ISHOWSPEED WORE SEVEN JERSEYS. MESSI BEAT THREE OF THEM.

July 3rd. Hard Rock Stadium, Miami. IShowSpeed is in the crowd in a Cape Verde jersey, streaming to millions, when Diney Borges puts the ball into his own net in extra time and Argentina survives 3 to 2. Add it to the pile. The football account 433 called it the speed curse on July 7th, and the list reads like a horror script. Wears Egypt jersey, Egypt lose. Wears Portugal jersey, Portugal lose. Wears Senegal jersey, Senegal lose. Wears Brazil jersey, Brazil lose. Wears Cape Verde jersey, Cape Verde lose. Wears Austria jersey, Austria lose. Wears Ivory Coast jersey, Ivory Coast lose. Seven teams, nine jersey appearances, zero wins, two draws. But the scoreboard lies. Read the actual results and the curse has a first name. Two of them, actually.

Messi's Argentina Erased Three of the Seven

Lionel Messi's Argentina is directly responsible for three of Speed's seven cursed jerseys. Argentina beat Austria 2 to 0 in the group stage on June 22, with Messi scoring both goals, one in the 38th minute and one in stoppage time. Argentina then needed extra time and an own goal to escape Cape Verde 3 to 2 on July 3, the same night cameras caught fans hurling racist abuse at Speed in the stands, a moment FIFA opened a formal investigation into. Eleven days later Argentina trailed Egypt 2 to 0 with 11 minutes left, and Messi dragged the defending champions back to win it 3 to 2, his 21st career World Cup goal. Speed wore all three losing jerseys, and Argentina supplied the common thread each time. Read the full breakdown of how Messi's Argentina came from two down against Egypt to see exactly how thin that margin actually was.

June 30 and July 5, Haaland Erases Two More

Erling Haaland and Norway account for two more names on Speed's list. Norway beat Ivory Coast 2 to 1 on June 30, Haaland scoring the 86th minute winner for the first World Cup knockout victory in Norwegian history. Five days later Norway shocked Brazil 2 to 1 in the Round of 16, with Neymar scoring for Brazil and Haaland again supplying the difference. That is five of Speed's seven jerseys explained by exactly two players on two teams that were simply better than their opponents on those specific nights, curse or no curse. Finally Offline's own coverage of Argentina surviving Cape Verde in extra time shows how narrow that particular escape actually was.

Portugal Beat Uzbekistan 5 to 0 and the List Ignored It

Portugal is the one team on Speed's list that actually won a game while he wore its jersey, and 433's curse list left it out entirely. Portugal beat Uzbekistan 5 to 0 on June 23 in the group stage, drew DR Congo 1 to 1 on June 17, drew Colombia 0 to 0 on June 27, then went out 1 to 0 to Spain on July 6 when Mikel Merino scored in stoppage time, closing Cristiano Ronaldo's final World Cup match. The caption counts Portugal's two draws and its exit to Spain. It skips the 5 to 0 blowout completely. That is not a curse pattern. That is someone picking the three results that fit the bit and quietly dropping the one that breaks it.

Stop Calling Nine Events a Pattern

Nine jersey appearances is not a sample size, it is a highlight reel with the inconvenient result cut for time. Senegal lost 3 to 2 to Belgium on a stoppage time penalty that the refereeing analysis site Archivo VAR itself called an incorrect call, and that result belongs to a referee's whistle, not a jersey. The honest count: Argentina and Norway alone account for five of Speed's seven cursed teams, two squads on genuine giant killing runs that had nothing to do with who was watching from the stands in a jersey. Speed's actual pattern is that he gravitates toward the biggest games left in the tournament, and the biggest remaining games kept being the ones where Messi or Haaland were on the other side. Finally Offline already covered Speed's rise off the pitch entirely with his FIFA Heroes cover deal worth a reported 50 million, proof the attention was never really about who won. Next time he puts on a jersey, check the fixture list before you blame the shirt. Messi and Haaland are still playing. The curse is not.