Spain Becomes World Champion After 16 Years

Breaking all the walls of doubt, doubt and disbelief, Lionel Messi did not write another epic. On the contrary, Spain broke Argentina's dream and lifted the golden trophy of the World Cup again after 16 years. La Rosa became the world champion for the second time after 2010. Yesterday, the Spanish became the new emperor of world football by defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra time in a breathtaking final that started at at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, America

With this loss, Messi's dream of winning the fourth World Cup title remained unfulfilled. On the other hand, after winning the 2024 European Championship, another feather was added to the international career of Spain's new generation of bright star Lamine Yamal. Spain scored the only goal in the second half of extra time. In the 106th minute, substitute forward Ferran Torres scored with an assist from Nico Williams to bring the team its second World Cup trophy.

The lowest ticket price for the WORLD CUP 2026 final at the 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium. Every seat in the expensive match was full. Millions of football fans had been flocking to the stadium since morning. Although the number of Argentine fans in the gallery was slightly higher, there were also many Spanish fans. Like Times Square, MetLife Stadium was filled with the excitement of fans of both teams.

Although there were concerns about the weather in New York before the match, it ended up being a bright and sunny day. The two teams had to play in the scorching sun at 3 pm local time. Since the stadium had no roof, the spectators also had to endure the heat of the sun. However, the focus of discussion was the battle on the field, overshadowing all the heat.

Spain took control of the match from the start. They practically kept Argentina under pressure until the hydration break. The Spanish were ahead in almost every statistic: possession, attack, shots. Although neither team scored in the first half, Lamine Yamal had the opportunity to take the lead in just 5 minutes. His effort deflected the ball and reached Dani Olmo. When Olmo returned the ball, Yamal's shot was blocked by the joint efforts of Lisandro Martinez and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. In the first 15 minutes, Spain's main attack was the right wing. Yamal and Pedro Porro attacked one after another, and Shana La Rosa attacked. On the other hand, Argentina tried to build an attack around Nicolas Tagliafico and Nico Gonzalez. Alex Baena fouled Messi in the 17th minute and gave him a free kick. Rodrigo de Paul's free-kick was deflected by Nico Gonzalez at the back post. Messi gave Nico Gonzalez a chance with a brilliant through pass from midfield in the 22nd minute.

However, a poor first touch also ruined that chance. At the first cooling break in the 25th minute, the statistics showed that both teams had only one shot in the first 25 minutes, the fewest in the first 25 minutes of any World Cup final since 1966. At the same time, Messi only touched the ball twice, the fewest in the first 20 minutes of any match in his World Cup career as a starting XI. Spain became more aggressive after the cooling break. Romero cleared Baena's cross in the 33rd minute. In the 35th minute, Marc Cucurrera's cross from the left side was not found. In the 37th minute, Gonzalo Montiel's excellent tackle stopped a promising Spanish attack. However, in the 39th minute, Spain had one of the best chances of the match. After a great combination between Laporte, Rodri and Baena, Fabian Ruiz passed the ball to Mikel Oyarzabal. His powerful left-footed shot was blocked with great skill by Emiliano Martinez. In the 41st minute, Lisandro Martinez received his first yellow card for fouling Oyarzabal while trying to stop a dangerous counterattack. He was injured in that collision and left the field in the 44th minute. He was replaced by the experienced Nicolas Otamendi.

Although the first half was goalless, Spain's dominance was clear in the statistics. They had 65 percent possession, compared to Argentina's 35 percent. Spain had two shots on target and completed 313 successful passes, compared to Argentina's 155.

At the start of the second half, Lionel Scaloni made a change and brought on Leandro Paredes for Nico Gonzalez. But Paredes' start was disappointing from the 47th minute onwards. He was quickly shown a yellow card for an unnecessary push on Rodri. In the 55th minute, Argentina were saved from certain danger by a last-minute tackle from Otamendi. The next minute, Gonzalo Montiel cleared the ball from Olmo's backpass to Cuqueria. In the 62nd minute, Spain brought on Pedri for Fabian Ruiz and Ferran Torres for Oyarzabal.

Two minutes later, Olmo's long-range shot was blocked by Martinez. Then, the Argentine goalkeeper also stopped Torres' low header from Yamal's excellent cross. In the 70th minute, Argentina brought on Giuliano Simeone for Rodrigo de Paul and Facundo Medina for Cristian Romero. In the 75th minute, Spain also brought on Mikel Merino for Olmo and Nico Williams for Baena, bringing new momentum to the attack. In the 77th minute, Pedri's shot was deflected by Martinez. Yamal's attempt was then blocked by Medina, but Emiliano Martinez also blocked Kuberci's long-range shot on the return ball. In the 80th minute, he also stopped Laporte's header from Williams' cross. In the 87th minute, Torres' shot narrowly missed the post. In the third minute of added time, Martinez also stopped Williams' powerful shot. In added time (90+4 minutes) of the match, Enzo Fernandez received a second yellow card for fouling Kuberci. As a result, the referee showed him a red card.

 Argentina was reduced to 10 men. Martinez also saved a dangerous free-kick taken by Yamal at the last minute with extraordinary skill. In the entire 90 minutes, Argentina could not put a single shot on target. On the other hand, Spain took 10 shots on target, each of which was stopped by Emiliano Martinez. This is a unique goalkeeping record in a World Cup final. Spain had 64 percent possession of the ball in regulation time. The match went into extra time without a goal. In the 96th minute, Nico Williams had the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review due to a foul by Mikel Merino. However, the wait was not long in the end. In the 106th minute of the second half of extra time, Nico Williams passed the ball to Ferran Torres from Pedro Porro's attack. The substitute forward put Spain ahead 1-0 with a brilliant shot that sealed the match.

Torres made history by scoring as a substitute in the final. Earlier, Germany won the title by defeating Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final thanks to Mario Gotze's extra-time goal. After 12 years, the fate of the World Cup final was again decided by a substitute's goal in extra time. And with that goal, Spain returned to the top of world football, ending a 16-year wait.