Sixteen years after Johannesburg, Spain are champions of the world again, and they did it the same way. A 1-0 win. Extra time. A team that simply refused to concede.
The Spain vs Argentina final at MetLife Stadium on Sunday was settled by Ferran Torres, 39 seconds into the second period of extra time, after 105 minutes in which Spain dominated to a degree finals rarely allow and Argentina survived on the gloves of Emiliano Martinez. It ended Argentina’s bid to become the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962, and it almost certainly ended Lionel Messi’s World Cup story.
What Decided the Spain vs Argentina Final
The numbers from this final will be studied for years. Spain took 20 shots to Argentina’s two and generated an expected goals figure of 1.94 to Argentina’s 0.20. In the first half, Argentina managed no shots, no corners, and not a single touch inside Spain’s penalty area.
The match turned in second-half stoppage time when Enzo Fernández collected a second yellow card and was sent off, leaving Argentina to face extra time with ten men. Even then, Spain needed a moment of ruthlessness. Nico Williams had already seen one finish ruled out for a foul in the buildup, but when the fourth period began, he found Torres, and the substitute’s first-time strike from eight yards finally beat Martinez. FIFA’s match record shows it was the only goal Argentina conceded all night, and one more than they could answer.
A Record Night in a Losing Cause
If Argentina got within 14 minutes of dragging the Spain vs Argentina final to a shootout, they owed it to one man. Emiliano Martínez made 10 saves, the most ever recorded by a goalkeeper in a men’s World Cup final, denying Lamine Yamal in the fourth minute and keeping Spain out again and again as the shot count climbed.
The hero of the 2022 shootout win over France was, for long stretches, the only Argentine playing at the level a final demands. Spain’s defense answered him with a seventh clean sheet in seven matches. La Roja finished the tournament having conceded exactly one goal, and their unbeaten run now stretches to 38 games.
The End of Messi’s World Cup Story
Messi, at 39, played what is widely expected to be his final World Cup match. He created Argentina’s brightest early moment with a fifth-minute break and kept probing after the red card, and Argentina did carve out late chances in the closing minutes of extra time. None fell kindly. There was no fairy-tale ending, only a lap of the stadium that stood to applaud him anyway.
His tournament still reshaped the record books, with the assists that dragged Argentina past Egypt and England arriving in the 85th minute or later. The margin between a repeat title and this defeat was, in the end, the width of one inspired Spanish generation.
What This Spain Team Has Become
Spain arrived in this Spain vs Argentina final as European champions and left as only the second nation to hold the European and world titles at the same time twice. Luis de la Fuente’s side opened the tournament with a draw against debutants Cape Verde and closed it by suffocating the highest-scoring team in the field.
Yamal, still a teenager, tormented Argentina for 120 minutes. Torres wrote his name into history. And a country that waited 16 years between stars now has a team young enough to chase a third.
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