Spain 1-0 Argentina: a second star — and still no back-to-back champion since 1962

Spain are world champions again. La Roja beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time at MetLife Stadium to win their second World Cup — deservedly, with authority, and with a scoreline that only stayed this close because Emiliano Martínez produced the game of his life. And the back-to-back title Argentina were chasing remains one of football's rarest feats: no nation has managed it since Brazil in 1962.

The winning goal came at 106 minutes: Pedro Porro crossed, Nico Williams flicked it on and Ferran Torres, from close range, turned it in. Entirely fair on the balance of play — Spain attempted 20 shots, put 12 on target and built 1.94 expected goals. Argentina... well, Argentina deserve a section of their own.

120 minutes without a shot on target — in a final

Let's take this slowly, because the number is historic in reverse: the reigning world champions played an entire World Cup final, extra time included, and finished with ZERO shots on target. Argentina's first attempt of any kind came at 117 minutes — a Messi effort, blocked before it reached its destination. The totals: 2 shots against 20, 0.2 xG against 1.94, and 35% possession. Unai Simón, Spain's goalkeeper, went the whole final without making a single save. In a World Cup final. It is uncomfortable to write; imagine playing it.

Plan B: kick

Unable to play their way into the game, Argentina turned to what was left: 25 fouls — more than Spain's 21, with far less of the ball — in a stop-start, niggly, time-wasting final that kept Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić busy all night. The strategy's defining image came at 90+3: Enzo Fernández, hero of the semifinal, collected a second yellow card and left his team with ten men for extra time. The side that enchanted the world in 2022 said goodbye to the title in 2026 shoving — literally.

The moment of the match

At 106, the move that summed up the final: Spain circulating the ball with the patience of a team that knew the goal would come, Porro (him again, just like the semifinal) finding the cross, Nico Williams winning it in the air and Ferran Torres appearing where center-forwards decide World Cups. At the other end, Emi Martínez still made his 11th save of the night — a record for a World Cup final — but not even the best goalkeeper of the decider can save a team that offers nothing going the other way.

Messi: a second final lost — and the record that slipped away

Let's be fair: Lionel Messi is one of the greatest in the history of the game, and nothing that happened on Sunday erases 2022. But the facts of this World Cup are cruel to the farewell: at 39, in the last World Cup of his career — he confirmed it himself — Messi lost the second final of his life (the first was in 2014, also 1-0 in extra time, also on American soil... fate has a taste for rhymes).

And then there's the record: until Friday, Messi was the all-time top scorer in World Cup history, with 21 goals. On Saturday, Mbappé scored twice in the third-place match and passed him: 22. Messi had the final left to answer — and the answer was a blocked shot at 117 minutes. So it ends: Messi closes his World Cup career on 21 goals, behind a 27-year-old Frenchman with at least one more tournament ahead of him. The record that was his for a single day is never coming back.

"The back-to-back club has been closed since 1962: only Italy (1934/1938) and Brazil (1958/1962) ever got in — Brazil being the last. Argentina came within 90 minutes (plus 30) of joining them, and left New Jersey without a shot on target."

Spain 2026: a dynasty confirmed

On the winning side, no caveats: Spain are the best team in the world by a distance. Champions of Euro 2024, now two-time world champions (2010 and 2026), with a knockout run that dispatched Portugal, Belgium, France and Argentina while conceding a single goal. Lamine Yamal, at 19, already owns a Euro and a World Cup. Oyarzabal decided games, Merino decided games, Porro decided games, Ferran decided the final — this is a team where anyone can settle a match, which tends to be the definition of a historic side.

Match facts

• 106' — Ferran Torres (ESP), from Porro's cross and Nico Williams's flick-on
• 90+3' — Enzo Fernández (ARG) sent off: second yellow card
• Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
• MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford (New York)

The World Cup is over — thank you for following along

The 2026 World Cup ends with Spain on top, England taking their first bronze in 60 years, Mbappé as the tournament's new all-time top scorer and the usual lesson: football doesn't follow a script. Guriball covered every knockout game of this World Cup, and the ball doesn't stop — our coverage of the international club game is on the way, and the stories and history of the tournament live on right here on the site. Thanks for watching it with us.