Cup

In the World Cup final Palestine also faced Israel. And Palestine ended up winning 1 to 0

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On the grass MetLife Stadium The players of the Spanish and Argentine teams were running, but there were those who lived yesterday the World Cup final like a fight between two different protagonists, with geopolitical resonances. On the one hand, a Spain that has become one of the great defenders international (certainly the most media-friendly) of Palestine. On the other, an Argentina led by a ruler who presume of being “the most Zionist president in the world” and that before the party he had received public support of the Israeli prime minister. That tension that transcends what is strictly sports was clearly experienced on Sunday on the networks… and also the Middle East, especially in Jerusalem. Football and more. If there is an event capable of emptying streets and beaches in the middle of July and bringing together millions of people around a screen is a World Cup final. This virality helps to understand that the tournament often transcends the sporting sphere to fully penetrate the economic, political and symbolic sphere. It happened yesterday. And it’s quite understandable. If we add to the magnetism of the World Cup the geopolitical contextthat the party was disputed in the US and that the protagonists of the final were Spain and Argentina, led by governments that have shown clear support respectively for Palestine and Israel, the extra-sports seasoning of the match was guaranteed. It was sport. And it was political. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in his office with the Ambassador of Argentina to Israel, Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, and wished great success to the Argentine national team in the World Cup final taking place tomorrow. Ambassador Wahnish presented the Prime Minister with… pic.twitter.com/2x3pYAxA9b — Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 18, 2026 Cross tweets. The demonstration of to what extent this was the case came via Xwhere Israel and Palestine made it clear which team they supported. The first message came on Saturday from the official account of the Israeli Prime Minister. In it were published several photographs of Benjamin Netanyahu with the Argentine ambassador Shimon Axel Wahnish in which the Israeli leader holds the albiceleste shirt. And in case the image was not clear in itself, it was accompanied by a message publicly sent by Netanyahu to President Javier Milei: “We support Argentina in many ways, including tomorrow.” That tweet already circulated on Saturday, on the eve of the game, but it has done so again in the last few hours after the official account of the State of Palestine recovered it to include it in a new post. In it it basically does two things: it shares the poster created by the RFEF to announce Spain’s victory and is accompanied by the Palestinian flag, the Spanish flag and two hearts. All this (remember) along with Netanyahu’s original message supporting Argentina. 🇵🇸 ❤️💛🇪🇸 https://t.co/sVxBtRwMxu pic.twitter.com/NIFjEh884l — State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) July 19, 2026 Network thing, right? Not quite. It is true that the exchange of messages via elDiario, The Sixth wave EFE agency They have published chronicles that show how Sunday’s final was experienced intensely in places like Gaza or Ramallah, in the West Bank, where fans could be seen celebrating Ferran Torres’ goal or even wearing La Roja t-shirts and Spanish flags. Similar scenes can also be followed on networks, as in a shared video on IG by Ya7ya_sager. In Ramallah the party gathered thousands of people to follow the party, including Spanish diplomatic staff. It wasn’t just about love of football or a question of affinity towards one team or another. The symbolic background is deeper. Two areas, two hobbies. Maria Trapaderne, from the EFE agency, tells a chronicle how Jerusalem remained divided in the match being played at the MetLfife in New Jersey. The Western zone turned to Argentina. The East, with a majority Palestinian population, mobilized with the Red. The chronicler tells how at the New Gate of the Old City you could see terraces full of people with the Red shirt and red flags. “The eastern side supports Spain because Spain has actively supported Palestine, while Argentina has supported Israel and fostered brotherhood between both countries,” summarizes Guada young Palestinian who followed the game. @millennium Among the ruins of Gaza, the population celebrated Spain’s victory against Argentina, giving it the victory of this 2026 World Cup, waving flags of both peoples in the streets. Gazans support Spain as a sign of gratitude for the humanitarian and political support of that nation, which was the first in Europe to formally recognize the Palestinian State. Gaza Palestine Spain World Celebration ♬ original sound – MILLENNIUM – MILLENNIUM @.gaza_al_irada_fc 🇵🇸❤️ From Gaza to Spain… Congratulations to the Spanish National Team on your well-deserved achievement! Football unites hearts beyond borders. We play with hope, resilience, and respect—and today we celebrate your success. Wishing you even more victories ahead. Congratulations, Spain! 🇪🇸⚽ #Spain #Spain #Football #Respect #FromGaza ♬ الصوت الأصلي – gaza_al_irada_fc Why this polarization? To understand it, you need to dust off the newspaper archive. Both the recent and the oldest. Argentina and the Palestinian people have important linkswhich include both migration ties and the decision of Buenos Aires to recognize Palestine as a State in 2010. However, the current president of the South American country, Javier Milei, has stood out for his closeness to the Israeli Executive headed by Netanyahu. At the beginning of 2024, shortly after his election, the Argentine leader traveled to Israelwhere he could be seen crying in front of the Wailing Wall, and he himself has proclaimed himself “the most Zionist president in the world.” Not even Messi has been freed of controversies related to the propaganda Israeli. Reviewing figures. The link between both territories can be measured in figures. In 2005 the newspaper The Nation public that around 244,000 Jews lived in the Capital and Greater Buenos Aires and in the country as a whole they numbered around 300,000, making them the largest Jewish community in all of Latin America. In addition to … Read more

Spain has just won its second World Cup. It’s the perfect time to ask your boss for a raise.

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If you have been thinking for a while about going to your boss’s office to ask him a salary increasewe have good news: that time is today. At least if your boss is a soccer fan and a supporter of the Spanish National Team. We don’t say it, it says it a study prepared by US economists who have found a clear relationship between the happiness caused by the successes of a person’s team and their predisposition to be more generous or risky when it comes to spending. After all, sport may be passionate (Of course football is.), but passions often creep into business as well. Why do you decide what you decide? It sounds strange, I know; But that is the question that a group of US economists asked themselves a few years ago, including Judd Kesslerfrom the University of Pennsylvania, or Andrew McClellanfrom the University of Chicago. To be more precise, the team attempted to clarify the relationship between a person’s mood and their financial decisions. “While angry people are advised to ‘think it over’ before making angry decisions, they are rarely advised to consider how incidental happiness influences their behaviors or giving,” slide. What does it have to do with sport? A lot. If something knows Spain today is that a sporting success can bring hundreds of thousands of people to ecstasy and raise the general mood of a country. Having your team achieve a victory triggers your dopamine levels and that is something that Kessler and his colleagues knew well, so in 2013 they went to a bar on the Upper Esat Side, New York, with a group of American football fans and, once there, they started watching games. And that for what? To do science… although in an unconventional way. What the economists did was put their ‘Indoas pigs? two live NFL games. In the first, held in December 2013, the Dallas Cowboys they faced Philadelphia Eagles. In the second, in January 2014, the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles. During the commercial breaks, the economists gave them questionnaires to assess how the game affected them on an emotional level (basically whether they felt more or less happy) and then a series of questions related to their greater or lesser willingness to make donations, purchase items or place bets. It was not a simple theoretical exercise. At stake were real dollars with which researchers compensated experimental subjects for their time. What did they discover? More or less what common sense dictates: when the person interviewed was ecstatic because things were going well for their team, they showed considerably fewer qualms about donating or spending money. It may seem obvious, but researchers claimit is one thing to have an intuition based on experience and another to have a study with academic parameters that demonstrates it. And taking into account that we are talking about something as serious as the factors that influence economic decisions, that is not a minor nuance. “We have observed that what happens in the game influences the subjects’ incidental happiness, and that changes give rise to predictable variations in their decisions,” they explain researchers, who claim to have developed a system that incorporates mood into economic models. As a reference, the matches altered the emotional state of 81% of the subjects. Did they go further? Yes. The study results were published first in June 2020 and a few months ago at Cambridge University Press. In their paper, Kessler and his colleagues confirm that “changes in incidental happiness significantly affect” most economic decision-making (two of the four included in the questionnaire) and that the happiest people are those who donate the most to NGOs, spend on consumer goods and take greater risks. “We observed variations in the economic decisions that the participants made throughout the game. 30 of the 64 participants (47%) change the amount they decide to donate; 36 of the 64 participants (56%) change the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a consumer good, and exactly the same number, 36 of the 64 participants (56%), change the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a lottery,” points out the article of 2020. Is the relationship so clear? The economists are clear. “We observed that when subjects’ mood improves, when they report feeling happier, they donate more to charities and may be more willing to pay more for a good, be less risk-averse and more confident,” Kessler points out and colleagues: “A person who is in a good mood can be modeled as equivalent to a person who feels richer.” Images | Wikipedia, Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) and EmbedSocial (Unsplash) In Xataka | We believed that there is only one Erling Haaland. Until Peru got imaginative when baptizing its babies

How to watch Spain – Argentina: date and time of the 2026 World Cup final, and where you can watch it on any device

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Let’s explain to you How and where you can watch Spain’s match against Argentina. This is the grand final of the 2026 World Cup, in which our team has the option of getting the second star, the second World Cup in its history. But in front of them they will have an Argentina with Messi in a state of grace. Let’s make the article simple. First we are going to tell you the date and time to which this match is played. And then, we will tell you what your options are to be able to watch it from any device. Date and time of Spain – Argentina Spain’s match against Argentina will take place tomorrow, Sunday, July 19. Both teams will face each other at the New York New Jersey Stadium, a field where the New York Giants and the New York Jets of the NFL American football usually play. The grand final will be played at 9:00 p.m. in Spanish peninsular time8pm in the Canary Islands. And with this match we will know which of the two teams finally takes the world cup home. Where to watch Spain – Argentina As we have explained to you when we told you where you can watch the 2026 World Cupas it is a match for the Spanish National Team, you will be able watch it for free live through La1. This will allow you to see it both on DTT and on mobile phones or browsers through RTVE Play. Obviously, the party It will also be issued in the payment options that you could have to watch all the World Cup matches. It will be broadcast on DAZN and you will be able to watch it on any device if you have it contracted. You can also see it on the DAZN Mundial channel, available on both Movistar Plus and Orange TV. In Xataka Basics | Apps for football results: the best 14 applications to receive notifications and see match statistics

the surreal meeting of Juan Roig and Ana Botín with IShowSpeed ​​at the World Cup

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For less than a minute, the president of a bank with almost a hundred billion capitalization spoke like a salesperson from one of its branches. Next to him, the owner of the largest supermarket chain in Spain was waiting for his turn to introduce himself. He streamer The one they were addressing, and which broadcast the match live, is IShowSpeed, with 57 million followers on YouTube. And I had no idea who these gentlemen were. What happened. On the night of July 14, Spain beat France 2-0 and sealed its place in the final of the 2026 World Cup. Among the VIP audience, along with Timothée Chalamet, Javier Bardem and Usain Bolt, were Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, and Juan Roig, president of Mercadona. They both went to greet Darren Watkins Jr., the streamer known as IShowSpeed, which broadcast the game live. The exchange began with introductions. “It’s like the Walmart of Spain,” they explain pointing to Roig in reference to Mercadona. Botín was not far behind: he defined his bank as “the JPMorgan of Europe.” A few seconds later the commercial offer arrived: “You have to open an account at Openbank”, and ended with a sales pitch which surely captivated Speed: “We pay you 4% for your savings.” The young man managed to tell Botín that he would have to give him “a good credit rating”, but he responded between surprise, curiosity and pure stupefaction. Who is Speed? At just 21 years old, Watkins Jr, or IShowSpeed, has accumulated more than 57 million subscribers on YouTube, and more than 150 million followers across all of his networks. He has been broadcasting live from the stands for weeks at the 2026 World Cup, after his favorite team, Portugal, was eliminated in the quarterfinals. On the night of July 14, the Spain-France match, its live broadcast from the AT&T Stadium reached nearly 58 million connected accounts. That’s why it was Roig and Botín who approached him, and not the other way around. No conventional advertising campaign would have put them in front of a comparable audience, much less that profile: young, digital and absent from traditional channels. Who are the other people? The older ones, we say. We know this very well, but it doesn’t hurt to remember it, because it is their insane fortunes that turn this talk in the box into a piece of Celtiberian memorabilia to take into account. Booty has a personal assets of 350 million euros (Santander has a market capitalization that has touched 100 billion euros this year). A considerable fortune, but far from the 8.8 billion that Forbes attributes to Roig in his latest list of the greatest Spanish fortunes. Rich folks. Throughout the conversation, Roig does not utter a single sentence in English. It is his companions who present it, who seek the comparison with Walmart and act as interpreters. It is a very particular and very Spanish folksiness, which leads Botín to compare Mercadona and Santander with giant American businesses. And it’s not because they lack size or importance, but they find a very simple way to make themselves understood with Speed. Recent rich. This folksiness comes from the fact that Spanish wealth is not the inheritance of several generations of nobles. Mercadona was already born in democracy, when Roig bought Mercadona from his father along with his brothers and his wife, when the chain had eight stores; today exceeds 1,700 and employs nearly 110,000 people; Botín presides over a bank founded by his family in which he maintains a relevant but purely management position. But the type of wealth they represent does fit with a broader and documented pattern of how the Spanish business class was formed: at the death of Franco, two hundred families controlled more than a third of the shares of the country’s large companies and banks, a network of power very close to the State. It is not the aristocracy that endures in the United Kingdom or the United States, the famous old money that goes back generations in the past. In Spain we have rich people from powerful but self-made families, which explains this attitude that leads a multimillionaire to calmly sell the advantageous conditions of an account in her bank: the money has been inherited, but not from generations, they are provincial families with power, and hence the attitude towards the young influencerwhich they see as another possibility to make money. Even with the rich, Spain is different. In Xataka | Mercadona is doing the opposite of other large companies: freezing Roig’s salary to reinvest it

FIFA had been trying for years to get soccer into the US. In this World Cup it has been American culture that has entered football

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Each match in the 2026 World Cup has been stopped twice for players to drink water. What FIFA sold as a medical standard has become one of the largest sources of advertising revenue in the history of football. The hydration break It is reminiscent of the one you already see in a LaLiga match in August, when the heat at four in the afternoon justifies it. Here, repeated in air-conditioned stadiums where more than one fan is seen wearing a cardigan, it sounds more like an excuse. It’s just the most visible symptom of something bigger. The panoramic. FIFA has been pursuing the American market for years without soccer finally gaining ground against basketball, American football or hockey. This summer he has changed his strategy: instead of selling football as it is, he has redesigned it with the cultural and television codes of the United States. Pauses that cut off the game, advertising in the middle of the game, celebrities paid to occupy the box, hospitality overflowing, very expensive tickets, a break from the final that doubles its usual duration to accommodate a concert… The tournament has also been played in Mexico and Canada, but it has not stopped sounding like the NFL and the NBA. The party has stopped being the product. He show prior, rest and show Later they are also products, they also compete for the same attention. In detail. The centerpiece is the hydration breaks: three minutes in the 22nd and 67th minutes of each of the 104 games, without discriminating by temperature. FIFA announced them in December as a health prevention and authorized television stations to fill the gap with up to two minutes and ten seconds of advertisements. It is not the only piece of the decoration: Halftime in the finals has been extended to about 30 minutes to accommodate a Super Bowl-style musical performance. One has appeared backroom VIP, very similar to the NFL boxes, where authorities, family and celebrities follow the game. Television production has adopted shots, access to locker rooms and tunnels that until now were the domain of American football. Between the lines. It is tempting to blame the United States for “Americanizing” soccer. But the one who has made every decision (breaks, calendar, 48 teams…) is FIFA, which has seen in the American entertainment model the fastest way to continue increasing income just when Europe, its traditional place, begins to show signs of stagnation. The French Ligue 1, without going any further, lost his television deals and has had to set up its own direct sales platform. behind the scenes. The change is not only a matter of changes in the regulations, it is also noticeable in how it is broadcast. The networks constantly cut to celebrities, boxes and reactions in the stands in search of the viral shot. Every break, every corner, every substitution is an opportunity for sponsorship, not just hydration. The fan in the stadium is no longer just a spectator, he is part of the set. The stands are lit, focused and edited, NFL style. In figures. The numbers explain why FIFA has been compensated for the change in model. The organization’s audiovisual income has grown by 36% compared to Qatar 2022, up to about 3,925 million dollars. Fox calculates entering between 250 and 500 million dollars only with the advertising of hydration breaks. A 20-second ad during a break has been sold in France for 425,000 euros. For the rights bid for 2030 and 2034, offers in the United States could start at $1 billion and reach $2 billion if both tournaments are packaged. Yes, but. Not all football has jumped on the bandwagon. The Premier League, the richest and least in need of new income, does not contemplate breaks: British regulations limit live advertisements and in England it is rarely as hot as would justify them. UEFA has said that He will not take them to the Champions League or the Euro Cup in 2028. And now what. CONMEBOL has already announced 90-second breaks for the Libertadores and the Sudamericana 2026. The MLS and the NWSL will negotiate their next rights with the World Cup precedent on the table. And FIFA is preparing the 2030 bid, with Spain as one of the venues, knowing that the networks will no longer pay only for the 90 minutes of the match: they will also pay for the minutes in which it stops. Featured image | FIFAXataka In Xataka | It is possible that today you will hear your neighbor sing Spain’s goal before you: the delay of streaming compared to DTT

Now the World Cup seems further away than ever

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The promise: the joint Spain-Portugal-Morocco candidacy for the 2030 World Cup was presented on a dossier that included between 14 and 18 stadiums in total, with 11 Spanish, 3 Portuguese and 6 Moroccan venues. On paperthe tournament would be a lever for infrastructure modernization. Regarding the coffers and the laws, there are complications. There are just over three years left until the World Cup and it seems to be receding like a phantasmagoria. Let’s count. Last March, FIFA took a tour visiting stadiums in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Zaragoza and Seville. There were gaps, too many. So the organization invited the respective organizing committees to put their notebooks in their suitcase and write down the good work of Miami and Dallas. The “Observer” program is, literally, an intensive master’s degree for the logic of an event like the 2030 World Cup: beyond infrastructure, airport management, visas, requirements in the commercial exploitation section, etc. In April, the president of the RFEF, Rafael Louzán, proposed creating a dedicated commission (and approving a State Events Law that covers the reforms). In May, some of these ideas fell apart. Because? The selection of the Ibero-Moroccan candidacy by FIFA is done, but in practice Spain has been losing weight: Málaga and A Coruña resigned, Valencia has been left off the official list of 11 locations and several key projects remain in the works or on plans. The condition was clear: many stadiums had to undergo renovations to meet FIFA requirements for capacity, access, decks and VIP areas. The moneys. Right now, these are the reform proposals and estimated cost. Although these are downward figures, this is the general map, starting with Morocco: Tangier Grand Stadium: €350 million (construction + expansions up to 75,000 spectators) Mohamed V Complex (in Casablanca): more than €95 million (major remodeling) Prince Moulay Abdellah (in Rabat): €480-500 million (practically complete reconstruction) Agadir Grand Stadium: €230 M (construction + modernization for World Cup) Marrakech Grand Stadium: €240 M (construction + upgrade) Fez Stadium: €250 million (construction + remodeling) Hassan II Grand Stadium (Casablanca/Benslimane): €1 billion (complete complex, including stadium and related infrastructure, with seating for 115,000 spectators) In comparison, Spain: Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid): €1,347 M (complete transformation project) Riyadh Air Metropolitano (Madrid): €310 M (original construction) Spotify Camp Nou (Barcelona): €1,450 M (Complete Espai Barça) RCDE Stadium (from Cornellà-El Prat): €60 M San Mamés (Bilbao): €211 million Reale Arena (San Sebastián): €80 M (comprehensive renovation 2017-2020) La Cartuja Stadium (Seville): €100 M (last remodeling for the 2030 World Cup) La Rosaleda (Málaga): €270 M (remodeling project) Gran Canaria Stadium: €174.7 M (project currently being put out to tender, El Cabildo is still negotiating to “lower some of its claims” because going all-in is already branded as “absolute suicide“) Riazor (A Coruña): €125 M (remodeling project) La Romareda (Zaragoza): €220 M The problem? What was suspected: the Federation itself has warned that many Spanish stadiums still do not meet the requirements and that we must go “from projects and good intentions to getting wet and guaranteeing works and investments”, while Morocco has already put specific figures and a schedule for the reform of its six fields. Let’s look at it case by case. 180 million for a team in third place. The New Romareda It has been justified from day one by the opportunity to host the World Cup: a stadium with around 43,000 net seats, designed to meet the FIFA minimum and bid for matches up to the round of 16. The initial cost was estimated at around 148.5 million plus VAT (close to 180). The Chamber of Accounts of Aragon raised the figure: it adds external developments, surveillance, certificates, ICIO and other concepts until it reaches at least 173.2 million. It is already suspected that will exceed 180 million if all the costs of the environment and modular stadium are included. Now comes the paradox: he builds a FIFA standard stadium for a city whose club, Real Zaragoza, currently plays in the First Federation, a place where it is better not to look. Using the World Cup as a political anchor for an investment that mixes municipal, regional and private funds It’s not sitting well with everyone.. The Accounts Chamber requested a “complete and traceable view of the costs” when detecting items assumed directly by the Government of Aragon. That is, they were not in society’s budget, precisely to prevent the World 2030 label from masking the real cost for the taxpayer. Saying “we did it for the World Cup” is not enough. Tic-tac and tiki-tac. Another work that race against the clock It is Nou Mestalla. The Valencian stadium is a recast on the skeleton built more than a decade ago. About 70,000 spectators capacity, light cover with tensioned cables and some 3,450 parking spaces They fall within your proposal. Beyond the World Cup, the City Council has signed an agreement that allows it to use the stadium for Cup, Euro Cup, and Champions League finals. The current calendar sets July 11, 2027 as the deadline to issue the Final Work Certificate (CFO). It is known that approximately 76% of the structure has been completed and that the total investment, including tertiary and surrounding areas, will far exceed 500 million euros, becoming the largest project in the club’s history. Then came the bickering: the RFEF left Valencia out due to the accumulated delays and the difficulty in guaranteeing deadlines. With the building permit already approved and aspiring to a UEFA category 4 stadium, the club reacted with a statement. Two years passed. FIFA did not get off its ass and indicated that in its bid book everything was clear. And Valencia pushed forward. The “World Cup renewal” mode does not work. In Seville, the La Cartuja Stadium aspires to be the third stadium in the country by capacity, with 70,000 gross spectators, lowering the level of the playing field, expanding the lower stands and changing facades and skin to comply with FIFA regulations. The first phase cost about 12 million … Read more

How to watch Spain – France: date and time of the World Cup semi-final match, and where you can watch it on any device

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Let’s explain to you How and where you can watch Spain’s match against France. This is the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup, a match of the highest level that could well be worthy of the final, in which two of the great candidates for the title face each other. Let’s make the article simple. First we are going to tell you the date and time to which this match is played. And then, we will tell you what your options are to be able to watch it from any device. Date and time of Spain – France Spain’s match against France will take place today, Tuesday, July 14. Both teams will face each other at the AT&T Stadium in the state of Texas, which during the tournament is being called Dallas Stadium. This semi-final will be played at 9:00 p.m. in Spanish peninsular time8pm in the Canary Islands. There can only be one left, and the winner will face the team that wins England – Argentina in the grand final tomorrow. Where to watch Spain – France As we have explained to you when we told you where you can watch the 2026 World Cupas it is a match for the Spanish National Team, you will be able watch it for free live through La1. This will allow you to see it both on DTT and on mobile phones or browsers through RTVE Play. Obviously, the party It will also be issued in the payment options that you could have to watch all the World Cup matches. It will be broadcast on DAZN and you will be able to watch it on any device if you have it contracted. You can also see it on the DAZN Mundial channel, available on both Movistar Plus and Orange TV. In Xataka Basics | Apps for football results: the best 14 applications to receive notifications and see match statistics

The most viral player of the 2026 World Cup owes his global popularity to AI and Chinese fans

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Erling Haaland has been one of the most talked about players for weeks in a World Cup that is giving endless topics of conversation beyond the games, which at this point are a bit of the least important thing. His imposing physical presence, his deadly style of play and his apparent affability off the field they seem almost scripted to build a cult figure. And there is a little of that. The famous video. In mid-June, a video began to circulate of the Norwegian striker having dinner in a restaurant, and being startled when he saw his own reflection in a mirror. One post on X alone racked up over 31 million views in a matter of days, and currently has more than 42. In reality it is not Haaland, but a sketch by Chinese comedy duo Jin Long and Qiu Qiumuch more exaggerated and clearly false. The comic was polished to make it more realistic and Haaland’s face was superimposed using AI. The account, specialized in shocking videos made with generative artificial intelligence, published similar videos from other points of view in successive days. All false: the internet was already immersed in an unstoppable fever. Big in China. Before the World Cup, Haaland was already a cult figure in China. The forward joined Weibo and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on June 6, and in less than a month he added 1.6 million followers on the first platform and 5.2 million on the second. The hashtags related to him have exceeded 490 million views on Weibo alone. The two Haalands. Chinese fans have two versions of Haaland: on the field he is the “Nordic cyborg”, an almost inhuman scoring machine. Outside of him is Habao, a clumsy and charming giant. Besidesin recent months he has starred an advertisement for a Chinese herbal drink and he has tried to speak Mandarin on camera, fueling that contrast that his fans find irresistible. A song about him, titled “Haaland (Ha Ha Ha)” and set to the melody of ‘Moskau’, by the German Eurodisco group Dschinghis Khan, can be heard in Chinese AI montages, including the advertisement. Your personal Snapchat accountwith more than 5 million followers, works as the raw material of this entire ecosystem: selfies from unflattering angles, comparisons to ‘Shrek’, improvised questions and answers. Some real content, made by oneself, which is then reprocessed by others with generative tools until it is impossible to distinguish the origin. Official AI. Not all the synthetic material with Haaland was born without permission. In 2023, photographer David Yarrow He portrayed Haaland alonewaist-deep in an Oslo fjord, dressed as a Viking. Looking ahead to this World Cup, the Norwegian football federation called Yarrow again to repeat the session with the entire team. The result, titled “The Vikings are coming“, shows the 26 players armed with swords and shields in front of a longship, and it was Haaland himself who promoted the idea of ​​this sequel. From there, the iconography got out of hand. Fans flooded the networks with AI-generated variants (Haaland in full battle, with armor and ax raised) that blur the line between mythology sponsored by the federation and fiction conceived by fans. Furthermore, as could not be otherwise, far-right accounts attracted to Haaland as a symbol of a white, blond and physically imposing man, have especially actively shared this Viking content. The fanon. According to Wired in its article, AI is facilitating a new relationship between fans and their idols: fanon (as a nod to “canon”): material that the public invents to fill in the gaps left by the official canon. There has always been this approach to the lives of celebrities, but generative artificial intelligence summarizes the artisanal work of before, of photomontages and manipulated videos, in a few minutes. As a source of astonishingly realistic material (how many of the hilarious images of Haaland on the field of play that you have seen are real?), sponsors, federations and representation agencies have before them a new panorama, which does not only affect footballers. Singers, actors, influencerscelebrities of all kinds… if they don’t have an attractive enough life or personality, fans will make it up for them. The abyss that opens before them is obvious. In Xataka | The biggest mystery of the World Cup is why all the boots are pink: the answer is very simple to understand

We believed that VAR was going to put an end to the classic favoritism of the World Cup host. Then the White House made a call

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“When the certainty of the rules is no longer guaranteed, the integrity of the game is called into question” These are the words with which UEFA, in charge of overseeing the competitions of the European confederation, has responded to FIFA’s decision to withdraw a red card from Folarin Balogun, star forward of the United States team that faces Belgium in the round of 16. The statement is just the latest response that FIFA has received regarding this controversial decision that comes, according to The New York Timesthat Donald Trump, president of the United States, called Gianni Infantino by phone to pressure him and demand that he remove the automatic match penalty that is applied when a player receives a red card. FIFA’s decision is the latest maneuver to favor the host team in a World Cup and adds to the long list of favors for the locals that have traditionally marked the World Cup. Everything indicated that with VAR, the video refereeing tool, this was going to end or, at least, it was going to be very complicated to give small pushes to the local teams. But FIFA is always ready to surprise you. The regulation mess Forlain Balogun, a United States forward who has three goals in the 2026 World Cup, plays an aerial ball. It is the 64th minute of the round of 32 match of the 2026 World Cup and the person who disputes the ball is Tarik Muharemovic. The game is about to experience a turning point. The score reads 1-0, the United States has gone ahead with a goal from Balogun himself who is having a great championship but is about to lose its star for the remainder of the match and the round of 16 against Belgium. Or so we believed. In the dispute, the American player hits the Bosnian defender from behind. An obvious foul that results in a red card. As he falls, Balogun accidentally lands with his studs on Muharemovic’s calf, drags his foot and bends the defender’s ankle. The VAR calls the referee to observe the play carefully. Although fortuitous, the force applied by the American player is considered excessive and he ends up expelled. The match ends 2-0 and, of course, the worst thing for the United States is the impossibility of having their star striker in the tie against Belgium, the European team (hence the statement from UEFA, which is also in an open war against FIFA) against which they will play for a place in the quarterfinals. The winner will play against the winner of tonight’s Spain-Portugal. A more common setback in short knockout tournaments, the same setback as if, for example, a player accumulates two yellow cards in different phases during the championship. However, FIFA surprised yesterday with a statement: Forlain Balogun’s sanction was suspended. The alleged reason is that the suspension of a match was at the mercy of the player’s behavior in the next year. If he reoffends in a violent situation again, the rule will be applied to him. To do this, FIFA has based itself on article 27 of its disciplinary regulations, which states that punishments can be suspended for a certain period of time subject to the player’s attitude. A decision that as they remember from the Belgian team (clearly affected by the player’s non-suspension), collides directly with article 66.4 of the same regulations in which it is specified that a player who receives a red card will not be able to play the next match. In Sports CarouselIturralde González, former referee and referee commentator on the program, explains that the article that FIFA clings to is designed for disturbances on soccer fields and attitudes that go beyond the merely sporting. He explains that, in fact, FIFA does not withdraw the red card and only suspends the impossibility of playing the next match, a fact that has not been seen since 1962 when Garrincha was sent off in a tough semi-final against Chile but was cleared to play in the final against Czechoslovakia. Click on the image to go to the original tweet The call that went over the VAR We could think that FIFA’s decision was serious and fell within one of the many tricks that they have been using for years to favor local teams. However, a post by Donald Trump in X and the explicit support of the White House in which he thanked FIFA directly, he made the hare jump. The New York Times has been the first medium to publish what could be suspected once the thanks of the president of the United States was made public: The White House called Gianni Infantino directlypresident of FIFA, to ask that Forlain Balogun play against Belgium. In The Wall Street Journal They narrate that Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the working group that the White House has active for the organization of the 2026 World Cup, went to work on the same night of the United States – Bosnia and Herzegovina. From that moment on, they count on WSJa machinery made up of specialist lawyers related to Donald Trump began to move to try to stop the sanction. On the table was the possibility of challenging the red card and trying to prevent slow motion from being used in this type of actions in which video refereeing is involved (which many understand to magnify the damage caused by a kick or a stomp). The team, they explain in the media, was informed from the first moment but the United States National Team denied any possibility of revoking the sanction. While all this was happening, always according to internal sources of The Wall Street JournalDonald Trump directly picked up the phone to speak with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA who has always been very close to the American president. At that time, Infantino responded to the US president that he could not assure him anything but confirmed that the suspension had been … Read more

How to watch Spain – Portugal: date and time of the World Cup round of 16 match, and where you can watch it on any device

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Let’s explain to you How and where you can watch Spain’s match against Portugal. This is the round of 16 of the knockout round of the 2026 World Cup, an excellent Iberian duel from which only one will be able to advance to the quarterfinals. Let’s make the article simple. First we are going to tell you the date and time to which this match is played. And then, we will tell you what your options are to be able to watch it from any device. Date and time of Spain – Portugal Spain’s match against Portugal will take place this Monday, July 6 at the Dallas Stadium in Texas. It is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. in Spanish peninsular time8pm in the Canary Islands. Where to watch Spain – Portugal As we have explained to you when we told you where you can watch the 2026 World Cupsince it is a match for the Spanish National Team, you will be able watch it for free live through La1. This will allow you to see it both on DTT and on mobile phones or browsers through RTVE Play. Obviously, the party It will also be issued in the payment options that you could have to watch all the World Cup matches. It will be broadcast on DAZN and you will be able to watch it on any device if you have it contracted. You can also see it on the DAZN Mundial channel, available on both Movistar Plus and Orange TV. In Xataka Basics | Apps for football results: the best 14 applications to receive notifications and see match statistics

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