{"id":217706,"date":"2026-07-20T02:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/spain-wins-world-cup-outlasting-messi-and-argentina-in-extra-time-thriller-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T02:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:12:17","slug":"spain-wins-world-cup-outlasting-messi-and-argentina-in-extra-time-thriller-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/spain-wins-world-cup-outlasting-messi-and-argentina-in-extra-time-thriller-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain wins World Cup, outlasting Messi and Argentina in extra time thriller – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain claimed its second World Cup title<\/a>, defeating Lionel Messi and Argentina<\/a> 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey \u2013 crushing the defending champions\u2019 dreams of a repeat.
La Roja<\/em> always looked more likely to score but it took until the second period of extra time for Ferran Torres to blast home the winner<\/a> on an assist from Nico Williams. That finally got the ball past goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who set a World Cup final record for saves.
Argentina didn\u2019t manage a single shot on goal and didn\u2019t even have its first attempt until late in the second period of stoppage time. Midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off<\/a> in the 93rd minute for his second yellow card, putting Argentina down to 10 men for the entirety of extra time.
Argentina was trying to become just the third team in history to repeat as World Cup champion, and the first since Brazil defended its title in 1962 and this almost certainly marks the final appearance for the 39-year-old Messi, considered the greatest soccer player in world history.
The 2030 World Cup will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco \u2013 with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay also each hosting an opening match to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inaugural tournament.
Spain’s Unai Simon was named the tournament’s best goalkeeper, posting seven shutouts in eight matches for the champions.
Spain defender Pau Cubarsi won the World Cup’s Best Young Player award after the 19-year-old helped his team keep seven clean sheets in the tournament.
Spain midfielder Rodri was named the 2026 World Cup’s Golden Ball winner as the tournament’s best player.
The 30-year-old Manchester City man previously won the 2024 Ballon d’Or awarded annually to the top player in the world.
Argentina has suddenly come alive and registered its first shots of teh World Cup final, pushing for an equalizer in the dying minutes.
Ferran Torres smashed home the game’s opening goal in the 106th minute, finally breaking down Argentina to go in front. That goal had been coming for a long time.
More frustration for Spain, who thought they had scored early in extra time \u2013 only for the goal to be waved off for a suspect foul<\/a> \u2013 playing against 10-man Argentina.
Mikel Merino nearly nodded in yet another winner, having done so against Portugal and Belgium already in the knockout stage, but his flick went just wide of Dibu Martinez’s far post.
An Argentina sub in the 102nd minute with Marcos Senesi coming on for Julian Alvarez.
Martin Zubimendi and Eric Garcia are replacing Aymeric Laporte and Rodri, like-for-like changes in the midfield and the center of the back line.
It appeared Nico Williams had scored the go-ahead goal in the 97th minute, but it was waved off due to a supposed foul on Mikel Merino in the build up.
This World Cup final has officially entered extra time, with 30 minutes \u2013 and perhaps penalties \u2013 to decide the champion.
The World Cup final is scoreless after 90 minutes and we’re heading for 30 minutes of extra time at MetLife Stadium.
Argentina, which didn’t manage a single shot in regulation, is down to 10 men after Enzo Fernandez’s red card.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez has set a World Cup final record with his 10th save in this game.
Embedded content: https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/soccer\/worldcup\/2026\/07\/19\/enzo-fernandez-red-card-argentina-spain-world-cup-final\/90976463007\/<\/a>
Argentina midfielder Enzo Martinez picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Pau Cubarsi in second-half stoppage time and the defending champions are down to 10 men.
Can either team find a winner in the final minutes of regulation?
Spain midfielder Rodri was afforded a ton of space on the edge of the penalty area but his long-range shot at goal sailed way over Dibu Martinez’s goal.
Argentina midfielder Enzo Martinez was booked in the 82nd minute and the score still tied 0-0.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano “Debu” Martinez has made some huge saves here in the second half, stopping a long-range rocket from defender Pau Cubarsi in the 77th minute for his seventh save of the game.
Luis De La Fuente made another double substitution in the 75th minute, subbing on Nico Williams and Mikel Merino for Alex Baena and Dani Olmo.
Merino scored the winner as a substitute twice for Spain already in this World Cup knockout stage.
The announced attendance at MetLife Stadium is 80,663.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni made a double change coming out of the hydration break, bringing on Facundo Medina and Giuliano Simeone to replace Rodrigo De Paul and Cristian Romero.
Argentina’s goalkeeper stopped Ferran Torres’ header off Lamine Yamal’s cross from the endline to keep the game scoreless as we got into the hydration break.
In a 62nd-minute double substitution, Spain replaced Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Oyarzabal with Pedri and Ferran Torres.
Argentina is making a substitution at right back in the 58th minute with Nahuel Molina replacing Gonzalo Montiel.
The hero of the 2022 final thanks to his successful last penalty kick, Montiel won’t be able to repeat the feat. The two right backs have switched off much of the tournament, and after Montiel’s clearance two minutes ago, his day is done.
Argentina’s Leandro Paredes knocked down Spain midfielder Rodri and set off some shoving between the two sides. Paredes, who had only been on the field for about five minutes, received a yellow card.
The second half is underway with Argentina subbing on Leandro Paredes for Nico Gonzalez.
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni ended the Nico Gonzalez experiment early, perhaps giving Paredes the chance to go for all the second half and extra time after coming into the tournament carrying an injury.
K-pop group BTS performed “Dynamite” during the halftime event.
This World Cup final features the first-ever halftime show, a star-studded affair featuring Shakira, Justin Bieber, Madonna and BTS.
A scoreless first half at MetLife Stadium sets up a dramatic final 45 minutes (and beyond?) in this World Cup final.
Minutes after picking up a yellow card, Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez was subbed off with an apparent injury, replaced by Nicolas Otamendi.
It took until the 40th minute, but the first yellow card of the match was handed to Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez. That’s big to keep an eye on.
More than a half hour into the World Cup final and we’re still scoreless, with Argentina growing more into the game. Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon has been put in a couple of uncomfortable situations under pressure, but as been able to clean up.
Through 24 minutes, the World Cup final is still scoreless as the teams arrive at the hydration break.
Messi recorded just one touch in the first 15 minutes of the match.
Still scoreless in East Rutherford, New Jersey with Spain looking the more likely side to score in the early going.
Spain is applying pressure in the opening minutes with Lamine Yamal causing problems getting in behind, forcing Emi Martinez into a save off a deflection in the fourth minute.
We’ve officially kicked off the 2026 World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Secret Service and other security officials shut down some of the gates and concourses at MetLife Stadium about an hour before the scheduled 3 p.m. kickoff. As a motorcade began arriving at the stadium, Secret Service moved to begin shutting down concourses.
Trump is not the only high-profile official here for the final. The leaders of the other co-hosts, Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada prime minister Mark Carnery, also planned to be here.
The game kicks off at 3 p.m. ET.
The 2026 World Cup final is being held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Argentina was heading out of the World Cup against England before the Three Lions simply stopped possessing the ball. Spain will have no such issues, and if La Roja can score first, Argentina’s ability to come back may finally be stifled.
The winner of this matchup will be the team that is able to get on the ball and find the right space more often. While Spain’s midfield is fearsome, so, too, is Lionel Messi, who exits the grandest stage trophy in hand.
Lionel Messi goes out on top with his second World Cup title as Argentina finds a moment of magic to crack Spain’s history-making defensive unit.
Argentina’s late surges have worked thus far. But Spain has shown they take control of matches and will do so again. The way they handled a very talented France squad shows they are hungry and focused to win this World Cup.
A number of New York Knicks are already in attendance including Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jose Alvarado, who said the summer in New York City has been “beautiful.” Alvarado, acquired via a midseason trade, won the championship with the Knicks and the next day was in the Puerto Rican Day parade.\u00a0
As for Brunson, his rehab from surgery didn’t stop him from participating last night in a WWE event with Roman Reigns at Madison Square Garden. He told USA TODAY that it was “awesome” to work with the Tribal Chief.\u00a0
Entering the final, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal has five goals at the 2026 World Cup.
He scored the winner in the Euro 2024 final against England.
In a pre-recorded interview with Fox’s Jenny Taft, Donald Trump<\/a> didn’t disclose his pick, but did mention that it’d be hard for him to bet against Lionel Messi, who is playing in\u00a0likely his final World Cup match<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. So Argentina over Spain then?
“… I won’t pick sides. I just think it’s very hard to bet against Messi. He’s great.”
The only teams to repeat as World Cup champion are Italy in 1934 and 1938, and Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
Argentina striker Julian Alvarez plays his club soccer for Atletico Madrid, but has been angling for a transfer this summer<\/a>.
The 2026 World Cup final is being held at MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets.
Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi has eight goals in the 2026 World Cup and 21 in his World Cup career.
Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, defeating France in the final on penalty kicks.
Former Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has warned the national team not to underestimate Argentina ahead of the World Cup final, describing their opponents as a “real\u00a0nuisance” and urging Spain to remain cautious.
Del Bosque led Spain to World Cup victory in 2010, when they beat the Netherlands 1-0 in South Africa.
“Argentina are a tough team to play against \u2014 a\u00a0real\u00a0nuisance, if I may use the word \u2014 and they know exactly what they need to do,” del Bosque told the El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
“I see the final as favoring Spain, but they need to be wary of the Argentines, given how difficult they are to face and their experience,” he said.
\u2013 Reuters<\/em>
The World Cup final kicks off at 2 p.m. Central Time.
The last meeting between Spain and Argentina was a 2018 friendly in Madrid, a 6-1 Spain victory months before the 2018 World Cup.
Isco scored a hat trick with Diego Costa, Thiago Alcantara and Iago Aspas also scoring for La Roja<\/em>.
Lionel Messi did not play in the game and Nicola\u0301s Otamendi scored the only goal for Argentina.
Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon broke Italy great Walter Zenga’s World Cup record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes, set in 1990, during Spain’s 3-0 win over Austria in the round of 32. The streak stretched to 650 minutes before Belgium finally scored in the 41st minute of Spain’s 2-1 quarterfinal win. It remains the only goal he has allowed. Spain also set a World Cup record with six consecutive matches without conceding, breaking a tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10).
The 2030 World Cup is being co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco – with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay each hosting one match in South America to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inaugural World Cup.
FIFA confirmed that Spain and Argentina will both wear their home kits for the\u00a0World Cup<\/a>\u00a0final. Both teams will wear the colors they are most associated with, creating an instantly recognizable kit matchup.
Argentina will wear its traditional light blue and white vertical stripes, paired with white shorts and socks.
Spain will be in its red jerseys with navy blue shorts and socks.
The World Cup final kicks off at 1 p.m. Mountain Time.
Lionel Messi was teammates with Zlatan Ibrahimovic from 2009-2010 at Barcelona.
Brazil has won the World Cup five times, the most of any country.
Germany and Italy each have four titles, while Argentina has won three world championships.
Goalkeepers:\u00a0<\/strong>Unai Simon (Athletic Club), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garcia (Barcelona)
Defenders:\u00a0<\/strong>Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Club), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid), Eric Garcia (Barcelona), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pedro Porro (Tottenham)
Midfielders:\u00a0<\/strong>Pedri (Barcelona), Fabian Ruiz (PSG), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Gavi (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City), Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid), Mikel Merino (Arsenal)
Forwards:\u00a0<\/strong>Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Nico Williams (Athletic Club), Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo), Victor Munoz (Osasuna), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Goalkeepers:<\/strong>\u00a0Emiliano Marti\u0301nez (Aston Villa), Gero\u0301nimo Rulli (Marseille), Juan Musso (Atle\u0301tico Madrid)
Defenders:<\/strong>\u00a0Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille), Nicola\u0301s Tagliafico (Lyon), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Lisandro Marti\u0301nez (Manchester United), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicola\u0301s Otamendi (Benfica), Facundo Medina (Marseille), Nahuel Molina (Atle\u0301tico Madrid)
Midfielders:<\/strong>\u00a0Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Valenti\u0301n Barco (Strasbourg), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Enzo Ferna\u0301ndez (Chelsea)
Forwards:<\/strong>\u00a0Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Julia\u0301n A\u0301lvarez (Atle\u0301tico Madrid), Nico Gonza\u0301lez (Atle\u0301tico Madrid), Thiago Almada (Atle\u0301tico Madrid), Giuliano Simeone (Atle\u0301tico Madrid), Nico Paz (Como), Jose Manuel Lo\u0301pez (Palmeiras), Lautaro Marti\u0301nez (Inter Milan)
The World Cup final kicks off at 12 p.m. PST.
The Argentina-Spain World Cup final is being held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Spain won its only World Cup in 2010, defeating the Netherlands on Andres Iniesta’s goal in extra time.
The next FIFA Women’s World Cup will be in 2027 \u2013 with Brazil hosting for the first time.
Soccer games last 90 minutes, broken up into two 45-minute halves. In the World Cup’s knockout stage, games tied at the end of regulation go into 30 minutes of extra time \u2013 and then penalty kicks if the teams still can’t be separated.
Our editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.<\/em>
Information in this article was imported automatically into a template written and reviewed by a USA TODAY Sports editor. You can send feedback using this form.<\/a><\/em>
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Spain claimed its second World Cup title, defeating Lionel Messi and Argentina 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey \u2013 crushing the defending champions\u2019 dreams of a repeat.La Roja always looked more likely to score but it took until the second period of extra time for Ferran Torres to blast home the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}