Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute to lift Spain to their second World Cup title with a ​1-0 win over gutsy, 10-man Argentina in Sunday’s (July 20, 2026) final.

Also read: Spain vs Argentina, FIFA World Cup final highlights

Torres’ deserved winner came ‌16 years and eight days after Andres Iniesta ​also scored in extra time to lift the Spaniards ⁠to their first World Championship with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands.

It came on La Roja’s 20th shot of the contest against the defending ‌champions, who failed to manage any to that point and struggled to wrest possession away from their superior Iberian opponents.

That ‌was true at even strength and became more difficult ‌when ⁠the Albiceleste’s numbers were reduced when Enzo Fernandez’s late ⁠challenge of Pau Cubarsi left referee Slavko Vincic no choice but to produce a second caution just before the end of normal time.

Spain remain the only nation ​ever to win the European ‌Championship and World Cup in successive tournaments, having now done so a second time. They are also the first World Cup champion ever to concede only once across an entire tournament.

Lionel Messi’s ‌Argentina failed to earn a title for the first ​time in three major tournaments, having also captured the 2021 and 2024 Copa Americas on either side of their ⁠2022 World Cup triumph.

The 39-year-old, eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi finished the competition with eight goals and four assists, but had little ‌time on the ball until Spain finally took the lead and never seriously looked like lifting his side to another great moment as he has so many times in the last two World Cup cycles.

Emi Martinez made 11 saves for the Albiceleste, who fell short in their bid to be the first consecutive ‌World Cup champions since Brazil won the 1958 and 1962 titles.

What had felt ​so difficult for the first 105 minutes suddenly looked easy after 37 seconds of play in the second ⁠period of extra time.

Pedro Porro curled in an outswinging cross from ⁠the left to the back post. Nico Williams won the header and nodded it back into space, and Torres hammered ‌a half-volley at last past the flailing Martinez. It was his only goal of the tournament, making him the seventh ​player to score during a tournament in which his side never trailed.

Some old photographs gather dust, some others gather meaning.

When Lionel Messi held a five-month-old Lamine Yamal during a charity calendar shoot around Christmas 2007, it was just another click. Nearly two decades on, it has become part of football folklore.

During Euro 2024, Yamal’s father Mounir Nasraoui shared the image with the caption: “The beginning of two legends.” What was probably a throwaway line then reads like prophecy now as the two gear up to face each other in the FIFA World Cup final.

Fans, pundits, players and coaches have all weighed in on the duo, and they all have the same opinion.

The parallels are hard to ignore. Messi scored his first World Cup goal when he was 18, wearing the No. 19 shirt. Twenty years later, Yamal did the same, at the same age and with the same jersey number! He is Barcelona’s youngest debutant and also the youngest goalscorer, breaking records that once belonged to Messi. The list goes on and on.

“For me, Messi is the greatest football player in history. He is a legend and I do not find myself worthy of being compared to him. I do not want to be Messi, and he knows it. I want to follow my own path,” Yamal once said.

Even so, it’s hard to miss how closely the teenager is tracing the trail Messi laid down, and doing it better than others who were hastily crowned the Argentine magician’s successor.

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Messi, now 39, is chasing one more piece of history, trying to make Argentina the first team since Brazil in 1962 to defend the World Cup. Up against him will be the 19-year-old Yamal, the face of a Spanish side hoping to lift the trophy for only the second time.

Spain once tried hard to convince Messi to play for La Roja, back when La Albiceleste was slow to notice him. That push peaked before the 2003 Under-17 World Cup where the Spaniards, featuring Messi’s La Masia teammate Cesc Fabregas, defeated the Argentines 3-2 in the semifinal. Fabregas netted a brace, including the match-winner. Jose Pekerman, the Argentine coach, revealed that the Spanish players during the post-match handshake told him: “If you had this kid (Messi), you would have been the champions.”

Messi, however, stayed loyal to Argentina, leaving behind the old question of what Spain might have looked like with him in the line-up. That fantasy will never play out. But in Yamal, Spain may have found something close to it.

The stage is now set for a generational showdown. One gladiator walks onto football’s grandest spectacle for the first time. The other, probably, for his last dance. Between them sits two decades, a stack of broken records and a photograph that has come to signify how destiny always plays a role in football.

The beautiful game brings these two together in the same frame once again, not as legend and heir but as opponents battling for the ultimate prize.

U.S. President Donald Trump will attend Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, the White House said, saving his first appearance at the tournament for its grand finale.

“His attendance will cap what has been the most watched, most secure, and most successful World Cup in American history,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing on Thursday (July 16, 2026).

“This is a fitting conclusion to a tournament that showcased America’s ability to host the world on the grandest stage.”

The U.S. leader will also attend a reception for football’s world governing body, FIFA, at Trump Tower in New York on Friday, Ms. Leavitt said.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino had announced in June that Mr. Trump would attend the final in New Jersey and present the trophy to the winners, but it had not been confirmed by the White House.

Ms. Leavitt said she did not know whether Mr. Trump would be supporting Argentina or Spain after he criticised the European nation at a NATO summit last week for failing to help with the Iran war.

While Mr. Trump has not attended any World Cup games so far, he has been involved in the tournament in a more controversial way.

Mr. Trump confirmed earlier this month that he asked FIFA’s Infantino to review a decision to hand a red card to star U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during a game against Bosnia.

FIFA suspended Balogun’s one-game ban ahead of the Americans’ next match, against Belgium. Despite Balogun’s presence on the field, the hosts were embarrassed in a 4-1 blowout.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for securing the United States the right to co-host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, a decision made by FIFA in his first term.

Mr. Infantino has, meanwhile, cultivated a close relationship with Mr. Trump, awarding him with a newly created FIFA peace prize at the World Cup draw in Washington last year, months before the U.S. launched military action against Venezuela and Iran.

Letting Mr. Trump present the World Cup trophy follows controversy surrounding the presentation of the Club World Cup to English club Chelsea after their victory over Paris Saint-Germain at the same stadium in New Jersey last year.

Mr. Trump handed the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James but then failed to leave the stage, meaning he initially took part in the team’s celebrations alongside bemused players.

He later kept a replica of the trophy in his office.

Mumbai

As Spain and Argentina prepare to lock horns in Sunday night’s FIFA World Cup final, two of European football’s biggest names have highlighted the tactical intrigue that could define the contest while stopping short of predicting a winner.

Former England striker Robbie Fowler and legendary Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, speaking as Zee5 experts ahead of the summit clash, agreed that Spain has set the benchmark throughout the tournament but felt Argentina possess enough quality to test the European champion if it can exploit the few spaces on offer.

“The obvious one is Spain’s going to have a little bit more of the ball,” Fowler said here on Thursday. “How we stop Messi from dominating games is you don’t let them have the ball. It’s easier said than done, but Spain are a possession-based team with a purpose. It’s not possession for the sake of it. They play forward, break presses and look to attack in transition.”

The former Liverpool stalwart felt Spain’s ability to monopolise possession also serves as its primary defensive weapon. “They’ll try to control the ball, control areas of the pitch and stop Argentina from having the ball. That’s a great defensive attribute. How do you stop teams from scoring? Don’t give them the ball,” he said.

Kahn, meanwhile, admitted he had struggled throughout the tournament to identify a weakness in the Spanish side. “I have asked myself the whole tournament: how is Spain beatable?” Kahn said. “They are playing like clockwork, without any weaknesses.”

The legendary goalkeeper suggested that Spain’s only vulnerability could arise if its attacking full-backs, Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro, push too high up the pitch alongside Rodri, leaving space for Lionel Messi & Co. to exploit on the counter.

“But the question is whether Spain will offer this space to Argentina. Spain’s players are so intelligent. They have high playing intelligence and are extremely smart on the field,” Kahn said.

“This game is a match between rational guys playing super-smart football against fully emotional, aggressive guys playing a totally different style. It is a battle between systems and tactics, but you also have outstanding players like Rodri, Yamal, Messi, Martínez and De Paul.”