NEW YORK NEW JERSEY STADIUM — After Spain’s support staff had laid out the game plan, explained the tactics, told the players how they would best position themselves to make this Sunday one they’d never want to forget as opposed to one they’d never be able to, coach Luis de la Fuente addressed his team.
“Gentlemen, we have an appointment with history,” the 65-year-old manager told his players before extra time began. “We want to be there first, and then in the extra time, I just said, ‘Look, we are doing a great job. The match is controlled, but this is a final, and we are up against Argentina. So, if we are not careful, we might concede a goal. And we kept our focus up until the last minute.’”
As a result, Spain is the World Cup champion.
(Photo by ANP via Getty Images)
For 120 minutes under the midday sun, La Roja were the better team. In some ways, they were the only team, holding Argentina — the 2022 winners — without an attempt at goal for all of regular time and extra time, and then scoring on their 20th shot, when Ferran Torres finally beat Albiceleste keeper Emiliano Martínez.
Yet heading into the additional half-hour following a scoreless tie, and with the possibility of penalties looming, the game was still anyone’s to win. And the other side still had Lionel Messi, the architect of Argentina’s late two-goal comeback victory over England in last week’s semis.
“The first idea was to keep Messi at bay, but also the other players,” de la Fuente said. “We wanted to keep them away from our goal.”
Did they ever.
But they still had to finish the job. They needed a hero to do it. On a team full of bigger names — teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, former Ballon d’Or winner Rodri — Torres stepped up and became immortal, joining 2010 icon Andrés Iniesta in Spanish lore as a World Cup-winning goalscorer.
“I didn’t think too much,” Torres said afterward. “I saw the ball coming to me, and I shot it with the power of all the Spanish people.”
“I’m so happy for him to have scored this goal,” de la Fuente added. “He will make it into history. He has already made history, and he deserves it.”
The breakout game many suspected Yamal might have in this final never materialized. The Barcelona ace, who turned 19 during the tournament, had a quiet World Cup, though he came close to scoring on a late free kick on Sunday, only for Martínez to snare it. No matter.
(Photo by Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Yamal is still a world champion in his first appearance on soccer’s grandest stage. And while his efforts only resulted in one goal over La Roja’s eight games en route to glory, his contributions didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude for his play,” the coach said of Yamal. “This [World Cup] o ajudará a amadurecer e a ser ainda melhor no futuro. Ele realmente se sacrificou por um bem maior e isso é muito importante no nosso esporte”.
O mesmo acontece com a vitória – especialmente neste nível. De la Fuente, que começou a conferência de imprensa pós-jogo agradecendo a Deus pelo triunfo da Espanha, nunca abandonou a sua crença de que os seus jogadores sairiam vitoriosos.
(Foto de Alex Pantling – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
“Hoje estávamos convencidos de que esta seria a nossa final”, afirmou. “Acho que foi um jogo muito completo. Se não fosse o goleiro, talvez tivéssemos tido uma margem maior, uma vitória maior.”
Ele vai aceitar. Toda a Espanha o fará.
É apenas o segundo título da Copa do Mundo para o país, apesar de seu domínio na Europa a nível de clubes, embora La Roja tenha comemorado muito desde que de la Fuente assumiu o comando em 2022. Eles já conquistaram três títulos desde então, vencendo a Liga das Nações da UEFA em 2023 e o Campeonato Europeu há dois anos. Agora eles coroaram com o maior prêmio de todos.
“Ganhamos tudo, em todas as categorias, e chegamos à conclusão [today]”, disse de la Fuente.
“Assim que terminamos o jogo, um dos jogadores que está aqui há mais tempo disse: ‘Treinador, agora o que mais há para vencer?'”
Os melhores momentos da Espanha na Copa do Mundo FIFA 2026™ 🇪🇸
