Spain wins World Cup over Argentina as Ferran Torres scores winner in extra time

Make no mistake about it: Sunday’s World Cup final was defined by Spain’s utter domination.

It may have taken until the 106th minute. It may have taken 20 shots. And a glance at the 1-0 final score in favor of Spain over Argentina may not reflect just how imposing the team’s performance was. But history will remember Spain as the 2026 World Cup champion all the same.

In the 106th minute, Nico Williams headed Pedro Porro’s cross into the middle of the box, where Ferran Torres was all alone from about 8 yards out. Torres, with a running start, met Williams’ header off one bounce. With his left foot, Torres unleashed a rocket into the middle of the net.

It was Spain’s 20th shot, one that not even the magnificent Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez could have saved.

“It was a goal scored by 47 million people,” Torres said, referring to Spain’s population.

And it was all Spain would need to defeat Argentina, the 2022 World Cup champion, at MetLife Stadium.

Argentina generated virtually nothing against a ferocious Spain defense and was a man down for all of extra time after Enzo Fernandez’s red card in stoppage time in regulation.

Spain won its second World Cup (and first since 2010) and extended its unbeaten streak to 38 matches, the longest in international soccer history. Spain, which also won the 2024 UEFA Euro title, received the World Cup trophy in a postgame ceremony with President Donald Trump on stage.

Spain controlled 65% of the possession and had 20 shots to Argentina’s two, 12 shots on goal to Argentina’s zero and 1.94 expected goals to Argentina’s 0.17.

“We are world champions,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “It was together we reached this stage.”

Spanish captain and defensive midfielder Rodri, who was exceptional Sunday, won the Golden Ball as the best player in the World Cup.

“I’m in shock right now, even myself,” Rodri said. “I cannot express with words.”

Spain’s Unai Simon — who won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s best goalkeeper — was hardly tested Sunday as his team posted its seventh shutout in eight World Cup games and became the first team to win the World Cup with only one goal allowed in the tournament.

Argentina didn’t record its first shot until the 117th minute, an outside-the-box attempt by Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old who arguably is the sport’s all-time greatest player and became only the second player in history to play in three World Cup finals, joining Brazil’s Cafu. That shot by Messi was blocked. Giuliano Simeone’s 122nd-minute attempt, Argentina’s second and final shot, sailed over the net.

Martinez was brilliant, recording a World Cup final-record 11 saves, including a diving stop on Spain’s last chance before extra time — a free kick in the eighth minute of stoppage time by 19-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal that was heading for the top right corner of the net. But Martinez couldn’t do it all as Messi and Argentina never threatened offensively.

It took until the second extra-time period for Spain to score the winner, though it came close multiple times in the first one. Martinez, as he had done all game, came up with a massive save in the 93rd minute, laying out to get a piece of Williams’ header.

Spain seemed to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Williams in the 96th minute, but a foul on Spain’s Mikel Merino was called.

Fernandez exited with a red card in the 93rd minute of regulation after picking up his second yellow card on a dangerous tackle of Pau Cubarsi, the 19-year-old defender who was named the tournament’s best young player.

“I think that the first yellow card could have been avoided by the referee, but it is what it is,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.

Martinez was tested often in the second half, with perhaps no chance more dangerous than Torres’ 67th-minute header. Yamal created the opportunity by splitting through Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez, then flicking a cross into the center of the box to a leaping Torres, whose header descended directly to Martinez.

Martinez saved another dangerous header on a similar play in the 81st minute, stopping Aymeric Laporte’s attempt after a cross by Williams.

Though the match was scoreless at halftime, Spain firmly dictated the first 45 minutes. Yamal had an early chance to strike first for Spain in the fifth minute, but his close-range shot was stopped by Martinez — his first save in what would become a record-setting performance.

Though Yamal didn’t have his best tournament — he entered the World Cup with a hamstring injury and had only one goal and no assists in eight games — his relationship with Messi represents a story that couldn’t be scripted.

In the lead-up to Sunday’s final, pictures from 2007 of a 20-year-old Messi bathing and holding a barely 6-month-old Yamal went viral. No, they weren’t AI, but for a UNICEF charity photo shoot after Yamal’s family won a raffle.

Nineteen years later, Yamal now is the star at Barcelona and has been appointed next in line in soccer’s GOAT conversation.

With Messi on the ground at the end of Sunday’s game — soaking up likely his last World Cup game, though don’t doubt him after he recorded eight goals and four assists in this tournament — Yamal walked over to him.

Messi rose, and they shared a handshake and a hug in a moment that might just be the passing of the torch in the sport’s hierarchy.

“I feel sad,” Messi said. “But I am aware that we played our hearts out.”

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.