2026 FIFA World Cup final recap: Dirty Messi and Argentina got what they deserved against Spain

Spain won the 2026 FIFA World Cup after beating Argentina in an ill-tempered final played in New York and New Jersey on Sunday afternoon. 

Ferran Torres’ goal in the first half of extra time was what Spain needed to win their second World Cup, despite Argentina’s horrible tactics and bad gamesmanship. 

Here’s a recap of an uninspiring afternoon in New York. 

The whole World Cup has been a delight to watch, but the final was nothing to write home about, no thanks to Argentina’s disgusting tactics. 

Right from the start, it was clear that only one team wanted to play football, and it was not the defending champions. 

Led by Messi, the Albiceleste were a disgrace from start to finish as they tried to make it physical from the go.  

Although physicality is part of the game, some of the tackles Argentina committed were borderline assault.

Knowing they could not match Spain’s free-flowing football, Lionel Scaloni’s men resorted to dirty tactics to frustrate Luis de la Fuente’s men. 

Argentina were also helped by referee Slavko Vinčić, who failed to punish the Argentines for some of these fouls. 

It took until the 41st minute for the Slovenian referee to show his first card, which was to Lisandro Martinez. 

The second half followed a similar pattern with Argentina employing dirty tactics to frustrate Spain.

However, as the match went on, the referee gained control of the game, and it had a major impact on the game as Enzo Fernandez was sent off in the third minute of added time for a second bookable offence. 

Argentina players, however, reacted badly to the red card, with Messi even joining the party after he tried to get Marc Cucurella off. 

The referee did not fall for the bait, though, as the match went to extra time. With Spain having a man advantage, the game headed in one direction. 

De la Fuente’s men eventually took advantage of the extra man, as Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the game in the 106th minute to give Spain their second World Cup trophy.