This is the second and final chapter of how Martinez, labelled as one of “Pep Guardiola’s flawed disciples” by The Guardian, blew two golden generations (namely, Belgium and Portugal) all within the span of less than a decade.

During the first segment, we went through how each stint and mishap started shaping his young career and how or where he inherited some microscopic traits which are still glaring in his recent managerial tenures at his most recent club level or at the international arena where he has spent the last decade of his managerial career.

This piece dives meticulously into that element and how he continued to grow, subsequently altering the dynamics of his projected career trajectory.

Here is the link for the first part…

The Huge Chance At Resurgence?

Shortly after, in the same month of winning the FA Cup and relegating Wigan, Martinez was approached by Everton, and Chairman Dave Whelan granted Everton permission to speak to Martinez after the owner had claimed that Martinez told Dave Whelan in their meeting that the Spaniard said, “He feels it’s time to move on and is not equipped to take Wigan back to the Premier League,” which Whelan added “is unusual for a manager to say that but shows his honesty.” (The Guardian)

This came a year after multiple comments regarding his “job not finished” at Wigan and wanting to “create a legacy” immediately, ditching them for a cohesive Premier League outfit (Everton) after leading them to relegation with several poor records and atrocious results.

Roberto Martinez was selected within a tighter range of options as set by chairman Bill Kenwright, including Porto managers Vitor Pereira and Ralf Rangnick, who were also being considered for the vacant managerial role.

Everton paid a 2 million-year compensation for Martinez, as he had just a year left on his Wigan contract and immediately got to work by pitching the idea of Champions League football to the Everton fans, saying that “Champions League qualification is the challenge. It just comes with the title of being Everton manager.”

Despite Everton finishing 6th the year prior with 10 points off of the Champions League qualification spot, the last time they finished in the Champions League spot was the 2004/2005 (qualifying round) season, which was only the third time they had qualified for the Champions League in their history since the 1971 (quarter-finals) and 1964 (qualifying round) seasons.

Martinez brought in his staff from Wigan, like Graeme Jones and Kevin Reeves, who were his assistants; goalkeeping coach Inaki Bergara; and also facilitated coach Richard Evans joining him at Merseyside, all being part of his new backroom staff.

Everton had a busy transfer window, bringing in 8 players and spending a total of £28M, including the permanent signings of Arouna Koné, James McCarthy, and Joel Robles and several loan signings, including Romelu Lukaku, who ended up being their top scorer for that season; Gareth Barry; Gerard Deulofeu; and Antolin Alcaraz, and the Fellaini deal to Manchester United facilitated most of the transfers.

Martinez kicked off his Toffees debut with a 2:2 draw away from home against Norwich before winning his first Premier League game against Chelsea at home 4:1 a month after, then going on to immediately beat West Ham 3:2, setting a record as the first Toffees manager to avoid defeat in his six games before getting dumped out of the League Cup by Fulham in the very next game.

Moreover, in April 2014 Roberto Martinez led Everton to a 1:0 away win against Sunderland, taking the Toffees to fourth place in the Premier League, including accumulating seven straight Premier League wins and a record point tally with 5 games left. Roberto Martinez also recorded the Premier League double over Manchester United, being the first Toffees manager to do so since Harry Catterick in the 1969/1970 season, leading Everton to an improved 5th place finish, their highest since the 2008/2009 season and just 7 points shy of Champions League qualification.

Martinez somehow convinced the board to spend more that summer, spending £32 million, including permanently signing Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea for £28 million, a club record signing at that time, as he was their top goalscorer the season prior with 15 goals.

However, as you could have guessed, that season did not go according to plan, as Everton started the season slow with just one win in seven games and even got dumped early in the league cup, 3:0, by Swansea, whereas Martinez immediately said this after the game: “I’m not concerned…” and “We played well… (it was) a very good performance,” despite the atrocious performance against Swansea City.

The calamities continued to encompass that season as Everton won just two matches in December and January despite contrasting displays in Europe, which led to much more laudable outcomes and results. It seems clear that most of their eggs were in the European competitions for Everton, including a 7:2 aggregate win against Young Boys as Lukaku scored a hat trick, becoming the fourth Evertonian to do so in Europe.

However, their European dreams quickly came to an abrupt end as they got thrashed by Dynamo Kyiv 5:2 away from home in spite of winning the first leg 2:1 at home, meaning that they had to do more to salvage their season domestically.

By March, Everton had won just one of their last 10 matches, and insult was added to injury as a 2:0 defeat to Arsenal saw the Blues drop to 14th, six points above the relegation zone.

The Toffees won four out of their next five games, including beating Manchester United 3:0 to disrupt any form of relegation narrative and eventually climb to the mid-table spots where they ultimately ended their season at 11th, finishing outside the top 8 for the first time since 2006 while also dropping a league record 19 points from winning positions that season (WTH…)

The season after, Martinez made use of his business management degree to convince the board to hand him an even bigger transfer budget, spending approximately £37.2 million and bringing in 12 players in the summer of 2015, including players like Oumar Niasse (the 2nd most expensive signing, who started just 2 games and failed to score in 7 matches), Ramiro Funes Mori, Aaron Lennon, and Gerard Deulofeu on a permanent transfer.

Everton kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 2:0 defeat at home to Manchester City before going on an unbeaten run between August and October before going on a cold streak in late November and late January, where they won just one game in 9 Premier League games before winning just one out of their last 10 games to close out the season.

In contrast to their domestic league games, Everton had a decent run in both domestic cup games, where they got knocked out by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final despite winning the first leg 2:1 at home and then taking the lead at the Etihad in the second leg in just 18 minutes and then choking the lead with 20 minutes left to play.

Ironically, Everton were also knocked out by the other side from Manchester, Manchester United, in the FA Cup semi-final as United took the lead in the 34th minute, followed by a penalty miss by Lukaku in the 57th before drawing level in the 75th minute as a result of an own goal, preceding getting out of their stride in the 93rd minute of the game.

Despite having Leighton Baines playing some of his best football at Everton, this did not dispute some ongoing chemistry issues going within the squad, telling the Guardian, “I just don’t feel as though the chemistry is quite there with the team on the pitch at the moment, and it hasn’t been for a while.”

Martinez then responded by saying, “That’s what he meant, and it was more of a feeling of disappointment and frustration, and obviously he used the wrong words.”

“It’s very disappointing when you see a bit of a misinterpretation of certain words that a player says. Clearly this has been taken out of context in the way that it’s come out.” (I can’t attach the full video here due to copyright but you can watch Martinez’s press conference during talking about the “chemistry” issue in the article.)

Supporters agreed with Leighton Baines and felt that Roberto Martinez was trying to soften the whole ongoing internal criticism within the dressing room.

A few days prior to the end of the season, the Toffees confirmed the decision, saying, “Everton would like to place on record their thanks for the dedication and commitment Roberto has shown during his three seasons.”

The Toffees won just five home league games all season and finished with their lowest points tally at Goodison Park since the enactment of the three points per win in 1981

Everton’s annual awards had to be postponed for that season due to the protests against Martinez that were anticipated at the event.

Former Ajax manager Frank de Boer was interested in the role, and his agent told the BBC, “If a club like Everton comes to him, of course he will be interested to talk.”

There have been an increasing number of protests against Martinez from supporters at recent home matches.

A banner saying “Time to go, Roberto” was spotted during Everton’s 2:1 win over Bournemouth in April as fans protested post-game for more than an hour against Martinez and chairman Bill Kenwright.

Martinez was heavily criticised for flawed game management and his inability to solve Everton’s defensive issues, which translated to Everton conceding 18 points from winning positions in the 2016 season and dropping 37 points across 2 seasons, the worst in the Premier League. Including some two-goal advantages were lost at Bournemouth and Chelsea, and even when they regained the lead in injury time in both games, they still were pegged back to 3-3, and in March, a 2-0 lead at home to West Ham with 12 minutes left ended in a 3-2 defeat.

left Everton with a 38% Premier League win percentage; however, over the past two seasons, being the 2014/2015 season and 2015/2016 season, Everton won a combined 22 league games, which was just one more than in the 2013/2014 season (the BBC).

Fuel was added to the mass fire as critics pointed out several issues with Martinez‘s Everton. The first was the inability to defend set pieces, as Martinez notoriously refused to integrate a competent defensive coach, leaving Everton highly vulnerable to crosses and basic routine set pieces.

Martinez also endured some shambolic results and humiliations in competitive games, like Everton suffering their two heaviest Premier League defeats to Liverpool, which was capped by a demoralising 4:0 loss at Anfield in April 2016. The final string of matches that sealed his fate was a 3;1 loss to leicester city and an object 3:0 defeat to Sunderland which confirmed his position was insurmountable

Martinez also received criticism for his integration of young defensive talents, particularly John Stones, as he failed to iron out defensive deficiencies in John Stones, encouraging risky overplaying in deep areas that opposing managers easily exploited. The Oumar Niasse transfer also invited some form of criticism, as he was the second highest-paid player signed during the Martinez era, barely playing games under Martinez, and it was a widely criticised transfer under Martinez.

The selling mediocrity narrative popularised by Martinez reached its peak among the Everton fanbase, as often times, he touted the team’s poor performances as phenomenal or incredible. Statements like calling draws “victories without goals” made him appear completely detached from reality.

Spainard also reportedly lost the dressing room at the end of his tenure, as prominent figures like Lukaku publicly expressed his desire to leave for Champions League football while key players like Ross Barkley and Leighton Baines looked completely devoid of a guiding hand.

The “Failing Upwards” Narrative Re-emerges

On August 3, 2016, Roberto Martinez was hired as manager of the Belgian national team, replacing Marc Wilmots, who was dismissed a month prior after crashing to Wales 3:1 in the quarter finals of the 2016 Euros.

Reportedly, the Belgian FA was looking for a “strong and open communicator” who could translate “tactical knowledge of top players” (the BBC). Martinez had also previously worked with players like Marouane Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas.

Despite the rumours of Martinez being linked to a club like Hull City as another shot in the Premier League, other Championship clubs were also interested in him, but the constraint that Belgium vastly appointed Belgians as 14 out of their last 15 managers prior to Martinez was Belgian, and somehow Martinez was seen as the man to steer the world’s second-ranked team to success regardless of the obvious red flags in his recent stints.

Anyways, Martinez opened his Belgian account with a 2:0 defeat in a friendly game against his birth country, Spain. However, he responded with a 3:0 win over Cyprus in the very next game and went undefeated in the world cup qualifying games, scoring 43 goals and conceding 6 goals including becoming the first european side to advance from the World Cup qualifiers after a 2:1 versus Greece in September, 2017

The World Cup came on, and Belgium was one of the favourites for the competition, going in as the 3rd best-ranked side by FIFA while consisting of world-class players in several positions, from the goalkeeper being Courtois to defenders like Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld to midfielders like Kevin De Bruyne, Dries Mertens, Witsel and Fellaini; wide players like Carrasco and Hazard; and, of course, big Rom as the lone striker.

Martinez’s side kicked off their campaign with a 3:0 win against Panama, followed by a 5:2 against Tunisia and a 1:0 win against England, finishing as top of the group with straight wins. However, the team’s weaknesses start getting exposed as they were down to a Japan side whose only win came in a 2:1 against a 10-man Colombian side and had barely scraped through their group, finishing 2nd in their group with red cards being used as the tiebreaker.

Somehow Martinez’s side found themselves 2:0 down to Japan with 21 minutes to go and managed to turn the game around with a 3:2 win, with Chadli scoring the winner in the 94th minute of injury time. Moreover, it gets worse… The game against Brazil was a prime example of individual brilliance as Martinez’s side went 1–0 up due to a Fernandinho own goal, and then both De Bruyne, who played as a false 9 rather than the deep-lying playmaker role he was touted to play, and Lukaku combined for the second goal to hand Belgium a 2-goal lead.

However, the result was not the whole picture of the entire game, as Belgium conceded 26 shots and 6 big chances in the entire game, and Courtois was the hero for the Red Devils, making 9 saves, including 3 from inside the box, and eventually conceded one in the 76th minute, whereas the third-best-ranked team by FIFA had just 1 shot throughout the second half, failing to create a single big chance and just 2 shots on target in the entire game. Typical Martinez fashion, he said, “That execution against Brazil gives you the biggest satisfaction as an international coach” (Sky Sports).

Again, it got worse, with Belgium’s only defeat of the competition coming against eventual World Cup winners France. Belgium were nullified in the semi-final clash against Les Bleus, with Belgium boasting zero big chances created against France in 2 consecutive games whilst conceding 5 big chances against France and 20 shots against France despite keeping more of the ball this time around against France, with a 64% possession rate basically doing nothing with the ball and eventually getting outdone by an Umtiti dagger in the 51st minute of the game (making it 46 shots and 11 big chances conceded across 2 games for a side like Belgium is unnacceptable).

The Red Devils were still able to record their highest World Cup finishing in their history, finishing 3rd after beating the Three Lions 2:0, surpassing the finish of the Red Devils in the 1986 World Cup, where they lost the 3rd-place play-off game to France.

Belgium eventually rose to the top FIFA-ranked team in September 2018, carrying that momentum to the Nations League, which was introduced in 2018, where they finished second behind Switzerland, which also entailed a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Switzerland despite taking a 2-goal lead in the first half of the game, a defeat which marked the worst defeat suffered by Belgium in the 21st century.

In typical Martinez fashion, he responded by winning every single Euro qualifying game, finishing top of their group, scoring 40 goals, conceding three goals and getting 7 straight clean sheets before redeeming himself in the Nations League by finishing top of the group a year prior (the calendar was a little confusing…).

Belgium were instantly favourites heading to the Euros as the most prominent nation by FIFA in world football, which should translate to them winning the Euro 2020 in the summer of 2021 (it was held in 2021 because of the pandemic in 2020). Belgium were placed in a group with Russia, Denmark and Finland, where they replicated their World Cup group stage catalogue by winning every single group game and just conceded 1 goal.

They were instantly drawn to play Portugal in the round of 16, a Portugese side that finished 3rd, qualifying as one of the best 3rd-placed teams. However, Portugal were still the holders, but Belgium were the favourites. Just like 2 out of the 3 clashes against top 10 sides, Belgium were dominated in this game by a Portuguese midfield trio of Palhinha, Moutinho and Renato Sanches (this was bad…) as Portugal maintained a 57% ball possession, accumulating 23 shots and an xG of 1.35 while forcing Courtois to record 4 saves. Whereas Martinez’s side accumulated 0.24 xg, zero big chances were created, and 6 total shots were taken in the entire game, with just 2 coming in the second half.

However, just like the game against Brazil, Belgium knocked out Portugal thanks to a goal by Thorgan Hazard, scoring in the 42nd minute of the game. It gets worse from here…

Belgium were drawn to play Italy in the quarter finals of the competition. The game prior, Austria had just taken Italy to the limit, where a goal and a penalty were both disallowed in Italy’s favour, which eventually saw the 4-time World Cup champions progress via extra time with a 2:1 win.

However, despite Belgium being the best-ranked team in the world, Italy were the favourites to advance on the night, and they did just that, securing a 2:1 win with goals from Insigne and Barella before Lukaku pulled one back from the spot in the extra time of halftime. That was enough to send Italy through to the semi-final against Spain and eventually go on to win the Euros.

The main criticism drawn from this game is the fact Martinez invited criticism with the choice of starting an unfit Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard rather than opting for trusting dynamic and younger substitutes. A new narrative was born from this unsuccessful tournament in that Martinez seemed too loyal to his old guard, and his “stubborn” nature of not tweaking his system to the weaknesses of his opponents resurfaced.

Despite there being questions of how long exemplary figures on and off the field will be sticking around, Martinez was still entrusted to lead the “golden generation” post-Euro 2020, as confirmed by the Belgian chief executive officer Peter Bossaert, who said, “Today we start preparations for the September and October games. Roberto Martinez will be there. No official communication will follow, but there is no reason to change the staff.” (GOAL)

Belgium got back to winning ways, accumulating victories in their next three games before suffering setbacks in the Nations League semi-final against France. Despite going into half-time with a 2:0 lead and less than 30 minutes left, Belgium blew a 2-goal lead and subsequently lost the game 3:2

Martinez, after the game, said that “Belgium were sentimentally in the final”, meaning that his players assumed that the job was already done and subsequently led to Belgium giving France the upper hand. Martinez also failed to acknowledge the fact that Belgium were not good enough in the second half of the game, taking 3 shots in 45 minutes whilst conceding 12 shots and 2 big chances and being outpossessed in the second half of the game.

Another disappointment followed as they lost to Italy 2:1 in the 3rd place playoffs with second-half goals from Barella and Berardi before De Ketelaere pulled one back for Belgium in the 86th minute – too little, too late.

Yet again, Martinez was embroiled in controversy, as a month after the Nations League in October, Belgium defeated Estonia 3:1 and played against Wales next, which ended in a 1:1 draw as De Bruyne gave Belgium the lead in the 12th minute before Kevin Moore equalised for Wales after a VAR intervention which lasted 4 minutes before eventually validating the goal scored by Wales.

Martinez, after the game, described the fiasco as a “comical” decision by a “faulty system” and added that “the lines for the offside don’t work”. (The Guardian)

I get that football can be filled with sentimental perspectives and opinions, but this simply wasn’t a good look for Martinez, who failed to beat Wales whilst dominating a vast majority of the game. This was viewed more as shifting the outcome of their shortcomings to a technological decision (how ludicrous)

After a string of friendlies, Belgium kicked off their Nations League campaign with a resounding 4:1 defeat at home in Brussels to the Netherlands before winning 3 out of their next 4 games to finish 2nd in their Nations League, with the Netherlands topping them.

Then came the moment which a vast majority of football fans and the world’s population were looking forward to. The 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar (it was held in winter because of how hot the Middle East could be in the summer, with almost 50°C recorded), and Belgium, the 2nd-ranked team in world football by FIFA, was placed in a group with Canada, Croatia, and Morocco, which led to anticipation.

Belgium kicked off their 2022 World Cup campaign with a 1:0 over Canada, who had qualified for their first World Cup since 1986, losing all their World Cup games and failing to register a single goal.

The scoreline didn’t impact a struggling side, but the numbers showed how tactically redundant the Belgians were in the game as they outperformed my Canada, who also missed a penalty in the 10th minute of the game as, yet again, Courtois proved to be the saviour, making 3 saves compared to the 22 shots conceded by Belgium, including 3 big chances and an expected goal of 2.63 despite having more control than Canada in terms of possession.

Regardless, it gets worse… As Belgium went into the second game of the tournament as favourites against Morocco, ranked 20 places below Belgium, they surprisingly lost the game 2:0 courtesy of 2 late goals to Morocco, who had just 2 wins in their World Cup history prior to this game and their recent game in the 1998 World Cup against Scotland.

The BBC highlighted that Belgium’s attack was simply toothless without any inspiration from the midfield, and the defensive backline was simply outdone by the pace of the Moroccan forwards.

Reports came out after the game that there was a dressing room crisis between Kevin De Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and Hazard, who were all involved in the alleged altercation. Lukaku tried to play peacemaker, and Vetrongehn allegedly said, “I guess we attack badly because we are also too old up front.”

However, Courtois came in and debunked the alleged saying, “It is fabricated lies.” Then Martinez said he was “astounded” and accused the Belgian media of “doubling down” on “fake news” emerging from France (The Guardian).

Prior to the Moroccan clash, De Bruyne had said that the team were “too old to win anything” and the 2018 tournament was simply their best chance to win anything.

In regular Martinez fashion, he came and told the medis that he had never heard of such before being asked about it, saying, “That's the first time I've heard that, so I imagine that no-one else knew those comments either,” (The BBC)

However, it was obvious that this squad was old; as a matter of fact, their game against Morocco, which ended in a 2:0, fielded the third oldest in terms of average age starting xi since the game in the 1998 World Cup.

Then came their last encounter against Croatia, where they needed a win to qualify out of the group stages. The game against Croatia was remembered for all the wrong reasons as Martinez finally got a taste of his own medicine, accumulating 16 shots, 5 big chances and an accumulated xG of 2.19.

However, Lukaku seems to be the culprit of such calamity, as he was subbed on in the 46th minute of the game as Belgium needed a win, yet big Rom became the catalyst of the calamity, taking 5 shots and missing 6 chances and 4 big chances created by Belgium in the second half, with the game ending 0:0, meaning that Belgium got grouped for the first time since 1998… ironically, they had had the oldest average age in their country’s history in that competition.

The post-game comments saw Martinez get some backlash for his comments, saying, “There are no regrets about today; we can leave with our heads held high.” Saying this after getting grouped is diabolical, especially after coming into the tournament as the second-ranked team in world football.

Martinez then added another when he tendered in his resignation, saying, “That was the end… whether we were world champions or whether we went out in the group stage.” indicating he was leaving regardless of the outcome of the tournament.

(He had some aura here, can’t lie…)

Despite racking up most wins as the Belgians’ manager in one spell as manager with 50 wins from 80 games, there were glaring criticisms in his stint, and the most criticisms came from his own player Radja Nainggolan, who completely obliterated Martinez and exposed him as a coach and a person, saying he was a “terrible coach" with "bullsh*t methods”, adding that “he’s not a football expert and a very poor coach.”

Nainggolan went on to say that Belgium would have been better off with a good manager, saying, “If Belgium had invested in a good manager just once, we could’ve won trophies.”

He doubled down on his claim that Martinez is not an expert at football, saying, “Anyone who says Martinez is a good coach doesn’t understand football.” Nainggolan added by saying, “A good coach gives a team an idea. We never had that with him. When things got hard, it was always the same: give the ball to Hazard or De Bruyne and hope they sort it out. That was the plan.”

Nainggolan then described him as unaccountable by saying, “He was great with the media, always saying everything was positive,” he added. “But a good coach has to be self-critical. He never was.”

From my own observations, Martinez often got exposed by a lot of prominent teams during his stint; either he lost to them or got tactically outweighed by those teams in several competitve clashes

Either the fact that he failed to tweak his system against France in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, as Belgium’s attack was consistently choked out, translating to being toothless, or the Euro 2020 clash against Italy, which saw them knocked out, or the 2022 World Cup were prime examples, as they got outplayed in a vast majority of their games.

The “Star-Pleasing” Yes Man

On January 9th, 2023, Roberto Martínez was named manager of the Portuguese national team just less than a month after leaving the Belgian national team role, where he failed to deliver expectations.

Martinez said shortly after being hired, “I am very happy to represent one of the national teams with the best talent in the world.”

Martinez had big shoes to fill as Portuguese national manager, replacing Fernando Santos, who steered the Portuguese ship from September 2014 to December 2022, leading Portugal to their first major title in their history and adding a Nations League by the side in 2019.

Apparently, Roberto was deemed to meet the managerial criteria set by Portugal's FA president Fernando Gomes, as he said, “We were looking for a coach that is ambitious, knowledgeable about international football, used to training players at the highest level and with experience in major leagues and national teams.”

Even though there were links to Mourinho, Paulo Fonseca and André Villas-Boas, they were all linked to the vacant Portuguese role at the time, but then Mourinho and Paulo Fonseca were already contracted to their various clubs; the FPF (Portugese Football Federation) then had to settle for Martinez, who was also a free agent at the time.

Martinez started his Portuguese campaign with a 4:0 win against Liechtenstein, and the man who the media had question marks all over, who just happened to be Portugal’s all-time scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, scored a brace in that game.

Roberto Martínez somehow ployed a vast majority of football fans as he led Portugal in securing a spotless European qualification, including registering the biggest win in their history with a 9:0 win over Luxembourg, becoming one of the first nations to qualify and setting the best record in their history, scoring 36 goals and conceding just 2 while keeping 9 clean sheets.

Euro 2024 arrived, and Portugal were anticipated to have a deeper run, especially if you consider the fact that their squad had improved from the last outing. They did just that by kicking off their campaign with a 2:1 over Czechia, followed by a 3:0 win over Turkey, even though they shockingly lost to Georgia, but qualification was already secured, and the 3:0 win over Turkey proved significant, as goal difference was the deciding factor.

That set up a round of 16 tie against Slovenia, and Roberto Martinez’s men were clearly favourites to go through in this encounter. Portugal did go through, yes, but the encounter was an abysmal showing from Portugal as they had 20 shots, forcing Oblak to make 6 saves, yet couldn’t hack it, taking the game to extra time where Ronaldo, Portugal’s all-time scorer, missed his spot kick, ultimately letting the game be decided by a penalty shootout.

Just like how many times Courtois saved Martinez and Belgium, that was the same way Diogo Costa just saved Portugal from major embarrassment, saving all three penalties by the Slovenian players, whereas Portugal had a clean sweep of penalties, subsequently advancing 3:0 through a penalty shootout.

You can draw your own conclusion from that, but in my opinion, Gonçalo Ramos should have easily been brought in to replace Cristiano Ronaldo in this game. Martinez also introduced dynamic substitutions too late in this game. Despite having players like Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Rafael Leão, Portugal couldn’t break down Slovenia’s low block despite amassing 72% of possession and completing 770 passes… It was a real coaching issue.

The next tie was against the World Cup finalists France, who were seen as favourites for this tie. However, everyone anticipated a flamboyant encounter between both sides as they were evenly stacked. Portugal this time had even more passes completed at 869 passes and 4 big chances created, all after a snooze-fest first half between both sides.

Again the game went to extra time and penalties, making the same mistakes as the last game against Slovenia, proving the “stubborn” critics right, leaving both Goncalo Ramos and Diogo Jota on the bench, who had 10 goals in 14 Premier League starts and 15 goals in all competitions, which was his second-best numbers at Liverpool (rest in peace), and again another penalty shootout unfolded, and again Martinez was probably counting on Diogo Costa to bail him out; he failed to make a single save as Portugal were dumped out on penalties 5-3.

Yet again Martinez came out to the media and said, “We showed character, we controlled the game against France, and we grew a lot as a team.” “The group was ready to play two more games.” (Play two more games? not with that attack…)

With several rumours about his job being on the line, Martinez led Portugal to the top of their Nations League group whilst dropping points in just two encounters.

However Portugal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Nations League, playing against Denmark where they suffered a 1:0 defeat, which was more pf a facade than the actual performance, as Portugal were annihilated against a side that was ranked 28th in Fifa’s world ranking and were playing in the finals of the nations league for the first time (they were good though). Seleção das Quinas (Portugal) conceded 23 shots and 2 big chances and an xg of 3.19 while also forcing Diogo Costa to make 7 saves, easily the highest-rated player on that pitch, just like Courtois several times for Belgium In contrast to Portugal’s 8 shots in total and 0 big chances created in 90 minutes.

Martinez knew he needed to save his jib when the second leg of the clash came just 3 days later. Ronaldo missed a penalty before an own goal gave Portugal the lead in the first half. Kristensen then drew Denmark level; afterwards, Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal in front, and prior to that, his former Manchester United teammate Eriksen levelled things up, making the scoreline 2:2 and Denmark ahead on aggregate before Trincão, a player whom Martinez refuses to play to this day, gave Portugal the lead, taking the game to extra time, where Trincão and Gonçalo Ramos, whom Martinez freezes out of the starting XI, both fired home as Portugal won the game 5: 2.

This pitched a semi-final clash against Germany, where Portugal were trailing thanks to a goal from Wirtz. Then Conceição, scoring a worldy, levelled the scores, and Homelander (Cristiano Ronaldo) put the Portuguese in front, ultimately sending them to the final.

Four days later Portugal met European neighbours Spain with just 220 to 250 miles separating both countries, clashing in the final of the Nations League, and yes, Spain just happens to be Roberto Martinez’s home country.

Yet again Portugal were behind only after 21 minutes and headed into the first half, as Nuno Mendes, who put up a laudable shift at left back, restored parity and went into the half-time 2:1 behind before Homelander (Cristiano Ronaldo) proceeded to level up the scoreline in the 61st minute. Unsurprisingly, the game went to extra time, eventually heading to a penalty shootout despite being outplayed by Spain. Portugal won the UEFA Nations League on penalties as Diogo Costa again denied Álvaro Morata from the penalty spot, making it the second time in Portugal’s history since the tournament was pioneered in 2019.

That restored optimism heading into the World Cup after topping their World Cup qualifiers group and losing only one game to Ireland and a home draw to Hungary whilst trashing Armenia 9:1 and 5:0 in their opening game.

The 2026 World Cup eventually came on, and Portugal were instantly favourites (vastly due to the Nations League win), as this was a golden generation with players like Bruno Fernandes, who had 21 Premier League assists, which was the top; Vitinha, who won MOTM in the UCL final; João Neves, who is the best ball-winning midfielder in the world; Nuno Mendes, the most in-and-out left-back in world football; and Homelander (Ronaldo), all at Portugal’s, or rather Roberto Martínez’s, disposal.

Portugal hosted the DR Congo in their opening game and were easily favourites for this encounter against the Congo. Congo lined up in a back 5 with the intent of limiting the Portuguese attacking threats in the wide areas.

Despite this, Martinez still forced Vitinha too deep, and Bruno Fernandes was mostly occupying the left-hand side, whereas he is much more prominent in the half-spaces. The entire Portugese team became much more passive in possession and concentrated play on the left-hand side, nullifying Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes in the final third.

After the game, when asked about his reasons for keeping Ronaldo on despite not adding anything significant to the attack, Roberto Martinez responded by saying, “Ça n’a aucun sens de laisser sur le banc le meilleur buteur… dans un match où l’on a besoin de buts.” translating to “It makes no sense to leave the top scorer on the bench… in a match where you need goals.” (L’Équipe) The whole criticism of Martinez building the attack around a 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo resurfaced.

The game against Uzbekistan finally restored optimism for the Portuguese as they thrashed the world cup debutants 5:0, with ronaldo scoring twice, snapping his streak of 10 scoreless games in competitve matches for Portugal stretching back to the 2022 World Cup, and then reminded the world why they were favourites, and many believed they were truly back as Homelander echoed twice…

The game against Colombia gave a lot of Portuguese and CR7 fans a reality check about how high Portugal’s ceiling is at the World Cup. Diogo Costa was easily the best Portuguese player on the pitch, making 6 key saves, and was also saved by an inflammatory offside decision by just a mere toe.

Despite how much the Portuguese attack was non-existent in the encounter, Goncalo Ramos and Trincao, who saved Martinez in multiple games, and Trincao, who was the major player that provided life in the attack in the game against Congo, were all left rotting on the bench and had just 199 minutes between them, and Trincao and Goncalo Ramos alone had just 66 minutes played at the World Cup between them.

After this lacklustre display, Martinez reassured Portuguese fans that they were on the right path seeming inconsequential. “In a tournament like the World Cup, there’s no single right path or position. What matters is that we play at our best, and you can only do that by winning.” (ESPN)

However, as anticipated, Portugal had the difficult side of the bracket, as they finished runner-up. They immediately played Croatia in the round of 32 clash and again, just like every other big game managed by Martinez, they were trailing up until the 68th minute before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised from the penalty spot and you won’t believe who handed Portugal the lead in this game… Gonçalo Ramos scored the winner for Portugal in the 94th minute before another inflammatory decision saw Joas Gvardiol’s goal disallowed for Croatia in the 105th minute of the game.

Anyways, Portugal clashed with Spain again after winning the UEFA Nations League against them a year prior. Spain were the favourites, with their midfield controlling the game and generating more chances than Portugal, while Martinez was aiming to hit Spain on the counter but didn’t have the right players; as a matter of fact, his own substitutions cost Portugal the game, with Bernardo Silva, replacing Vitinha, being the main culprit.

Portugal, as expected, was eventually dumped out against Spain in the next round, getting outdone by a Mikel Merino winner in the 94th minute after Spain found some pocket of space to play through.

Roberto Martinez stepped down after the tournament and said, “I came to Portugal to win the World Cup and I think that, without winning it, there’s no point in continuing,” (UOL)

“We didn't fail," he said. “We lost a game against a team that's one of the favourites. We showed incredible individual talent” (ESPN)

Martinez faced criticism from Peter Schmeichel and Owen Hargreaves. The major criticism drawn from Roberto Martinez was that he kept on pandering to Cristiano Ronaldo and labelled his management as “embarrassing”. A lot of critic also saw it as failing to make tough sporting decisions

Roberto Martinez also deployed a “safety first” approach for a vast majority of his games as the Portugese head coach. Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes had the ball most of the time but kept making sideways passes, which translated to Vitinha recording 6 progressive carries and 1 big chance created despite starting every single game for Portugal and racking up a total of 381 minutes in the tournament.

Direct and unfavourable comparisons to his time managing Belgium's “Golden Generation”. The majority narrative was that Martínez possessed an elite powerhouse squad but lacked the tactical ingenuity to steer them deep into tournaments.

Verdict?

You can check out the viral Paul Merson clip on Roberto Martinez here…

Martinez was vastly known for his inability to manage golden generations of two teams that rarely to never possess such, but in reality, his managerial perturbations run deeper than that.

Martinez built his game around possession-based football, but that was a mismatch in the realm of the teams he managed at the time. Then when he finally managed golden generations, he was still getting exposed by prominent teams within similar status, translating to several blunders in the international stage. Then came the “failing upwards” narrative.

Then several other issues became a subset within the underlying eye as defensive fragility, tactical rigidity and over-reliance on maximising star players came to the surface, similar to what he did with Cristiano Ronaldo and what Radja Naingoolan said about passing to De Bruyne and Hazard.

Martinez is also widely known as a master communicator with his master’s in business management degree, which often times keeps the fans out of reality with his several press conferences, and the “selling mediocrity” came to light. He has been accused of “masking” poor results and protecting underperforming sides.

Paul Merson best described Roberto Martinez by saying …

“This is what Martinez is like. You watch a game; they get beat. You sit there and think, “That was a joke. That was shocking.’ Then he talks, and he must press a button, and when he finishes talking, we all go, ‘It wasn’t that bad, was it? ‘That’s what it feels like.”

At least, his atrocities have finally come to the forefront, and I am glad he’s finally gone… He is now open to work.

Roberto Martinez is currently one of the most disliked coaches in world football, especially post-World Cup. He has had several criticisms levelled against him, either due to the fact that he is tactically static or often sells mediocrity or his management of top stars, or even due to the fact that he has presented himself to the media and fans as a master communicator.

There have been several instances when this was evident across his whole career, be it his playing career or even his managerial career, influencing most of his decision-making and simply changing the trajectory of his career, be it the fact he was handed several chances or the fact that he is a direct replica of “failing upwards”.

In this piece, we will examine his whole career path, the criticism levelled against him in each stint, how he “sold mediocrity” wherever he went, and lastly, are the criticisms really valid against Martinez?

Where Did It All Start?

Roberto Martínez Montoliu was born on 13 July 1973 in Balaguer, Lleida, a town in the Catalonian region of Spanish territory, to Amor Martínez and Roberto Martínez Sr, who was a professional footballer from Zaragoza, Spain. Later, he moved to Balaguer, where he worked as a manager, before sadly passing away at 91 in December 2024.

Roberto Martinez started his football career in his local club at Balaguer in the Tercera Division, featuring in his first competitive game for the youth team at just 9 years old. He eventually moved back to Real Zaragoza at the age of 16 years.

Martínez made his first appearance for the Real Zaragoza second team in 1991 but spent most of his time at the club playing at youth level for the team. On 19th June, 1993, he made his debut for the first team in La Liga in a 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid, coming in as a substitute for Luis Cuartero in the 55th minute of the game.

However, during the next season Martinez featured a lot regularly for the B team, helping the team gain promotion to the Segunda Division after being relegated the year before. In 1994 he returned to Balaguer to play for the first team while running a football academy in his town.

The Spaniard was then given the chance to greenlight moving to England by the chairman of Wigan Athletic, Dave Whelan, on a free transfer, where he formed the “Three Amigos” with Jesus Seba and Isidro Diaz, pioneering the path of Spanish football in England. Dave Whelan bought the club four years prior for £1M and promised to take the team to the top flight of English football.

He made his debut against Gillingham and scored for Wigan in a 2:1 defeat. He ended the 1996 season as the club’s top scorer with 13 goals in all competitions and was individually successful, as he was voted the club’s player of the year and named in numerous teams of the year.

The next season, in 1997, Martinez again helped Wigan relatively successfully, as they were crowned division three champions and were also included in the PFA team of the year, plus a 4-year contract which ran through to the 2001 season, after which Martinez signed a three-year deal with Motherwell and was relatively unsuccessful, making just 8 starts and 8 appearances from the bench before being made redundant by having his contract terminated at the end of the season.

Martinez returned to England to join Walsall on a free transfer in the summer of 2002, where he barely featured, starting just one game against Reading; he also got sent off and made 5 more appearances from the bench. In the winter of 2003, he joined Swansea on a short-term contract till the end of the season. The Spaniard went on to renew his contract with Swansea at the start of the 2004 and 2005 seasons and then was dropped from the squad before being reintegrated, making 37 league appearances as Swansea won promotion to League One (Wikipedia).

A year after, in the 2006 season, he was released by Swansea on a free transfer, joining Chester City on a free transfer before retiring a year later in 2007.

It is also worth noting that Martinez is high on education, obtaining multiple degrees. A bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy and a postgraduate diploma from Manchester Metropolitan University in business management (no wonder he’s able to sell himself to each team he’s been on to take a chance on him).

The Radical Managerial Foundation…

Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins reached out to Martinez in February 2007 to replace ex-manager Kenny Jackett when Martinez was still actively playing for Chester City. While he could have taken over as player-manager, he wouldn’t have been registered due to constraints about signing a player outside the transfer window. Therefore, he had to take over the role as manager despite not having any form of managerial experience at a senior level or youth level.

Moreover, Martinez was solely brought in, as he had some level of success in Swansea, captaining them in their famous great escape in the 2003 season from relegation. Martinez was also backed up by legendary Welsh manager John Toshack, who recommended Martinez to the board despite his lack of experience, beating out 50 other candidates in the process.

The BBC confirmed that Roberto was the preferred choice in Swansea’s statement, stating, “Ever since Kenny Jackett’s surprise departure last week, Roberto has been the board’s preferred candidate.” He was also deemed to be “the best man” for the role in the statement by Swansea City (this is where his excellent communication skills came into play despite not having any form of experience).

When Martinez took the job, he integrated a revamped brand of football into the team, which was labelled the “Swansea Way”, entailing a Spanish-style possession-based football, which brought some level of flair and flamboyance within the system and was a favourite of a lot of Swansea fans.

Despite his branded style of play and taking a chance on an inexperienced manager being an obvious gamble, he lost just one out of his first eleven games at the club, which meant that playoff qualification went down to the wire on the final day.

However, sadly, Swansea couldn’t overcome Blackpool, as they lost the game 6:3 at home. After the game, Martinez told the Daily Mirror, "Next season I don't want unwanted headlines,” after his team suffered their second defeat in 12 games under Roberto Martinez’s leadership.

Next season he (Martinez) stood on business, guiding Swansea to the Football League. One title in the 2007/2008 season, including three manager of the month awards in October, December, and January and results depicting prominence in the process, was garnered from their entertaining and dominant style of play. Soon followed a new contract in April 2008, and the month after, he was subsequently awarded the League One Manager of the Season for his heroics with Swansea, leading them to League One glory.

Swansea’s first season in the Championship tier for the first time in 24 years didn’t replicate their prominent style over teams, as they lost their first game back 2:0 against Charlton, and Martibez said after the game, "The goals we conceded were not good enough from our point of view. They were soft, and he added, "But there are more positives than negatives” in a game that he lost, sounding 2:0 with barely attacking intent despite saying it himself. "We wouldn't have won the title last season if we had defended like that.

But then Swansea’s form later improved, losing just one game in their next six games and four defeats in 30 games between September 2008 and February 2009, including some pivotal wins like against Portsmouth, who were the FA Cup holders as at that time, helping Swansea finish the season at 8th place, finishing just spots below the play-off spot and 8 points below Cardiff and Preston.

The side of Martinez was exposed to the fans, developing a habit of being tactically static, which led the team to operate with a low tempo, passing sideways regularly and failing to create many clear-cut chances, and also lauding his players publicly when they were subject to significant and costly errors or blunders. He often used words like “bravery” and “tactical maturity” to revamp the errors.

Remember when Martinez said he wanted the season to be filled with “unwanted headlines”? Turns out he lied, as he kept on getting linked with various managerial roles, and according to The Guardian, he stated that he would only leave if he were “forced out” (he lied to an entire fanbase…) by the club, only to sign with Wigan Athletic despite links with Celtic. He was nicknamed “El Judas” by several Swans despite his comments about his dedication to the football club.

Martinez noted that “I left because I did not believe I could take them to the Premier League” and added that “I am looking forward to getting stuck in and taking on teams in the best league in the world.” Lastly, he added (EXACTLY FROM THE GUARDIAN), “After that we need to have a dream, which for Wigan is to one day play in Europe.”

Nevertheless, the hiring procedure wasn’t as smooth as Martinez or the Wigan board would have imagined, as there were some compensation issues with Swansea in terms of the agreement with Martinez’s backroom, as he wanted his backroom staff from Swansea at Wigan, including his assistant, Graeme Jones; chief scout, Kevin Reevs; goalkeeping coach, Inaki Bergara; physio, Richie Evans; and fitness coach, Oscar Brau, all with him at Wigan.

Critics often argued that he left absquatulatorily and failed to consolidate his project at Swansea and could have even done much more with Swansea. Regardless, Swansea finished 7th the season Martinez left, just a point and a spot away from the playoffs. Then the year after, they finally qualified for the playoffs at 3rd and subsequently won the playoff finals to reach the Premier League, beating Reading in the final.

The Atrocities at Wigan?

Roberto Martinez arrived at Wigan in the summer of 2009, taking charge of a Wigan side that finished 11th in the season prior. His first fixture against Aston Villa on 9th August 2009, which saw Wigan claim a 2:0 victory away from home, making it the first time they had won an opening game in the Premier League.

However, in Wigan’s first home game in the season, they lost 1:0 to a newly promoted Wolves team before being embarrassed 5:0 at home by Manchester United despite trailing, finishing the first half level on terms and stating after the game, “Nobody, apart from me and the most optimistic Wigan fans, expects anything from us, and that is a great challenge to have.”

Martinez’s side showed some level of inconsistency, which included a 4:0 defeat to Arsenal and a 3:1 over Chelsea the week after and a disgraceful 9:1 defeat to Spurs, which was a club record and a record in the Premier League since 1995, as Martinez labelled it as embarrassing. The catastrophic defeat to Spurs simply showed how bad Martinez-ball could be if it didn’t go according to plan, and the team’s flaws were simply exposed in that encounter. Martinez‘s boys went on to go on a forgetful run of just 1 win against newly promoted sides in 13 games between the stretch of 5th December, 2009, and 8th of March, 2010.

That wasn’t the tip of the iceberg in that season. On the final matchday of the season, Wigan again lost to Chelsea 8:0, bringing their total goals conceded to 79 goals and a -42 goal difference, the worst in the entire league, with the closest being Burnley and Hull City, who had a -40 and -41 and were both relegated. Martinez slightly escaped with just a 6-point difference in comparison to a side that finished 11 a year prior and broke their transfer record, signing twice that season for James McCarthy and Charles N'Zogbia.

In his debut 2009/10 season, Wigan conceded a staggering 79 goals. Over his four years, their average goals conceded spiked significantly to 1.81 per game, leaving them with an abysmal -42 goal difference in his first year alone.

Then somehow convinced Wigan to break their transfer record for the second time in that calendar year and third time under Martinez, signing Boselli after a relatively successful stint in South America, where he scored 32 goals in 57 appearances. A player who Martinez said had the "perfect moment in his career to make his mark" ended up scoring 0 goals in 15 Premier League appearances and is widely considered a flop for the club.

That season, the “great escape” narrative was strengthened as Martinez led Wigan Athletic to 16th, 2 places ahead of the drop zone and just 3 points from safety with the 3rd worst goal difference in the league and the worst amonsgt clubs that stayed up in the Premier League

Prior to his third season at Wigan, there was some uncertainty about his future, and reports claimed that he rejected a move to Aston Villa, saying, “I haven’t finished my job at Wigan Athletic. There is much work still to be done; I don’t know how long that will take, but such is the belief that I have always had that I would only ever decide to move once the club is ready for a new manager.” (The BBC)

Despite not breaking the transfer record for any player, Wigan Athletic were active in the transfer window. Ali Al-Habsi signed for £4 million; Albert Crusat signed from Almería for an undisclosed, lower-level fee; and Shaun Maloney was the major signing for Wigan in that transfer window.

The activities did not prevent Martinez’s men from starting the season slowly, with 1 win in 12 matches, 0 wins in 11 games and 8 consecutive defeats before finally snapping the streak in November in an away game against Sunderland.

Things did not get better, as between August and February, Wigan had only won 4 games and were tipped to go down. Surprisingly, they did not, as Wigan won 7 out of their last 9 matches in the league and stayed up by 7 points. These victories included wins against Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle.

That was against all odds and was largely viewed as “a great escape” by football fans and the media. Fans saw a coach who was resilient under pressure as he deployed a 3-4-3/3-5-2 system in the spring of 2012, while critics argued why these “great escapes“ had become repetitive, highlighting deeper issues within the squad and structure. This did not stop the rumours to Liverpool that same month and Martinez said again, “There is nothing true about it… I signed a new deal… nothing has changed since,” and added a month after that he would like to “create a legacy” (The Independent)

The 2012/2013 season started with Wigan bringing in two expensive signings, being Spanish centre-back Iván Ramis from RCD Mallorca (for around £4 million) and Ivorian forward Arouna Koné from Levante (for roughly £3.8 million).

Regardless, that season wasn’t just Wigan Athletic facing another relegation battle (unsurprisingly), but also Roberto Martinez’s comments regarding the officiating came to light.

In September 2012 Wigan were beaten by Manchester United 4:0 in an embarrassing manner, and after the game Martinez claimed, "It is difficult to come to Old Trafford and get a referee that gets affected by the event and the circumstances surrounding the game. It was a real shame in that respect." (Reuters) He was fined £10,000 by the FA due to his inflammatory post-game comments.

In October of that same year, after a 2:1 defeat to Chelsea, Martinez claimed, "We were relying on good decisions, but the linesman has had a disgusting performance.” Moreover, the referees' chief, Mike Riley, has called him to apologise for the errors in the defeat against Chelsea.

Two years prior to that, in 2010, Roberto Martinez was charged with inappropriate conduct after accusing Stuart Attwell of “lying” after a 3:0 defeat in the hands of Manchester City as Gary Caldwell got sent off. The FA confirmed he faced punishment for the comments made post-game.

In 2012/2013, Wigan made history as they won the FA Cup, beating a psychologically damaged Manchester City in the final, having beaten Bournemouth, Macclesfield, Huddersfield, Everton and Millwall in the semi-final. However, it is worth noting that the morning before the final, according to the BBC, the Manchester City player received news that Roberto Mancini was about to get sacked and they were second on the league table heading into the FA Cup final game.

Wigan ended up winning the game after Pablo Zabaleta got sent off with a second yellow card in the 84th minute and Ben Watson gave Wigan the lead in the 90th minute of the game from a corner kick situation, which made it the first time Wigan won the FA Cup in their entire history as a football club.

However, only 3 days after winning the FA Cup, Wigan suffered an inevitable relegation as they lost to Arsenal 4-1, coming 3 months after Martinez made the famous quote, “I consider Wigan a top 8 team in the league,” after losing 4-1 to Chelsea to fall to 19th in the league. Martinez added fuel to the fire by saying that Wigan’s time in the Premier League was a “incredible journey”, adding that they “never expected” relegation and claiming the club would “look forward and keep defying the odds”. Which seemed strange to a lot of fans who were astounded by the fact that their club just got relegated despite winning the FA Cup a few days prior and solidifying their reputation as an established Premier League side.

Nevertheless, defending was always a problem for Martinez’s side at Wigan, especially set pieces, with Martinez claiming not to be interested in keeping clean sheets and preferring to win matches by scoring goals at the other end. It’s not rocket science to see that integrating an attacking football with limited resources backfired against stronger teams. it’s not by sheer coincidence that you concede 79 goals in your first season, including the 9–1 defeat to Tottenham and other poor results against elite sides

According to The Guardian, Martinez also developed a habit of being tactically static or “stubborn” with several fans voicing their displeasures towards his system even when it was glaringly clear and obvious in the metrics of results. The same outlet reported that Martinez also claimed that Wigan’s performance in the league should be the focal point of assessment and not the league table despite the supporter’s “anxiousness” of Wigan’s spot on the league table.

This translated to Martinez accumulating a disastrous 29% win rate as manager of Wign, losing 50% of his games versus the top 6 sides in 4 seasons and a similar defeat rate against top-half sides. FourFourTwo indicates that Martinez took Wigan backwards compared to the managers prior. Under Martinez, Wigan averaged just 1.039 points per game, which was 38 wins in 152 games. For context, in the four years prior to his arrival, Wigan gathered more points, being 184 points compared to 158 points, with a better points per game, 1.211, and bragged of a much more stable defence.

End of Segment One…

Hope you loved this piece! Based on the poll I set up earlier, I had to distinguish between two standardised segments. I set up the poll earlier to see if you guys were fine with a very long article or wanted to read bits by bit; the majority opted for segmentation into multiple parts similar to the Arsenal piece back in March. Let me know if you are looking forward to Segment Two!

Argentina is simply football’s most polarising country in world football right now. The amount of hate that Argentina has been getting during the 2026 edition of the World Cup and that grew more intense at the latter stages of the World Cup is at an astronomical all-time high.

The Albiceleste were never the most loved footballing country either, as a result of their historical and political inflammatory past or their off-field unsportsmanlike behaviour and their on-field aggressive, proactive and disliked playing style, which most modern fans and casuals simply make the resentment even worse for. All this could factor in

But Argentina were never the most liked team, especially when you look at their history, and you’d be wrong to think that this hate for Argentina only came about during the World Cup. It is simply historical, and why exactly are they this hated?

The Junta 1978 World Cup Victory

The 1978 FIFA World Cup was won by Argentina, and it was also coincidentally hosted by Argentina, and to this date, it remains arguably the most inflammatory World Cup edition for all the wrong reasons.

Argentina was conferred the rights to host the 1978 edition of the World Cup back in July 1966, only a week after General Juan Carlos Onganía had overthrown the elected government of Arturo Illia, one of six military takeovers Argentina endured in the twentieth century (revealed by the Business Standard News). But when the time arrived, a military coup had overthrown the democratic government, which instated General Jorge Videla, a man famous for leading the 1976 military coup in Argentina and serving as the dictator and head of the military junta that orchestrated the brutal state-terror campaign known as the “Dirty War”. (during which an estimated 30,000 political opponents were tortured and forcibly disappeared) The Junta had committed atrocities earlier on and looked at the World Cup as a great way to “sportswash” their global reputation. (The daily campus reports)

The tournament was lacking some regular prominent sides like England, Belgium, and Uruguay, as they had failed to make it past the early stages, and countries like Iran and Tunisia made their World Cup debut at the time.

The external and political affairs were treated as a precedence to the tournament itself, as players like Johan Cruyff, who was the player of the tournament in the 1974 edition, leading the Netherlands to the final and accumulating 3 goals and 3 assists from midfield, rejected the opportunity to partake in this edition. Moreover, after his interview with Catalunya Radio, it was revealed that his family was a victim of kidnapping in Barcelona, and he has visibly shaken by the whole experience and was even held at g*n point (as per The Guardian)

The first inflammatory interference from external forces was that Argentina was handed a “strategic advantage” as the junta had structured the fixtures around Argentina‘s second-round games being kicked off at night. so as to the scoreline required to advance based on earlier results.

This was a catalyst in Argentina’s second-round clash against Peru as Argentina and Brazil had both finished level on points. (I didn’t want to but i’ll explain the format real quick.) In the 1978 World Cup, 16 teams had qualified, split into groups of 4, with four groups. Then the top 2 teams of each group went on to form another group of 4 teams in 2 groups in the second round. The winners of both teams went on to play in the World Cup final, while the second-place teams went on to play in the 3rd-place playoffs.

Both Argentina and Brazil were in the second round of the World Cup, with Brazil having played their last game, beating Poland 3:1, meaning that Argentina needed 4 goals or more to advance to the World Cup final. Argentina requested to postpone the time, and FIFA agreed to postpone the time of Argentina’s clash with Peru in a match in which they went on to dismantle Peru 6:0, meaning that Brazil ended up playing the 3rd place play-offs against Italy while Argentina played the World Cup final against the Netherlands. This also attracted the allegations of behind-the-scenes deals entailing “massive grain shipments and unfrozen financial assets” between the Peruvian government and the Argentine military rule, with around 35,000 tonnes of grain and feasibly some arms to Peru, and the central bank releasing $50m of frozen Peruvian assets. (The Daily Campus Reports and The Guardian).

This didn’t prevent the tournament from getting perceived as unfair from the on-pitch debacle, as the daily campus reports show that the tournament was also plagued by “extreme physical aggression”. The second-round clash between bitter rivals Argentina and Brazil, being used as a prime example, turned into a heated battle, ending in a goalless draw “characterised by brutal tackles, physical melees, and violent clashes that further deteriorated the tournament's sporting reputation”.

The final didn’t help matters as there were bogus decisions in the final filled with match delays and hostility from the Argentinian fanbase as host nation Argentina was conferred their first-ever World Cup win, coming after a 3:1 with a brace from Mario Kempes and a goal from Bertoni during extra time that secured the win over the Netherlands, who lost back-to-back World Cup finals.

For more, check out:

The Amnesia Of History

THE WORLD CUP 'WAR' OF 1978

As the 2026 World Cup chunters towards its climax, the mood around the tournament has been shaped less by football and more by the atmosphere of Trump’s America — a host nation that hasn’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat. Iran’s experience alone could fill a chapter. But there have been smaller incidents, which will leave a…

Read more

2 months ago · 1 like · Oor Tom’s Reads

This article by ESPN

The article by the The Business Standard News (TBS) and The Daily Campus Reports

Argentina’s 1986 World Cup Triumph + the Falklands War

The 1986 World Cup was held in Mexico, where Argentina played West Germany in the edition of the final.

In the build-up to the final being the quarter-final against England, which remains a historic clash to this date in terms of the political pandemonium between the two countries inflicted by the Falklands War 4 years prior to the World Cup. An intense battle was always going to be inevitable.

However, the match against England was infamous due to inflammatory reasons and a blend of individual brilliance translating to one of the most iconic world-class moments in football history. The first goal being the infamous goal labelled as the “hand of God” in the 51st minute of the game, Maradona made a leap in an attempt to head the ball before England’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton recovered the ball, but he simply couldn’t reach the ball with his head; he simply punched the ball into the net with his left fist.

The referee Ali Bin Nasser (also spelt Ali Ben Nasser), a Tunisian referee, missed the violation; there wasn’t VAR back in 1986 to overturn the goal, as it was integrated into football 30 years later and made its debut in the World Cup 32 years later. Despite the protest from the English players, the goal wasn’t overturned.

When Maradona was asked about the infamous goal after the World Cup game against England, he simply said, "un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios,” which translates to “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God."

Four minutes after, in the 55th minute of the game, he went on to score the goal “the goal of the century” as recognised by FIFA through a poll run in 2002 where fans voted it as the best goal in the 20th century.

The Uruguayan broadcaster Victor Hugo Morales’s description of the “goal of the century” when it happened was also legendary, with his commentary below…

“Oh, what a goal! … I can’t help crying; forgive me. Maradona, in a memorable drive, in the greatest play of all time,” he said at that moment. “Cosmic kite, what planet did you come from to leave so many Englishmen in the dust? To make the whole country into one great, clenched fist, shaking, shouting for Argentina?” (the national news)

Till today, this legendary commentary is part of Argentine football mythology, and the recording became part of Ariel Magnus’s 2013 book Barrilete cósmico: el relato completo.

Before this, there was the 1982 Falklands War, which lasted for 74 days between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the territorial sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

The Falklands War was started on April 2nd, 1982, with the Argentine invasion and ended on June 14th, 1982, after the Argentines surrendered and reinstated power to the British control. However, in the war, 255 British military personnel and 3 civilians lost their lives, while 649 Argentine military personnel also lost their lives. This was also the catalyst for a resurgence of democratic intervention in Argentina.

The political realm erupted again at the 2026 World Cup as the Argentinian players held up a banner declaring "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" after beating England to reach the World Cup final. The message was referring to the disputed Falkland Islands, reviving the sovereignty dispute.

Modern-day Racist Allegations

Back in the summer of 2024, after claiming their second successive COPA America trophy with a 1:0 extra-time win against Colombia, joining Uruguay, Brazil (twice) and Chile to claim the continental title back-to-back, the teams was filled with unwavering confidence and a blend of celebration However, that was not what the discussion of the summer was about, but rather the precedence of the Argentinian racist actions on social media was the talk of the summer.

The FFF president contacted its Argentinian counterpart and FIFA directly to file a legal complaint for “racist and discriminatory remarks”.

The FFF (French Football Federation) filed a complaint and released a statement stating, “The president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo, condemns in the strongest possible terms the unacceptable racist and discriminatory remarks made against the players of the French team in a song sung by players and supporters of the Argentinian team after their victory in the Copa America and broadcast in a video on social media.

Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks, which are contrary to the values ​​of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly contact his Argentinian counterpart and FIFA and to file a lawsuit for insulting remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature.”

Moreover, the video was posted on Enzo Fernandez‘s X account and simply received lots of heat for it, including his teammate Wesley Fofana coming out and tweeting, “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism."

Enzo Fernandez ended up apologising on social media, saying, “I want to apologise sincerely for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations,” he posted. “The song includes highly offensive language, and there is no excuse for these words.

“I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologise for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry.”

4 years prior, in the 2018 World Cup, Argentina was fined $105,000 due to the fans launching homophobic chants, throwing projectiles, and assaulting Croatian supporters in the group stage match.

In the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, FIFA fined the Argentinian Football Federation for racist abuse during a game against Colombia in Buenos Aires. Allegedly, there were also complaints against Ecuador and Uruguay. Argentina was punished by being capped with a 50% stadium capacity limit in its next home game.

While the off-debacle was going on, this quote from the Argentinian president Alberto Fernández resurfaced from 2021: “The Mexicans came from the Indians; the Brazilians came from the jungle, but we Argentines came from the ships. And they were ships that came from Europe.” He ended up apologising for it, but then the damage was already done, setting up a Twitter storm and regional race debate between the masses.

Double Standards Revamped As Villains?

This edition, like other editions of the World Cup, was crippled with several controversies, either on-field or off-field. Moreover, when it came to Argentina, the whole world was meticulous about it.

For instance, in the game between South Korea and the Czech Republic, a Mexican man was caught on camera making a racist gesture towards a South Korean fan. Moreover, the fan wasn’t just a random fan; it was a YouTuber by the name of “Ino Cat” and even posted a video of the incident on social media. The fan was later known to be Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes, who ended up losing his job at an engineering firm possibly due to the incident, as it happened after the game. The man did apologise whilst Yoon was invited by FIFA to attend the June 18th match between South Korea and Mexico (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2026_FIFA_World_Cup_controversies#Mexican_racist_gesture_towards_South_Korean_fan).

After the Netherlands’ exit from the tournament at the hands of Morocco in a penalty shootout, several Dutch players like Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville, who failed to convert from the spot in the shootout, were sadly faced with racist abuse by fans online. Both the Dutch minister for sport, Mirjam Sterk, and the Royal Dutch Football Association called it “deeply regrettable” and “terrible”, respectively, and handed the cases to be dealt with by the police.

Clarence Seedorf talked about it, and below is the clip.

German defender Jonathan Tah was also subject to racist abuse after missing his decisive penalty against Paraguay, subsequently eliminating Germany from the competition.

In Mexico’s group stage game against the Czech Republic, Mexican fans reportedly chanted some homophobic slurs, which had also resulted in previous punishments prior to this occasion.

Mexican fans also disrupted both the Ecuadorian fans and English fans from getting enough sleep the night before clashing with both teams on the pitch. This tactic is often known as a “hotel serenade” in Latin America.

Croatian defender Dejan Lovren defended his teammates when accusations followed of Croatian players singing a song with fascist words after their 3rd-place victory against Morocco; Lovren simply said, “A patriotic song which relates to my country, which means that I love my country.”

FIFA also fined Mexico 100,000 Swiss francs as punishment for its supporters’ chants during the group stage games against Poland and Saudi Arabia in the 2022 edition.

There were other antics by fans done in post-games, during games and even pre-games, many of which were not really covered or embraced by fans, the media or even creators. Each racist incident by Argentina was called out by fans online or the media, and again, it’s the right to do so, but it is when narratives are concealed or not talked about just because they don’t suit what you’re trying to push. The same energy is barely replicated when it’s time to be fair and equitable.

For instance, how many outlets or fans reported on Jonathan Tah facing racist abuse? The Netherlands too, even when Jude Bellingham hit Barco on the head. Why wasn’t it spoken about? But when Paredes tried to choke Gavi, everyone called him a scumbag.

I am not defending the actions by the Argentine players or fans; I think it was repulsive and shameful and rightfully called out, but why aren’t other incidents called out by everyone? I feel like at times in comparison to Argentina, the abuse by other teams seems inconsequential.

For instance, in the 2014 World Cup shootout between the Netherlands and Costa Rica in the quarter finals, after 120 minutes in which both sides couldn’t be separated, the game stretched on to penalties. Tim Krul, a man who had only saved two penalties in his career up until that point was subbed on after extra time replacing Cillessen.

Tim Krul saved 2 penalties on that occasion, handing the Netherlands a 4:3 win on penalties and advancing to their second consecutive World Cup final.

After the game, Tim Krul was praised for his penalty-stopping heroics and antics. and Alan Shearer, amongst others, had this to say:

"Tim Krul was playing mind games, walking up to the Costa Rica players, taking his time to get onto his line. I don't mind that at all; you do what you can to get through. It's gamesmanship, but the Costa Rica players have to try and handle it." (BBC)

During the game, Tim Krul made use of antics like telling some of the penalty takers, “I know where you are going because I have analysed it,” while also leaping and shouting.

But when Emi Martinez propels similar antics, it isn’t “gamesmanship”, and he is immediately seen as the ultimate Villan. A rule was literally enacted by IFAB as a result of his similar antics post-2022 World Cup, stating under Law 14 that “The goalkeeper must not behave in a way that unfairly distracts the kicker, e.g., delays the taking of the kick or touches the goalposts, crossbar or goal net.”

Argentina abused the French players back in 2024 and, according to FIFA, in the 2022 World Cup after the social media protective service was introduced to report egregious conduct on behalf of teams and players taking part in the 2022 World Cup. The match with the most abuse was England vs France in the quarter-finals, and the team with the most abuse was France, with the World Cup final coming in second place and the Morocco vs Portugal game coming in third, while Argentina was the 5th most abused team throughout the competition.

In fact, in this World Cup alone, FIFA indicated in its Social Media Protection Service report that racial abuse of all forms increased to 11% of detected online abuse, as 89,000 accounts were verified as abusive, which marks a 13-fold increase in comparison to the 6,700 abusive comments back in 2022.

This simply shows that the “abuse” is just beyond Argentina, and it’s not an Argentinian problem as most people think it is. It’s simply a global crisis.

The 2022 World Cup quarter-finals against the Netherlands were famous for all the wrong reasons, accumulating a total of 17 yellow cards between both teams, and yet Argentina stole headlines for all the wrong reasons. Ironically, the Netherlands was part of the “Battle of Nuremberg” alongside Portugal, which saw 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards in the 2006 World Cup. The fact that Argentina was awarded 5 penalties in the competition triggered a conspiracy, but Portugal also accumulated 4 penalties in the 1966 World Cup, and The Netherlands did in the 1978 World Cup, and both teams failed to capture the World Cup.

Regarding these conspiracies about the World Cup being rigged in Argentina’s favour, it is worth remembering that there’s been no feasible proof of that happening, whereas a red card handed to Florian Balogun was literally deferred for a year after the U.S. President Donald Trump called FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino about the red card, which UEFA had to release a statement regarding the whole fiasco. That sounds more like outright rigging than anything you have to tell me about Argentina rigging the tournament.

Argentina was also seen as the dirtiest team at the World Cup, but then when you look at fouls per game (as per Sofascore), Argentina was ranked seventh in fouls per game behind Haiti, Panama, Bosnia, Uzbekistan, Switzerland and Canada. But then you look at yellow cards, and yes, Argentina had the most yellow cards, but then teams like Egypt and Canada had twice the number of cards as games played, and yet neither of them were pushed with the notion of being a “dirty team”. This now brings me to my next point.

Verdicts…

Argentina are hated right now because they are winning; there’s this saying, “With great power comes great responsibility,” but in Argentina’s case, the more you win, the more criticism shows up, and the more your team’s ideology, structure and framework are brought into question. This term is called the “tall poppy syndrome”, and Argentina has simply been one of the latest victims of it, and again, it’s not the main reason, but it is simply one of the numerous factors.

It was also evident that their 3 World Cup wins were linked to one controversy or the other. For instance, the external participation from the Junta in 1978 played a part, as did the “hand of God“ by Maradona in 1986 and the record 5 penalties awarded to Argentina during their latest World Cup win in 2022 played a part in these reasons.

The most undeniable factor being that Argentina produced two of the greatest players of all time and had less than a 20-year gap between each dynasty. Take Diego Armando Maradona, for instance, who is easily a top 5 player of all time, and he was also a very provocative player with several off-field antics synonymous with his name alongside the success he brought to whichever team he represented. You now examine Lionel Messi, who is an exact contrast to Diego Maradona in terms of personalities but had more success than Maradona on an individual level and was part of one of the greatest dynasties in world football, alongside being hated by several fanbases. Plus, the success that followed, a country like this will always sway the haters regardless of what they do.

There’s also the lens that Argentina are simply victims of their own prejudice with their brand of football and the external political circumstances. Take a look at what the president said regarding the Mexican and Brazilian statement; any country that says it will instantly get hate for it, or you see Enzo Fernández’s antics on social media subject to the Black French player’s heritage. In the context of Argentina’s footballing ideology, they simply have never been like the Spanish side with tiki-taka or the German side with gegenpressing or their neighbour Brazil’s joga bonito; Argentina’s identity has always simply been to win at all costs regardless of whether it’s ugly or if it’s done in a flamboyant way, and the narratives always continue to shift.

12 years ago, heading into the 2014 World Cup, the New York Times conducted a survey regarding the most hated team in the world, and at that time it was Brazil, deduced from being the most successful team in World Cup history and still being it, but within the last half-decade, Argentina has been the most successful footballing team in the international arena, which came in second in the survey and also revealed that they were the most hated in the continent due to having the most Copa América titles. That survey just backs up most of the points I have made. But with Messi’s last dance around the corner and a new era looming, one can only wonder if the energy of this hate could persist.

Lastly, I will also give a shoutout to , who requested that I cover this topic. He has an excellent channel going on talking about football, basketball, F1 and cricket and is definitely worth a read.

The South American champions vs European champions, previous holders vs tournament favourites, Spain vs Argentina, most notably Messi vs Yamal, the master vs the student, the maestro vs the novice – in reality, this was always going to be a headline-grabbing event with two of the most prominent figures in world football.

Inferring from the footballing heritage of both sides, Spain has gotten to two World Cup finals, including the 2026 edition of the tournament, winning both, whilst Argentina has gotten to 7 World Cup finals, including the 2026 edition, and has lost 4 finals.

During both runs, Spain has built an organised and defined system with a prominent midfield and an adroit defence which has complemented and utilised team balance depicted in their illustrious defensive record, including transitioning from wide forward players with astute and technical prowess to modern-day 1v1 specialists with sheer athleticism (Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams).

Whilst, on the other hand, Argentina was known for having that generational prominent player and simply built a well-balanced team around them or integrated systems that brought the best out of them. In 1978, it was Kempes; in 1986 and 1990, it was Maradona; and in 2014, 2022 and 2026, it was Lionel Messi, which the system still is currently.

This was also translated in today’s game, as seen with the evident eye; Spain simply outclassed Argentina throughout the game in terms of the midfield battle and a renowned performance from La Roja, while Argentina simply relied on individual brilliance.

Questionable halftime show…

On 14 May 2026, FIFA announced that there will be a halftime show, similarly done in the Super Bowl finals. The show will be held in the New York-New Jersey stadium, featuring Madonna, Shakira and BTS, and will be a specially organised event by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The footballing body also stated that the “show supports the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, a landmark initiative working to raise $100 million USD to expand access to quality education and football for children around the world.” FIFA also added that 1 USD from every ticket sold will be donated to the fund.

The deeper-rooted soccer fans could see everything wrong with the halftime show being integrated into the sport, unless you’re a neutral or a football fan with a relatively open mind. But in retrospect, in the metrics of expectations, the halftime show exceeded my expectations. I expected it to be somewhat catastrophic, and sure, it wasn’t the best halftime show I have watched or seen or even reviewed; it simply wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be.

Labelling it as disastrous and “crap” as Wayne Rooney and other football fans online do is a bit harsh, but I think this affects the trajectory of what is to come or to be integrated. In this World Cup we already got the “four quarters”, and now the half-time show has been added. The game we grew up watching is slowly losing its originality, flair and elegance due to the financially driven decisions made by the people who are meant to insulate the sport’s heritage for the majority. The game is built and loved due to its uniqueness from other sports, and simply adding traditions from other sports makes it lose the power of the uniqueness which the sport possesses and is a vast reason why it attracts the number of people it attracts. I just can’t imagine what will come next! Timeouts? coaches awarded limited challenges against decisions? Champions are awarded rings! (Oh wait, we just saw that), and somehow FIFA finds a way to profit from all this!

UFC First half…

Didn’t mean to deviate; however, speaking on the game itself, it seemed that Argentina didn’t want to play football at all, simply amassing more yellow cards than shots, not just in the first half but even at halftime and in extra time. In my opinion the yellow cards could have been more than the referee awarded, but that’s a discussion for another time.

The Albicelestes were poor in the first half, accumulating a whopping two shots in the opposition box, and were even outperformed by the Spanish centre-backs in their own half. The World Cup holder ended the first half with 0 shots on target, 0 big chances and 0 shots altogether with an xG of 0.00, the lowest by any team in the tournament.

The Spanish side had the majority of the ball in the first half with 65% ball possession, the most by the Spanish side in the first half just during the knockout stages and the lowest by Argentina in any half throughout the competition.

From a defensive standpoint, La Roja still prevailed over the Albicelestes, winning more ground duels, winning 86% of their tackles to 75%, being tied in recoveries, having more clearances and winning 51%. There was simply no form of coping mechanism for Argentina.

The second half was of a similar story, including Argentina amassing three yellow cards, including a red card for Enzo Fernández, which was a stupendous challenge by my standards, especially when you got your first yellow card 11 minutes ago.

Argentina still failed to test Unai Simón, defending too deep, let alone create any meaningful chance, and was much more of the first half with Spain even becoming much more direct and accumulating an xG of 0.86, forcing Martinez to make 8 saves in this match alone. This was the half that key subs like Merino, Nico Williams and Ferran Torres were brought in, and they ultimately changed the game after the end of regulation.

The game went all the way to extra time, and Spain got a goal assisted by Merino and scored by Nico Williams but was ruled out for an illicit play by Spain with Otamendi (Argentina) as the recipient of the foul.

Even though it was ruled out, it simply showed that a goal was coming, and it ended up coming through in the second half of extra time, and it was one of the most unlikely sources. The shark gave Spain the lead after a cross from Pedro Porro found Nico Williams, who then set up Ferran Torres, making it his 3rd World Cup goal in 12 games across 2 editions and now making history as the second Spaniard to score in a World Cup final behind Andres Iniesta.

This proved to be the only goal of the game, and Spain were able to survive a 10-man Argentina side that threatened with only 2 shots in the second half of extra time. Spain are World Cup champions for the second time, and Argentina were dethroned.

What does this mean for Rodri and Yamal?

Even though Yamal didn’t contribute as much as many people would have expected and vastly so from a superficial level in terms of output, he still had some key moments, like scoring his first World Cup goal against Saudi Arabia and also winning the penalty against France; his concurrent hand gave La Roja the lead in the World Cup semi-final.

He was also integral to Spain, with most times the offensive play being concentrated on the right-hand flank, and Yamal had the ball a lot; this also gave room for Pedro Porro to be utilised as an inverted full-back and display his offensive prowess, depicting him scoring 2 goals.

Yamal, at 19, has won the Euros and now the World Cup; the Champions League, being Europe’s biggest at club level, has somehow eluded him. If Barca win the Champions League this season, he could complete football at just 19 years! Lamine Yamal joins Bergomi, Pelé and Mbappé and is partnered with his teammate Pau Cubarsí as the only teenagers to start in World Cup finals and win.

Speaking of Rodri, in as much as he might not be the most likeable guy, especially by a vast majority of the Real Madrid fanbase, he should be given his flowers, and in my opinion, he should simply be an all-timer. I would most likely go with Busquets as a form of personal favourite, but let’s put an end to the nostalgia bias and simply admit that it’s not crazy to have Rodri over Busquets.

Rodri won the Euros with Spain in 2024, went undefeated throughout that season, won the most personal illustrious award in football history, tore his ACL, and it’s not a coincidence that when he left, things went downhill for his club; returned from the injury; had multiple injuries after returning; made mistakes; and was deemed finished at the top at just 30 years old in his prime years, and in just a few months’ time, he leads his country to the most prestigious tournament in world football while being named MVP of the competition.

It is one thing to tear your ACL and return; it is another to return and perform at a high level. It is also another thing to return, perform at an insane level and lead your club or country to glory. You simply have to put some respect on Rodri’s name! and I frankly don’t like him (I don’t hate him either)

What’s next for Spain? (Or Spanish Football)

Spain will now shift gears for Euro 2028 and the World Cup 2030, entering both tournaments as the tournament holders. Spain will simply be looking to build on that momentum on the back of back-to-back tournaments and could replicate the dynasty between 2008 and 2012.

This was more than a football match between Argentina and Spain; it was both teams with different identities, as I mentioned earlier, meeting in a transcendent state, and Argentina was at the top of world football, with 2 Copa Americas, 1 World Cup and a Finalissima all in the span of 3 years.

It was clear that this was more of a passing the torch encounter from Messi to Yamal and from Argentina and Spain, who look to dominate world football. Spain dominated world football between 2008 and 2010, winning two Euros and a World Cup. Argentina replicated that feat, and now Spanish football seems to be entering its peak years again.

If you also look beyond the numbers and performance on the pitch, Spain are implementing a similar model to what made them successful in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which is simply going into games with the mindset of dominating each game. We saw this with Belgium, World Cup favourites France and their latest victim being the tournament holders, Argentina.

It’s much more scary if you look at it outside of the international lens and on club football: Enrique, back-to-back UCL winner; Mikel Arteta, who just won the Premier League and played in the UCL final; Xabi Alonso entering a new tenure at Chelsea; Iraola at Liverpool and many more. Spanish football could dominate next!

Awards:

Golden Ball: Rodri was the MVP of this Spanish side; even when Pedri wasn’t at his best, he still kept the midfield together, being the orchestrator and also on the defensive end of this, cementing himself as one of the greatest midfield anchors in football history.

Young player of the tournament: Pau Cubarsi was the catalyst alongside Laporte in the Spanish defence, keeping 7 clean sheets and one goal conceded at just 19 years! Finally glad to see him get his flowers and recognition as young player of the tournament.

Golden glove: Unai Simon with one goal conceded and 7 clean sheets in 8 games, which is a new record!

Top Scorer: Kylian Mbappé, with 10 goals, also set the record as the all-time scorer in World Cup history.

Genuinely speaking… Who the hell wins the Ballon d’or?

France vs Morocco

France will kick off their fourth straight quarter-finals and Morocco’s second straight quarter-finals on Thursday, with this being the second time both countries collide in the World Cup. The first came in the previous edition in the semi-finals, where Les Bleus prevailed on that occasion with a 2:0 win against Morocco.

This is a match which is closer than a lot of people could imagine, with both teams trying to dominate the game, as they are both ranked in the top 10 in ball possession per game; France is ranked 7th with 60.6% in ball possession per game and has accumulated more possession than their opponents in each of their games. Morocco has been outpossessed just once and is in 8th place with 60.4% possession managed. This has translated to both teams being ranked in the top 5 in terms of big chances created, with Morocco at 5 with 17 and France at 3 with 21 big chances, and 5 have come from Michael Olise and have translated to 5 assists in the tournament, and Brahim Diaz, who has been the primary playmaker of the Moroccan team, is ranked 2nd in assists with 4, behind Olise and tied with Bruno Guimarães.

Moreover, from a defensive standpoint, both teams have established a solid defensive record, mostly due to France’s midfield pivot of a 10/10 ball-winning midfielder, Tchouaméni, and an energetic workhorse, Rabiot (I have something coming out about him post-World Cup), and the full-on offensive force, with Olise dropping deep; this has created the moderated balance between the offensive and defensive framework.

However, Morocco will be looking to integrate a transition game which could be effective, as Morocco is the team with the second highest number of sprints per game at 125.4, just behind Curaçao, and with technical players like Hakimi, who is inverted most of the time, Brahim Diaz and Ounahi, which could be key in how effective the transition could be. Considering, too, that France has conceded the 12th least xg (as per Fotmob), there’s a good chance that Morocco will be able to hurt France defensively. No doubt, statistically, France has the best attack with the most goals scored from the 3rd most xG generated. France will definitely cause damage to Morocco from an offensive point of view, but from a Moroccan perspective, it is simply more about causing lasting damage to the French’s defence and trying to defend the overpowered attack compactly.

As for predictions, I think both Saïbari and Tchoumanei will be huge misses for their respective clubs, but from my analysis and lens, I have to give France the edge in what I think will be closer than most of us think. Scoreline-wise, I go with a 3:1 win for France, with Ounahi causing lots of damage for France and potentially registering a G/A. Don’t want to spam Mbappe, but he could do a lot for France.

France vs. Morocco,

Time: (9pm BST / 4pm ET / 1pm PT)

Venue: Boston Stadium.

Spain vs Belgium

Spain will take on Belgium for the first time in 10 years and the first time in 36 years at an edition of a World Cup. The last time these 2 powerhouses met in the World Cup, it was in the 1990 World Cup, and Spain came out on top with a 2:1 win, and Gorriz scored the winner on that occasion.

This is a game with two teams possessing some form of contrasting framework in terms of the disparate ceiling of teams. Spain is entering a new golden generation with Lamine Yamal at the helm and other supporting cast members like Olmo, Pedri, Cubarsi, Cucurella and others who were exempted from this World Cup squad. Whilst Belgium, on the other hand, is on the back end of an adroit generation with players like De Bruyne and Lukaku past their prime years, the Belgian national team has transitioned into a new phase.

The Spanish philosophical mechanics have always been about cruise control and building defensive solidity, which is depicted by being ranked 3rd in ball possession per game behind Turkey and Germany, having outpossessed all their opponents in their fixtures. Whilst the defensive solidity is depicted in the fact that they have the best defensive record in the competition, conceding 0 goals so far, and have also conceded the least xG in the competition at 1.5 (as per FotMob). This has always been the principle of the team and was the catalyst for their most successful era in history and also for establishing themselves as one of the greatest international dynasties of all time.

However, this Belgian side isn’t as star-studded as it was in recent years, but their offensive contribution is a key reason as to why they have been competitive in the competition so far. From the stats, they seem to be more lethal and clinical in front of goal. Rudi Garcia’s side has scored the 3rd most goals in the competition despite being ranked in 13th with 14 big chances created while being ranked 16th in big chances missed with 7. That simply highlights the “efficiency” of this Belgian national team side going forward despite the quality lacking, and Rudi Garcia has been able to utilise his secret weapon, Lukaku, who ranks dead last in shots on target per game at 0.6 but somehow has been able to register 3 goals in 5 games, and those 3 goals came when he came off the bench in his last 3 games for the Red Devils.

For my predictions themselves, I will go with a 2:0 win for Spain due to the fact that Belgium are some of the most clinical sides in this competition, but in terms of chance creation, they are a decent side but simply aren’t better than some of the dominant sides in the competition, which will be a main factor in breaking down the Spanish defence. The Spanish will continue to build on their established defensive identity and resilience heading into the semi-final of the competition. I also think that defensively, the Belgians could struggle due to Onana’s injury and missing the games (wishing him a speedy recovery), and I’m not really sure which Spanish side shows up, either the one that squandered a lot of chances, like against Portugal, or the team that will be clinical in front of goal. A 2:0 seems more logical from my standpoint.

Spain vs. Belgium

Time: (8pm BST / 12pm ET / 9am PT)

Venue: SoFi Stadium.

Norway vs England

This will be their first-ever meeting in 12 years and their first-ever meeting in a World Cup tournament.

Norwegian football is simply at its peak of its prowess with an unwavering identity built around a flamboyant and exuberant style of football simply translated into them creating the 3rd biggest chances in the competition and scoring the 3rd most goals. This has made Haaland the recipient of such and is ranked 2nd in top scorers with one fewer than Messi and tied with Mbappé.

It is also to be noted that despite being ranked 3rd in big chances created, Norway have also missed the second most big chances behind England, despite having a conversion rate of 22.6, with Japan and the Netherlands being slightly above them.

Odegaard is the primary playmaker of this team, and Sander Berge provides defensive solidity for the Norwegian midfield, leading his team in interceptions per game. In terms of width, this side incorporates a Sorloth on the right-hand side of the attack, bringing in his physicality and the technical savvy of Nusa. Mind you, Norway also possesses some adroit wide options on the bench, like Schjelderup and Oscar Bobb, who could potentially come in and hurt England defensively. For more on the tactical breakdown of the Norwegian national team, check out Max’s excellent piece here!

Max’s Substack

Erling Haaland and the Fairytale Story of Norway at the 2026 World Cup

The drowning heat of New Jersey in July is hardly the natural habitat of a Norwegian footballer. Yet, the humidity became irrelevant when substitute Andreas Schjelderup lofted the ball into the penalty area during a deadlocked 79th minute. Rising above Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães, Erling Haaland powered a header past Alisson Becker. Eleven minutes later…

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2 months ago · 16 likes · 1 comment · Max Anderson-Parrott

Speaking of England, Thomas Tuchel’s side just displayed their best performance yet in the game against Mexico, and for a huge chunk of the competition, they have been largely uninspiring, largely in the first half of most of their games. The three lions will be looking to build on that momentum in their clash against Norway, who, in my opinion, have a fair chance of getting past.

From a defensive standpoint, England is much more of a solid defensive unit, being ranked 19th in xG conceded per game with 5 goals conceded in the competition. England’s defensive flaws were also exposed in the game against the DR Congo but were bailed out by a Harry Kane double. I also view their chance creation to be the strongest part of their game as the lead with 23 big chances created, but their conversion rate is in question, missing 15 big chances, the most by any team, and they have amassed a 13.8 conversion rate, being 5th in most shots on targets per game, as per FotMob.

For my predictions, I see England struggling in the first 45 minutes of the game and with their defensive frailities being exposed. However, I think England manages to advance after the end of regulation with Bellingham putting in a masterclass. I think the end of regulation could be a scoreline of 1:1 or 2:2, but the point is that England advances over Norway regardless.

Norway vs. England

Time: (10pm BST / 5pm PT / 2pm PT)

Venue: Miami Stadium.

Argentina vs Switzerland

The defending champions Argentina play Switzerland, who are partaking in their first quarter-final since 1954 and their 3rd in their World Cup history. Switzerland have also never made it to the World Cup semi-final and could be looking to make history in this edition of the World Cup.

Speaking of Switzerland, another player will have to step up for the Swiss as a result of Manzambi’s injury, who leads the team in goals, assists and big chances created and is also a very impactful player in how they play. Take their most recent game against Colombia, where they generated their lowest xG in a game, being 0.39, whereas their opponent, Colombia, generated almost 3 times the xG created by Switzerland. That could be a real hindrance against Argentina because sitting back deeply against Argentina might not be the solution, as seen by previous opponents who resulted to such approach.

I also think that Switzerland (If they decide not to sit deeper) will try to hunt down Argentina using the wide areas due to Manzambi’s absence and the technical prowess of Vargas who leads the team in key passes, and N’Doye, who is a 1v1 take-on specialist accumulating the highest successful dribbles per game in the team at 1.6 on 57% They will try to exploit the wide areas of Argentina’s backline, being Tagliafico and Molina.

From an Argentinian’s point of view, other than Messi (top scorer of the competition), the offensive players have been largely uninspiring. This is deduced from the fact that Messi has scored 8 out of Argentina’s 14, and he leads the tournament in expected assists (2.44) and big chances created (6) but somehow has still accumulated just 1 assist despite these numbers. Regardless, on an individual note, Messi doesn’t seem to be slowing down, with 13 goals in his last 9 World Cup games dating back to the previous edition in 2022. Messi has now failed to register a goal contribution just once in his last 13 World Cup games and failed to score just once in his last 12 World Cup games.

Defensively, Argentina are a solid side, winning 50% of their overall duels, and have been exposed in their last 2 knockout games, conceding 4 goals in 2 games compared to just 1 goal conceded in the 3 group stage games. Moreover, Switzerland seems to be the biggest test yet in comparison to the calibre of other teams faced.

For my prediction, I see Switzerland qualifying over Argentina (I’m joking). On a more serious note, Argentina will qualify over Switzerland for a place in the semi-final. In terms of scorelines, I will go with a 3:1 win for Argentina with Lautaro Martínez getting on the scoresheet, finally coming in clutch and getting his second goal of the tournament.

Argentina vs. Switzerland

Time: (2am BST / 8pm PT / 5pm PT)

Venue: Kansas City Stadium

All venue and time information gotten from DAZN.

These are quarter-final predictions and let me know your thoughts in the comments and also, if you want to watch the games, feel free to DM or email me (totally free)

The World Cup Round of 32 just got concluded, and we witnessed some spontaneous scenes unfold and historical memories created in that round. We had teams like Senegal and Germany get knocked out in embarrassing fashion and countries like Norway, Switzerland and co-host Canada all make history.

Moving that aside, I also dropped predictions for the round of 32, with some being immaculately correct while some weren’t so well predicted. However, you can check it out here and let me know how well you think I did as well as your thoughts and opinion.

Canada Vs Morocco

I will start with these two teams because this stage of the competition kicks off with the co-host, Canada, in their first-ever knockout stage run, up against AFCON finalists and the team that finished in 4th place in the last edition of the World Cup.

Morocco is currently at the highest pinnacle in Africa and objectively is the best team in Africa with an immensely high ceiling and elite players in multiple positions from Hakimi to Mazraoui to Bouaddi to Ounahi to Diaz to Ehannous to top scorer Saibari; this team just possesses a lot of elite players all around. Morocco are still unbeaten in this competition; not just that, but they have not lost since the 2024 edition of the AFCON in a 2:0 defeat against South Africa in the round of 16.

As for Canada, this is more like a golden generation of Canadian football with players like Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Stephen Eustaquio all at the helm of it. Canada has just one in this edition, and it came in their group stage game against Switzerland.

Canada has just outscored their team twice out of four encounters compared to Morocco doing so 3 times and came close in the game against Brazil. Although Canada has a better defensive record than Morocco, conceding twice and keeping 2 clean sheets, unlike Morocco, which has kept one clean sheet and conceded 4 times in the tournament. These two teams actually met in the last edition of the World Cup in 2022, with Morocco coming out on top in a 2:1 win where Aguerd scored an own goal in favour of Canada.

For my predictions I will go with a 3:2 win in favour of Morocco. I see Canada creating chances with Eustaquio, with 3 big chances created, and he is 6th, tied with Lionel Messi, Hakimi and 13 other players. There’s some doubt about whether Canada might convert those chances, even though they have scored the 6th most goals in the competition, tied with Brazil, Belgium and Switzerland, but they sit at 3rd with the most big chances missed, tied with Norway, at 11. Morocco also has a fierce attack, creating the 6th big chance behind England (Idek how…), France, Norway, Brazil and Senegal, so a 2:1 win seems much more logical.

Time: 6:00 PM (BST) 1:00 PM (ET) 10:00 AM (PT)

Paraguay Vs France

The 2018 World Cup winners and the runners-up of the last edition, France, will clash with Paraguay later today for the first time in the World Cup since 1998, an encounter which Les Bleus won 1:0.

This will be their 3rd encounter in a World Cup tournament and their 5th encounter, including friendlies, and France have been on top in 4 out of 5 of those meetings.

Paraguay knocked out Germany in the round of 32 to get to the round of 16, whilst France had to knock out Sweden via a double from both Mbappé and Olise. Paraguay are not the most astute star-studded side you can think of and are a direct contrast to the French, who possess high quality going forward with immense depth as well, which has translated to France scoring the most goals in the competition, with 13, and creating the second-most big chances by any team.

I have learnt from my Swedish error and will not overcomplicate things by over-analysing straightforward games like this, so I am going with a 3-0 for France, courtesy of Mbappe and Olise making light work for France. Mind you that Michael Olise‘s 4 assists out of 5 have been to Kylian Mbappé, so a 3:0 win for France will send them through to the quarter-finals, where they will meet AFCON finalists Morocco!

Time: 10:00 PM (BAT) 5:00 PM (ET) 2:00 PM (PT)

Brazil vs Norway

5-time winners Brazil will play the Scandinavian kings Norway in what will be their 3rd ever knockout game in their World Cup history. Both teams originally met in the 1998 World Cup, with Norway coming out on top in that encounter with a 2:1 victory, which helped them (Norway) secure qualification to the knock stages for the first time in their history.

Brazil got the better of Japan to get to this round, whilst Norway eliminated Senegal, both ending in a 2:1 encounter to make it thus far. Speaking of both teams, I think Norway’s chance creation is going to be a big problem for Brazil, creating the 3rd most big chances and just one ahead of Brazil, but hopefully Brazil’s defence could bail them out, as they have the third most lead goals conceded at the World Cup but at the same time have just played Morocco, who on paper could go toe to toe with them, and Japan also caused problems. Definitely it is that much of a huge task to break down Brazil’s defence.

However, I think this game will be a goal galore; not just the numbers but also the quality of players possessed by both teams going forward, especially with world-class talents like Vinicius and Haaland, for both teams can be depicted in their output and numbers.

I am going for a coin flip: Brazil wins 3:2 or they advance via extra time/penalty shoot-outs. But I can only pick one outcome, and that is that Brazil advances with a 3:2 win via a masterclass from Vini and someone not named Haaland turns up for Norway!

Time: 9:00 PM (BST) 4:00 PM (ET) 1:00 PM (PT)

Mexico vs England

Mexico vs England is another interesting tie, with both teams having met just twice in their history and just once in the World Cup back in 1966, and England came out on top on both occasions with a 2-goal difference as well.

I remember when I reacted badly to your hot takes back in March, and said this: “England will get kicked out of the WC in the round of 16 by Mexico.” At the time it seemed crazy to say and was much more hypothetical. Even now, it still is, and all 7 people that voted disagreed, and now we’ve seen how both teams have played, their stats, and how their ceiling could potentially be, and now I’m ready to join Steve in the Mexico boat. I also think it’s crazy that they indeed clashed in the round of 16 and were predicted!

You can also check it out here:

Speaking of England, they haven’t really impressed anyone with their performance but have been able to gather results, including their previous game against Congo, where they were almost eliminated. This England squad has just had a run of inconsistencies; today it could be Spence, tomorrow, it could be their wide areas not creating anything, or it could be their centre backs being casual on the ball or one thing or another. I also think England’s first-half woeful performances will definitely come into play with my prediction here.

You look at Mexico, who, alongside Spain, have the best defensive record in the competition, and Mexico have won all their games in this competition so far, and not to mention playing at the difficult Azteca Stadium, which the Mexican national team haven’t lost at since September, 2013, and have lost twice out of 89 competitive matches at the Azteca Stadium. England are also presented with the problem of altitude, which is 2,240 m above sea level, which could affect physical fatigue and recovery, plus the stadium capacity of 87,000 and just their last game against Ecuador, which had 80,000 people in attendance at the Azteca. My prediction will be Mexico advancing via extra time or penalties; maybe Alvardao or Quinones gets Mexico firing.

Time: 1:00 AM (BST), 8:00 PM (ET) (Sun) 5:00 PM (Sun) (ET) (watch this space if the game time gets changed)

Portugal vs Spain

Portugal vs Spain, a repeat of the 2025 Nations League final, and the last time both sides met in a World Cup was in the 2018 edition in Russia, which was a goal feast led by Cristiano Aveiro Dos Santos, who got a hat trick in a game which finished 3: 3.

In terms of the quality of all-round players, this is the pinnacle of football for the Portuguese golden generation lead by Roberto Martinez, who infamously fell short of expectations with the Belgian golden generation (I have been vocal about him, and you can check out my previous articles) but this Portugese side is gifted with players like Nuno Mendes; some of the best midfielders in the world, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes; and is lead by a 41-year-old Unc who still silences haters in the big 26 in the person of Cristiano Aveiro dos Santos, Ronaldo.

Coming up against a Spanish side who, in the span of a decade, possess their best talent, especially attacking-wise, led by an adroit young player in the person of Lamine Yamal. This Spanish side is one of the most complete sides in global football. You look at their defence, from Cucurella, who is one of the best in-and-out defenders in world football, to the CB partnership of Cubaris and Laporte, a midfield pivot of Pedri and Rodri, who both complement each other, and Lamine Yamal, who is a 1v1 specialist, a chance creator and sets the cadence for the Spanish attack alongside the technicality of Alex Baena and Oyarzabal, who’s hit the ground running for Spain in his first ever World Cup.

In terms of both teams, I see Spain winning the midfield battle between both teams because the Portuguese midfield hasn’t coherently lived up to expectations at this World Cup, coming off the back of a relatively successful season from an individual and from a domestic point of view; we saw it in games against Croatia where this midfield was outplayed by 40-year-old veterans Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic. I could see the Spanish side making good use of the the ball, unlike Portugal, who, in terms of ball possession, are “all barks and no bite”

Finally my predictions (if you gamble or bet on games based on my predictions which I won’t advise but don’t gamble on this game in terms of my predictions) will be the Portugese side to go through in via extra time or penalty shootout

Time: 8:00 PM (BST) 3:00 PM (ET) 12:00 PM (PT)

USA vs Belgium

In my predictions I had both teams’ predictions quite perfect, with USMNT winning 2:0 and Belgium advancing via extra time or penalty shootout. Maybe it could replicate itself here and there’s only one way to find out…

The co-hosts will clash against Belgium, who are clearly past their golden generation; to be fair, this generation ended in the 2022 World Cup. The USMNT have not defeated Belgium since the 1930 World Cup in an encounter that ended 3:0 and saw the USMNT top their group.

On an individual note, Belgium has been uninspiring at this World Cup and has only had 1-2 good games at this tournament so far. On the other hand, this is the first real test the USMNT are facing so far in this tournament, and their top scorer has been Florian Balogun, with Pulisic failing to live up to expectations so far and not having scored for the USMNT in a competitive game since the Concacaf Nations League in 2024 against Jamaica. He has also had injuries, and his league minutes have been restricted so far in this tournament. Undoubtedly Florian Balgoun will be a huge miss for this USMNT and will get knocked out by Belgium (aka Doku and Pray) in a 2:1 win with Trossard or Tielemans firing.

Time: 1:00 AM (BST) / 8:00 PM (ET) (Mon) 5:00 PM (PT) (Mon)

Argentina vs Egypt

Argentina vs Egypt can’t get as direct as it seems, just like Argentina vs Cape Verde or so we thought… By that logic I could say Egypt advances via a shock 1:0 win, but I’m obviously just joking.

However, on a more serious note, these two clash for the first time ever in their history, and Argentina currently have the upper hand against a historical Egypt side led by Mohammed Salah, who made history for them by scoring and assisting in the game that sent them through to the knockout stages.

I will say this is the most successful era in the history of Argentinian football, led by 39-year-old Lionel Messi, who is past his prime but somehow still turns up for his country in this tournament, but the other players‘ performances, for me, should be brought into question, like Alvarez, Nico Gonzalez, Almada and Lautaro Martinez, who really haven’t lived up to expectation in this World Cup and went toe-to-toe with Cape Verde; you can’t seem to ignore the disparate performance between Lionel Messi and the other attackers

Before the Cape Verde game, I already locked in a 2:0 win, but I thought of going for a 2:1 win, but I might just revert to a 2:0 win for Egypt with Lautaro Martinez finally stepping up.

Time: 5:00 PM (BST) 12:00 PM (ET) 9:00 AM (PT)

Switzerland vs Colombia

The last game of the round of 16 will be Switzerland vs Colombia and they do have history playing just once in the 1994 world cup hosted by the USA, with Colombia coming out on top in that meeting, winning the game by 2:0

Both teams have largely impressed me, winning three out of their 4 games and only drawing just once. On one hand, Colombia have had the better defensive record between both teams, conceding just one goal in 4 games, whilst for Switzerland, it’s not been relatively underwhelming, conceding 3 goals, and their first and only clean sheet came in their last game against Algeria. Daniel Munoz, for me, has been one of Colombia’s standout players alongside the defensive partnership of Davinson Sánchez and Lucumi, and I can’t also rule out Lucho (Luis Diaz), but for Switzerland, if there’s anyone to make a difference, I will fancy Manzambi to make the difference. At just 20, sooner or later, I reckon he earns a move to a bigger club. I won’t also rule put Vargas or N’doye producing some magic for Switzerland

My prediction will be Switzerland going through with a 1:0 win courtesy of a Manzambi goal. and will set up a quarter-final clash against current holders Argentina.

Time: 9:00 PM (BST) 4:00 PM (ET) 1:00 PM (PT)

That’s all I have; let me know your thoughts and what you think about them, and if you disagree, let me know in the comments. As requested by a subscriber, if you need links to watch your games, DM me (totally free)

The group stages are completely wrapped up, and the knockout stages advanced yesterday, with South Africa sadly getting eliminated from the competitions. Unexpectedly, South Africa surpassed my expectations but was outdone by co-hosts Canada so late in the game. Maybe in another timeline, it could be different.

I will also credit (great channel, btw) because he did something similar for the group stages, and I have decided to write up my round of 32 predictions, and here they are!

Brazil Vs Japan

I’ll start with Brazil v Japan. Nakamura and Tanaka have been running the show in the Japan midfield, and maybe Brazil’s midfield struggles, but in terms of quality of players, that’s where Brazil has the edge, so a 2:1 Brazil seems more logical, with Vini firing them to the round of 16, which they have never failed to qualify for in their World Cup history.

Germany Vs Paraguay

The second game is Germany V Paraguay. I think this is quite straightforward, but Germany has not been convincing, and Neuer ranked 46th in saves per game and hasn’t kept a clean sheet since the 2014 World Cup final; I think it’s everyone eats – Germany. Paraguay gets a goal, then an Undav and Nmecha masterclass bails them out. I reckon a 3:1 win for Germany.

Netherlands vs Morocco

The Netherlands v Morocco is really close and is not as straightforward as a lot of us might think. The Netherlands haven’t lost to an African team in their World Cup history and also haven’t lost in regulation since the 2006 World Cup knockout stage, but surely either of those records will come to an end, as I have gone with a 2:1 win for Morocco either in extra time or a penalty shootout. The point is Morocco advances. Morocco is currently the most dominant African side right now. Will we see the Brahim Diaz-Saibari link-up again, or maybe Gakpo and Brobbey will show us something up their sleeves?

Ivory Coast V Norway!

This is a real test for both sides. For a country like Norway, how high is their ceiling? And Ivory Coast advances to the knockout for the first time in their history! How far can Yan Diomande take them? Speaking of Yan Diomande, he will have a quiet game in this encounter. However, I fancy both teams’ attacks with a 3-2 scoreline in favour of Norway.

France vs Sweden

This brings me to my next game between France and Sweden. Both sides’ biggest strength is the quality of players they possess going forward. Moreover, overall France does have the better squad between both teams. I could potentially see Sweden causing problems going forward, especially players like Elanga who are quick in transition, and again, Gyökeres’ hold-up play has always been a huge question mark for me. We also saw how badly the Netherlands exposed Sweden. This isn’t a game I could see Sweden dominating, so I would give France the edge over Sweden with a 4:2 win with an Mbappé and Olise party, but for Sweden, I could see other x-factors like Ayari being the difference-maker. This will set up a round of 16 clash between Germany and France.

Mexico vs Ecuador

In a competitive competition, Mexico hasn’t beaten Ecuador since 2007, and the last time they both met at the World Cup was in 2002, with Mexico coming out on top. The game is going to be played at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. I think the home advantage should be enough to send Mexico through to the round of 16 with a 1:0 win in courtesy of a Quiñones goal.

England vs DR Congo.

England should be able to get the better of Congo. I think glaringly, England’s chance creation will be a problem for them (England), especially in the first half, and Sebastien Desabre, who is the head coach of the Congolese national team, has equipped this side defensively; being able to transition from a back four to a back five will be instrumental. in helping them contain England. England has a solid defence and might be able to maintain it in transitions, but DR Congo will definitely cause problems for England, and it will be down to a moment of magic from Jude Bellingham to send England through. I am going with a 1:0 win or a 2:1 win for England. Potato, potato.

Belgium vs Senegal.

Where do I even start with this? Belgium has just had one good game at the World Cup so far, and Senegal were unlucky to be placed in the same group as Norway and France, but in the game against Iraq, they reminded everyone as to why they are champions of Africa. Maybe Senegal could have that iconic run like in the 2002 World Cup, where they eventually lost to 3rd place, Turkey, in the quarter-finals.

This game is largely dependable on the type of Belgium NT that will show up. At least they’ll be happy to have Doku back, but I’d say Belgium advances in extra time or penalties. Disclaimer: Don’t be surprised if Senegal advances; it could go either way!

United States vs Bosnia.

I think this should be a comfortable win for the co-host nation against Bosnia, whom they are undefeated against in all competitions (just friendly games) and haven’t had to play against each other in any competition to date. United States and Pochettino rotated in their last game against Turkey. The United States should be able to win this with a 2:0 (in courtesy of Balogun, but the LeBron James of soccer has a quiet game) win to qualify for the round of 16 consecutively since 2006.

Spain vs Austria.

Spain are one of the favourites for this competition, and that has translated into them having the defensive record of any team in the competition. This is also giving a similar vibe to Spain in the 2010 World Cup, just conceding 2 goals all tournament long. Maybe they win again with another defensive masterclass.

On a personal note, other than the game against Saudi Arabia, this Spanish side haven’t really been at their best collectively, as seen in games against Uruguay and Cape Verde. Yamal didn’t have the best of games in his recent outings. Surely I think Nico Williams will be a huge miss, especially on the left-hand side, but Yamal will guide Spain to the round of 16. Defensively, Austria has been solid, but it’s not a defence that the Spanish team can’t break down. I am going with a 3:0 win, with Yamal and Olmo making light work of Austria.

Portugal vs Croatia.

Other than Morocco vs Netherlands, this is one of the tightest fixtures in this round of the competition. I have had 2 articles where I have talked about this Portuguese side, so I am not going to really dwell on them; however, I would like to add that Portugal has several main issues which will undermine their performance, especially against elite teams that can punish them. There’s a visible lack of cohesion in this squad, and they don’t play like a properly coached team; Croatia will look to exploit this. Also, Croatia has had an impressive World Cup pedigree in the knockout stages in recent years. It’ll be sad to see either of them leave, and surely it’s a last dance for Ronaldo and Modric, so we’re going to have a legend leave on Friday night.

My honest prediction is that this game is going to be a very close game and feasibly end at regulated time with Bruno Fernandes scoring the winning penalty. But I will lock in a Portugese win on penalties (I believe I was unbiased)

Switzerland vs Algeria

Switzerland should go through here against Algeria, but I don’t see it as an easy game by any means. Algeria had to score 3 goals in a World Cup game for the first time since 1982 just to qualify for the knockout stages. I reckon this could be a high-scoring game and will end 3:2 in favor of Switzerland, with Embolo missing at least 2 big chances! Mahrez, Xhaka, and Bentaleb, or either of them, will have masterclasses.

Australia vs Egypt

I’m not the only crazy one who thinks that Australia could advance against the pharaohs. I see Patrick Beach of Australia having a good game! He is currently tied alongside 8 other keepers for the second-most clean sheets in the World Cup. I also think Australia could go through an own goal. Salah’s World Cup journey sadly ends here.

Argentina vs Cape Verde.

Where do I start? Maybe just another Messi hat trick and Argentina winning by 4 goals (I’m joking). Obviously Messi is going to score, but you might want to call me the 2:0 merchant, but that’s what it is going to be! with Messi scoring at least 2 goals to ignite the race for Just Fontaine’s record.

Colombai vs Ghana

I believe this is where I drop the ‘Ghana to win the 2026 World Cup’ gimmick because sadly their time here might come to an end unless that witch doctor that put a curse on Harry Kane not to score somehow shows up and places a curse on Colombia not to score.

In reality, Ghana are a defensively astute side, with Carlos Queiroz implementing a flexible defensive shape, either a 4 at the back or 5 at the back. But what could cripple them in this game is their decision-making in the final third and Kuds being a huge miss. As for Colombia, they are a good side defensively, but they offer more going forward compared to Ghana. Players like Lucho (Luis Diaz), who specialises in 1v1 take-ons; James Rodriguez, still pulling the strings at 34; Munoz, who offers a lot going forward as a right-back and is defensively solid; and the partnership duo of Davinson Sánchez and Lucumí. This Colombian team is here to cook! The final prediction is a 1:0 win for Colombia.

The World Cup group stages are finally wrapped up, and the knockout stages commence from today. However, let’s look at some of the World Cup group stage games that concluded yesterday.

Colombia Hands CR7 Fans Reality Check?

Both Portugal and Colombia came into this game knowing that they had all to play for. Portugal’s win would have seen them top the group, and Colombia avoiding defeat would have seen them finish as group leaders and set an encounter against Ghana, which ended up being the outcome of the game.

Speaking on the game itself, it was a lacklustre performance from the Portuguese in terms of offensive output, and on the defensive side, they weren’t atrocious but still had to be bailed out by Diogo Costa several times, who made 6 saves and prevented an xG of 0.61.

The midfield was uninspiring, and let me not get started on the wide players like Joao Felix and Pedro Neto, who both failed to create any real chances and completed 1 dribble between them. Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and Ruben Neves were solid but never really created anything going forward, and somehow Ronaldo will be the subject of criticism despite not having enough chances created for him.

In as much as the players deserve their own fair share of critics, Roberto Martinez, in my opinion, is the catalyst for the undermining of the Portuguese players. There’s a reason why he finished in 11th place twice with Everton 2 years in a row despite finishing 5th in his first season. Before he got to Everton, Everton were an established European outfit, finishing outside the top 7 (in 8th place) once between 2006/2007 and 2014/2015 in his second season at the club.

Yet somehow after the howler at Everton, he got the Belgian national team job. I remember seeing this move as a 13-year-old, and I was really perplexed at the managerial choice. What did he do with Belgium, actually with Belgium’s golden generation? 1 bronze finish in the 2018 World Cup (imo, largely due to the brilliance of players like Hazard and De Bruyne), a Euro 2020 quarter-final exit, a third-place runner-up in the 2021 Nations League, and his most infamous moment was the group stage exit in the 2022 World Cup, a group with Morocco, Croatia and Canada.

And again, despite his performance at Belgium, it was good enough to earn him the job with the Portuguese national team, and coincidentally he’s managing another golden generation, and yet again, despite the astute squad on paper, he is falling short of expectations on the pitch. Portugal have it all to do in their fixture against Croatia. Taking into account that they have the stronger team on paper, yet it doesn’t translate to results on the pitch and Croatia’s recent World Cup performance has been astronomical, it’s safe to say CR7’s gang is cooked!

Moreover, I won’t be discrediting Colombia, who are a well-coached team with defensive solidity and team balance and cohesion. They also have varieties going forward, and it’s a shame their goal got ruled out due to offside. I also think maybe if Munoz had started, he could have made a difference in the game. He’s hit two goals despite filling in at right back, and those inverted runs he makes help the team going forward. They have now set up a round of 32 clash against Ghana, which on paper is Colombia, but considering that they have just won one knockout game, it’s not crazy to think they could be surprised by Ghana. However, speaking on the context of Ghana and Croatia.

England And Croatia Win

For the third straight game in a row, England were abysmal at best in the first 45 minutes of a World Cup game. It’s now starting to feel like there’s really not much of a difference between Tuchel’s and Southgate’s ball.

It seems evidently clear that England struggles against low-block teams, as is evident from the games against Panama and Ghana, in which quality ended up being the real difference-maker in the Panama game.

Jude Bellingham has been England’s saviour time and time again and somehow still gets disrespected by many and is praised by just a few. Harry Kane also established himself as England’s most successful player in the World Cup, beating Gary Lineker’s record, and is now England’s all-time top scorer in the World Cup.

Reflecting on the game itself, both Kane and Bellingham were crucial to England’s win but struggled against Panama’s back-five setup, and Panama just kept a mere 33% possession of the ball and was largely dominated by England. From a defensive standpoint, the three lions look defensively solid and composed but haven’t faced any real test just yet, and Rashford offered much more on the left-hand side compared to Antony Gordon in the last 2 games for England. I wonder if the Barcelona hierarchy are reconsidering their decision.

The three lions finished top of their group and will meet World Cup debutants DR Congo. Surely they get them over the line?

Croatia also managed to secure all three points against the Black Stars, Ghana, and secured a second-spot finish, winning back-to-back games in the process.

I watched this game, and Ghana has an astute setup defensively, creating that flexibility, but I think the main problem with this Ghanaian team is their decision-making in the final third. Sure, I think Kudus may have injected life into the attack, but he is a huge miss. This Ghanian team is good in transition, and you can only imagine how dangerous they could be with better decision-making in the final third.

Ghana is also really dangerous from set pieces and dead-ball moments, with their two big chances coming from such situations. I also think the introduction of Ernest Nuamah was a breath of fresh air for the Black Stars, creating the big chance which led to the goal.

From a Croatian standpoint, they’ll be thrilled to win that game and also score the first goal against Ghana in this edition of the World Cup. For a larger part, Croatia controlled the game, and unc’s like Luka Modric (being the oldest player to assist in a World Cup game) and Mateo Kovacic both assisted for the second and first goals, respectively, and Vlasic scored the winner in the 83rd minute. It’ll be interesting to see how Croatia’s and Portugal’s game pan out

Uruguay Sent Packing + Cape Verde Makes History

The inaugural champions of the World Cup and two-time world champions, Uruguay, have just been eliminated from the group stages. In a group of Spain, Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, surely on paper Uruguay was seen as second best, but that hasn’t translated on the pitch, missing the World Cup knockout stages for the third time in their history and the first time since 2002.

Uruguay failed to win a single game in a World Cup group stage for the first time since 2002 and, for a larger part, were inspiring in all of their games. Muslera had his fingerprints on all the group stage games for Uruguay, accumulating an error leading to a goal in each of the games he played in; he is the keeper with the fewest goals prevented (dead last at 50 out of 50) and is the fourth-lowest keeper in saves per game at 1.3, surpassing just Neuer, Hyland and Lawrence Ati. It is really sad to see the 40-year-old end his international career on this note.

However, collectively it is quite surprising that this Uruguay side was this atrocious, and just almost 2 years ago in the last edition of the 2024 Copa America, these guys won bronze and conceded just 2 goals in their run whilst also eliminating Brazil and sadly falling short to Colombia in the semi-final.

However, from a Spanish perspective, they were not at their best but still managed to get the result in courtesy of an Alex Baena goal. Yamal, Oyarzabal and Merino didn’t do much in the game, but Spain are an elite defensive side and were in their 2010 World Cup-winning campaign, conceding just 2 goals. However, I also think that wide players like Nico Williams should start more often; he specialises in 1 v 1 situations, is quite athletic and has a good eye for goal. Offensively, I do hope that Spain starts making it click.

Moreover, that didn’t stop us from witnessing drama at full time, and Canobbio was ultimately shown a red card for completely losing his cool in an altercation involving Dani Olmo. What a way for your World Cup journey to absquatulate!

Cape Verde also joins DRC Congo in making history as joint debutants that made it to the knockout stages in this edition of the World Cup. This makes them the smallest nation to qualify for the knockout stage of this World Cup with a population of 530,000 people.

Individually, speaking of Vozinha, what a journey he has had! currently playing in the second division of the Portuguese side for Chaves, making history, like becoming the oldest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in the world and now the oldest goalkeeper to keep 2 clean sheets in the World Cup group stage game. Vozinha is second in goals prevented behind Angus Gunn of Scotland and is second joint in clean sheet behind only Unai Simon and is tied with 9 others

Cape Verde drew all their remaining games, staying undefeated and keeping two clean sheets in two games. Cape Verde is now the 9th African team to qualify for the World Cup knockout stages. I’m wondering what Gattuso and Carragher are thinking now?

They are now drawn to play against the current World Cup and Copa América holders, Argentina. Imagine the scenes if the unthinkable happens

Game Of The Tournament Elimiates Iran

The game of the tournament between Austria and Algeria, who both needed a draw to qualify, but if either had won, that would have seen Iran qualify as the 8th best third-place team.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if risk-averse football were deployed here from both sides, as a draw was enough for both parties. but unc, Arnautovic gave Austria the lead in the 28th minute after a long cross from David Alaba and Algeria then reply from Belghali in the 45th minute meaning both teams went into the break levelled at 1:1

Marcel Sabitzer restored the lead for Austria 10 minutes after the restart in the 55th minute. 5 minutes after, Algeria restored parity after a brilliant run from Hassem Aouar to assist Mahrez, who then found the back of the net, bringing it level. In the 93rd minute, the 2019 AFCON champions took the lead for the first time in the game from a Mahrez and Aouar combo again. This meant that Iran would have qualified, but Austria secured qualification in the 96th minute after a cross from Laimer, finding Gregoritsch, who then poked it for Kalajdzic, bringing the scores level.

Algeria secured qualification to the knockout stages for the first time since 2014, and Austria did so in their first world cup in the 21st century.

While Iran are still waiting to book their knockout stage tickets for the first time in their history despite 6 attempts. That also throws the most farcical fixture out of the window between Iran and the U.S.A. in the final. I would also want to give credit to Iran for showing up and fighting despite the dissent between them and the U.S.A. and how the players were being treated; sadly, their dream has ended.

Six Of The Best For Messi + Other Recaps!

Despite already securing qualification and Argentina having nothing to play for, the 2022 team secured a win against Jordan, who were also eliminated from the group stages.

Argentina rotated resting key players like Lionel Messi, Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandes, Romero and Lisandro Martinez.

That didn’t stop Argentina from taking the lead in the 19th minute after a left-footed left bin from Lo Celso. Lautaro Martinez then converted from the penalty spot to make it 2:0 to Argentina, sending them into the break with a 2-goal advantage.

10 minutes after the second half kicked off, Jordan reduced the deficit by one goal after Mousa Al Tamari fired from close range before Lionel Messi restored the 2-goal lead for Argentina, scoring a left-footed free kick to the bottom left corner. This takes Lionel Messi’s goal tally to 6 at the top of the charts, scoring in his last 7 World Cup games dating back to the round of 16 in the 2022 edition.

Lionel Messi has reached his second-highest tally in terms of goals but has done so in his joint fewest games (3). For context, Messi’s most goals at a World Cup tournament were 7, which was last year, scoring 7 goals.

He is currently on 6 goals in 3 games, which is the same ratio as Just Fontaine in the 1958 World Cup, and ended up with 13 goals in that competition, which is the most scored by a player in a single World Cup campaign, and Messi could possibly have 2 extra games to break the record.

I already did my review on the france and Norway game with my note here

The knockout stage commences in a few hours’ time as of the time of writing this; however, let me know your thoughts on who wins this World Cup, especially if the display at the group stage has influenced your view or thought on a certain country.

Bonus Country: Ghana and Japan…

Apologies for my lateness, guys! I had a really busy day last night, but it is safe to say that Ghana is winning the World Cup.

GHANA IS WINNING THE WC!

Coming into this clash, England were high favourites, walking away with a win in this game considering how well they played against Croatia, shutting them down completely and adding a further two goals. That was some of the best football the country had played under Tuchel, creating 5 out of their 7 big chances in the second half.

Whilst Ghana had a 1:0 win over Panama, courtesy of a Caleb Yirenkyi goal in the 95th minute of the game following a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante. Ghana were dominated in a large chunk of the game, out-possessed 62-38% and conceded 11 shots to their 7 shots taken, but still managed to generate more xG than Panama.

Reflecting on the game itself, it was a similar story to the Panama and Ghana game, with Ghana amassing an abysmal 21%, putting them 3rd to last in possession per game, only above Qatar and Paraguay. Ghana generated an xG of 0.17 and took 2 shots compared to England’s 1.36 xG and 19 shots, with a huge chunk of them coming in the second half.

This depicts how one-sided the game was for most of the game; however, Ghana remained compact defensively, defending narrowly and forcing England wide most of the time, putting in crosses in the game. Moreover, the wide players like Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke didn’t help matters, both failing to impact the game largely, and Madueke even failed to complete a single dribble throughout the game. Jude Bellingham too had an off game. Their only big chance created came from the right back Reece James to show you how non-existent the attack was in the game.

There were some improvements in the second half with wide players like Saka and Rashford coming in and other players like O’Riley and Eze coming in, with O’Riley hitting the crossbar and the 3 saves made by Asare, the Ghanaian goalkeeper, all coming in the second half.

It is worth knowing that Ghana could have been awarded a spot kick, but that wasn’t given due to the scenario being ruled as offside, but I also find it perplexing that no VAR check was given.

Ghana have successfully kept a clean sheet in yet another World Cup game and are now joint top for clean sheets alongside Argentina, Spain and Mexico, which is a huge feat for Ghana and could be enough to see them through the knockout stages for the first time since 2010 and will be their third time in their World Cup history to qualify for the knockout stages, only failing to do so twice in 2014 and 2022.

Speaking of the Wolrd Cup Knockout Stages…

CR7 RESPONDS TO CRITICISM WHILST BREAKING RECORD

Portugal might have just booked their slot in the knockout stages following a 5:0 demolition of Uzbekistan, who are debutants in this World Cup. Considering the disparity in terms of quality of players, it was no surprise to see Portugal dominate on the night, which easily translated to a win for Portugal.

Speaking on the game itself. which was largely dominated by Portugal, Portugal got on the scoreboard in just the 6th minute with the GOAT in Portuguese football history being on the receiving end of a João Cancelo cross. Nuno Mendes doubled the scoring in the 17th minute following a freekick just at the edge of the box. After a brilliant run from Bruno Fernandes, he then set up Cristiano Ronaldo, who got his second and Portugal’s third on the night, which made him Portugal’s top scorer in World Cup history, surpassing Eusébio, and the player to score in 6 straight World Cup editions.

Portugal started the second half, continuing to control and dominating the game, which made them the recipients of an own goal from Nematov, and Rafael Leão rounded up the scoring in the 87th minute for Portugal’s 5th on the night.

I like what I saw from this Portuguese side tonight; sure, Uzbekistan were largely non-existent in the game, either on the defensive end or the offensive end, failing to contribute to the game. However, credit to them for outrunning Portugal.

From a Portuguese standpoint, the majority of the players came under scrutiny due to the recent performance against Congo, with Ronaldo being the catalyst for such criticism after failing to score in his last 10 Euro and World Cup appearances for Portugal dating from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and it was relieving to see him score a brace.

Both Mbappe and Haaland go band for band as both countries book a knockout spot.

Both Norway and France secured wins in their second game. This sets up a high-profile, intense battle for when they both collide on the 26th of June, being just 2 days away.

However, reflecting on the game itself, starting off with France, who defeated Iraq 3:0, a very unsurprising outcome, as the difference in quality was just enormous, and France delivered, falling short of expectations without doubt. Le Bleu captain and all-time scorer got France off to a flying start, scoring after an assist from Michael Olise in the 14th minute from outside the box to the left corner, going past Basil.

Moreover, the second was delayed for a huge amount of time due to the bad weather, but when it kicked off, France continued to dominate, adding a second and third with Mbappe scoring the second and Dembele assisting him. The Ballon d’or holder finally got his first goal for France in this competition with Olise setting it up for him, meaning that Dembele, Olise and Mbappe all accumulated 2 goal involvements each, the most scary attack of the competition.

Shifting gears to Norway, who got the better of legitimate African champions Senegal in a close 3:2 win.

Pederson got the Scandinavian giants Norway off to a flying start heading into the break in the 43rd. The second-half resume, as did Haaland, resumed the goal tally with an assist from Arsenal skipper Senegal, then pulled one back with Sadio Mané assisting Ismaila Sarr before Haaland gave Norway a 2-goal cushion and Ismaila Sarr reduced the deficit for Norway in the 93rd minute.

Due to the goal difference and France’s win, Norway sits second on the table and could potentially go first with a win against France, but I have my money on the 2018 WC winner, France, to avoid defeat and cement their place as group leaders. While Senegal should get the better of Iraq on matchday 3.

With both Mbappe and Haaland serving back-to-back man of the match, this means that only 3 players have won multiple man of the match awards in this World Cup thus far: Messi, Mbappe and Haaland.

Algeria review…

AFCON quarter-finalist Algeria got the better of Jordan, deplorably eliminating them from the competition.

Algeria came into this game knowing that a win is mandatory to keep their hopes of qualification for the third time in their history, with the most recent being the 2014 World Cup.

Algeria came into this game after getting outdone by a Lionel Messi hat-trick, and a defeat could have reiterated itself after going behind in just 36 minutes after Tamari assisted Al-Rashdan. However, Algeria did go into the break behind and drew level in the 69th minute with a Mahrez assist from a corner, and Benbouali got the better of it before Gouiri restored parity and was initially given after a VAR check which secured the win and all three points for Algeria.