Argentina are through to the World Cup final after securing a last-minute 2-1 win against England. But the result is not without its controversy, with some fans believing the competition has been rigged in their favour
England’s World Cup dreams came crashing down on Wednesday evening when they were knocked out of the competition by Argentina – and not everyone is convinced they had a fair shot.
Despite taking the lead, Thomas Tuchel’s team ended up losing 2-1 in the semi-final. Even before the English squad took to the pitch in the Atlanta Stadium in Georgia, football fans had started to spread wild conspiracies that the World Cup has been rigged to ensure Argentina win the final. Ahead of Sunday’s big clash, we take a look at some of the controversial moments surrounding Argentina’s journey in the 2026 World Cup.
The lead-up games
Argentina’s first World Cup match against Algeria saw a hat-trick for Lionel Messi – but many questioned whether he should have remained on the pitch after he appeared to rake his studs down the back of Aissa Mandi’s right leg in the 32nd minute. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who may not have seen the incident, did not award a foul with the video assistant referee deeming the clash unworthy of a sending-off.
Argentina received zero bookings in their game with Algeria, against whom they committed 13 fouls to eight. They also had none in their second match against Jordan, who picked up three yellow cards despite committing almost half as many fouls.
Accusations of favouritism intensified after Argentina were given a scare by Cape Verde in the round of 32. Fifa president Gianni Infantino stopped to talk to Argentine television, congratulating the country and saying he suffered with them during the match, before quickly clarifying that he spoke for “us, neutrals, who were rooting for both teams”.
Eyebrows were also raised when they took on Egypt earlier in the tournament. With Argentina trailing 1-0 after a missed penalty by Messi, Egypt appeared to score a second goal. However, VAR intervened to rule it out because of a foul committed 100 yards away, which had taken place more than 20 seconds prior in the build-up. Then a penalty claim by Egypt’s Mohamed Salah was denied just before Enzo Fernández scored Argentina’s 93rd-minute winner. The Egyptian Football Association filed a formal complaint, with their manager calling the match “clearly rigged”.
Next up, Argentina faced Switzerland in the quarter final. The controversy began in the 72nd minute – five minutes after Dan Ndoye had scored to bring the Swiss level at 1-1. Referee Joao Pinheiro initially cautioned Argentina’s Leandro Paredes for a challenge on Switzerland forward Breel Embolo, only to overturn the call after a VAR review concluded Embolo had initiated contact.
Since Embolo had already received a warning earlier in the contest, the second yellow card triggered an automatic red, forcing Switzerland to compete the rest of the fixture with 10-men.
The ruling immediately sparked outrage across social media, with supporters charging FIFA with skewing the tournament to benefit Argentina. “Of course as soon as Switzerland ties it up with Argentina, the Swiss get a red card…. but, no, not rigged at all,” one supporter posted.
It wasn’t just Argentina’s own matches that perpetuated the conspiracy theories. France were considered at the time to be the biggest threat to Messi and his squad. So there was plenty for fans to say when Fifa announced that five of the on-field officials for France’s quarter-final against Morocco would be from Argentina. Nevertheless, France ended up taking the win, 2-0.
England vs Argentina
The ref
The match was officiated by referee Ismail Elfath, described as Messi’s ‘favourite referee’. Elfath is a referee in Major League Soccer and was fourth official in the 2022 World Cup final – where Argentina beat France on penalties.
He has officiated four Inter Miami games featuring Messi – including the Leagues Cup final. And notably Messi has won every league game with Elfath at the helm.
England fans were quick to take issue, therefore, when the half-time whistle went, and Messi headed straight over to Elfath. The two teams headed to the changing rooms goalless after a fiery, stop-start first-half, which saw 19 fouls and no shots on target.
“Messi trying to sweet talk the ref,” one supporter complained on social media, while another commented: “Messi conversing with the ref team after half time whistle like he’s running the show.”
The headlock
One stand-out moment that had England fans up in arms was when Messi appeared to get away with a rugby-style tackle of Jude Bellingham. The Argentinian was seen grabbing the young star in a headlock – with no repercussions from the referee.
“WHY IS MESSI DOING RUGBY TACKLES IN FOOTBALL,” one fan questioned, while another said of the Argentinian team: “They clearly can only win by cheating, no matter how talented he is the constant fouling is embarrassing and i just don’t view them as winners at all.”
Bellingham, who can speak fluent Spanish, was seen embroiled in a conversation with Messi in the first-half during a brief pause in play, resulting in Messi making a pointed facial expression and Bellingham laughing as he walked away.
Bellingham later played down the incident, saying: “We was discussing a foul actually, it was nothing bad. I’m sure everyone will do their thing and make it a big deal but it was nothing big really. I thought there was a foul earlier and he said ‘what about the one on me?’ and I said ‘you’re strong enough to take it,’ you know what I mean?
“It was a privilege to play against him, it was nothing like that against him. I’m obviously on the losing side which hurts a lot but a privilege to line up against one of the best.”
The stamp
It was by no means the only controversial move by Messi. There has been outrage on social media after he appeared to ‘stamp’ on Djed Spence in the build-up to Argentina’s second goal which sent them into the World Cup final.
Footage appeared to show Messi catching the foot of the England full-back with his own while attempting to win the ball. But Spence stayed on his feet, and Messi was then able to get the cross into the box for Martinez to score the winning goal.
Fans took to social media to react to the incident, with one person writing: “Messi’s stamp on Spence before Lautaro’s goal, why does VAR only work when the goal is against Argentina?”
Another commented: “How was that not called as a foul.” A third said: “Spence should have gone down and rolled around here, worked for them all game.”
The elbow
It was Enzo Fernandez who scored Argentina’s second goal, securing their place in the final. But some England fans questioned whether he should have still been on the pitch after an incident that took place within three minutes of the match starting.
The game got off to a very physical start with some questionable moves from the Argentinean team. But it was when Fernandez whacked his elbow into the back of Elliot Anderson’s neck, sending the 23-year-old to the floor, that tempers started to flare – not least because the Man City player didn’t get a yellow card.
Minutes later, Fernandez stopped an England counterattack with a trip just outside the box. Again, there was no sanction.
“Dirty,” one angry fan wrote, while a second said: “Argentina have too much talent to play like Millwall. Pathetic.” Another noted: “Ref should start carding now or he will lose complete control of the game.”
A third person slammed the competition, writing: “It’s not worth watching the final; we all already know they’re going to hand the trophy to Argentina on a silver platter.
“The favoritism and shamelessness of the referees and FIFA in this so-called “championship” is an unprecedented disgrace.”
Foul count
The semi-final match between England and Argentina made World Cup history – but not in a way fans hoped. It was the first match in the competition to not have a single shot on target since records began in 1966.
There were plenty of fouls in those tense opening 45 minutes, however; 19 in all, though – 12 from Argentina and seven from England. Despite that, referee Ismail Elfath only awarded two yellow cards – one for England’s Elliot Anderson for a foul on Lionel Messi and another for Argentina’s Lisandro Matrinez.
By the final whistle, the foul count had risen to 26, making it one of the most physical World Cup clashes, with four cards in total; 3 for Argentina (Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero, and Rodrigo De Paul), and the one for England.
The banner
After the final whistle went at the Atlanta Stadium, some Argentina players celebrated while holding a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” – translated as “The Falklands are Argentine”.
The Falkland Islands is the subject of a dispute between Britain and Argentina over sovereignty of the British overseas territory territory, and in 1982 the two nations went to war over the islands, leading to the death of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen. Three people from the islands also died.
Lisandro Martínez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.
As a result, Argentina face the prospect of disciplinary action from Fifa, which prohibits political slogans on the field
In 2014, Fifa fined the Argentine Football Association £20,000 after its players held up a banner with the same message before a friendly against Slovenia.
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni had said before the game he did not want the fixture to become about the conflict over the British overseas territory. But Argentina vice-president Victoria Villarruel had described England as “invaders” and “usurping pirates” in the build-up to the fixture, and tweeted a victory message at full-time by saying, “it wasn’t just another match” alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentinian soldiers.
She also shared a photograph of the team holding the banner.
In reference to the banner, Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle described the Argentina’s players’ behaviour as “entirely inappropriate.” He told BBC Breakfast: “Politics needs to be separate from football, in fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football.”
He said that “that is now a matter for Fifa”, adding that he expects Fifa to investigate “thoroughly”.
