Postscripts:
The 2026 World Cup was full of spectacle, scandal and compromise Guardian
Top 30: from half a million World Cup photos, why I love these the most Guardian
Spain win
The 2026 World Cup champions are Spain beating an ugly Argentina team 1-0 after extra time.
England finish 3rd
After a massively disappointing 2-1 loss to Argentina in the semi final England beat France 6-4 in a crazy 3rd place game that ended up becoming one of the games of the tournament.
Wonderwall probably never sounded better!
Cabo Verde
Cabo Verde lit up the 2026 World Cup qualifying in second place from a group that included Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uraquay.
In the round of 32 they lost 2-3 in Miami to the 2022 World Cup champions Argentina after extra time. Capo Verde were fearless. They may have been defeated but they put their small African archipelago on the world’s sporting map.
Their 40 year old goalkeeper, Vozinha, has been both their talisman and social media star with his Instagram followers growing from 50,000 to over 19 million.
Sidney Lopes Cabral scored what could be the goal of the tournament in the 104rd minute to tie the game at 2-2 before the Argentine winner eight minutes later.
Mexico v England – last 16 – Azteca Stadium
Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Breathtaking – a game that had everything.
Barney Ronay in the Guardian: England rise to Azteca occasion and see off ghosts, time and Mexico
“This was the most extraordinary, agonising night of football as an experience of the mind, body, bones, guts, blood and back of the neck. During which England overcame not only the Mexican national football team over 90 minutes plus an extendable eternity of added time; but an event, an iconography, a set of ghosts.”
Frites 4 Cheats 1. Tintin 4 Tonto 1
The Rest of the World willing Belgium to beat the over-hyped USA in the last 16. This followed Trump intervening with three phone calls to FIFA head man Infantino to over turn a red card issued to a USA striker.
Embarrassing for the USA; worse for FIFA.
Barnet Ronay in the Guardian:
“It had to be a strategy. In the buildup Trump had been all over the World Cup like an overly friendly estate agent standing too close in the lift, breathing down its neck, fondling the trophies, toying with the attentions of the Fifa president, who spent 18 months chasing him around like a lovesick nine-year-old, offering a friendship bracelet, a peace prize, a magical ball.”
All the presidents’ meddling: the Balogun scandal shows how Fifa can break football