Sixteen years later, history repeated itself.
With a goal by Ferran Torres in the second overtime, just like Andrés Iniesta 16 years ago in South Africa, Spain reached the title of world champion and caught up with France and Uruguay on the all-time list of champions.
90+3’ | 🟥 RED CARD FOR ARGENTINA!
— 𝓟𝓐𝓣 🗽 (@Darts2Leek) July 19, 2026
𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐙 is sent off after a reckless challenge on Cubarsí. The referee shows him a second yellow card, followed by the red, and Argentina will finish the match with 10 men!#Spain 0-0 #Argentina pic.twitter.com/kKt2ORzCmU
In the 106th minute of the fight with an unworthy opponent, Torres was assisted by another “joker” of head coach Luis De La Fuente, Nico Williams.
That is how the match was decided in which the defending champion did not fire a shot on goal, let alone on target, in 110 minutes of play. At the same time, this ended the international career of the greatest footballer in history and a man who worked miracles on the way to East Rutherford, and then remained just as helpless in front of the “Red Fury” just like all his muchachos.
95’ | ❌ GOAL DISALLOWED FOR SPAIN!
— 𝓟𝓐𝓣 🗽 (@Darts2Leek) July 19, 2026
𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐒 thought he had given Spain the lead after reacting to a series of rebounds inside the box, the goal is RULED OUT for a previous foul by Mikel Merino.#Spain 0-0 #Argentina pic.twitter.com/J7oAm2lX2X
Lionel Messi retires from the Argentine national team as a three-time World Cup final participant and world champion from Qatar in 2022. That will mean nothing to him, but it will be remembered that at 40 years of age he was the best player of the tournament with 12 produced goals.
Tonight, the entire team of Argentina had about 12 touches with the ball near the goal of Unai Simón, who will remain the only unrated player of the 2026 World Cup final in the USA, Canada, and Mexico played in front of 80,663 lucky people.
The anti-hero of the final is Enzo Fernández who received a yellow card in the 83rd minute for harsh words, and ten minutes later for a hard foul on Pau Cubarsí right in the middle of the pitch where even a recovered ball would not change anything significant.
With ten men on the field, Scaloni’s team decided on penalties in extra time, and when Torres canceled them, they went all-in and… (you guessed it?) almost came to an equalizer. First, center-back Marcos Senesi almost pushed the ball into the net from five yards out after a cross from the right, and then after a scramble Giuliano Simeone sent a “drop kick” ball over the crossbar, and the most valuable trophy in the world of football towards Madrid.
SAZNAJTE VIŠE:
Before Torres’s goal, the European champion missed four or five colossal chances to score, De La Fuente’s “joker” from the matches with Portugal and Belgium, Mikel Merino, was the closest in the 103rd minute, but even before that “Dibu” Martínez forced the Spaniards to hold their heads by stopping shots from Pedri, Cubarsí, Lamine Yamal and others.
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Source: SportKlub; Photo: Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images
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