Triumph of the bad guy

In the 1950s, Brazil had a Paraguayan football coach by the name of Fleitas Solich. He became famous for leading Flamengo to three consecutive Rio de Janeiro State Championships (1953, 1954, and 1955), as well as the 1961 Rio–São Paulo Tournament. After Flávio Costa, he was also the coach who spent the longest time at the club.

An exceptionally courteous man, Fleitas Solich disliked complaining about defeats, criticizing or belittling referees or opponents. Whenever one of his teams (including the many others he coached in Brazil besides Flamengo) lost a match, and reporters asked whether he had any complaints about the officiating or the opposing team—such as a wrongly awarded penalty or an offside goal—he would invariably reply:

"The better team won."

That settled the matter. No complaints, no excuses. For Fleitas Solich, the better team always won.

At this 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, the consensus among commentators has been unanimous. The best team won: Spain.

But the real winner was not "the best." In other words, it was not Spain. The real winner was "the worst."

In this case, it was the betting business—the "bets" that have now become a global scourge. In the United States alone, and speaking only of the month of June since July's statistics are not yet available, $50 billion was wagered. But one figure is already known: the Final, on July 19, generated more than $5.69 billion on bets on a single questioWho would win the match?

And that does not even include the countless other wagers people can place: red cards, yellow cards, corner kicks, goals, and so on.

It is a global plague, one that is increasingly affecting Brazil as well.

At this World Cup, the true winner was the bad guy: betting. Not the game of football, but the game of chance. Incidentally, "chance" is a word the betting industry does not like to use, because the betting industry always wins.