2026 World Cup Final Spain - Argentina: game analysis and match statistics

The 2026 World Cup final turned out to be paradoxical, because it was a subtle, nervous, almost random 1-0, but in terms of content it was one of the most one—sided finals of recent years. Spain won against Argentina in New Jersey thanks to a goal from Ferran Torres in the 106th minute and took the second World Cup in history after the 2010 title. How the Spaniards beat Argentina, what helped Torres score, and how the Red Fury became the world champion — details in the Izvestia article.

How did the match develop?

Analyzing the last match of the World Cup, it is important to note that the winner was determined not by one random episode, as it happens in the finals of football tournaments, but by the systematic pressure of Spain, which had possession of the ball, territory and pace throughout the game, when Argentina almost did not attack.

As Opta noted, Spain came to play football, and Argentina came to break its rhythm. Journalists from The Guardian newspaper saw the same drawing and said that Argentina was trying to kill the spectacle with "physics" and minor tempo disruptions. That is why this final will be remembered not so much for Torres' goal, but for how consistently Spain imposed its own form of the match.

The start of the match turned out to be sticky, but already in the first half it became clear who was dictating the conditions. Spain held the ball, controlled the space and had 3 shots by the break, 2 of them on target, while Argentina did not shoot once. The Red Fury did not so much tear the opponent apart with moments as deprive him of space, deprive him of the right to a second pace and deprive him of access to possession in convenient areas.

After the break, the drawing did not change, but only became tougher. Spain increased the pressure and Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Laporte, Cubarsi and Nico Williams consistently scored at Emiliano Martinez's goal.

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Why didn't Argentina's plan work?

According to Opta, Argentina became the first team since 1966 to not land a single shot in 90 minutes of the World Cup final. The first kick of the Argentines came only in the 117th minute, and there were two shots in total. This is the main marker of how the match went: formally, the intrigue lived until extra time, but in fact, Spain closed the opponent in siege mode from the very beginning.

Argentina national team head coach Lionel Scaloni chose a 4-4-2 starting scheme: Martinez; Montiel, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico; de Paul, McAllister, Enzo, Nico Gonzalez; Messi, Julian Alvarez. An important focus here is the absence of Leandro Paredes at the start and the exit of Nico Gonzalez on the left. It looked like a choice in favor of width, volume without the ball and potential jerks behind the back, rather than in favor of additional control in the center.

Already during the match, Scaloni acknowledged the problem indirectly when Paredes came on at halftime instead of Gonzalez, because Argentina did not hold the middle. But even this correction has not changed anything. Enzo Fernandez and Alexis McAllister were outplayed in the middle, and Paredes' exit did not change the mood of the match.

The key victim of this plan was Messi, because Spain completely shut him out of the game. Rodri blocked the center and prevented him from getting the ball facing the goal, while Laporte and Kubarsi secured the space behind his back. Messi could not "shake off" more than one Spanish player, could not find a free corridor and actually turned into a passive figure between the lines. Argentina had only six touches in the Spanish penalty area, 34.9% of possession and only 0.22 xG — for the final with Messi, this was almost a verdict even before Enzo's removal.

The situation was also disrupted by personnel losses. Lisandro Martinez left in the 44th minute, and Cristian Romero in the 70th. Both of these players are important not only as defenders, but also as the first point guards from deep. When a team is already under pressure, the loss of two central defenders who can pass the ball makes it even harder to get out of defense. By the end of the match, Argentina was increasingly just knocking the ball away and living in the logic of a rebound rather than a meaningful attack.

The outcome of the match was decided by substitutions and the depth of the squad

The head coach of the Spanish national team, Luis De la Fuente, won the final not only with his starting plan, but also with his reaction during the game. He released Pedri and Torres in the 62nd minute, and Nico Williams and Mikel Merino in the 75th. It was after Williams' exit that Spain gained speed on both flanks. Yamal remained a threat on the right, and finally a player appeared on the left who was able to stretch Tagliafico and reveal the weak side after turning possession around.

It was here that the match finally shifted from the "Spain dominates, but does not finish" mode to the "Spain puts the squeeze on" mode. Before that, Argentina could still live off Martinez's resilience — according to Opta, he made 11 saves, a record for a goalkeeper in the World Cup finals since 1966 — but after the release of fresh outfield players and an additional midfielder, it began to fall apart in width. The winning goal was the logical conclusion from this pressure: Porro loaded the ball into the far zone, Williams won the air and the episode, and Torres, who came off the bench, finished the attack with a shot without the right to save.

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Spain did not lose during the championship, conceded only one goal in eight meetings, allowed the opponents a total of only 2.3 xG and extended the unbeaten streak to 38 matches. That is why the final with Argentina was not a flash, but a predictable climax. The Red Fury won the World Cup with exactly the same weapons they used throughout the tournament — control, collective structure and depth of the squad.

The score of the match remained minimal, but in terms of content it was a final with a huge difference between the teams. Argentina hoped to drag the match to a penalty shootout on character and fouls, when Spain methodically turned possession into territorial strangulation, and then into a winning moment.