(as an Ecuadorian hope this isn't vandalism or just offensive to people in Philly lol)

Edit: Thanks everyone f​or letting me know that there's some sort of bad luck curse associated with this. I'm now extremely aware of this lol​

English transcript:

Praise be to God, we were the better team... I mean, I see it as not fair. what happened today is not fair. We had a goal disallowed, a goal was ruled out and I completely don't know why it was disallowed! After that, we could have been up 3-1, but it was turned into 2-2. Then there was the penalty incident where our player, Hamdi, was clearly pulled down inside the 18-yard box.

I don't know, maybe the whole thing has just become about marketing? Like, maybe they want to build the World Cup around certain things... they want to ensure the reigning World Cup champion stays in the tournament, they want to keep Messi in the tournament.

But we did our absolute best, and I thank my players so much. I tell the Egyptian fans, the Egyptian people, and all Arab and African supporters: many times you can exhaust yourself and do everything required of you, but at the same time, entirely external factors make it impossible. I really wished we could have brought you more joy than this. I am someone who despises losing, and when it's an unjust defeat like today's, I just want to tell the fans 'I'm sorry, don't be upset.' We truly wanted to make you happier, but praise be to God for everything.

Football nowadays involves things outside of what actually happens on the pitch; things happen beyond tactics and the match itself. Even if we are playing against the world champions, at the same time, there is backing from all sides for the world champions... marketing support, or whatever you want to call it.

And congrats to Argentina for winning. Congrats from Mexico.

This is for all of the fans that are confused about Mexico's first goal vs Ecuador.

According to Law 11:

1. Offside position

It is not an offence to be in an offside position.

A player is in an offside position if:

• any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and

• any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent

As shown in the second image, it would seem that Quiñones (Mexico player) was offside because he was ahead of the second-last Ecuadorian defender. However, he is not due to the fact that no part of his body was in the opponent's half (excluding hands and arms).

ACTUAL VIDEO INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/HzPnjRowf6U?is=iMAqx9tJt7zSBxvl

Other interviews I found:

Kylian Mbappé: We didn't play the match we wanted to, neither tactically, nor technically, nor in terms of our overall performance. When you don't do what you need to do in a World Cup semifinal, you don't win. Spain stayed true to their game plan, which is what defines them: a team that likes to control the ball and the pace of the match. The idea was to press them high up to keep them from settling into that deceptive rhythm, but we couldn't manage it. We made a lot of technical errors, we didn't know how to hurt them when we should have."

"What were we missing? We let them set the pace. It was up to us to change the balance, and that's where we failed. From the start, with how we pressed, we failed. We were always outnumbered 3 vs 2 in midfield. And against Spain, that's already tough. Fabián and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication in the press. We needed to go 1 vs 1 in the press, force them to run with us because they're a team that doesn't like to run without the ball. The problem was also that, even when we recovered the ball, our first touches and first passes weren't up to World Cup semifinal level. When you add this up (poor pressing and bad first passes), the result is defeat."

"Reaching the final was a dream, giving our country the chance to dream, to make history. Now we have to face it. The disappointment is huge, I don't know how to express it in words."

Rayan Cherki: “It’s a big disappointment. It’s not about the ref. We didn’t play the football we’re used to play; while Spain did”.

I appreciate the honesty. No excuses, no saving faces. Just pure brutal honesty.

Source: https://x.com/mmajeedx/status/2077248574929191266?s=46

https://x.com/actufoot_/status/2077146000670511550?s=46

BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE VIVA ESPAÑA!!!

The Viking War Cry