IF you don’t know why the Teranga Lions of Senegal staged a walk-off at the last AFCON final, go watch highlights of the ongoing 2026 World Cup, where FIFA, pundits, and their criminal establishment are trying to hand Argentina and Lionel Messi another dubious World Cup trophy in order to shove him down people’s throats as football’s best ever.

Historically, Argentina have never won a trophy without fraud and blatant robbery — remember Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal and the shenanigans in Qatar — and it is no coincidence that dubious refereeing handed Argentina gold against Nigeria at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship final, where a Lionel Messi-led youth side defeated Nigeria 2-1. I remember Nigeria’s coach, Samson Siasia, agonizing that “the referee blew against us” for almost every touch. That pattern has persisted for years, and it is no surprise that the FBI has opened an investigation into the Argentine Football Association’s corrupt dealings. Look at the club angle, and the Barcelona referee payments strike you with brutal force.

AFCON 2025 was despicable. Patrice Motsepe and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) did everything to fix the tournament for the hosts, Morocco. Morocco benefited from questionable penalty decisions, ignored fouls, and inconsistent officiating in matches against Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Tanzania. CAF gave Morocco criminal home advantage: limiting opposition supporters, controlling match logistics, and suppressing controversial replay footage. Morocco fans made racist chants all tournament. Morocco players, fans, and officials stole goalkeepers’ towels, yet CAF still awarded Morocco the Fair Play prize. Besides, two journalists who had criticized the tournament died in strange circumstances. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who looked like he was having a heart attack after Senegal scored the winning goal and refused to present the trophy to the AFCON champions after happily and excitedly presenting Morocco players with their individual awards, has taken CAF’s AFCON fraud to new levels of cruelty and comedy at the ongoing World Cup.

Game after game, Argentina players are hacking down opponents at will, getting questionable calls, and making an utter mess of the mundial. Like Morocco, Argentina’s famous captain is playing on “home soil”, and Intantino and his team are trying their best to hand him another unmerited trophy. The young man had earlier retired from football, but CONMEBOL and FIFA changed the rules and brought him back to receive dubious trophies, saying that football owed him such. On the other hand, FIFA and its allies did, and still do, everything within their power to destroy the only player they cannot control, the Portuguese King and football fans’ overwhelming favourite, CR7. It is no coincidence that whenever Argentina and their magician win anything, there is always a subtext of fraud and underhand dealings. Hmmm…

The FIFA/Argentina love affair in the ongoing mundial is no longer tragic; it has reached epically comic levels. In the group stage opener against Algeria, Messi literally crushed the heel of Algerian defender Aïssa Mandi. The referee looked away, and the pundits feted Leo as usual. When the United States’ Folarin Balogun staged a similar act against Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemovic, he got a straight red card, unlike Messi, and only featured in the next game after US President Donald Trump asked Infantino and his team to replicate the Messi fraud. Knowing what a madman Trump is, Mr Fixer quickly agreed. If anyone needed any evidence that Argentina players are untouchable, Nicolás Tagliafico, for whom referee Drew Fischer held up the game during the Round of 32 fixture against Cape Verde while he received treatment following an injury, cleared all doubts. Tagliafico and his teammates benefited from several uncalled fouls.

There is no need to dwell too much on the outrage against Egypt. Infantino, the man who cavorts whenever Argentina scores a goal but looks like he is hosting a funeral whenever the script goes the other way, destroyed whatever illusions of fairness were left. Like he does in the MLS, Leo Messi simply called on the referee to overrule a classic Egyptian goal, one of the best in the tournament. Among many authorities, ex-FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg said that VAR should not have intervened. Again, in the buildup to Enzo Fernández’s stoppage-time winner, Egypt appealed for a penalty following a dastardly challenge on Mo Salah and for an Alexis Mac Allister shirt-pull, but the FIFA/Argentina VAR couldn’t be bothered. Like Qatar 2022 when Argentina were awarded five penalties — the most ever by a team in a single World Cup edition — World Cup 2026 fraud has exploded in FIFA’s face. FIFA even had to appoint an all-Argentine crew for the France-Morocco quarterfinal, clearly trying to eliminate any team that might pose a real challenge to Argentina. Paraguay players kicked Frenchman Kylian Mbappé viciously throughout the previous game, trying to provoke him to play Zinedine Zidane and exit the World Cup, but the Frenchman laughed off the dastardly plot. Somehow, Argentina gets to the World Cup knockout rounds without facing Spain, England, and other top teams. It can be no wonder that Infantino “suffered with Argentina” when Cape Verde was about to flip the script.

Just how can Argentina get eight penalties in 12 World Cup games? Like a pundit asked, why does every single Argentina game have the most controversy? Why are opponent goals always being disallowed, and fouls not given? Egypt coach Hossam Hassan saw the marketing manipulation to keep Messi in the tournament. Hear him: “A penalty was ruled out, was not even checked by VAR. A second goal was remarkably disallowed. There has not even been a VAR check when we have all seen the image of the (shirt) being pulled back. I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup.” He added: “It’s all about money. They want Messi to stay in the tournament.” Of course.

On the sidelines, don’t marvel about Argentina fans’ racist chants against the influencer, IShowSpeed. Remember Morocco fans at AFCON. A similar spirit rules both countries. They are racist, dubious, and mean as hell.

FIFA, media, and pundits have protected Messi for ages. Said a distraught observer: “They are shoving Argentina down our throats.” An Argentina player actually covered his mouth while insulting Egypt’s assistant coach. Another red-card offense ignored. Someone should please tell Mr. Infantino to award the trophy to Argentina right away. However, like the Egyptians said, since the World Cup is a coronation, there is no need to invite the other national teams to the tournament.

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Let’s wait for the outcome of the FBI/U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the financial dealings of the Argentine Football Association (AFA). AFA and its president Claudio Tapia reportedly channelled money through TourProdEnter LLC — a company owned by theatre producer Javier Faroni that handled the association’s commercial contracts abroad. Bank records reviewed by La Nación show that TourProdEnter managed at least US$260 million in AFA revenue. But only a fraction of this could actually be traced to clear operating expenses. Another US$57 million was allegedly distributed to various companies and beneficiaries with “no apparent economic justification.” Argentina, as the first nation to be awarded 19 penalties in FIFA World Cup history, surely knows something that the rest of us don’t.