PF World Cup Chat 2026

[berkeman]

Is anybody else noticing a difference in the England/Argentina game's passing and the passing done by Spain yesterday? The passing in the game right now looks soft and slow compared to Spain's passing yesterday. I was really impressed by how fast and strong Spain's passes were. Just "Bam! Bam! Bam!". The ball took way less time between players, IMO, even widely spaced players.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is anybody else noticing a difference in the England/Argentina game's passing and the passing done by Spain yesterday? The passing in the game right now looks soft and slow compared to Spain's passing yesterday. I was really impressed by how fast and strong Spain's passes were. Just "Bam! Bam! Bam!". The ball took way less time between players, IMO, even widely spaced players.

Spain was masterclass yesterday. I feel England is a closer proxy to France and Argentina to Spain. But yeah, the passing yesterday by Spain was next level.

 

[javisot]

Spain vs Argentina in the final, as a Spaniard I obviously want Argentina to win.

 

[pinball1970]

Spain vs Argentina in the final, as a Spaniard I obviously want Argentina to win.

I think you can do it. Spain that is.

 

[pinball1970]

I am extremely disappointed, frustrated and deflated, I was just starting to believe.
I need a break from football for a bit.

 

[berkeman]

I am continually impressed by how amazing the best footballers' balance is. They are so strong and solid that it's amazing. After a goal they can have teammates run up behind them and jump on their shoulders and they don't even flinch! They keep their balance and keep running in celebration and don't even flinch if another 2-3 teammates jump on. That is incredible.

There are plenty of times during play that they decide to take a dive because an opposing player trips them or bumps them, but when they want to, they have amazingly strong balance and skill. Something I aspire to.

 

[berkeman]

Wow, what a 3rd place game just now! High scoring, Mbappe may have won the Golden Boot, a hat trick for Saka, just wow. I didn't have a pony in this race, so it was fun rooting for both sides and the great plays.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Super entertaining 3rd place match. Exactly what you want.

 

[pinball1970]

Super entertaining 3rd place match. Exactly what you want.

Still too soon.

 

[Astronuc]

Spain (1) - Argentina (0) in extra time! Low score, great game.

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/socc...ina-spain-messi-yamal-live-updates-rcna587754

https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=6HaHNYjnghE (remove spaces in url and paste in browser)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_final

The final saw the most saves by a goalkeeper ever in a World Cup final with 11 saves by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.

Game Statistics

Statistic	Spain	Argentina
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	20	2
Shots on target	12	0
Ball possession	65%	35%
Corner kicks	9	4
Fouls committed	21	25
Offsides	4	1
Yellow cards	0	7
Red cards	0	1​

 

[Astronuc]

https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/art...ssi-is-held-scoreless-in-final-010143798.html

France's Kylian Mbappé was the last player to move out in front of the Golden Boot race, striking twice in Les Bleus' third-place match against England after they had stumbled to a 4-0 deficit in the first half Saturday. That put him two goals ahead of Lionel Messi before Argentina took the pitch in Sunday's final against Spain.

Even though France lost, Mbappé finished the World Cup tournament with 10 goals, two more than Messi, who was held scoreless in the final against Spain.

Mbappé has 22 career World Cup goals; Messi 21. During this year's tournament, they each topped Germany's Miroslav Klose (16 goals), the previous all-time leading goal scorer in men's World Cup history, and Brazil's Marta (17 goals), who remains atop the women's World Cup goal-scoring leaderboard.