As the second half of extra time unfolded in Sunday’s World Cup final, it was evident that Argentina intended to make Spain endure a grueling contest. Every tackle was fiercely committed. Their backline worked tirelessly to cut off the service routes that striker Mikel Oyarzabal typically thrives on, forcing Spain to fire eleven of their 20 shots from outside the penalty area.
Lionel Scaloni’s team may have been combative, but they also maintained just enough organization to weather the relentless wave of Spanish attacks. From the 62nd minute onward, when Luis de la Fuente introduced his first two substitutes, Spain continuously found new ways to probe, adjusting their approach after Enzo Fernández was sent off late in regulation.
In the 106th minute, stationed at right-back and watching Lamine Yamal assess the defensive setup near the edge of the box, Pedro Porro surveyed the gathering cluster of players just outside the area. Moments after the restart, his teammates were mostly moving on the same horizontal line as him, but their movement was restrained just enough to carve out valuable pockets of open space behind the defensive line. When Yamal laid the ball back to his flank-side partner, many in the stadium assumed it was simply another instance of Spain recycling possession to begin a new sequence along a different channel.
Instead, Porro delivered a cross. The Tottenham defender whipped it in with precision, striking it firmly enough to leave some defenders uncertain about how to respond, yet not so powerfully that it risked sailing beyond the goal line. Nico Williams reacted swiftly, realizing that his supporting runners were slightly behind the ball, arriving late into the penalty area.
Williams spent far more of the 2026 World Cup observing from the sidelines than he would have preferred. A starter in all six matches during Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 campaign, he arrived in the United States carrying a groin strain and hamstring issues sustained late in the La Liga season, and then left the group stage finale against Uruguay early with an adductor problem.
The Athletic Club winger never started a single match at this World Cup, and his 45-minute shift against Argentina was his longest outing of the tournament. On Sunday, his introduction promised more energy and unpredictability than the winger he replaced, Alex Baena, who had been largely ineffective as an outlet before being withdrawn.
Better late than never, Williams seized his chance when it finally came. As Porro’s cross dropped, the 24-year-old met it with his head not to nod it straight into the crowded six-yard box, but to subtly redirect it beyond the nearby defenders and into the path of another second-half substitute, Ferran Torres. It was a goal born from an almost instinctive reading of space, the only way Spain could unlock a stubborn Argentine side desperate to carry Emiliano Martínez into a penalty shootout.
Like Williams, Torres had entered the match looking to exploit Argentina’s tactical setup in the final. While Oyarzabal proved invaluable for a Spain side that dominated the ball, capable of dropping deep to aid buildup while also finding seams to move into along the defensive line, Argentina had organized themselves to permit that movement but prevent him from receiving the ball any closer to goal. Torres offered a touch more refinement, a more natural off-the-ball mover during the game’s most fluid moments, and he also came on with fresher legs that helped him stay alert against a rapidly fading group of Argentine veterans.
In a final defined by crunching tackles, Torres’ run went completely unmarked. Giuliano Simeone, the player nearest to Torres, had almost comically taken himself out of the play just as Torres burst past him. A split second before Williams kept the ball from going out of play, Simeone had judged the pass to be overhit and was already bending down to adjust his sock when Williams’ header bounced toward Torres. Three Argentine defenders had swarmed around Mikel Merino, who had netted match-winners against Portugal and Belgium, leaving Torres with an equally unusual amount of time and a complete absence of defensive pressure to finally put Spain on course for their second men’s World Cup title.
Throughout the latter stages of the tournament, Spain were talked about as the competition’s finest side. Their collective approach had grown so cohesive that, even when they failed to score, the team’s commitment to their buildup hardly ever wavered. Players had grown so confident in their abilities under de la Fuente that each seemed eager to embrace their role, even if it meant a smaller share of the individual spotlight in a World Cup headlined by its marquee stars.
That is a rare equilibrium in modern international football. While the club side of the sport has become meticulously curated, with every pressing trigger and passing sequence carefully rehearsed, representing a national team is typically where stars go to play with a side largely constructed to compensate for their strengths and weaknesses. Thomas Tuchel attempted to cultivate a similar culture with his squad selections, but found himself short on midfielders after Jordan Henderson’s clumsy celebration.
It makes it all too easy to reduce teams to the star they are built around. When it works, as it largely did for Messi’s Argentina, few question the logic of the approach. When it fails, as seen with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, it becomes an equally evident problem that the coach was unwilling to address.
Like the finest club sides, de la Fuente was able to alter Spain’s approach during matches by introducing players who could fill the same spaces as the starters they replaced because each interpreted their role differently. Williams’ style on the wing gave him greater freedom to push the opponent onto the back foot than Baena’s; Torres entered the fray and would later successfully stretch a shorthanded Argentina. Even Pedri – who checked in alongside Torres shortly after the hour mark – made life more difficult for Argentina, as a more dribble-oriented midfield complement to Rodri than Fabián Ruiz.
While Argentina labored under the mid-afternoon New Jersey sun, Spain adapted. They continued to morph in search of new ways to make the defending champions sweat even more. And, with an expertly curled cross, a brilliant and delicate header, and an opportunistic dash into space, it is Spain who will enter the 2030 World Cup cycle standing at the pinnacle of the sport.
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