Spain waited 105 scoreless minutes for the action that decided the World Cup final, then found it through two substitutes. Nico Williams headed the ball into Ferran Torres’s path in the 106th minute, and Torres finished with his left foot from the center of the box. Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium to become world champion for the second time.
Regulation ended 0-0. The score remained 1-0 through 120 minutes, with no penalty shootout, but the narrow margin concealed a severe imbalance in chances. Spain took 20 shots and put 12 on target. Argentina managed two shots, neither on target, while Spain held 65.1 percent of the ball. The control that had carried Spain past France into the final survived a longer, more abrasive test in New Jersey.
Spain established the game in Argentina’s half without finding an early release. Rodri and Fabián Ruiz kept the ball circulating through midfield, Dani Olmo worked between the lines, and Lamine Yamal stayed high on the right. Argentina’s deeper shape denied the clean central finish Spain wanted, yet it also left Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez with little sustained service. The first half ended without a goal, and the same pattern held through most of the second.
Luis de la Fuente changed the front line in the 62nd minute, sending on Torres for Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedri for Fabián. Williams replaced Álex Baena 13 minutes later. The replacements widened Spain’s routes to goal, but the match changed more sharply in the third minute of second-half stoppage time when Enzo Fernández received a second yellow card. Argentina entered extra time with 10 players.
The breakthrough arrived one minute into the second extra-time period. Williams met the move with a headed pass, Torres found the space between Argentina’s retreating defenders and finished beyond Emiliano Martínez. It was Spain’s 12th effort on target and the only goal Martínez could not stop.
One late incision settles Spain’s second title
Martínez’s 11 saves kept Argentina level far longer than its attack suggested it could. Spain completed 762 of 852 passes and won nine corners; Argentina completed 357 of 463 and won four. Those numbers describe territory, but the more damaging figure was at the other end. Unai Simón did not have to make a save across 120 minutes plus stoppage time.
Messi completed the match, four days after he helped send Argentina past England in the semifinal, but Spain gave him no equivalent opening. Argentina’s best route was to withstand pressure and search for a transition. The red card reduced even that possibility, forcing Álvarez off for Marcos Senesi in the 102nd minute as Lionel Scaloni rebuilt the back line for extra time.
Spain’s first men’s World Cup title came in 2010, also by a 1-0 score after extra time. Sixteen years later, it has a second and is the first nation to hold the men’s and women’s World Cup crowns at the same time. Argentina’s attempt to retain the title ended one match short, with Fernández’s dismissal and Torres’s finish defining the final turn.
Torres had begun the final on the bench. Williams had, too. Together they supplied the one combination Spain needed after more than an hour of substitutions, cards and accumulating pressure. The tournament ended with Spain on the ball, Argentina chasing with 10 and the scoreboard finally reflecting the direction of the match.
