The football world has hailed a triumph of good over evil after Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in a bruising World Cup final in New Jersey on Monday morning.
Ferran Torres’ goal in the second half of extra time decided a contest dominated by the European champions, but with plenty of flashpoints as the Argentine side pushed their limits with their physicality.
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It led to a blow-up after the final whistle with Argentina’s Leandro Paredes grabbing Spain’s Eric Garcia by the throat, while Argentina defender Nahuel Molina appeared to punch one of the Spanish substitutes, who ran onto the pitch to celebrate, in the stomach.
Argentina’s pushing of the boundaries had been a talking point all tournament with conspiracy theories that the defending champions were being favoured by FIFA raging among fans and even pundits at time.
The sour note to end the final as well as several spot fires during the game led many journalists and past players to believe the right result had played out.
“There is no doubt that the right team won,” former England captain Alan Shearer said on the BBC.
“From start to finish, Spain controlled possession. They were the ones looking to play football, create chances and get in behind.
“This is a result for football because of the way that they have played. Spain deserve it.”
While others were far more scathing in their assessments of Argentina.
“Football 1 Felons 0,” The Telegraph’s chief football correspondent Jason Burt wrote.
“It took extra time to get there but, thank goodness, we got there. The sport prevailed. Spain won the World Cup and we are all better for that. Football is better for that.
“It really, desperately needed Spain to win this final. Anything else would have felt like a crime.”
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Argentina made several reckless challenges that could have easily received bookings early in the game, including a brutal two-footed tackle on Spain’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal by Argentine fullback Nicolas Tagliafico.
Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic kept his cards in his pocket, however, until Lisandro Martinez, who limped off injured shortly after, was shown a yellow card late in the first half for bringing down Mikel Oyarzabal after Spain’s leading goal scorer in the tournament pounced on a loose ball.
It was not until the 93rd minute that Argentina’s overzealous approach actually back to bite them.
Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The midfielder, who scored the equaliser in the semi-final against England, received a yellow card earlier in the half for complaining to the referee after trying to convince Vincic that he had been fouled by player of the tournament Rodri.
Fernandez was then given his marching order for a late, dangerous tackle that sent 19-year-old Pau Cubarsi, who edged out Yamal for the young player of the tournament award, flying in the air.
The 25-year-old, who plays his club football for Chelsea, initially refused to go off as he and his teammates surrounded the referee.
The ugly scenes meant that while his Spanish opponents cemented legacy defining individual awards, Fernandez certified his status as “the tournament’s most dislikable player”.
“When the red card belatedly came, Enzo Fernández, Argentina’s snarling malcontent, morphed in a heartbeat into the scolded choirboy. “Me?” he asked referee Slavko Vincic, having spent the past 93 minutes preferring pure, brutish menace to any creative contribution,” The Telegraph’s chief sports writer Oliver Brown wrote.
“It was an obvious dismissal, given he had kicked Pau Cubarsí up in the air not long after an act of petulant dissent, but still he refused to go quietly, trying to have Marc Cucurella sent off for muttering behind his hand.
“And yet in this instance there was only one villain: the 25-year-old with the extravagantly tattooed neck and the ability to make himself, by some distance, the tournament’s most dislikable player.”
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Enzo Fernandez sent off late on! | 00:27
Argentina’s smash and grab operation failed.
They became the first team in a World Cup final to not register a single shot in 90 minutes.
They only got a few shots away late in the game when desperately searching for an equaliser, but did not even muster a single shot on target.
Spain, on the other end, peppered the goal with Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez being force to make a whopping 11 saves.
It was more than Spain’s shot stopper Unai Simon made in the entire tournament.
Luis de la Fuente’s side conceded just once this World Cup – to Belgium in the quarter-final – and their incredible ability to defend with control of the ball was on show on the biggest stage.
Rodri was the architect of Spain’s dismantling of France in the semi-final and the Ballon d’Or winner was enormous again in the middle of the park with the champions boasting 68 per cent possession in the final.
It was a triumph of their national style of play, which has made Spain the current world champions in both the men’s and women’s game, while the men also won the Euros two years ago.
They also extended their record unbeaten streak to 38 games with their victory in the final.
In a tournament dominated by headline grabbing performances from the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham, Spain proved the old adage about a champion team be true.
“It felt right almost that it should be Torres, a symbol of all of them – like this was another moment shared, the collective expressed in one man who hasn’t always felt it but will now be for ever beloved,” The Guardian’s Spanish football correspondent Sid Love wrote.
“Torres became the seventh different Spain player to score in the US. At the World Cup of the stars, a team took the trophy.
“The European champions were the best team here, lifting that trophy having conceded just one goal, and this was a victory for a system, an ideal, a commitment to an identity.”
Scaloni breaks down in press conference | 00:31
Spain famously focus on ingraining their possession-based game into players while in the national youth teams.
Those fundamentals then feed through to senior level, especially when the Royal Spanish Football Federation put their coaches on a similar pathway to the players.
Luis de la Fuente coached Spain’s under 19 team from 2013 to 2018.
He then took over the under 21s from 2018 to 2022, including at the Tokyo Olympics, before being promoted to the senior team.
The 65-year-old worked with most of the players in the World Cup winning squad when they were stars on the rise.
Unlike other nations, who opt to install high profile coaches from club land for major tournaments, de la Fuente’s project has been 15 years in the making.
“Spain are not the best individual players, what they are is the best team, the best collective. And also the best system of play,” Manchester United great Gary Neville said on ITV.
“I spent a very short time in Spain and what I found was that they were a different technical and tactical level to Premier League teams, their understanding of the game.
“That comes out most in international football when you are playing every four days in 35 degree heat. Technically and tactically, they are outstanding.”
The tears of a footballing icon | 00:21
As for Argentina, the defeat does not change the fact the Messi will forever be in the conversation as one of the greatest players of all time.
It does not change that manager Lionel Scaloni is a national hero in homeland.
But the brutal antics in New Jersey has made some wonder whether the behaviour of the likes of Fernandez, Paredes and Molina has taken a bit of the shine off Argentina’s icons.
“Scaloni’s legacy, like Messi’s, was secure before this final, the coach having brought Argentina a third World Cup and a pair of Copa América titles, but this was a lost opportunity to solidify it. Two things can coexist: Scaloni is almost without question Argentina’s greatest coach, and this was one of his worst results and performances,” The Guardian’s US soccer correspondent Pablo Iglesias Maurer wrote.
“What feels much more real, though, is a sense of loss and disappointment after this pitiful final performance, which provided Argentina – and Messi – with a perfect opportunity to put the finishing touches on their fairytale. Instead, they turned from hero to villain – and needlessly so.”