Spain Beat Argentina 1-0 in Extra Time to Win the World Cup
Spain are world champions. A 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina at MetLife ends the first 48-team World Cup.
MetLife Stadium held a final that had been building for a month. Spain brought the midfield distances that carried them through every knockout round. Argentina brought champion steel and a chase for back-to-back titles.
Regulation finished 0-0. Spain outshot Argentina by a huge margin. Argentina, down to ten after Enzo Fernandez was sent off, did not register a shot in normal time. Extra time finally broke. Nico Williams headed a ball into space. Ferran Torres, on as a substitute, scored in the 106th minute.
Spain 1-0 after extra time. Second World Cup, first since 2010. Attendance 80,663. Referee Slavko Vincic. Torres was man of the match. Emiliano Martinez made 11 saves, a World Cup final record.
The stakes
The FIFA World Cup. Spain lift the trophy. Argentina finish runners-up.
The rivalry angle
Style clash at the absolute peak: Spanish positional control against Argentina's structure, moments of magic and final experience.
Players who could decide it
Came on in the 62nd minute and scored the only goal, in the 106th, from a Nico Williams header.
Eleven saves in a World Cup final, a record, and still on the losing side.
Did you know?
- !Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute from a Nico Williams header.
- !Spain conceded one goal in eight matches, a record for a World Cup champion.
- !Spain became the first nation to hold the men's and women's World Cups at the same time.
Head to head
Major-tournament meetings between Spain and Argentina remain rare at this stage, which only raised the intrigue of the MetLife final.
Sources
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