Spain's Ferran Torres celebrates with the trophy after winning the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)A swarm of raging red shirts piled over Ferran Torres when the final whistle blew at the Metlife Stadium, crowning Spain as the World Champions for the second time in their history. Torres, whose goal in the 106th minute decided a turgid and combative final bereft of dramatic twists that defined the tournament, would be as immortalised as Andres Iniesta’s extra time winner in 2010. He rose from the heap, exhausted with emotions, eyes shining with tears of inexpressible joy, hair dishevelled, the sleeves of his shirt torn and gasped for breath.He tried to evade the broadcasters’ eyes but he could not. He was surreally poised with his words. “In the end, the goal belongs to 47 million people, not me, nor we 26 players here. Destiny was written today, we were going to win,” he said. He called the goal liberation. “It’s a huge feeling of liberation. I’ve been criticised a lot during this World Cup but destiny was written, and I thank God, who always gives me strength to continue. Things come to those who deserve them.” It was his first goal of the tournament, and the only goal that perhaps matters to him in the rest of his life.He was momentarily distracted by the melee near Spain’s dugout. Nahuel Molina and Rodri sparked a war of words before Eric Garcia intervened and pushed Molina away. From nowhere butted in Leandro Paredes and tried to clutch Garcia’s throat. Gavi entered the scuffle and nudged Paredes, which instigated Thiago Almada who pinned Gavi to the floor. The referee rifled in and brandished Paredes a red card, before members from both teams dragged their players. The match was simmering on boiling point since Enzo Fernandez’s second-half red card. Paredes might not care, because the pain he was suffering was more bitter. Spain’s Ferran Torres (7) celebrates scoring their first goal during the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)From Torres and the ecstatic Spanish players, Lamine Yamal was sprawled on the ground, wiping the tears with his palms, the eyes of the arena wandered to Lionel Messi, on the verge of tears, hands on his chin. Spain did not forget Messi in his moment of despair. Rodri hugged him; Pedri shook his hands. It would be the last the grandest stage had seen of its grandest player, but when an era ends another begins. Torres’s strike was the siren of Spain’s domination in the years to come. It would remain a metaphor for the Spanish dynasty. It was inevitable and deserving, for Spain was the tournament’s in-surpassable team. Had the match petered out to shootouts and they lost, it would have been a travesty of sporting justice.The moment of Torres’s goal would seem blurry yet clear. It came without being accompanied by theatre or drama. The electronic clock blinked 105, the red digits blinking. The scorching sun mellowed; the second half of the extra had begun with the brimming possibility of a penalty shootout, which the turgid final deserved, but perhaps not Spain, with the utter domination of the game. Rejuvenated after the break, Spain instantly dashed forward. From the right flank, Yamal skipped with the ball and passed to Pedro Porro, who pinged a speculative shot towards Nico Williams to the far post. The ball seemed over-hit, perhaps it was, but Williams beat an on-rushing Emi Martinez to the ball and headed it backwards to the unmanned Ferran Torres. The Spanish forward had time and space to gather, compose and leather the ball past Martinez, sending Spain to raptures, Argentina to the gorge of misery and saving the match from the cruelty of a penalty shoot out. Martinez’s injudiciousness to march out of his lines would be recriminated. But Argentina would feel the wheels of misfortune crushing them in the form of Gio Simeone, who was tracking Torres, pulling a muscle on the of the area.The next 15 minutes with 10 men was arduous for Argentina. But they threw everything they could, men, ideas, and emotions. In the stoppage time of the extra time, they came close twice, but were brutally denied by Spain’s defenders. They were not to be bullied or badgered, as they hoofed and hacked every advance of Argentina. Even Messi stood helpless, curl and whip eluding his deliveries, his movements restrained by a silken midfielder operating at the peak of his prowess. If even Messi could not alter the destiny of the afternoon, perhaps nothing could.Also Read | 0 shots in 90 mins: Argentina’s unwanted record vs Spain in World Cup finalThe goal was in tune with the game’s tempo. The more the watch wore on, the more it seemed like it would be defined by a singular piece of action, one burst of ingenuity or fortune, one act of indiscretion or genius, one mad or inspired moment. But the game couldn’t shake off its afflictions with dullness. In normal time, Spain had nine shots on goal, none from the sweet-spot. Forget a shot on goal, Argentina did not even have an attempt on goal in normal time, more so after Fernandez’s expulsion for stepping on the toes of Pau Cubarsi.Story continues below this adA penalty shootout seemed invariable, but for Torres’s whipper-snapper strike. The goal of his life; the siren of the second Spanish dynasty; and perhaps the last act of the greatest footballer that had walked on the earth. He waved at his mourning fans, even as Rodri raised the trophy to the placid East Rutherford skies.