There’s a term in the sports world called the announcer’s curse. No, this does not mean that fans have to listen to Bollywood actors or cricket pundits talking about football, but the moment a commentator praises a player, he starts to underperform. Now, people don’t know what the opposite is, but yesterday Criticized for offside Spain’s 2,500 passes without a goal in the World Cup is like an aimless Christopher Columbus, who may have been Italian but represented Spain when he began his search for the New World, rather than India who ended up in the Caribbean but is still credited with discovering America.A furious La Roja tore up the script as their 18-year-old talisman Lamine Yamal showed why he is considered the greatest player of this and future generations. Expert Guillem Balague called it a combination of “arrogance and confidence” and revealed that Yamal plays international football in the same way he plays five-a-side on the streets.Wayne Rooney, who knows a thing or two about prodigies, pointed out that when Messi came to Barcelona, he also had people like Ronaldinho as the “main force”, while Yamal came to Barcelona and Spain as the main force.Yamal became the seventh player to score at the World Cup before turning 19, reminiscent of a young Brazilian named Pele at the 1958 World Cup, but it didn’t make the world smile. 41 seconds into the game, he won a God-given chance from Johan Cruyff Gain Cruyff-like recognition His 10th-minute goal set the stage for Spain’s dominance.Meanwhile, Cape Verde continued their volcanic form, although their first goal was rather fortuitous as the Uruguayan wall parting like the red sea Let Kevin Peña’s ball go in the hole. Maybe it’s some crazy tactic from Marcelo Bielsa that’s beyond the comprehension of the average fan. Uruguay fought back with two goals but again we saw some collective madness as the Uruguayan goalkeeper raced out of no man’s land on a poor pass, allowing substitute Helio Varela to sprint in and score. The ball goes past the goalkeeper with the first touch and shoots from outside the penalty areacausing commotion among Cape Verdean players and supporters.
Bielsa fans have always believed that his love is more important than results, but as things stand, this Uruguayan team has neither and will need a miracle to advance to the next round. That’s not the case for Cape Verde, though, who, along with Curacao, are the most popular minnows at this World Cup.Punjabis like to say that Singh is the King, there was once a Singh who played for New Zealand but with Mohamed Salah and his team-mates finally parting ways, this is the return of the King Egypt World Cup Ducks Helped the Pharaohs win the World Cup for the first time, breaking the 92-year championship drought. Before the game, only Honduras had gone without a win the most times at the World Cup, but Egypt will not be happy with just one victory and hope to go further in the tournament.Finally, we saw the decline of Belgium’s golden generation in real time as they drew 0-0 against the “most oppressed team” in the World Cup. The conditions for the Iranian team were so harsh that they had to fly back to Mexico on game day.Iran’s efforts to fend off U.S. hegemony have earned praise from around the globe, including from those who are fierce critics of the regime, but the team showed the courage to represent an ancient civilization, as evidenced by another moment of goalkeeping magic. A goal seemed inevitable when Kevin De Bruyne controlled the ball with a superb first touch and passed to Maxim De Cuyper. Alireza Beiranvand left foot extended Use your hands to stop the ball from crossing the line. As the slogan of Remember the Titans goes: left side, strong side.
Review Day 12
Day 12 will get Lionel Messi’s show back on track as they face the country that exported the world’s most famous German: Austria. Messi’s hat-trick against Algeria, much to the chagrin of Ronaldo fans, has become a major talking point at the World Cup, and if he scores against Austria in Dallas, he could become the World Cup’s top scorer. Austria under Ralf Rangnick is anything but easy.
Artist Jose May, also known as Joe Skirtz, creates a mural of Argentinian star Lionel Messi on Friday, June 19, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Another favorite, France, will face Iraq. After “Dictator” Kylian Mbappe entered World Cup mode, France looked quite threatening against Senegal. After being hammered by WMD and Targaryen descendant Erling Haaland, Iraq face the embarrassing task of playing the most dangerous Mbappe-Dembélé-Olise attack in the World Cup.Jordan will take on Algeria as both sides look to keep their World Cup hopes alive, but today’s game pits Norway against Senegal, where the Nordic side will prove they are finally a footballing nation. While Haaland is already a unique player, he is not the only talent of his generation, joining the likes of Odegaard, Soros, Nousa and others.Norway coach Solbakken is pouring cold water on any complacency, including a mathematical model that predicts the country has a 99% chance of advancing to the knockout rounds. Independent non-profit organization the Norwegian Computing Center ran 100,000 simulations saying Norway’s promotion was inevitable, but Solbakken left nothing to chance, including ensuring their players didn’t have to eat American fast food by shipping 500 kilograms of seafood, 116 kilograms of brown cheese and 6,000 oranges, which experts estimate is Haaland’s consumption in a single meal.
Goalkeeper Master Class
Some say the new ball is difficult for goalkeepers to handle, but we’ve also seen football’s most tragic figures inspire inspiration at the World Cup. Cape Verde’s Eloy Room single-handedly shut out Ecuador with 15 saves. Curacao’s Vozinha held off Spain’s Matadores and even Raul Rangel’s late two saves helped Mexico maintain its lead over Japan and help the hosts advance. While the goalscoring in this tournament have been spectacular, so have the goalkeeping performances.
Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand (1) makes a save during the World Cup Group G football match between Belgium and Iran on Sunday, June 21, 2026, in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Off the field: social media dystopia
The Internet age is supposed to be an age about enlightenment, but it seems to show why Scott Adams said we are a civilization of six billion fools engineered by thousands of scholars. Because the same species that designed the internet and nearly everything we take for granted is also the same species where a player and his companions are targeted simply for stating a basic idea.
Who is Joao Neves’ girlfriend? Madalena Aragão shines as Portugal’s star at the 2026 World Cup. (Image from Getty Images)
For those lucky enough to live their lives exposed to grass instead of hash (hashtags), this is what happens. After the game against DR Congo, Joao Neves was asked about Ronaldo and said: “We know what Cristiano Ronaldo has done for our national team and for the world of football. But at this moment, I feel that for him and for everyone, he is one of us, one more person trying to help. He is no different from the rest of us and he will contribute like all of us.”“Instead, the quote was spliced across social media to suggest Ronaldo is an “average” player, which is polite given what we saw of him in Portugal’s first game, as Ronaldo is well below average and looks more like a sheep than the goat his fans claim he is.Neves’ Instagram account was quickly flooded with hate from Ronaldo fans, who also attacked Neves’ partner Madeleine Arago. Some criminals even made up an Aragao saying: “Tell your goats to retire.” Even Ronaldo’s partner Georgina Rodriguez was attracted by this sentence and wrote: “Wow! Look how the offspring grow!” However, Rodriguez later realized that this was a lie and quickly deleted it.The incident is a reminder of the toxic side of fandom, which, thanks to social media and encouraged by simple artificial intelligence tools, continues to taint the beautiful game.PS: While toxic fandom is one of the worst things about social media, memes are one of the best things. Richard Dawkins created the parallel between culture and genes as the unit of cultural transmission, which is indeed the best mode of human communication. So, by popular demand, here are some of the best memes today.
meme watch
Finally, the best of them all: the VAR refereeing during Iran’s match against Belgium.
PS: Thanks to Twitter users @vish0890, @vinit_shenoy and @n_aficionado for their submissions. If you have any memes to submit, tag @nonsensicalnemo and use the hashtag #TOIOFFSIDE.
