World Cup Monitor — 21:10 UTC: Romero brands Neville 'stupid' over centre-back criticism

Argentina defender Cristian Romero has called former England full-back Gary Neville "stupid" for criticising his centre-back partnership with Lisandro Martínez, the BBC reports (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ce8l1zg37x8o). In the build-up to Argentina's 2-1 World Cup semi-final win over England, Neville described Romero and Martínez as "the best, worst centre-half pairing in the world." Romero, 28, made the remark when asked about Neville's punditry by DSports, telling the broadcaster: "The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid" (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ce8l1zg37x8o). He said he and Martínez are "just happy to be in a World Cup final again" after helping Argentina reach a second successive final. The row comes as Argentina finalise preparations for Sunday's showpiece against Spain, with the Guardian listing the 19 July final in its fixtures (https://www.theguardian.com/football/world-cup-2026). Martínez, also 28, responded in kind, saying the pair are "used to people always talking about us" and "respond on the pitch, that's it, always with respect" (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ce8l1zg37x8o). Both centre-backs were booked in the feisty last-four match in Atlanta but helped limit England to just two shots on target, the BBC notes (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ce8l1zg37x8o). Reuters and ESPN were unreachable this run, and FIFA.com returned no extractable content.