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Argentina complain to FIFA and claim Spain have unfair World Cup final advantage
Jul 18 2026 08:49 · By James Goldman · 22 Reads
Lionel Scaloni is unhappy with FIFA ahead of the World Cup final against Spain (Credits: Nick Potts/PA Wire)
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni fears his side have been put at an unfair disadvantage ahead of Sunday’s
World Cup
final against Spain.
The defending champions took a major step towards defending the title they won four years ago with
another rousing comeback win
on Wednesday night against
England
.
Spain, meanwhile, booked their place in the final with
a far more straightforward 2-0 win
against France 24 hours earlier and could benefit from the additional recovery time the schedule has granted them.
Furthermore, Scaloni was left less than impressed with
FIFA
’s insistence that his squad was forced to train in sweltering temperatures on Friday afternoon in New York, having only arrived a matter of hours earlier.
‘We’re just now resting because we arrived last night around 11.00,’ he said. ‘Today they forced us to train at a time we didn’t want.
‘But with the press conference and everything, we had to do a strange, quick training session, and we hardly got to try anything out.’
He added: ‘We are focused on rest and based on that we will see how they arrive, because there are players who are not at 100%.
Lionel Messi was in relaxed mood ahead of the World Cup final (Picture: Getty)
‘We will evaluate how they are. We play thinking about ourselves, but being mindful of the good things that the opponent has.’
Scaloni also maintained his team is being driven to bring the trophy home again by the fans who have provided astonishing support over the course of the last six weeks.
‘You see your people, how they celebrate, how they are happy, that gets you, it’s impossible for it not to touch your heart,’ he said.
Argentina’s fans have carried their team to the final with incredible support (Credits: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock)
‘At the end we play for them, the team plays for the country, for their family,’ he said.
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