midgetlover

World Cup

France0 - 2Spain

midgetlover@midgetlover

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★14 Jul 2026

I feel so vindicated after saying throughout the tournament that if there was one team who could stop this French 'super attack', it is Spain. This Spanish side is so perfectly built to counter the exact kind of football the French like to play and have proven to be a thorn in their side for a few years now. The way they completely neutralized this French front 4 by just keeping, passing, and not allowing the French to have any time on the ball was an absolute joy to watch. This domination almost reminded me of the 2010 squad, not with as much 'aura', but just so incredibly professional. As much as I love Pedri, I do have to say that a midfield of Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, and Olmo just works so well. The thing with Pedri is that he often does a lot of the work that Rodri already does for the Spanish NT. This makes it difficult for him to have a consistent role in this team as it leads to DLF pushing him forward, which just is not his role. Fabian, on the other hand, has a completely different profile which complements Rodri and Olmo much better, and that was seen today as Spain's midfield 3 completely nullified Tchouameni and Rabiot. Olmo, also, has quietly had yet another excellent tournament for Spain while Rodri is back to bossing the midfield and dictating the entire tempo of the game like he never had that ACL injury. It also didn't help that France just allowed Spain to take so much control, and outside of a couple of long balls from deep and long shots, they barely managed to create anything of substance. It's almost as if they'd accepted their fate as soon as Porro scored the second and never once managed to threaten Simon (outside of that one brainfade moment). Special shoutout to Cubarsi who has had an unreal tournament at the heart of a Spanish defense that has been rock solid throughout. If Spain manages to win the entire thing, he, for me, would be a massive contender for not only YPOTT (which pretty much seems locked on at this point) but also POTT.

Player of the match

Fabián Ruiz

Spain

World Cup

Spain2 - 1Belgium

midgetlover@midgetlover

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★10 Jul 2026

Spain's strategy this WC is one that is incredibly simple. They will bore the opposition to death by passing around for 90 minutes, and then hit them with the Merino dagger off the bench. And, ngl, it's working.

Player of the match

Pau Cubarsí

Spain

World Cup

England1 - 2Argentina

midgetlover@midgetlover

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★4w ago

This game pretty much summed up both England and Argentina perfectly. Argentina played rather defensively for the most part and, one might add, very aggressively, while all England wanted was one goal, the first goal. And they even got that goal from Gordon, who was found with an absolutely delicious cross by Rogers. And then Tuchel made some baffling tweaks that just made the entire English team sit back in an extreme low block and defend for their lives for the next 40 minutes. England ended the game with six, yes, SIX defenders on the pitch. What this also causes is that if you happen to concede a goal or manage to hoof the ball out of your own penalty area, you have no attacking outlets remaining with Gordon, the only one in this English side who could exploit the Argentine defensive line with his speed, being taken off. Every single English player was behind the ball, and all Argentina had to do was pepper them with crosses and passes into the box to pin them back. The problem with this game plan is, and why it worked against Mexico and not against Argentina, is one man: Messi. You CANNOT go into that defensive of a structure without any intention of attacking with that absolute DEMON on the pitch. And once again, just like against Egypt, he stepped up, took the onus on himself in the last 20 minutes, and turned this game around pretty much single-handedly. He had able allies in Enzo and Lautaro, but pretty much 90% of everything went through Messi on the right flank, either beating his man on the outside and whipping a cross in or cutting in and playing those absolutely sublime one-twos to open up the English backline. And I can't lie, I enjoyed every minute of him running the clock back. One has to soak it in; he might only play one more game in Argentine colors. People may dislike this Argentine team, but watching Messi play at his absolute best is always a special, special thing to witness.

Player of the match

Lionel Messi

Argentina