Spain defeats Argentina in extra time in thrilling

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — This summer time’s World Cup was so good, no one needed it to end.

So Spain and Argentina performed on and on in Sunday’s closing, through 90 minutes of regulation time and then through a 15-minute extra period before Ferran Torres gave Spain the only aim it needed to declare the title with a 1-0 victory over the defending champion at a sold-out MetLife Stadium.

It was an epic end to an epic match, one that set data for every little thing from attendance and TV viewers to video games performed and targets scored. And it was nearly actually the last World Cup for Argentine captain Lionel Messi, 39, who completed his record-setting sixth match as the all-time chief in video games (34), assists (12) and aim contributions (33).

His parting present was a silver medal, a handshake from President Trump and a hug from the King of Spain. But none of those have been the prize he needed most, so when he left the stage after receiving his medal, he broke down in tears.

A swarming Spanish protection made him little more than a spectator for most of the match. So while Argentina got here into the ultimate main the match in targets per recreation, it also turned the first crew to go 90 minutes without a shot in a World Cup closing. It was outshot 20-2 for the sport, and Spanish keeper Unai Simón, who gave up just one aim in eight matches, was not pressured to make a save in registering his seventh clean sheet.

He was named the excellent keeper of the match.

That allowed Torres, who began just once in the match, to turn into the hero.

“Honestly, I can’t believe it. I just am trying to enjoy it, but I don’t know what’s happening,” Torres said. “I didn’t think too much. I just saw the ball coming to me and I just shot with the power of all the Spanish people.”

Rodri, Spain’s captain and the anchor of the crew’s smothering protection during its unbeaten World Cup run, received the Golden Ball award as the excellent participant of the match. He was equally surprised.

“I’m in shock,” he said. “I cannot express [my feelings] in words. I’m like in a cloud.”

For Rodri, who also led Spain to a European Championship two years in the past, Sunday’s victory capped a personal two-year wrestle to return from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in 2024, a month before he hobbled onstage with crutches to obtain the Ballon d’Or award as the world’s best participant.

“It’s been a really tough time,” said the midfielder, who broke the World Cup file for accomplished passes in the match with 747. “I just want new generations to see my example as an opportunity to when you go down, you can rise again. This is my philosophy my entire life.

“Sometimes things go well, things go wrong. But always the positive.”

Highlights from Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the World Cup closing on Sunday.

The only aim got here seconds into the second extra-time period, with defender Pedro Porro sending a long cross to the left post for Nico Williams, who headed it back into the middle of the box for Torres, a second-half substitute who buried the left-footed volley that would give Spain its second World Cup title.

Torres, who entered the sport just past the hour mark, is the fifth man to come off the bench and rating in a World Cup closing and the first since Germany’s Mario Gotze, whose extra-time aim beat Argentina in 2014. Williams, who received the help, was also a late-game substitute.

“We are world champions. I am very proud,” Luis de la Fuente, Spain’s coach, said through an interpreter after his crew ran its unbeaten streak to a file 38 video games.

“I’m very happy for my players. We’ve won in all the categories. We’ve grown together. We reached this stage today thanks to their talent, to their attitude, to their comportment, to their values and to the huge footballing talent.”

The aim ruined a superhuman effort by Argentine keeper Emiliano Martínez, who made 11 saves while enjoying with a fractured proper ring finger that will require surgical procedure. That’s two more saves than he had over the remainder of the match.

But the second that could have sealed Argentina’s destiny got here in the ultimate minutes of second-half stoppage time when Enzo Fernández clattered into Spanish heart back Pau Cubarsí at midfield, flipping him head over heels. Fernández had been booked minutes earlier for dissent, and the second yellow card led to his expulsion, forcing Argentina to end shorthanded.

Spain wasted little time exploiting the benefit and appeared to have scored six minutes into extra time when Williams banged in the rebound of a Martínez save, only to have Slovakian referee Slavko Vincic wave it off, ruling that Spain’s Mikel Merino had fouled Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi in the buildup to the aim.

Spain star Lamine Yamal is congratulated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, and President Trump following Spain’s win over Argentina in the World Cup closing Sunday.

(Justin Setterfield / Getty Images)

The capability crowd of 80,663, matching the second-largest of the match’s 104 video games, booed Trump when he appeared on a videoboard during the national anthem and again when he walked onto the pitch for the postgame awards ceremony.

During the victory ceremony after the ultimate of last summer time’s Club World Cup, performed at the same stadium, Trump remained on the rostrum to have a good time with Chelsea’s gamers and was seen on TV pocketing one of the winners’ medals. On Sunday, after Trump joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino presenting the World Cup trophy to Rodri, the Spanish captain motioned to Trump to transfer to the left aspect of the stage. As Spain lifted the trophy, Infantino escorted the president off the rostrum and away from the celebration.

When Argentina gave the trophy back to Spain, it probably marked a passing of the torch. Argentina has performed in three of the last 4 World Cup finals, but the average age of its beginning lineup Sunday was more than 30, making it the second-oldest to play in a closing behind the 11 Brazil used to win in 1962. And it received a bit older when Otamendi, 38, got here on for 34-year-old Lisandro Martínez, who left with an obvious injury just before the end of the first half.

Argentina star Lionel Messi reacts after shedding to Spain in the World Cup closing.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

Spain, meanwhile, had the sixth-youngest roster of the 48 groups. Two of La Roja’s starters — youngsters Cubarsí and wunderkind Lamine Yamal — hadn’t even been born when Messi made his World Cup debut in 2006.

“The way this team has matured, it built every day,” said Rodri, the third-oldest starter on the crew despite being just 30. “We faced different opponents. Of course, lots of European opponents. But different moments and different types of games and we managed to play all of them.

“We grew in this sense and this generation is making history for our country.”

A historical past that de la Fuente said is just starting.

“This team has a long way to go,” he said. “We are already thinking to what is next, what is coming up.”

Sports Editor Iliana Limón Romero and workers writers Jad El Reda and Eduard Cauich contributed to this report.

Spain gamers have a good time after defeating Argentina for the World Cup title on Sunday.