FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 - DISCUSSION AND WATCHALONG THREAD ⚽️. Part 10

[placemats]

Carrying on from the last thread. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/world-cup-2026/5556172-fifa-world-cup-2026-discussion-and-watchalong-thread-part-9

Brilliant xx

they looked sulky, and were bad losers
obviously not aggressive which I never said

How many losing teams/individuals in any sport have you seen being delighted to be beaten? I can't recall who it was but years and years ago a player threw his losing medal into the crowd after the FA Cup Final. Try as a few might there can never be a justification for the violence perpetrated by a lot of the Argentinian players nor for the lack of intervention by their management at the time.

The idea that removing medals is bad losing is contentious anyway, but good to see you separate out the two things.

I don't agree England were 'bad losers'. As I said above, their behaviour and demeanour were pretty much par for the course for footballers losing a final of a major tournament.

They didn't assault their opponents, argue with the ref even after the whistle was blown, or turn their back on the winning team on the podium. That's what you call bad losers. And they're equally classless in victory.

I don’t like any players taking their 2nd place medals off the minute it was put round their neck - it doesn’t happen in any other sports. I would hope to never see England do that again. But that is a far far cry from how Argentina behaved and shouldn’t even be in the same conversation

Coming here to mourn passing of Kevin Keagan. I’m a Newcastle fan with great memories of

I heard this about Argentinians. They think they’re better than other South and Central American countries. Because of their ancestry.

If so, you could see that might tie with the idea I reported upthread that the Argentinians were Anglophiles.

I hadn't realised that the assistant coach was involved in the melée:

https://metro.co.uk/2026/07/20/spain-star-dani-olmo-punched-argentina-coach-world-cup-final-29180431/?ito=facebook%7Csocial%7Cmetroukfacebook&ito=facebook%7Csocial%7Cmetroukfacebook

The lyrics in Spanish are different to the English ones, so no, they aren´t singing that...

The original is Belgium.
Guess the Spanish had to change their version a bit.

No idea, I grew up hearing this song at parties sung by Manolo Escobar in the 70s and 80s in Spanish, and I lived behind a hotel and you heard it every summer night, so I got to hate it.

It was a surprising choice for the WC celebrations that's for sure.