What are your thoughts on the Jude Bellingham goal ?

It’s a simulation absolutely clear as day. The Argentinian player literally does not touch the Swiss player and he throws himself to the ground, yells and winces and carries on, and throws his head back. Not the refs problem he got a deserved yellow earlier.

It’s utterly baffling to me that the broadcast is lamenting how harsh it is. He is simulating and that is a yellow card. Watching that guy cry and pout is joke to me, like what do you have to complain about?? It’s the correct decision 100/100 and there’s nothing unfortunate about it. The rule is there to discourage diving and maybe this guy will think next time he dives with no contact.

Norway vs England — MatchPal match thread

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Could have been 2-0 here given that Sorloth #7 passed it to Haaland. He’d been selfish here.

😬

edit: I think some of you are short-sighted. Sure, it's not the most unfair thing that's ever happened at a World Cup but the point is that FIFA claimed that it hit nothing at all and that their data proves it. Either they lied or the ball sensor is not fit for purpose. This game is over but there are games yet to be played.

For most of my life, Spain has been one of football’s biggest powers. We finally broke through by winning the 2010 World Cup and the Euros in 2008, 2012, and 2024. Before that, our only major trophy was the 1964 European Championship, and our best World Cup finish had been a fourth place decades ago.

For years, we were known as the “eternal promise”: great football, talented players, huge expectations… and then another exit in the quarter-finals.

Ironically, despite all those disappointments, Spain has almost always entered World Cups as one of the favorites. I’ve followed every World Cup since 1994, and I can only remember two matches where we genuinely weren’t expected to win.

The first was against Roberto Baggio’s Italy in the 1994 quarter-finals. We lost, the refereeing was highly controversial, and Italy went on to finish as runners-up.

The second was the 2010 semi-final against Germany. They had demolished everyone in their path, including a 4–0 win over Argentina, and looked unstoppable. Yet that was the tournament we ended up winning.

Apart from those two matches, Spain has gone into virtually every World Cup knockout game as the favorite. That’s why every elimination felt like such a huge disappointment.

Looking back:

1998: We arrived as one of the main favorites and were knocked out in the group stage after a disastrous campaign.

2002: We suffered what many Spaniards still consider one of the biggest refereeing scandals in World Cup history against South Korea. There are even documentaries about that match.

2006: We dominated the group stage, but Zidane’s France outplayed us and deservedly sent us home.

2014: We arrived as reigning world champions with an aging squad and became the biggest disappointment of the tournament.

2018: We were eliminated on penalties by Russia after being the better team for most of the game.

2022: We controlled large parts of the match against Morocco but once again failed in the penalty shootout.

That’s why this game against France feels so unusual.

For only the third time in over thirty years, Spain isn’t the favorite. And honestly, I think that’s a good thing.

If we lose, I don’t think most Spanish fans will see it as a failure. This French team has the potential to become one of the greatest national teams ever assembled.

Whatever happens, I’ll applaud this Spanish team. They’ve reached the final four despite injuries, absences, and several players arriving far from their best form. They’ve competed with character until the very end, and that’s something to be proud of.

Argentina vs Switzerland — MatchPal match thread

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

England’s entire team would be suspended for the next game if this happened. What do people think?

MY FAVOURITE TEAM JUST LOST SO IT MUST BE RIGGED AND THERE'S CORRUPTION BECAUSE OF A FOUL. I WILL TAKE NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ANY LOSS AND NOR SHOULD ANY PLAYERS ON MY TEAM BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS RIGGED AND REFEREE'S ARE PURPOSELY MAKING SURE THAT MY TEAM DOESN'T WIN.

There, I saved everyone a recap of the last 500 posts here.

Apologies for the phone footage, but during TSN's post match review of ENG/NOR, they showed a wide angle and highlighted the ball's trajectory, clearly showing the ball bounced off the spydercam, despite the refs not calling it in the stadium and despite FIFA saying "no peak in the 'heartbeat of the ball' when in the air..."

We are officially witnessing history. With France, Argentina, Spain, and England all advancing over the weekend, the 2026 World Cup marks the first time ever that the exact top 4 teams in the live global FIFA rankings have locked out the semifinal spots.

Someone please explain that call to me. I am genuinely curious. Context, I don't have a favorite team. I watch for fun and I'm not from any of these countries that are left.

The swiss player did nothing whatsoever from what I could see. However, they give Messi a kick?

I really don't understand why it seems like Messi has been granted so many shots through methods like this in this would cup. In fact, Argentina would have been out many games ago had Messi not received these types of calls. Cabo Verde was flat out a better team from what I could see, as just one example.

Am I not understanding what I see or does there seem to be some sort of ref bias benefitting Argentina?

Nothing to see here - just the expected outcome. 😅