MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Tuesday, July 21st 2026 - 21:34 UTC
The coach attributed the defeat to the opponent's performance: “We lost because they played better, it's good to acknowledge that.”
In the hours after Argentina's 1-0 defeat to Spain in the 2026 World Cup final, social media filled with posts claiming, without offering evidence, that the result was “fixed.” Fact-checkers and Argentina's own coach, Lionel Scaloni, moved to dismiss those versions.
The narratives, spread on X, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, attribute the loss to alleged pressures or hidden interests. Among the most repeated are a supposed FIFA-UEFA deal to crown Spain, an alleged “punishment” over the banner reading “Las Malvinas son argentinas” that players displayed after knocking out England, and purported threats to the footballers. None of those claims rested on documents, identifiable testimony, or formal complaints, as verification organizations such as Argentina's Chequeado and Spain's Maldita.es confirmed.
