Spain climbed again to the summit of world football on Sunday when substitute Ferran Torres struck in the 106th minute to prise the World Cup from holders Argentina with a 1-0 victory that crowned a new era but brought precious little beauty.
The biggest prize in football deserved a classic. Instead, the world’s two finest teams produced a suffocating stalemate that drifted towards penalties before Torres finally found the extra-time breakthrough with Spain’s 20th attempt on goal.
It was perhaps fitting that the final whistle sparked the game’s liveliest moments, with players pushing, shoving and falling to the ground as Argentina’s frustrations finally boiled over into a brawl.
The euphemism “one for the purists” might have been coined to describe this contest. It was a match almost entirely devoid of quality, chances and risk until Torres, introduced from the bench, finally broke the deadlock.
"It was a goal scored by 47 million people – it wasn’t even mine or from the 26 players," the striker said. "It was destined to happen; it was meant to be a winner."
Argentina's talisman Lionel Messi, the second player after Brazilian great Cafu to feature in three World Cup finals, was a pale shadow of his earlier self, unable to inspire his team.
For Spain, teenager Lamine Yamal barely registered. These two had been billed as the stars of this match, but it was Spain substitutes Torres and Nico Williams who injected some much-needed energy and dynamism into a drab affair.
It was the fifth of the last six World Cup finals to go to extra time, but none of those crowds had endured such flat, joyless football.
Shot-shy Argentina
Spain, masters of the suffocating, pressing style, had nothing to press, nothing to suffocate. The Argentines were the first-ever team to fail to muster one shot -- on target or off -- for the entire 90 minutes of a World Cup final.
Argentina seemed content to niggle, pull shirts, shove, foul and disrupt rather than attack. In some respects, it was remarkable they finished with only one red card, Enzo Fernandez being dismissed for flattening Pau Cubarsi in stoppage time.
After more than a month of scintillating goals and exhilarating sport, this was no advertisement for what the hosts call soccer.
One can only imagine what US President Donald Trump, watching alongside FIFA chief Gianni Infantino in a glassed-off VIP box, made of the spectacle. Trump later presented the World Cup trophy to the Spaniards.
In truth, this was the toughest of sells, even for the purists. Spain dominated possession but were toothless in attack.
In total, they had 20 attempts on goal, 12 on target. Possession only gets you so far in a sport where goals settle results.
The official FIFA statistics registered Argentina as having two attempts at goal. None were on target and the term attempt was being used loosely.
Showbiz razzmatazz
Singers, flags, fireworks, podiums, pop stars and Hollywood idols had flooded the pitch in the buildup to this clash. The greater surprise was that the kickoff was delayed only five minutes by all the showbiz razzmatazz.
Three-quarters of the stadium had resembled a Buenos Aires barrio, with supporters draped in blue and white belting out Argentine chants, as the 2022 champions kicked off.
But Spain were denied what they need to perform at their best -- an attacking, dangerous opponent. Instead, Argentina looked as though their stirring semi-final comeback in the 2-1 win against England had been their last great surge.
Spain play without an out-and-out striker, something they could have done with as they repeatedly opted against shooting and relied on cutback after cutback with nobody willing or able to apply the killer touch.
Few might have expected Justin Bieber, Madonna and fictional coach Ted Lasso to provide the afternoon’s most memorable entertainment in the halftime show, but that was how pedestrian the football had become.
"Allez, let's go," sang Shakira. Well, quite.
'Light it Up', the big screen flashed, and the word Dynamite flickered across the jumbotron, almost as a taunt to two teams who had failed to light any sort of fuse.
The traditional break of 15 minutes almost doubled in length with all the singing, dancing, fireworks and packing away, but the extended interval brought no change in tempo.
None of that will bother the Spaniards though, or their delighted coach Luis de la Fuente, who, aged 65, became the oldest World Cup-winning coach.
'We've won everything,' says De la Fuente
De la Fuente led Spain to the 2024 European Championship title and his team are now unbeaten in 38 matches in all competitions -- a record for any side from Europe or South America.
"I’m so proud of this generation of footballers who have grown up with this philosophy, remained true to it, made it even better and set an example as a team and a family - they’re excellent, world-class footballers with exceptional talent," he told reporters.
"I’m very moved. Looking back and thinking about them, we’ve won everything, absolutely everything, with this generation of players."
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni , who learnt his coaching trade from De la Fuente in Spain, was also moved and shed tears at the end.
"I have never in my life - please bear with me - I would have never imagined, including my staff, that we would be in this place," he told reporters, before praising captain Messi.
"I hope that everyone feels proud of him, of what he's achieved because he's the best football player ever.
"It's hard for people to enjoy being runners-up as much as being winners.... We have to go on."
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