Champions of the world: Spain outclass Argentina and break Messi's heart in the final

Spain are champions of the world. Substitute Ferran Torres struck the only goal in extra time as Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win their second World Cup and end Lionel Messi's fairytale. Spain were utterly dominant, Argentina failing to muster a single shot on target and surviving only through Emiliano Martínez's record 11 saves, before Ferran's 106th-minute winner. Enzo Fernández was sent off; Mbappé, watching from home, takes the Golden Boot.

Spain are champions of the world. On a golden night at MetLife Stadium, La Roja were crowned kings of the game for a second time, beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time to win the 2026 World Cup and, in the cruellest way imaginable, to break the heart of Lionel Messi.

It took until the hundred and sixth minute, and it came from the bench. Substitute Ferran Torres pounced to score the only goal of a one-sided final, and as it hit the net, sixteen years of waiting since Johannesburg dissolved into Spanish delirium.

The numbers barely do justice to Spain's control. Sixty-five percent of the ball, twenty shots to two, an expected-goals count of 1.94 to a rounding error of 0.17. Argentina, the reigning champions, did not manage a single shot on target, the first team in the history of a World Cup final to go through ninety minutes without one. This was not a contest; it was a footballing lesson.

That it reached extra time at all was down to one man. Emiliano Martínez produced a goalkeeping display for the ages, eleven saves, a World Cup final record, single-handedly holding back the Spanish tide long after his outfield teammates had been overwhelmed. He was magnificent, and still it was not enough.

At the heart of Spain's masterclass was a boy of eighteen. Lamine Yamal, the teenage prince, dazzled on the grandest stage of all, and around him Luis de la Fuente's side, unbeaten and having conceded only once in seven games, confirmed themselves as the tournament's finest team by a distance. History followed: Spain became the first nation ever to hold the men's and women's World Cups at the same time.

There was a sour note to the celebrations. Enzo Fernández was sent off for a second yellow deep in stoppage time, and after the whistle the frustration of a shattered dream spilled into an ugly brawl, Leandro Paredes shown a straight red for shoving Gavi. Not the game's finest moment, but an understandable one.

And so to the man the whole world came to see. This was meant to be Lionel Messi's fairytale, one last World Cup, one final crown to close the greatest career the game has known. Instead it ended in silence and defeat, no goal, no answer, outplayed on the biggest night of all. There was no disgrace in it, only sorrow, and even the Golden Boot slipped from his grasp, claimed from afar by Kylian Mbappé on ten. The old king walked off a beaten man. Football can be beautiful and it can be brutal, and tonight it was both.

For Kenya, and for a football world that spent a month arguing about him, the final chapter of the Messi story is written, and it is a sad one for those who love him and a vindication for those who never did. But let no one begrudge Spain their moment; they were, by any measure, magnificent. Hispania ni mabingwa wa dunia, Messi amemaliza safari yake bila taji, na mjadala wa GOAT umefika tamati: Spain are champions of the world, Messi has ended his journey without the crown, and the GOAT debate has reached its final word. From all of us at KFF, thank you for a World Cup we will never forget. Relive it all on our bracket.