Then it was back to the football – a game that was chiefly Spain’s attempts to scalpel the barnacle of Argentina off the side of this World Cup. The resilience of this Argentina team is quite something but from an early stage it proved to be an utterly exhausting enterprise for them. They did not have a touch in the Spain penalty area in the whole of the first half. They did not have a shot on target all game. Spain mustered 11.
Luis De La Fuente’s squad are so technically accomplished that they did not make a single major mistake in possession that might have let Argentina in. This was the ultimate lesson in control and concentration from an XI plus six substitutes, who are utterly confident in their own identity and purpose. That De La Fuente has emerged from the development system in Spanish football only emphasises the country’s strength.
The game was one for the purists, of which there are not many in the casual US soccer audience. For those of us who appreciate such things it was gratifying to see such grown-up football from Spain. Chiefly from Rodri who returned to the top of world football with that regal bearing of his and an unshakeable instinct as to where the next pass should go. He did not last the full distance, but there is always another midfielder when it comes to Spain teams – and Martín Zubamendi saw them home.
Another, Fabián Ruiz, who started in midfield for Spain, has won the Champions League and the World Cup in the space of 50 days, on this the occasion of his 50th cap. He has not lost a game in that half century.
Nico Williams was Spain’s best attacking player, having come on after 74 minutes. He was spirited in everything he did, including the back-post header that established the shot with which his fellow substitute Ferran Torres won the game in extra time. They were unfazed by any attempts from Argentina to break their stride, or ruffle feathers.
Indeed it was Argentina who inflicted much damage on themselves. Enzo Fernández’s first yellow card was for dissent, and playing the way he does he cannot afford to give them away. That was Argentina, with a scuffle at the end when Leandro Paredes seemed to lose the plot. As Rodri prepared to lift the trophy and Trump reluctantly retreated to the side, so the Argentina players stood in front of their own supporters with their backs to the trophy lift.
Rather like the 1990 Argentina team that tried to grind their way to back-to-back World Cup wins, this was not their finest hour. They got the final that only they wanted but they could not win it. For everyone else, it was a relief to get done.