themselves for Saturday’s unwanted bronze medal match against France rather than the final against Spain.
Trump was particularly puzzled by the way the German coach utilised captain Kane, who revealed last week that they had played a round of golf together around 18 months ago in Florida.
“You have a great player in England, who I played golf with,” Trump said in a press conference. “You know that, right? He is Harry, who’s been fantastic.
“I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence.”
Gianni Infantino laughed alongside Trump, with the Fifa president shrugging and then applauding his remarks.
President Trump continued: “We have got to be a little offensive, right? But, no, I am not going to call it.
“Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual, but Harry is a great guy, actually.” PA Media
Argentina and Spain have arrived in New York ahead of tomorrow’s final, with Lionel Messi, Emi Martínez and Rodri among those taking part in a fanfest in the city last night.
Can you spot the other famous faces in attendance?
Pablo Iglesias Maurer was there for a Q&A with Messi, Martínez and Lionel Scaloni, with the Argentina head coach lauding his captain once more …
He is pure history. A legend. Reaching a final at 39 years of age is unbelievable. We must enjoy him as it happens. With Diego [Maradona], we miss him. But Messi is still with us. He is the history, he is the legend, and together with this group of people who have brought us these wonderful years, we’ll always remember him.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the final weekend of the 2026 World Cup. After five and a half weeks, 102 games and 44 teams have gone home, it’s time for the prizes to be handed out. The big one is tomorrow, with Spain and Argentina contesting a hugely intriguing final in New York/New Jersey – and that’s before you factor in wildfire smoke, a lengthy half-time show and Donald Trump crashing the trophy lift.
Today’s action comes from Miami as France and England fight for bronze in the third-place playoff. What’s the approach here? Ring the changes? Go all out to try to get your star striker the golden boot? Just avoid a heavy defeat?
Either way, we’d like to hear from you about how you think the tournament has gone and what you think will happen in tomorrow’s showpiece. Get in touch via email or comment below the line.
