Spain are world champions again. Ferran Torres, on for barely 45 minutes, struck in the 106th minute at MetLife Stadium to give Spain a 1-0 win over Argentina in a final that Lionel Messi’s side barely got a foothold in, and it’s La Roja’s second World Cup title, sixteen years on from their first.
It’s hard to overstate how one-sided this actually was, even though the scoreline says otherwise. Spain had twenty shots across the game. Argentina managed two, and didn’t register their first until deep into extra time. Emiliano Martínez, so often Argentina’s hero on nights like this, ended up breaking the World Cup final save record just to keep his side in it as long as he did, finishing with eleven stops before Torres finally beat him.
For Messi, quite possibly playing his last major tournament in an Argentina shirt, it’s a cruel way for this era to end. Argentina came into this final trying to become the first team to win four straight major tournaments, having taken Copa América in 2021 and 2024 either side of the 2022 World Cup. Instead, they leave New Jersey as runners-up, undone by a Spanish side that barely let them breathe.
Argentina Reduced to Ten, Spain Keep Pushing
Spain controlled things from the very first whistle, and that pattern never really changed all night. Rodri pulled the strings in midfield, Mikel Oyarzabal kept causing problems up top, and even with Lamine Yamal not quite at his sharpest after a hamstring issue picked up late in the club season, there was always a sense Spain would eventually find a way through.
Argentina, for their part, sat in and tried to make the game scrappy, and for long spells it worked. They limited Spain to half-chances rather than clear ones, and Martínez was there whenever he needed to be. The match turned nasty in stoppage time at the end of normal time, though. Enzo Fernández caught Pau Cubarsí with a reckless late challenge that sent the young Barcelona defender twisting through the air, and referee Slavko Vincic had little choice but to show a second yellow. Ten men for Argentina heading into extra time, against a Spain side that had barely stopped attacking for ninety minutes.
Torres Delivers in Extra Time
Even down a man, Argentina found something extra in the first period of extra time, riding their luck and frustrating Spain further. Martínez kept saving everything thrown at him, breaking the previous World Cup final record of eight saves along the way. But you could sense it was only delaying the inevitable.
Thirty-nine seconds into the second period of extra time, it finally gave. Torres, who’d come on in the 62nd minute for Oyarzabal, got on the end of a move inside the box and thumped a shot from eight yards that Martínez had no answer for this time. 1-0. The Spanish bench emptied, and Argentina, already down to ten men and out of ideas, never looked like finding a way back.
“The goal belonged to 47 million people,” Torres said afterward. “It wasn’t just mine or the 26 players. Destiny was written, and it was meant for us to win far away from our people.” Fair words for a man who’d barely featured before coming off the bench and ending up the difference between the two best teams in the world.
Spain finish this tournament having conceded just once across eight matches, the fewest goals allowed by any champion in World Cup history despite playing more games than any previous winner thanks to the expanded 48-team format. The win also stretches their unbeaten run to 38 matches across all competitions, over three years without defeat, a new record for a men’s national team, edging past Italy’s run from 2018 to 2021.
What It Means
This is Spain’s second World Cup title, following their breakthrough win in 2010, and it makes Luis de la Fuente, at 65, the oldest coach ever to lift the trophy. “We are world champions,” de la Fuente said. “It was together we reached this stage. I feel pride, to be honest. Accompanying my players on this journey is an honor.”
For Argentina, the disappointment will take time to fade, particularly given what was on the line for Messi personally. But there’s no shame in losing to a team that dominated a World Cup final as completely as Spain dominated this one. Reaching back-to-back finals, with a World Cup and a Copa América title split between them either side of this defeat, is still a golden era by any reasonable measure. It just won’t feel that way in Buenos Aires for a while yet.
Match Facts
- Competition: FIFA World Cup 2026, Final
- Date: Sunday, 19 July 2026
- Venue: MetLife Stadium (New York/New Jersey Stadium), East Rutherford, New Jersey
- Final Score: Spain 1-0 Argentina (after extra time)
- Goal Scorer: Ferran Torres 106′ (Spain)
- Red Card: Enzo Fernández (Argentina), 90+3′
Conclusion
Spain didn’t just win the World Cup final, they made it look almost one-sided against the defending champions and one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Ferran Torres will go down as the man who got the goal, but this title was built over eight matches of control, discipline and a defence that let almost nothing through. Argentina’s incredible run under Scaloni finally came up short, but Spain, for the second time in their history, are the best team in the world.
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Match data via ESPN’s live coverage of the final.
