While the Argentina team continues to be on everyone's lips due to the controversy over alleged referee favors in the 2026 World Cup, a recent referee analysis revealed that Mexico was also among the countries with the most interventions in this review system.

According to analyst Juan Guzmán Jasso, both squads topped the list of teams with the highest incidence of VAR in favor during the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The official FIFA data count places Argentina in first position with five favorable decisions from the video arbitration system. For its part, Mexico ranked second with four reviews in its favor.

The numbers behind the Albiceleste controversy

In the midst of the discussion about whether FIFA facilitated Argentina's path to the grand final, the statistical reality shows that the South American team led the reviews.

For a sector of the press, specialists and fans, the perception remained that the Albiceleste received help in key matches such as against Cape Verde and Egypt. However, the doubt remains in the air: were these technical decisions technological successes or true arbitration “favors”?

A direct counterexample occurred in the grand final against Spain. In that match, Enzo Fernández received a second yellow card and was sent off after a VAR review, a decision that ended up affecting the Argentine scheme in the final match.

The true function of VAR

The implementation of VAR responded to the demand for fairer football in the face of the inevitable errors of human judgment. Its use is strictly limited to four specific scenarios: goals, penalties, direct expulsions and mistaken identity.

For this reason, the fact that a team adds more favorable reviews does not demonstrate premeditated help, but rather that its matches accumulated more closed plays within the areas that required validation of the technology.

The revisions of the VAR in the past 2026 World Cup

Below is the official list of the teams that had the most VAR interventions in their favor during the tournament. The statistics, compiled by specialist Juan Guzmán Jasso, detail how Argentina and Mexico separated themselves from the rest of the competitors in the use of technology in North America 2026:

1, 🇦🇷 Argentina, 5

2, 🇲🇽 Mexico, 4

3, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 3

4, 🇺🇸 United States, 2

5, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 2

6, 🇪🇨 Ecuador, 1

7, 🇵🇾 Paraguay, 1

8.

9, 🇫🇷 France, 1

10, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 1

11, 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia, 1

12, 🇦🇹 Austria, 1

13, 🇯🇴 Jordan, 1

14, 🇧🇷 Brazil, 1

15, 🇳🇴 Norway, 1

16, 🇨🇦 Canada, 1

17, 🇹🇷 Türkiye, 1

18, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland, 1

19, 🇸🇳 Senegal, 1

20, 🇪🇬 Egypt, 1

21, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, 1

22, 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan, 1

23, 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1