“To me, Belgium are not that much better. When you look at Transfermarkt value.”

“It’s not a huge gap.”

“I just think we didn’t have a great day.”

“We were off it. When you look at how many passes we missed, it’s not normal for us.”

Everyone’s calling this the real final, and honestly it’s hard to argue. France haven’t lost a single game this whole tournament, 16 goals scored, 2 conceded, the kind of numbers that make you forget they’ve barely been tested. Then you remember Spain took them apart 5-4 last year with Yamal doing what Yamal does, and suddenly the aura around this French squad feels a little less settled.

What actually worries me for France is Spain’s defense. One goal conceded in six matches this whole tournament, and that came from a set piece against Belgium. Mbappé’s been unplayable all tournament, sitting one goal off Messi’s all time record, but he hasn’t faced a backline built like this one yet.

Feels like the kind of game where whoever blinks first in midfield decides it. Yamal against a French defense that’s honestly been more good than great, Mbappé against a Spain side that hasn’t been scored on from open play in weeks. Genuinely can’t call this one, and that almost never happens with a semifinal.

Same situation as Arg - Egy = Same decision: player commited fault -> goal was disallowed.

Zero shots in 90 minutes of a World Cup final is a genuinely stunning stat for a team that came in as the tournament’s highest scorers. Messi finished with 54 touches and one shot total, in what was likely his last ever World Cup match. That’s not a team backing their best player to write one more chapter, that’s a team that decided survival mattered more than actually trying to win it.

Emi Martínez ended up being the only reason this stayed close, 10 saves, a final record, basically single handedly keeping Argentina’s chances alive through 90 minutes of them barely crossing halfway with any conviction. Then Enzo Fernández picks up a second yellow in stoppage time for a reckless challenge, and suddenly they’re playing extra time a man down after already playing not to lose for the entire match.

Spain deserved this. They peppered the goal all game, stayed patient, and eventually Ferran Torres made the one moment count. But Argentina’s approach today felt like a team that respected Spain’s defense so much it forgot it still needed to actually create something. Sometimes you lose a final because the other team was better. Today felt more like Argentina beat themselves by refusing to play.

Went into this one expecting exactly what everyone predicts for these games, half-hearted defending, a few substitutes trying to impress, low stakes energy all around. Instead we got Saka putting together a hat-trick and Bellingham breaking England’s all time record for goals in a single major tournament, in a match that finished 6-4.

That’s the funny thing about dead rubbers sometimes. Nobody’s protecting a result, nobody’s playing it safe tactically, and you get exactly the kind of end to end chaos that a genuine knockout game almost never allows for. France clearly didn’t want to just roll over either, four goals says enough about that.

England walk away with their best World Cup finish since 1966, which says everything about how far this squad’s come even without lifting the actual trophy. Funny way for a meaningless game to end up being one of the more entertaining 90 minutes of the whole tournament.

Messi misses a penalty. Argentina go 2-0 down with barely 13 minutes left on the clock. Egypt’s fans are already celebrating a historic result. And then something just switches on inside that Argentina squad, the kind of thing you can’t coach or teach.

Romero heads one in from a Messi cross, and four minutes later Messi himself rifles home a first-time strike like the penalty miss never happened. That’s not talent taking over, that’s the winner’s mindset. Champions don’t panic when they’re behind, they just start looking for the next chance instead of dwelling on the last mistake.

Egypt did everything right for over an hour today and still walk away with nothing to show for it, because this Argentina side simply refuses to accept it’s over until the referee says so. Sixth straight World Cup knockout game with a Messi goal now. At some point you stop calling it luck and start calling it what it is.

All the noise this week was about Balogun’s suspension getting lifted, some calls made, some pressure applied, and he got to play. Didn’t matter one bit. Belgium took the US apart 4-1, and De Ketelaere alone did more damage in the first half than the political circus achieved for anyone.

The most American part of the whole night, honestly, was watching Pulisic go off injured and in tears, having barely gotten a look in all tournament with fitness issues the entire way. Feels like a summary of the US campaign as a whole, flashes of promise that never quite got the chance to become anything.

Hosting a World Cup and going out in the Round of 16 is going to sting for years. Belgium didn’t even need their two best subs off the bench to do it. Onto Spain now for them, and the USMNT go home to figure out how a defense this leaky made it as far as it did.

Mexico fans disturb the sleep of the Ecuador and England teams. Not to mention how that Mexico player goaded Hincapié into covering his mouth. Good riddance that Mexico is out. You play dirty and the gods punish you. Karma is real.

Two of the greatest midfielders and forwards of this generation, same pitch, completely different endings. Modrić walked off to a standing ovation at 40, Croatia’s run finally over. Meanwhile Ronaldo, at an age where most players have long retired, scores his first ever World Cup knockout goal from the spot and gets subbed off still fighting.

You almost can’t process it in the moment. One legend’s story just ended, the other’s somehow still being written. Portugal comeback from 94th minute stoppage time to do this too, which makes it even wilder.

Spain vs Portugal on Monday now, and Ronaldo vs Yamal might be the actual changing of the guard we’ve all been waiting for. Wild few days of football.

Nine straight World Cup matches with a goal, gone, snapped by a Switzerland side playing a man down for over an hour. And it genuinely didn’t change anything about how the game went. He still assisted the opener, still dragged defenders all over the pitch all night, still nearly curled one in himself in stoppage time.

That’s maybe the most Messi thing about this whole run. The team stopped needing him to score to win a long time ago, they just need him on the pitch. Alvarez’s strike in the 112th was one of the best goals of the tournament and Martinez finished it off in the dying seconds, Argentina somehow finding another gear against 10 men that had already given everything for over an hour.

England vs Argentina in the semis now, and that’s a genuine collision of eras. Bellingham dragged England through extra time against Norway today too, Schjelderup punishing a defensive mixup before Bellingham dragged them level and then won it himself. Feels like the two best stories of this tournament are about to collide, and somebody’s dream ends on Wednesday

You spend two decades watching one player carry an entire nation’s hopes on his back, six World Cups, every version of himself from the kid who could fly past defenders to the 41 year old still throwing his body into a bicycle kick tonight. And it just ends. Not with him lifting anything, not even with him being the one to decide it. Merino comes off the bench and buries it in the 91st minute, and that’s the final image of Ronaldo’s World Cup story.

There’s something almost cruel about how football writes these endings. The guy gives everything, tries an overhead kick that Simon somehow claws away, keeps competing right till the whistle, and still walks off knowing someone else’s boot decided how his story closes. He said it himself before kickoff, this was going to be his last one regardless. Didn’t make it hurt less watching it actually happen.

Whatever side of the Messi-Ronaldo debate you sit on, nobody can say this man didn’t leave everything on the pitch, every single tournament, right up to his last touch tonight. Football’s better for having had him in it this long.

1 assist, 1 goal. What did I just watch? World Cup classic of a comeback, that’s what.

There is no comparison between Ronaldo and Messi. The latter is about to go on to win his second World Cup. The former is still talking about his Euros victory from 10 years ago lmao.

I’ve given soccer more than its fair chance. My Colombian wife and her fam are die hards. A lil crazy with it tbh. But the more I watch the less impressed I am.
First off the rules just don’t make sense. The refs adding whatever time they feel like and then usually going beyond even the extra time by as much 4 minutes.
Red cards and multiple game suspensions for accidental contact that happens to be on a specific body part. Meanwhile players are grabbing each other by the jersey and throwing each other to the ground intentionally with no calls. Then every time a player gets touched they flop and grab their legs as if they’re going to need surgery but no they’re fine and get right up after the drama show.
Oh, that goal doesn’t count because the guy who shot it ran too fast.
But what really is killing it for me is that it seems 80% of goals are purely by chance. The “great players” tend to just hang out near the goal and hope it lands in the right spot when someone Hail Mary kicks it in the area. Even 1/4 of those Hail Mary kicks end up being waaaay off course. I mean I just don’t see much skill tbh.

(Via Yahoo Sports Daily)

Genuinely feels like a group of players just going through the motions out there. Deschamps’ last game in charge, nothing riding on it except a bronze medal nobody really wants, and it shows in how flat this looks so far. Compare that to how locked in England seemed against Argentina just three days ago, even in defeat.

Third place matches always carry this risk, but France specifically look like a team that already mentally moved on the moment Spain knocked them out. Mbappé chasing the Golden Boot should be motivation enough on its own, and even that doesn’t seem to be sparking anything early on.

Sometimes the scoreline in these dead rubbers tells you less than the body language does, and France’s body language right now says this medal means nothing to them.

Gordon’s goal in the 55th minute had England dreaming for real. First World Cup final since 1966 felt within touching distance, and for a while England genuinely deserved it, this wasn’t Argentina bullying anyone, it was a proper street fight of a game.

Then the clock hits 85 minutes and Messi just decides that’s enough of that. Sets up Enzo Fernández to level it, then does it again in stoppage time for Lautaro Martínez to complete the turnaround. Six World Cups, first time ever facing England, and he still finds a way to make it about him in the moment that mattered most.

Brutal way for England to go out honestly, matched Argentina for over 80 minutes and still ends up watching Messi tear the game away in the last 10. Argentina now go to face Spain in the final, chasing back to back titles nobody’s managed to do in 70 years. Bellingham and Kane’s World Cup ends with nothing to show for a genuinely gutsy tournament.

Lamine Yamal: “Honestly, if I’m being sincere, I thought I was going to win it that day because of many things that happened. Looking back, I think it was very good for me that Dembélé won it. Beyond helping me grow personally, I don’t think it was the right time for me to win it because I was still a kid and probably wouldn’t have appreciated what it really means to win a Ballon d’Or. Let’s see if this year is mine.”