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Argentina "disgrace" under FIFA probe as another coach is sacked
SEN • July 21st, 2026 10:06 am
With his World Cup career likely over, Lionel Messi has broken his silence on the pain of losing to Spain in the final.
Messi was silenced in the decider, struggling to lead his side into causing any kind of hardship on the eventual winners.
Argentina failed to register an attempt on goal until extra-time by which point they were down to 10-men.
For Messi, who at 39 is widely expected to call time on his international career before the next World Cup cycle, defeat was crushing.
“The pain is so great and it’s going to be hard for me to close this wound,” he wrote on social media.
“But I’ll keep all the good stuff too.. With the matches we turned leaving everything and that will remain forever in the memory, with the support of an entire country that together with the work and effort of this group led us to be, once again, among the best in the world.
“Today it’s hard to evaluate what we did, but this group reached two consecutive World Cup finals.
“Thank you very much from the heart for every greeting and for every message.
“Once again we manage to unite as a country and be all together, sharing the immense pride of being Argentinian. I also want to congratulate Spain for the championship.”
DISGRACEFUL SCENES
FIFA has launched an investigation into the disgusting scenes which followed Spain’s World Cup final victory.
Argentina players and staff launched physical attacks on Spanish platers as they celebrated winning the World Cup.
Argentina’s assistant coach Roberto Ayala is seen punching Spain’s Dani Olmo in the face while Leandro Paredes was seen punching Eric Garcia and Gavi.
Nahuel Molina and Nicolas Otamendi were also caught up in the disgraceful scenes which were globally slammed as the defending champions failed to accept defeat.
“It’s a disgrace,” former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on ITV.
“I love the competitiveness of the Argentines, fighting and scrapping for their lives, Messi has propped them up, but it’s been a disgrace the last few games.”
Confirming the investigation, a FIFA statement said: “Following an assessment of the relevant match reports for the Fifa World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, and in line with article 36 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code (FDC), the Fifa Disciplinary Committee has appointed a Disciplinary and Ethics Prosecutor to investigate potential breaches of the FDC with regard to the post-match incidents."
Argentina is also under investigation for political statements made in the wake of their semi-final victory over England when players unfurled a banner which read ““Las Malvinas son Argentinas” referring to the ownership of the Falkland Islands.
Another coach bites the dust:
It’s been a brutal World Cup for international coaches with Belgium’s Rudi Garcia the latest victim.
Despite leading the country to the quarter-finals and navigating the global scandal that was Donald Trump having a USA player’s red card and subsequent ban overturned, Garcia’s contract will not be extended.
As of July 31 he will be back on the job hunt and another international vacancy presents itself.
Garcia is the 17th World Cup coach to be sacked or resign this tournament meaning 35% of the bosses are gone and there could be more to come with pressure mounting on Thomas Tuchel and others.
COACHES TO RESIGN OR GET SACKED:
- Pape Thiaw - Senegal
- Roberto Martinez - Portugal
- Zlatko Dalic - Croatia
- Javier Aguirre - Mexico
- Julian Nagelsmann - Germany
- Ronald Koeman - Netherlands
- Sebastian Beccacece - Ecuador
- Steve Clarke - Scotland
- Carlos Quieroz - Ghana
- Vladimir Petkovic - Algeria
- Sabri Lamouchi - Tunisia
- Herve Renard - Tunisia
- Miroslav Koubek - Czechia
- Hong Myung-bo - South Korea
- Marcelo Bielsa - Uruguay
- Jamal Sellami – Jordan
- Rudi Garcia - Belgium
