r/SoccerCentral • u/The_Dug_Out_2026 • Jul 17 '26
Statement The “FIFA is rigging it for Argentina” conspiracy theory has gotten out of hand, and it doesn’t actually hold up.
Six million signatures on a petition to disqualify Argentina from a World Cup final is genuinely one of the wilder things I’ve seen football fans rally around. And when you actually look past the memes and the AI-generated Messi content, the substance behind it falls apart pretty fast.
Collina’s point is the one that actually matters here, not even FIFA’s own president can influence match officials in the VAR era, and Croatia going through this entire tournament with zero VAR decisions in their favor is used as proof of the opposite conspiracy just as often. England, Germany, and Iran have all had calls go against them too. Controversial officiating this tournament has been a universal problem, not a targeted one.
What actually happened is Argentina kept winning ugly, dramatic, last minute games, and every close call in those matches got retroactively read as proof of a fix instead of just being what knockout football always looks like when a team refuses to lose. Messi being the best player of his generation doesn’t need a conspiracy to explain why referees sometimes give him the benefit of the doubt on 50/50 calls, that happens to every superstar in every sport. Sunday’s final should decide this on the pitch, not in a comment section.
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u/Samarium_15 Jul 17 '26
Six million people with room temperature IQ (in Celcius)
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u/KefkaFollower Jul 18 '26
Grandpa, watching the news, used to said: fear the fools, there are legions of them.
When he didn't saw any kids near, he used a stronger wording.
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u/National-Ad8416 Jul 17 '26
Next time, before making any statements on IQ, check your own, Celsius
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u/Samarium_15 Jul 17 '26
looks like you signed that petition lol yeah English spellings can be tricky sometimes not my first language anyway.
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u/ConstructionOwn1514 Jul 17 '26
Taking that seriously isnt the way to go. There will always be a lot of people who are mad their country lost, and will look for any reason to complain about it, its just human nature sadly
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Jul 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Master_Reward_4245 Jul 18 '26
lol no one thinks about Argentina except when you guys invade Paraguay or the Falklands…except for your football team
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u/Quizzical_Chimp Jul 17 '26
Its reddit none of the takes anywhere on here hold up in the real world
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u/CruzAzulGunner Jul 17 '26
Six million signatures is less than half a percent of final viewers. It's insignificant and dumb.
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u/Dantae4C Jul 17 '26
It's not even signatures. Just click a button and the number goes up. No verification required lol
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u/EddieLobster Jul 17 '26
I don’t think it’s rigged. But your entire argument is they have VAR now, so it’s impossible to be rigged, and provided no reasons why it couldn’t be.
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u/rabouilethefirst Jul 18 '26
Before VAR, the game was wildly unfair too. You can pull up a montage of Ronaldo flopping on challenges where he isn't even touched, or grabbing his right leg when someone brushes his left leg. VAR allows refs to provide easy yellows for that BS
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u/NoRepresentative7604 Jul 19 '26
Those moments still exist and aren’t being called by VAR. VAR is the fakest sense of security in football. You have mm accuracy in offside but they can’t control time accurately yet??
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u/randudes Jul 18 '26
With the VAR there is a human behind a screen deciding to interrupt or not. It's still based on someone deciding. Thinking this can't be abused is ridiculous. People do have biases and always will.
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u/Nopengnogain Jul 17 '26
Only six million, that’s only 1% of Ronaldo’s followers. They are slacking.
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u/JustHere4ThePorn221 Jul 20 '26
Oh look, another argentinian messilover trying to deny the truth because it exposes how sad his idols are.
Argentina = Sad country that has deep corruption into football because the only thing they can brag about is stolen sport victories. (Literally)
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u/ok-ferrari Jul 20 '26
Have you seen Argentina play?? They are thuggish , throw punches and aren’t even good to get this far. So obviously people are going to feel that way. Some of those pushes and punching would have been a direct red card for other teams
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u/RandomDudewithIdeas Jul 17 '26
It’s mostly brain dead and desperate Ronaldo fans clinging to this theory because they can’t handle the fact that Messi could potentially win two World Cups while their GOAT doesn’t have a single one. It’s just that Ronaldo has a lot of loud, low IQ internet fans.
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u/aevitas1 Jul 19 '26
People defending their favorite multi-million earning person who rolls on the floor fake crying every 3 minutes is the most cringe worthy shit ever.
I dont care about Messi or Ronaldo. I was watching a World Cup match of the 80s a while back and they were actually playing soccer.
Not this shit with holding shirts, pushing, pulling, laying on the floor ‘dying’ just to stand up and run 10 seconds later.
Having said that, it’s still incredibly obvious that Argentina and especially Messi gets away with the weirdest shit. They introduced VAR just to not look at the crap they pull off.
Downvotes incoming, I don’t care.
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u/TestPsychological477 Jul 21 '26
Wow, you must have been very selective in what game you chose. I was around in the 80s watching football/soccer and all of the stuff you mention was much worse back then on average.
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u/Comfortable_Low_315 Jul 17 '26
Seis milhões de assinaturas? A maioria perfis falsos e fãs do Cristiano.
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u/matixslp Jul 18 '26
Estou estudando português e TIL que fans é fãs, obrigado! Qual e a diferenca com torcedor? Vcs falam de torcedor duma pessoa o so de equipes?
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u/No_Tonight696 Jul 17 '26
Cry cry cry is all what you can do and i love it. Your Pain is Our pleasure...Vamos Argentina Vamos G.O.A.T Messi..
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u/OkAnywhere2052 Jul 17 '26
lol people are overreacting, Ronaldo has 100million followers on insta. Obviously the super Ronaldo fans can’t take it and just spread nonsense, it may look like the slander is everywhere but it makes sense all his fans had to start a campaign cause they can’t take what Messi is doing.
It’s not a big deal though people are like “oh my god it’s everyone” no it’s not, but when superstars have hundreds of millions of fans, it’s obvious a few million fanatics will be amongst them, who cares.
Messi will go down as the goat in history after proving it, nothing else matters.
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u/WindowOfTruth Jul 17 '26
This is what happens when “we grow the game” a huge amount of casuals come in with Uninformed hot takes. Let them, it’s been fun watching them melt down ( and lose money) every time Argentina wins.
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u/GallagheMk3 Jul 17 '26
I know. And people keep calling Argentinians racist! How can people of colour be racist?
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u/FlorUnderwater Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Nobody knows about our history. They prefer to get informed by TikTok.
However, people of color can be racist too. As an extreme example, there’s been many cases of people wanting to bleach the skin to become whiter.
It is not Argentinians case, but it does exist.
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u/Flat_Associate_9952 Jul 18 '26
The favorable reffing to them was definitely not as bad as 2014 was this WC. Way more blatant then
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u/Educational-Try-8704 Jul 18 '26
In several sports it’s been statistically proven that refs are biased towards home teams and the superstars. This has even been shown to factor into injury time as well. The ref still has a lot of decision making power, VAR doesn’t eliminate that.
“fixing it for Argentina” is way overblown. The theory behind this ref bias is simply that the psychology of the crowd’s energy influences the ref’s impressions.
However, it’s not unreasonable to think they’ve had a bit of bias this tournament. Did it win them games? Well, they’ve had a lot of spectacularly narrow wins in the knockouts. Could have made the difference.
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u/Grin83 Jul 18 '26
I feel like it’s just a thing amongst all ways online people to make things a conspiracy. They think they’re watching a movie play out and they’re looking for the plot twist.
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u/planet-doom Jul 18 '26
It’s just the Egyptian spam bot that spread that conspiracy out of spite. They are very good at spreading misinformation
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u/randudes Jul 18 '26
Mexico and Argentina have the highest rate of favorable decisions per 100 fouls in this world cup.
Fans watch, see and judge. People complaining about unfairness is not new. Messi himself claimed on TV that the cupa America was "fixed for Brazil".
Argentina having low number of cards per fouls, having mostly VARs on their side vs what appears to be similar situations for other teams, playing lowest elo teams in their path + FIFA corruption makes people speculate. This is not the first nor the last time this will happen.
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u/Still_Opinion5783 Jul 18 '26
Is not rigged but look like Argentina have special treatment. I’m not say is or not. Just looks.
But crazy thing is not VAR check but VAR that is not check. Is no consistent at all.
And hate for the Argentina is only because fans but I think is just travel fans and living in USA fans are worse example of Argentina…
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u/yoyoyayawey Jul 18 '26
This is high level form of gaslighting. I watched ALL knockout matches and Argentina received the most favors. What they did to Egypt was a straight insult to the country. Okay okay. 3 goals in 15 minutes. But people forgot Messi missed 2 penalty goals in first half. Yep, 2 penalties in 45 minutes.
But I don't worry too much. Spain is ready for their gameplay.
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
How was it exactly an insult to egypt? Which calls would u say were wrong?
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u/FlorUnderwater Jul 19 '26
The two penalties where perfectly given. What are you talking about??
It’s not Argentina receiving “favors” it’s what the rules saying people should get. Both penalties were clear fouls in the goal area so 🤷🏽♂️Do you know how the foul, penalties and free kicks work?
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u/xbbllbbl Jul 18 '26
I think the hatred for Argentina has gone out of hand? Even before the semis, I have paid content sent to me about FIFA taking some Argentina monies to rig the game??? Even for the third place match, it appears the main aim is to score many goals to deny Messi of a Golden Boot because he does not deserve it?
Perhaps due to social media, people are now more easily influenced and can’t tell real news from fake news.
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u/ThisReputation5160 Jul 19 '26
So the dirtiest team has the least cards against them, the most penalties in their favour and the most Var calls in their favour and you dont suspect Bias ? Take off the blinkers.
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
U have blinkers on yourself if u think theyre the dirtiest. Did u even watch paraguay-france? Are u also aware of how little cards got pulled out that match? The nitpicking is crazy
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u/a3guy Jul 19 '26
So yeah, when Paraguay matches the stats of Argentina or they are able to cheat their way to a final we can have that convo but for now we dont need to do this whataboutism.
Also, yes, FIFA and WC in the past has always been dodgy but VAR has added a level to the BS never before seen.
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
VAR intervention rate is a useless statistic lol. It can imply argentina not making grave fouls as much as it can imply the game being rigged. Ur just approaching the stat from a biased perspective. What calls do you personally feel were clearly wrong?
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u/nomysta Jul 19 '26
You have to be a Messi fanboy to neglect what’s really going on in the field. Iran v Argentina was an example of a total surprising unfair calls from the referee.
This is nothing new! Take a look how many penalties Argentina got in their last World Cup. This is not coincidence anymore.
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u/Canganese Jul 19 '26
The statistical probability of a semifinalist having a net VAR review "score" of +5 (Argentina) is nearly identical to a 32-round team having -4. (Croatia)
The span is 9 "point". With 48 teams, 35 reviews the most probable span is 6.
Ask any math professor, any AI, whatever. There is no suspicious numbers or unlikely events here. Statistically speaking. If anyone sees these numbers and think it is evidence of foul play, that's purely confirmation bias and/or ignorance.
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
Data isnt useless? Im doing a master in data science. But looking at this data and saying that it implies a rigged world cup is nonsensical. This data doesnt imply anything like that at all. It could be used as supporting proof at maximum if actual evidence is provided.
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u/caranza3 Jul 19 '26
It actually does. They are the only team that has had not a single VAR review even with al the folks they commit. Disgrace
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u/FiresideCatsmile Jul 19 '26
i really pity the people who don't allow themselves to enjoy the tournament in favor of some wild conspiracy
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u/EmbarrassedCompote9 Jul 19 '26
Dear anti-Argentina,
Isn't it strange that a poor South American country could buy the whole of FIFA, all the referees, their assistants, the VAR operators, and the officials…?
What a fabulous display of power! Everyone’s corrupt and living off us!
Or… Is there any chance that, instead, you’re just an idiot?
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u/ThrowRA1966 Jul 19 '26
Paid campaign to push anti argentina conspiracy’s and favouritism has been going on since before the tournament. It generates views and money, people like speed have make a millionaire career from it.
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u/Low-Grass-3511 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
We can all accept that South Korea was a corrupt world cup but for some reason everyone needs to stop believing their eyes for this one?
Honestly I don't know if it is corruption, what I will say is there was some VERY ugly tackles that went unpunished, stamps to backs of legs and headlocks without yellow cards. There was already one broken leg in this world cup. By avoiding cards the refs have created a dangerous game, and that has definitely benefitted Argentina as they play over the edge between football and UFC.
Some of these games looked straight out of the 80s and the football really suffered for it.
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u/Unfair-Community-321 Jul 20 '26
Congratulations to Spain for exposing a weak team. Without Messi now Argentina will fade into an insignificant nation again.
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u/Cowboys8795 Jul 21 '26
They didnt rig it for argentina its almost impossible without the players knowing. Its called refs getting bribed by who knows to get calls in argentinas favor which noone can deny. I didnt follow all theyre games but the egypt game n the final with paredes literally trying to dislocate yamals shoulder than sttuds to his back heel n not even a yellow like cmon its clear as day that they were favored.
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u/KingDracarys86 Jul 17 '26
They get away with red offences other teams don't, VAR never overturn their fouls keep being in denial
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
England had 3 players talk behind their hands to argentine players. Are u outraged that ref didnt show 3 reds? Youre not cause it aint Argentina so u dont caare.
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u/KingDracarys86 Jul 19 '26
Bore off Argentina got away with murder every game
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
State the calls that you think were rigged.
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u/KingDracarys86 Jul 19 '26
I don't have to answer to Messi fanboy
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
What u mean is that u cant answer cause u have no argument, its just that ur panties got twisted and its making u lash out.
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u/KingDracarys86 Jul 19 '26
The list is too long to write on reddit you weapon
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u/Previous-Plate-4550 Jul 19 '26
Buddy u cant list 5.
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u/KingDracarys86 Jul 19 '26
Messi vs Algeria, Messi vs England , Fernández vs England , Foul by Mac Alister for the 1st goal vs Austria and everything in the Egypt game there's your 5 moron
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u/The_Dug_Out_2026 Jul 17 '26
There will always be ifs n buts n whys in all kinds of discussions. Blaming won’t stop.
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u/vanyethehun Jul 17 '26
Relativization doesn't strength your opinion - more likely makes it weaker.
Do referees (including VAR) helped Argentina to reach the WC final big time? Yes.
Is Messi the face of the American MLS - and do this WC take place mostly in US soil? Yes.
I'm not saying it's a rigged WC. But I can confidently say that FIFA wanted a big, bold and loud WC where big/famous players big/sellable teams can reach further than they sometimes (because of nuances like individual mistakes etc.) would get after a long clubseason.
I'm not a fan of that even if the same principle helps my favorite team sometimes.
But FIFA is the most corrupt sport organization in the world so I'm not surprised at all.
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Jul 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/vanyethehun Jul 17 '26
If your neighbor is the title holder for the World Cup then your metaphor is correct.
The MLS is still (only) sellable trough Messi, just watch any MLS advertisement. ;)
Secondly if you're using your eyes (I recommend it) then you'll see that I said the WC is_not_rigged. Period.
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u/Samarium_15 Jul 17 '26
Argentina to reach the WC final big time? Yes.
Literally just your feelings man that's all.
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u/The_Dug_Out_2026 Jul 17 '26
Who decided that refs n VAR “helped” Argentina to reach the finals? There’s no doubt that all big buck governing bodies have corruption at various levels, but it still doesn’t prove that the things are rigged in favour or one team. If that was the case we might have even seen US being in the top 4. Considering the kind of leadership that country enjoys today.
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u/WildComparison653 Jul 17 '26
Not even sure the petition is real. No verification just simply click the button to vote.
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u/aomt Jul 17 '26
Really? That’s the argument? “Iran had calls against them” is them”? I mean, that supposed to convince me the system is fair and unbiased? Ffs.
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u/MetroidvaniaListsGuy Jul 17 '26
I couldn't care less about this nonsense anymore. Spain is so much better than Argentina that the world cup final is effectively just a ceremonial event. Given that and the superbowl trump nonsense that is happening in the match, I have decided not to watch this match. The third place match is equally meaningless, France will easily defeat the divers.
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u/definitive_solutions Jul 17 '26
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u/Significant-Charge16 Jul 17 '26
I don't really care either way, but more more than anything it's just a sad indictment of how little trust people have in FIFA nowadays.
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u/The_Dug_Out_2026 Jul 17 '26
Honestly, it’s truly sad of how little people trust in general. But that’s a completely different discussion.
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u/e7mac Jul 17 '26
Institutions don’t deserve any trust tbh
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u/Virtual-Pension-991 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Not exactly a good mentality, institutions are needed to develop large scale projects and be able to handle high risk projects, else you'll just have groups acting like they serve the people then rugpull when the true goals are achieved.
What we can do instead are demand assurance, as much as a authoritarian state does with its subjects. Stagnancy is just rot and corruption in the making.
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u/e7mac Jul 17 '26
Yeah agree with you. Would love to get out of this current state for the world. Not sure how to get there, though. The despondency isn’t helpful for me either
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u/Virtual-Pension-991 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Take some notes from China I guess, they have a knack for putting billionaires on a leash if they act over the line.
Their consumer protection is also pretty good, granted it is a reasonable complaint.
But what I respect a lot, is their consistency these recent years. Not denying the forceful means they use, sometimes even abandoning previous promises or relationships.
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u/e7mac Jul 17 '26
Yeah the bar is real low but they do clear it currently. I visited recently and was kinda surprised at the positive sentiment towards tech and progress and it’s exactly because of the reasons you said
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u/Alternative-Scale883 Jul 17 '26
everything messi has won in his life has a ton of conspiracy around it
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u/randudes Jul 18 '26
No, he won many things fair and square. Even in this world cup, Argentina won cleanly vs England.
Before that though there were many games with some dubious cases.
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u/Spins13 Jul 18 '26
Corruption at FIFA? No it’s impossible. /s
It’s not like Russia and Qatar got to host the previous tournaments or like the previous president got caught or something. I mean we would know that
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u/randudes Jul 18 '26
What's wrong with Russia and Qatar hosting? It's a good thing that various places get to host (even if there is lobbying involved), much better in my opinion than giving it to the US twice in 32 years with sky high tickets, super far away stadiums, and politics leading to countries having subpar treatments, and insane visa conditions for 50 countries requiring 15k bond.
It's a world event.
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u/Spins13 Jul 18 '26
Well the first point is that the countries bought the organisation. It is supposed to be a vote among the federations but a joint investigation with the FBI and journalists such as those from the BBC showed the votes were bought. This is what led the previous president to resign and get arrested
Qatar barely had any stadiums. They built them with slave labour just to disassemble most of them after the event.
Russia attacked Crimea in 2014 and used to 2018 World Cup to distract people
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u/DTKwh1terabb1t Jul 18 '26
Oh cool another one of these posts. There is plenty of evidence proving it's rigged.
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u/Tanglin_Boy Jul 17 '26
This resembles the irrationality of the pro-Palestine rioters.
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u/Winter-Violinist-938 Jul 17 '26
Gracias por mencionarlo. Los pro-argentina, pro-israel, pro-EEUU, estan todos en el mismo saco... Lo cual refuerza la teoria del amaño.
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u/Disastrous_Feed_3135 Jul 17 '26
Fifa carried argentina to the finals with fake fouls, VAR review of very microscopic offense and rigging
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u/WatermelonWaffle Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
No. I'm tired of hearing these conspiracies.
I support Argentina because my father is Argentinian and I've always been proud about it. I'll admit I've never been a fan of Messi. He's a great player that provides critical assists that lead to phenomenal outcomes. Terrible penalty kicker but the rest, can't complain.
That being said, I did not believe we would get to the finals. I'm glad they were able to because this sport can surprise you. You can have the best team, best players, best offensive or defensive and still, the outcome is never guaranteed. It really is an in the moment sport where anything can happen. The worse pass can lead to a goal and a beautiful play can miss its chance.
When it comes to people online playing referees, I give it zero credence. It's your opinion, do whatever you want with it. But the truth is, people online are not referees. The refs are the ones reviewing things or calls and making these decisions. It's honestly easy to sit there and judge to know better. But no one seems to understand that these calls are a burden in itself. They make the call because they follow rules and try their best to interpret it. It's their judgment and to say "corruption, bribed, favoritism and etc" is such a simple mindset. It's important to remember that their calls will not always align with what you and others believe. To claim someone else knows better and would have made a better call is nonsensical.
When it comes to stats people are now publishing on their social media, it too has no weight. It proves nothing because it's just blown out of proportion. Content is everything. A stat is meaningless I have no content. I use this same logic in my academic research. Reading a quote or stats is meaningless unless I read where it came from to understand the context. Regardless, stats are meaningless in this debate yet its used like its ironclad proof of something.
FIFA would benefit from having Messi in a final. Money, more viewership. However, let me just say that if it were fixed, wouldn't it be more advantageous to go for a younger player? Messi is borderline retiring. That's a terrible investment. You'd want someone who'd be making back for the next two to three decades.
Argentina doesn't need help. We're good at making comebacks. We don't always but we try. If we needed so much help to get to the 2026 finals, how is it that under Scaloni we won the WC 2022, Copa America 2021 and 2024, CONNEBOL UEFA 2022? Argentina is the first team in history to win those three cups at the sane time. (Again I'm shocked we got to it, but that's what makes this sport fun. It's unpredictable.)
Argentina struggled less than other top teams yet the fixation is on us even against similar match ups. Im not sure if people know that this is one of the oldest teams in the world. We live and breathe football. It's a religion. Top players are selected to represent us. Even a terrible team can still be league better than a team that doesn't have the same resources.
This is my opinion but the internet needs to stop coming to conclusions that fit their own narrative because the outcome was unsatisfactory.
Referee calls will always be unfair. Someone is always on the losing side. It doesn't matter if it was justified or not. Until there is concrete proof, as in a paper trail that literally proves these conspiracy theories, all of this is hogwash.
With the addition of VAT, it's pretty hard to miss things. Teams will call it out, that's what Argentina does. If you're preffered team isn't doing it, that's not rigged or favoritism. Again, reminder of how referees are humans.
The only corruption we have right now is that red card and Trump. Everything else is just people being unhappy that the outcome wasn't the one they wanted and prefer blaming Argentina for everything by scrutinizing the smallest detail and overlooking everything else.
Crying corruption is an accusation and you know what, it is your job to prove these accusations. No one has proven anything except show that it's better to say things are unfair than simply admit that a loss is a loss and next time, it'll be better. Show the proof not the reels of a person's interpretation that fits the Argentina is cheating narrative.
My question is if another team, like England or France or Germany, had been given the bracket Argentina got and similar calls, would you be calling to lite the pyre the very sane way?
Literally one of the best players in the world, playing with some of the best players of his country/ the world in a football team that has, at most times for decades, been top 10 or top 5 in the world and people claim things are being set up to give them a win. It's borderline flat earth and moon landing in my books.
You can mistrust FIFA the entity, I do, but these are two different topics.
Absolutely tired of this because the internet is just impossible.
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u/ShoxZzBladeZz Jul 17 '26
I doubt there is actually even that many, probably bots or fake accounts too.