The party’s over, and Argentina’s late-game magic finally ran out. The final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was mostly one-way traffic for Spain, but it took more than 105 frustrating and unnerving minutes before Ferrán Torres blasted home Nico Williams’ cutback header to breach Emiliano Martínez’s goal. The Barcelona striker’s first tally at this tournament gave La Roja its second-ever World Cup title. We’ve got the last update from this summer of soccer.
How’d Spain do it?
The same way they beat a France team with better talent than Argentina’s: by possessing the ball so much that the opposition went crazy. (How else to explain Enzo Fernández’ red-card foul that sent Pau Cubarsí tail over teakettle?) Those of us who like our soccer to be entertaining may have preferred a side with more of a cutting edge, but I must salute a team that dominated its games and found the back of the net when it needed to.
Does this affect Lionel Messi’s legacy?
Not even. He failed to win a second World Cup title, but he is far from a loser. We haven’t seen a player his age excel on the big stage since 40-year-old Dino Zoff captained Italy to their triumph in 1982, and Zoff was a goalkeeper. Messi tallied eight goals and four assists in North America, two of the latter coming late in the semifinal that smashed England’s hopes. (More on that in a second.) He was stellar when younger competitors looked washed, and he settled the whole wearisome debate over whether he’s better than Cristiano Ronaldo. He’ll have a heavy heart when he flies back to his club team in Inter Miami, but as the MLS season starts back up, crowds all over America can pay tribute to his greatness. (When he returns from his two-match post-tournament break, that is.) Most of us didn’t see Pelé, Johan Cruyff, or Diego Maradona in their primes. We can tell our kids about Messi carrying his team repeatedly with so much poise and a self-effacing humility that’s rare among superstar athletes.
What happened with England?
Much as I hate to throw in with the consensus, Coach Thomas Tuchel handed Argentina that semifinal. Anthony Gordon’s goal in the 56th minute should have keyed the Three Lions to move in for the kill and end Messi’s World Cup run. Instead, England’s manager threw all his defensive players onto the pitch to shut up shop for the rest of the way. That might have worked with five minutes left in the game, but with 35, it gave the Argentines the ball and the initiative to come back. In Tuchel’s defense, fearing Lionel Messi is a wholly reasonable thing for an opposing coach to do, and there’s no guarantee that England would have emerged as winners if they’d kept pressing for another goal. Yet the way Spain kept the ball away from Argentina’s offense only showed how England could have done the same. The coach who started this tournament vowing to play England’s way no matter what ended up selling out his beliefs, and Old Blighty’s 60-year wait for another major men’s soccer title continues.
What happened next?
England beat France in a defense-be-damned 6-4 thriller in the third-place match, yet Tuchel still insists that he got it right against Argentina. Soccer coaches can be maddening sometimes.
How much did Donald Trump foul up this World Cup?
He did his best. It was all too predictable that the crowd booed him at the trophy presentation. Less so was Trump staying on stage when Spain actually lifted the trophy, as if he’d won the World Cup, too. This, less than a week after Trump trashed their country as “full of hopeless, bad people.” Even Kalshi spokesman/new Real Madrid coach/Donald Trump of the sport José Mourinho would have shown more respect. There should be no sympathy for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who repeatedly tried to pull Trump off the stage. He brought that embarrassment on himself.
Why did Trump do that?
Seriously, you have to ask? The economy was set up for a boom, and he’s hammered it by starting an illegal war with Iran that has jacked up inflation and gas prices (not to mention killing American soldiers and Iranian schoolchildren), as well as imposing tariffs that we’re all paying for at the grocery store. His ICE thugs are killing people on America’s streets again, his loyal Senate majority leader might be dead, and his cuts to the CDC’s budget are now giving people explosive diarrhea. Everything he’s touching is turning to explosive diarrhea, especially in sports: The New York Knicks’ only playoff loss was in the game he attended, and he overturned Folarin Balogun’s red card only for Belgium to rub their win over Team USA in his face. If he weren’t a sexual predator and a hateful racist, I might actually feel sorry for the president. As it is, I’m here for the Spanish FA editing him out of the celebration photos and social-media memesters having fun at his expense.
Enough shit-talking. Who is in your team of the tournament?
GK: Vozinha (Cape Verde)
CB: Pau Cubarsí (Spain)
CB: Cristián Romero (Argentina)
CB: Marc Guéhi (England)
RWB: Pedro Porro (Spain)
LWB: Marc Cucurella (Spain)
CMF: Rodri (Spain)
CMF: Jude Bellingham (England)
FW: Erling Haaland (Norway)
FW: Kylian Mbappé (France)
FW: Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Bench: Gregor Kobel (Switzerland), Emiliano Martínez (Argentina); William Saliba (France), Rúben Dias (Portugal), Gustavo Gómez (Paraguay), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Lucas Digne (France); Elliot Anderson (England), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Morocco), Mikel Merino (Spain), Michael Olise (France); Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Julián Quiñones (Mexico), Vinícius Júnior (Brazil), Ousmane Dembélé (France).
Coach: Ståle Solbakken (Norway).
Who scored the best goals of the tournament?
15. Jude Bellingham(England) vs. France. 14. Malik Tillman (USA) vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina. 13. Stephen Eustáquio (Canada) vs. South Africa. 12. Daizen Maeda (Japan) vs. Sweden. 11. Kylian Mbappé (France) vs. Senegal 10. Hwang In-beom (South Korea) vs. Czech Republic. 9. Yasin Ayari (Sweden) vs. Tunisia. 8. Ismael Saibari (Morocco) vs. Brazil. 7. Kevin Pina (Cape Verde) vs. Uruguay. 6. Wilson Isidor (Haiti) vs. Morocco. 5. Gio Reyna (USA) vs. Paraguay. 4. Andreas Schjelderup (Norway) vs. England. 3. Eldor Shomurodov (Uzbekistan) vs. Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2. Julián Álvarez (Argentina) vs. Switzerland. 1. Sidny Lopes Cabral (Cape Verde) vs. Argentina.
What’s next for American soccer?
As I mentioned before, MLS suspended its season for the duration of the World Cup. They’ll be starting up again with Messi and several members of Team USA and other countries, including Cape Verde. Coach Mauricio Pochettino is still weighing his options as his contract runs out — U.S. Soccer is understandably anxious to re-sign him, but high-profile club teams are batting their eyelashes at him now. If he moves on, we’ll report it in these pages. Next summer, the Women’s World Cup takes place in Brazil, which means that you won’t have to stay up late to watch those matches. We’ll be here for that as well.
What will you remember from this World Cup?
As I predicted, the stuff that happened on the pitch brought it all together. Cape Verde’s magical run justified having 48 countries at the party. Casual fans discovered Erling Haaland, and we’ll see 100 dudes and dudettes who play like Messi before we see another player with the Manchester City striker’s peculiar set of attributes. (And he apparently fell in love with North Texas.) Despite a president who hates the rest of the world, ordinary Americans welcomed those crazy Scotland fans, Algerian players found a new home in Lawrence, Kansas, a German tourist discovered a miraculous place called Waffle House, and global celebrities became fans like the rest of us. That’s what the World Cup can do. Until next time …
