Police in the stands / Photo: © Wagner Meier / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
The meeting with the participation of star players had to be postponed for half an hour.
In international football it is difficult to imagine a more fundamental confrontation than the matches between the national teams of Brazil and Argentina. The next game of these teams turned into a loud scandal involving A-list stars.
Two of the best football players on the planet, Lionel Messi and Emiliano Martinez, took part in showdowns with rivals, fans and police.
The problems started even before the starting whistle. During the performance of the Argentine anthem at the legendary Maracanã, Brazilian fans shouted insults and whistled. The visiting fans did not like this, and they started a fight.
A local brawl quickly escalated into a large-scale confrontation involving dozens of fans. Not only fists were used, but also everything that came to hand, even broken chairs. The police and stewards tried to calm the angry spectators, but only provoked aggression against them and were forced to use batons.
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The football players went to the stands, but they were unable to reduce the intensity of the conflict. At that moment, the best goalkeeper on the planet, according to France Football magazine, Emiliano Martinez, tried to jump and snatch the baton from a policeman in the stands. Emiliano was saved from a rash act by his teammates, who pulled him back.
Unfortunately, as a result of the brawl, several fans left the stands on stretchers. A recording appeared on social networks where an Argentine fan was carried away with a bloody head.
Against the backdrop of a showdown between law enforcement officers and fans, Messi led the Argentines to the locker room. Only after half an hour of negotiations and the normalization of the situation at the stadium did the guests return to the field.
Before the match resumed, Messi became involved in another scandal. The captain spoke in a raised voice with the Brazilian striker Rodrigo. The Real Madrid player called the Argentines cowards. Messi again, as in the match with Uruguay, could not contain his emotions: he grabbed his opponent by the neck and responded harshly.
– We are world champions, what kind of cowards are we? Watch your language,” TyCSports published Leo’s words.
Despite all the problems and postponements, the match was still held. The fate of the game was decided by one goal scored by Argentinean Nicolas Otamendi at the beginning of the second half.
Watch live broadcasts of the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches on the Match holding channels, as well as on the websites sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru.
Source: Sportbox
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino He commented on World Cup ticket prices, saying they reflected “absolutely insane” demand for next summer’s tournament:
“We have six to seven million tickets and in 15 days we received 150 million ticket requests. So every day we have 10 million requests. This shows how strong the World Cup is.”
FIFA has sold just 44 million tickets in almost 100 years of the World Cup. So we were able to sell tickets for the 300th anniversary of the World Cup in two weeks. Just imagine. “This is absolutely crazy.”
Infantino also noted that funds from ticket sales would be reinvested into world football, but did not specify a specific amount:
“The important thing is that the revenue from this goes back into football around the world. If it weren’t for FIFA, there would be no football in 150 countries of the world. Football exists thanks to the revenues we get from the World Cup, and we reinvest that into football around the world.”
Previously, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on FIFA to further reduce 2026 World Cup ticket prices.
Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
The Ukrainian Football Federation has determined the top scorer of the national team in 2025.
This status was given to Polesie’s winger Alexey Gutsulyak, who scored 5 goals and made 3 assists.
Gutsulyak’s assistance became important in the decisive matches of the autumn, when the player scored a goal and made an assist in the match against Azerbaijan, and also scored and assisted in the match against Iceland.
This helped the Ukraine national team reach the 2026 World Cup qualifying play-offs against Sweden in March.
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Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Fly CSKA extended the contract with the midfielder Ivan Oblyakov. This was reported by the army press service.
The new agreement will last until the end of the 2029/30 season.
Oblyakov is 27 years old, plays for CSKA since 2018. The footballer played 281 matches with the team in various tournaments, scoring 35 goals and 45 assists. As part of the army team, the midfielder won the Russian Cup twice (2023, 2025) and won the national Super Cup (2025).
Source: Soccer Ru
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.
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