The reigning European champions are now champions of the world as Spain have won the second World Cup title in their history thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Argentina in extra-time of Sunday’s Final in New York/New Jersey. La Roja owned the ball as they’ve done all tournament and dominated the vast majority of the game, and Barcelona striker Ferran Torres scored the winner in extra-time to decide a very tight contest and give the largest Barça contingent in the World Cup a deserved title.
The opening 45 minutes were all about Spain’s control: La Roja dominated the ball from the get-go, and featured Lamine Yamal early and often leading to several dangerous moments in the first 15 minutes.
Spain couldn’t create a true goalscoring chance but remained on top for the entire period, and Argentina were forced to sit back and defend deep without any real counter-attacking threat. The Albiceleste had zero shots and zero touches in the opposition box, and Lionel Messi struggled to get hold of the ball and involve his teammates.
Spain were the better side and looked more likely to score as we reached the interval, and Lionel Scaloni had a ton of work to do to help Argentina gain more control and offer a bigger threat up front in the second half.
Scaloni made a halftime change to reverse his surprise choice of starting Nico González over Leandro Paredes, as Paredes took Nico’s place to add one more player in midfield and try to give Argentina some semblance of control.
Paredes came on and was immediately booked for trying to physically intimidate Rodri and Dani Olmo, however, and was unable to offer what his coach wanted with the ball. Spain remained on top and looked more dangerous as Olmo became more involved, and the Spanish opener felt like a matter of time.
Luis de la Fuente sent on two Barça players from the bench as Ferran Torres and Pedri joined the contest, and the two had an immediate positive impact adding more dynamic passing and forward threat to the Spain attack. Pedri had some gorgeous touches and passes in midfield, and Ferran almost scored with one of his first touches with a strong header that required a good save from Emiliano Martínez.
The Spanish coach made two more changes as Mikel Merino and Nico Williams came on to add even more attacking intent, and Spain started to fire one shot on target after another with Martínez having to make increasingly tougher saves to keep Argentina in the game.
Argentina managed to slow down the Spain pressure in the dying seconds but sufferd a huge blow when Enzo Fernández was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Pau Cubarsí, and Martínez had to make one more special save on a Lamine Yamal free-kick to force extra-time and give 10-man Argentina 30 minutes of hope.
Spain continued to dominate the ball and attack to begin the extra period and thought they had finally taken the lead when Nico Williams found the net after a scramble in the box, but a very controversial decision ruled out the goal for a possible foul by Merino on Nicolás Otamendi in the buildup.
The Spanish pressure was just too much, and a deserved opener finally came in the 106th minute after a cross from Yamal was headed back by Williams and fired home by Ferran to put La Roja in front.
Argentina made a desperate late attempt at an equalizer and Giuliano Simeone missed a huge chance inside the box, but there was not enough time for another Albiceleste miracle and the final whistle came to crown Spain as World Cup 2026 winners.
This will not go down in history as the greatest World Cup Final ever, but Spain absolutely earned the victory with another dominant performance.
Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Pau Cubarsí, Dani Olmo, Eric Garcia, Gavi, Joan Garcia and Ferran Torres are World Champions. Well done, boys!
