Messi's tears and Spain's triumph: was the 2026 World Cup final boring?

The World Cup final is always more than just a match

The World Cup final is always more than just a match. Even a person far from football wants to feel involved in the grand event on this day. Bars are packed with people, every other person on social media shares that they are also watching and genuinely rooting for one of the teams, even if they don't know half of the starting lineup.

The final between Argentina and Spain was hardly predictable before the tournament started. Yes, no one doubted the strength of these football-obsessed nations. Still, many favored the likes of France or England. But those teams already had their goal fest on Saturday night with a fantastic and crazy 4:6.

That the Argentina-Spain match would be the complete opposite was readable and predictable. Too much was at stake for both sides.

Yamal and Messi — the present and future of football!

Before the game, plenty of attention was given to that famous photo of Lionel Messi bathing Lamine Yamal. The great poet Fyodor Tyutchev has wonderful lines: “We cannot predict how our word will echo.”

And, probably, Lionel Messi back in 2007, posing next to the tub in which Yamal was bathing, could not have imagined that 19 years later, that infant would be his main obstacle on the way to a second consecutive World Cup gold.

For context: in football history, only two teams have managed to win the World Cup trophy twice in a row. Italy did it first in 1934 and 1938. Later, Brazil with the legendary Pelé repeated this achievement in 1958 and 1962.

Lionel Messi, against the backdrop of Portugal's disappointing performance with Cristiano Ronaldo, could have finally put all the dots on the “i” in their race for sporting greatness.

Argentina's worst match at this World Cup

But the football gods had somewhat different plans. Argentina played, perhaps, their worst match at this World Cup, failing to register a single shot on target against Spain. Of course, this is largely the merit of Luis de la Fuente's players, who literally cut off Argentina's oxygen. Even in the semifinal against France, Spain showed how they can shut down the midfield, dominate, and deprive the opponent of speed.

Argentina's football resembled chaos — pointless and ruthless. Lionel Scaloni's team fussed a lot with the ball and couldn't offer any specifics in attack. The Spaniards controlled the ball better, were sharper, and more substantive. Nevertheless, they too couldn't break through Emiliano Martínez's goal.

Football on that evening from the two strongest teams of the World Cup objectively could not please people who may have sat down to watch the best ball game for the first time. Therefore, the halftime show with world stars didn't seem like something pointless on a wonderful football evening.

The magnificent Shakira, dancing gracefully, elegantly, and lightly at 49, BTS in full force with stunning vocals and choreography, Justin Bieber performing with just a guitar in the style of Ed Sheeran with a gentle lyrical composition — all of this was very fitting. The show justified itself, although for the Russian audience, such performances are still perceived as exotic.

Why did Messi clash with Cucurella?

The game's script dictated clearly and unambiguously: it wouldn't end in regular time. And perhaps we would have seen an even more tense denouement. If not for Enzo Fernández's red card...

The Chelsea midfielder was a national hero just a few days ago. It was he who started Argentina's incredible comeback in the semifinal against England (2:1), scoring a long-range goal. By fouling defender Pau Cubarsí so hard that the Spanish defender did several flips in the air, Fernández earned his second yellow card. And the first, by the way, Enzo received for unnecessary talking just minutes earlier. The midfielder turned from a hero into an anti-hero of Argentina in a matter of moments.

It can't be said that this immediately doomed Messi and company to defeat, but it was obvious that it would be incredibly difficult for Scaloni's team to hold on in extra time with ten men against a pressing Spain. The Argentines spent a lot of emotional energy at this World Cup. Every playoff match was a trial, an ordeal that Argentina went through, overcoming themselves. Fernández's red card was another copper pipe that Scaloni's team had to somehow tame.

Nerves from such a twist of fate began to fray even for Lionel Messi. His clash with Marc Cucurella, in which the Argentina captain strongly demanded that the Spanish full-back be sent off for words said with a half-closed mouth — this was not so much complaining or tattling as an appeal to justice, a hope that the final would not end so sadly, when one team would lose simply because they would physically sag while defending with ten men against the best attack in the world.

Argentina was buried by Torres. The very one whose play was mercilessly criticized even by his grandfather

Smelling blood, the Spaniards began to press. The goal was only a matter of time. And in the 106th minute, “La Roja” triumphed. And who scored but Ferran Torres! Perhaps the most criticized player of this Spanish squad. A man who even heard unpleasant things from his own grandfather. And here he brings Spain its first World Cup gold in 16 years with his goal. How can you not believe in the football god and certain patterns?

After the match, Torres said in an interview: “God sees everything, he rewarded me because he knew I deserved it!”

You can have different attitudes toward the Spaniards. Dislike them, hate them for certain reasons, preferences. But it's impossible to disagree that this is currently the strongest team. Spain conducted this World Cup more consistently than the other giants, conceding only one goal throughout the entire tournament. Moreover, De la Fuente's team is practically made up of recent schoolboys. But when these schoolboys put on their boots, they become the best football masters, worth tens or even hundreds of millions of euros.

Messi did everything he could for Argentina, and even more

Alas, Messi's last flight did not culminate in a spectacular victory at a second consecutive World Cup. That way, he would have retired from the national team like a true rock star. But even without a second consecutive World Cup gold, Lionel Messi is the best player in football history. It's customary to say of this player that he reached all heights solely through talent. The word professionalism seems almost superfluous when applied to Messi.

Now remember his tears after receiving the silver medal. Lionel Messi wanted to sob, but he understood that hundreds of television cameras in the stadium were focused only on him at that moment. Argentina's character at this World Cup is Messi's champion character. How much he worked in the gym, worked with nutritionists after the defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil. How much pain he had to endure after losing Copa América finals. But he got his! He won all possible trophies not only with his club but also with the national team.

He wanted to leave beautifully, because at 39, it is physically difficult to withstand the football dictated by the leading European teams. But despite the talk about his age, he had his best World Cup in 2026! And he knows it perfectly well. Having lost to Spain in the final, he was filled with resentment not for himself, but for his young teammates, such as Giuliano Simeone, who may never again be this close to a World Cup trophy.

Messi left an immortal legacy for this Argentina squad. He did too much for it, and even more.