The spotlight of the football world was on the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as the official 2026 FIFA World Cup draw took place. Excitement filled the venue as fans eagerly awaited the matchups, venues, and schedule for the grand event. Amid the ceremony, defending champions Argentina were represented by coach Lionel Scaloni, who appeared on stage carrying the World Cup trophy — and that moment unexpectedly created controversy.
Infantino Apologizes After Unexpected Mishap
During Friday’s draw, Scaloni walked up with the trophy wearing gloves, a rule usually reserved for those who are not allowed to touch the iconic cup directly. However, captains and coaches of World Cup–winning teams are allowed to touch it with their bare hands. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was unaware of this misunderstanding until the next day.
While presenting the full tournament schedule on Saturday, Infantino publicly addressed the issue.
“𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨… 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔,” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 “𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒑.”
To lighten the moment, Infantino later joked,
“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆! 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏.”
Scaloni Talks Tough Lessons and Argentina’s Schedule
Reflecting on Argentina’s shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in their first match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Scaloni said,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏 — 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆.”
Argentina’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign begins on June 17 against Algeria at Kansas City Stadium. They will then face Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 28, with both matches scheduled at Dallas Stadium.
Messi’s match against Austria will be held at 1 PM local time, a time that worries Scaloni due to extreme summer temperatures in Texas.
“We have to play at that time because the schedule is fixed,” he said. “It will be very hot, but we won’t make excuses — both teams will face the same challenge.”
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