Spain, the great champion of the 2026 World Cup: fairly defeated Argentina and took the cup

Sometimes football forgets about chance and becomes fair. Sometimes it rewards the one who tries the most, who deserves it the most, and who plays the best. That was Spain, the team that did everything possible to be the 2026 World Cup champion, and not just any champion, this is one that thrilled with its game of harmony, with that game that invites you, that mesmerizes you, that excites. And with that delicious football, Spain beat the fierce Argentina 1-0, Messi’s team, and celebrates the second crown in its history, with authority, beauty, and justice.    

The match started and immediately Spain took the ball as if it were theirs, as if warning their dominance and that they were not going to lend it, as if it were not a ball but a crystal ball in which the players saw all the glory that awaited them after 120 minutes. The Spanish musicians began to play what they know: one, two, three passes, back, to the side, forward, applause, and the Argentines were vigilant warriors, those who don’t dare but sweat; Spain kept doing its thing, 4, 5, 6 passes, wall pass, an abusive backheel, a first shot from Yamal into Dibu’s hands. Spain, however, knew it not only needed its magical football, it needed ingenuity. That was when Oyarzabal found the ball on the edge of the area and launched a good shot that the Argentine goalkeeper saved. Minutes later, Cucurella intervened with a low left-footed shot and the ball passed very close. Spain was coming, but they were just skirmishes. 

The first half was generally poor. It ran out and the atmosphere of being the definitive match was still not felt, there were no goals, not even Messi had appeared – if he even touched the ball –. Spain, tired of having the ball, did not finish it off; Argentina, tired of defending, did not decide to take risks: this match still did not seem like the final. If suspense and drama were expected, it was a cheesy melodrama. When the 45-minute whistle sounded, the teams felt like they were in a truce. They needed to rest, not their legs but their minds. Promising to return to play the final that still seemed like they were not playing.

Back again, Spain was the best Spain, resumed its suffocating conduct and took its magical ball. Baena was the first to try. Then Ferrán Torres. Then Pedri… And since the attackers couldn’t, the defenders went to try, with Cubarsí’s shot and Laporte’s header. Only missing was goalkeeper Simón, bored of so much stillness, also going to try. Spain’s play was no longer music, it was a monologue. But without a goal. Meanwhile, Dibu flew from one side to the other to be the hero. The Argentine players felt their rival seemed like a gale pushing them against their goal and suffocating them. And they, although they fought and roared, could not even breathe. And if they looked at Messi it was to ask him, are you there?

However, it was not clear how Spain was going to beat Dibu, nor how Argentina was going to find the rival goal. The match was approaching extra time, but the fans were already betting on who would take the penalties. Before extra time, Argentina lost Enzo Fernández due to a red card. And if with 11 they were already a wall, with 10 they were going to be a Trojan wall. The 90 minutes ended – there was another save by Dibu, from Yamal – and the albiceleste players looked again at Messi as if to ask: what do we do now?

Fans who fear the penalties cried out for a goal in extra time, a single one, however it came, it didn’t have to be beautiful. But Spain found again the hands of the miraculous Dibu against a shot from Nico Williams. Williams himself had a goal disallowed for a prior foul.

It took 105 minutes for Spain, finally, to beat Dibu. Williams brought the ball down as if lowering the sun, and Ferran Torres caught it full, on fire, kicked with the strength of all Spaniards and scored the heroic goal, the 1-0. The Argentine resistance broke and no one looked at Messi anymore, because there was no time left for a feat, yet Argentina pushed to see if they could find one of those goals they know well; they were close, but the Spanish victory was not going to be frustrated. They, the Spaniards, won the final and the World Cup because they were the best. Football, for once, was full of justice…   

PABLO ROMERO

SPORTS Editor

@PabloRomeroET

IG: pablo.rimerom