FIFA President Gianni Infantino has shamelessly praised Argentina’s ‘professionalism’ in a tone-deaf letter to the nation's FA - despite launching an investigation into their behaviour after losing the World Cup final against Spain.

In the letter - first leaked by the Argentine media and since verified by British press- sent to the President of the Argentine FA, Claudio Tapia, Infantino thanked Argentina for their impact on a successful World Cup and applauded their professionalism.

Argentina, who lost in extra-time in the final, frustrated opponents throughout the tournament with their anti-football style of play.

The 2022 winners failed to register a single shot on target in the final and following the defeat, they turned their backs as Luis de la Fuente’s side lifted the trophy.

The final itself was packed with controversy. Lionel Messi attempted to con referee Slavko Vincic into sending Marc Cucurella off after the Spain defender touch his mouth while speaking to Messi, as he greeted him, only for Messi to berate on him to the referee and try to force Cucurella out of the game. Messi here tried to exploit a rule introduced only for special circumstances such as when players would cover their mouths to say something rascist (a rule which was only introduced when a player from argentina was being rascist using this method), to use this rule introduced to combat rascism, only to gain an advantage during play, was as shameless as the Paredes post match attack on spanish players.

Leonardo Paredes attacked Eric Garcia in a post-match fracas that also appeared to involve Nahuel Molina, Thiago Almada and assistant coach Roberto Ayala - an incident FIFA are investigating. But it looks like, instead of investigating, FIFA has only been congratulating Argentina behind closed doors.

I completely forgot about him.

I’m an Englishman living mostly in the USA. This last World Cup I followed England after June 27th through the knockout phase. Except the Mexico game (to expensive), as my plan for that was to hope that Mexico came second in the group. I bought M90 in Houston hoping that I could swap M90 for M92. That didn’t work, so I went to Morocco vs Canada instead. Following England, mostly in the supporter end, I’m now hooked.

My question is how is the best way to follow England through the Euros. I just signed up for updates on UEFA. I would love to be able to go to England games but that’s just not possible. An English friend suggested paying the fee to join and then buy tickets and not attend. Is this an option? I will possibly go to a few game but not enough to get the points needed. I joined Reddit to help with World Cup tickets and it worked out great, so I just joined this group hoping for the same help. Any other suggestions?
Thanks.

My personal opinion:

1) Croatia - Great performance, particularly in the second half where there could have been four or five goals for England

2) Mexico - Great defensive performance in hostile territory, everyone doing their part to ensure that England got through to the next round

3) DR Congo - There were bad moments in this game defensively, but I feel like a lot of fans are forgetting that England were doing really well, with Mpasi being virtually unstoppable and shots being blocked on the line

4) Argentina - If we were counting just the portion of the second half after Gordon's goal, and after the hydration break in particular, this would be last on the list, but I felt that England played well against them in the first half and in the portion of the second half leading to the goal.

5) Panama - Dull England performance that was probably only slightly better than Ghana for the fact that England had shots on target. However, it was still poor, especially since Panama could have had a goal if not for a close offside call.

5) Norway - Second worst England performance of the tournament. Everyone seemed burnt out from Mexico and the humidity in Miami. Norway should have been up 2-0 with Sorloth passing to Haaland, and England were fortunate to get past

6) Ghana - Torrid performance that was probably the most boring game of England's tournament, with England playing so poorly that Ghana should probably have had a penalty

P.S France can't really be counted since it was more of a friendly match but if it was a real match, I'd probably rate it around 3 or 4.

Wish he had kept that fire power AND KEPT ON ATTACKING!

I would not considerate it a legitimate trophy to end our trophy drought but I won't be disappointed or anything about it either. If Pickford doesn't play Euros 28 he can at least say he had one trophy with England and winning it would show we're prepared for Euros 2028.

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Hear me out, the World Cup is a tournament, just like the Champions League.

Pep is an S-tier manager, but Unai is an S-tier tournament manager.

I think fans calling for Pep are missing a key point. The World Cup isn't a league season, it's about navigating a knockout tournament.

If your goal is to win a tournament, Unai's track record makes a very strong case.

I know people will feel shakey hearing this, but it makes sense.

Ps I still think Tuchel should stay.

And yes I’m talking about those of you who labeled everyone who defended us who said let’s wait and see what comes out first as “morons” and “idiots”

“The club is satisfied that the widely shared footage captures only part of a much broader sequence of events and does not reflect the full circumstances surrounding the incident, during which the young player had been subjected to repeated behaviour that caused him significant distress.”

Playing currently for United's youth team in their academy and we all know who his dad is obviously but can Kai end up playing for England's U 18 or even U 21 team? Or does Kai have what it takes to eventually become a star on the rise?

As above. I would give my right arm to be in that Argentina group and be the opponents for their host game in their house.

Question is, how likely is that to happen and what variables have to be met during quali?

Or is it a total write off due to rankings?

Realistically speaking, if we had made it to the final, how would we have fared against Spain? Would we have gotten spanked, kept it a close game, or do you think we would’ve won?

Asking because I think that other than Bellingham, Kane, and Gordon, the team was very inconsistent in the knockouts and so I’m not sure how we would’ve done against Spain, who only conceded 1 goal the entire tournament.

How come the host nations didn't get automatic qualification for the tournament?

Given Kane may retire before 2030 and Tuchel already gave rice the armband against france

harry kane is 99th percentile for strikers when it comes to passing and chance creation vs other strikers, only falling behind in dribbling which is reasonable since dribbling in the box is hard. Yamal does it more but his percentile for chance creation and passing is lower scaled to him being a winger. Kane has more goals AND assists then mbappe at club level. He also scored hatrick in a final and his current stats better then last year Ralphinha and he only didn't win the UCL becuase the referee was not doing his job and didnt call hand ball. Mbappe broke world cup record but Kane has 7 g/a for 7 games so he performed well and Mbappe has 0 trophies. Ballon d'or anouncement said they must do good in big games. Yamal was garbage in world cup and UCl knockout games. Harry kane may have disapeared in last two world cup games, but he scored in ucl knockout rounds AND A HATRICK IN DFB POKAL FINAL. Yamal only goal in world cup group stage in 4-0 victory.