Spain 1–0 Argentina: World Cup Final Recap — Spain Are World Champions
Spain are world champions. In a final that stayed goalless through 90 minutes at MetLife Stadium — an hour from Manhattan, on home soil in New Jersey — Ferran Torres settled it deep into extra time, finishing a Nico Williams cutback in the 106th minute to beat Argentina 1–0. It was Spain's seventh clean sheet of the tournament and their second World Cup title, the first since 2010. Emiliano Martínez kept Argentina alive with a tournament-record 10 saves, but Lionel Messi's last World Cup ended in defeat while 18-year-old Lamine Yamal ran the biggest stage of all.
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How Spain won it at MetLife
The final followed the pattern Spain set all summer: keep the ball, deny the space, and wait. For 90 minutes at MetLife Stadium neither side could break through, and the game went to extra time goalless — an echo of Spain's own 2010 triumph, when Andrés Iniesta settled a 1–0 final in the 116th minute. This time the hero was Ferran Torres. In the 106th minute Nico Williams worked space on the left and pulled the ball back, and Torres was there to finish for 1–0.
Spain had gone close earlier and had two goals disallowed across the night — a Torres effort ruled out for offside and a Nico Williams strike also chalked off — so when the one that counted finally came, they made it hold. The clean sheet that closed out the win was their seventh of the tournament, the through-line of a run built on control rather than chaos.
Martínez's record night, and Enzo's red card
Argentina were still in it deep into extra time because of Emiliano Martínez. The goalkeeper produced a tournament-record 10 saves, keeping the final scoreless long after Spain had taken command of the ball and the territory. It was the sort of individual performance that decides finals — except Spain kept coming, and eventually one got past him. Argentina's night got harder still when Enzo Fernández was sent off late in a wild sequence, reducing the holders to ten men as they chased an equaliser that never came.
Spain's second star, and the end of Messi's road
This is Spain's second World Cup and their first since 2010, and it arrived with a new generation carrying the old identity. Lamine Yamal, 18, was the tournament's brightest attacking force and lit up the final; the win completes a summer in which Spain rarely surrendered control of a match. For Argentina, it is the end of an era — Lionel Messi's final World Cup ends in defeat, one game short of back-to-back titles, with Martínez's heroics not quite enough on the biggest night.
The final at a glance
- Result: Spain 1–0 Argentina (after extra time) — 0–0 at 90 minutes
- Winning goal: Ferran Torres, 106' (assist: Nico Williams)
- Red card: Enzo Fernández (Argentina), late
- Goalkeeper of the night: Emiliano Martínez — tournament-record 10 saves
- Milestones: Spain's 7th clean sheet of the tournament; 2nd World Cup title, first since 2010
- Venue: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
The World Cup is over — what NJ bettors bet next
The trophy has been lifted at MetLife and the summer's main event is done, but the boards do not go quiet. NJ sportsbooks have already turned to what is next: futures for the next World Cup cycle, and — closer to home — the run-up to the NFL season that dominates the fall for New Jersey bettors. If you opened an account for the World Cup, the same books carry those markets now. Confirm every number in the FanDuel or Fanatics app before you bet.
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