EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY — The old maxim that everyone has a plan until getting punched in the face has nothing on 2026 World Cup champion Spain.
Luis de la Fuente’s men knew Argentina would come for them with fists and boots of fury in Sunday’s World Cup Final in New Jersey, and very much had a plan should they take a pop or two to their collective mug.
The defending World Cup champion Argentines had made a tournament out of pounding away at their opponents, forcing England, Switzerland, and Egypt into brawls with the full expectation of the best prize fighter. The Albiceleste‘s 12.29 fouls per game this tournament was the 13th-highest in the 48-team field, far and away the biggest of any semifinalist.
Spain’s response when greeted with another physical Argentine display: Do your worst, cause we’re bringing our best.
Luis de la Fuente’s confident, assured Spain never blinked - By Nick Mendola
It did not take long to see that La Roja‘s plan for the World Cup Final was to take its possession-heavy game to Argentina without fear of reprisal.
In fact, Luis de la Fuente seemed to dare Argentina to play football in its truest sense. Spain were spread wide from the start, often moving both fullbacks well up the pitch and only parking two center backs near their 18-yard box.
Of course that’s easier to do when you have a Golden Ball winner with confident control in the middle of the park. Rodri was sensational, and everyone around him looked secure in the knowledge that there was an armored truck guarding their gold.
The victors get the credit but it doesn’t feel like recency bias to say Spain didn’t look rattled at any point in this tournament. They knew they bossed Cape Verde in the 0-0 draw to open the group stage and never looked back, pounding Saudi Arabia 4-0 before blanking a desperate Uruguay, dark horse Austria, and cocky Portugal.
Belgium will go down as the only team to beat Unai Simon this tournament, and Spain rolled up 120 minutes of clean sheet defending on Argentina to finish the tournament — yes, the same Argentina which scored two or more goals in all seven of their World Cup matches leading to Sunday.
Argentina came out swinging and didn’t stop until even after the final whistle on Sunday. We’ll leave their analysis to my pal Joe Prince-Wright below.
Argentina took it too far and it will tarnish their legacy - By Joe Prince-Wright
Argentina let themselves down on the biggest stage on Sunday. In a massive way.
They didn’t have a single shot on goal in a World Cup final because they were more concerned about fouling and fighting than playing football as they chased back-to-back World Cup titles.
The way several of their players acted was a disgrace and undermined most of the magic of Lionel Messi’s remarkable swansong had created this summer.
Argentina knew that Spain were the better team and their manager Lionel Scaloni admitted as much after.
From the first whistle of the final Argentina left their foot in late, pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable and then complained time and time again about being hard done by. The referee let a lot go, even before he correctly sent off Enzo Fernandez for a reckless lunging challenge when he was already on a yellow card.
And the way Leandro Paredes and other Argentine players fought at the final whistle, instead of being gracious in defeat, leaves a sour taste in the mouth and tarnishes their legacy. This final will forever be remembered for over the top Argentine aggression.
Yes, the reigning World Cup champions were fighting and scrapping for every ball because they were desperate to keep their trophy. We get it.
But there’s a way to do that and they took it too far. They did that against England on Wednesday in their semifinal win and they did the same thing against Spain on Sunday in the final.
The referees let them get away with it for most of those games and Argentina ran with it. But the thing is, had they been less concerned about fighting and kicking, they have proven they are an extremely talented football team with world-class individuals. They did that in the final 30 minutes against England and look how good they were.
But their insistence on making games physical and scrappy cost them in the end.
We will remember this Argentina team for the greatness of Messi and finally winning another World Cup.
But they will also be remembered for pushing the boundaries too far and they let themselves down badly in the final.
