Spain Silence Messi & Argentina To Clinch W…

Spain have been crowned FIFA World Cup champions for the second time after defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra-time on Sunday night.

Fixture: Spain v Argentina
Score: 1-0
Goalscorers: Torres (106′)

Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi made history on the day by becoming the first set of teenagers to start a World Cup final, while Lionel Messi wrote his name in the history books by becoming the first player to start three World Cup finals.

La Roja were unchanged from their dominant win over France, so it was no surprise to see the European champions dominate the possession from the onset, with Yamal attracting a lot of attention of the right wing while Dani Olmo was finding some pockets in the opposition half.

Messi came into the clash needed to score two or more goals to stand a chance of winning the golden boot, but he barely had a touch of the ball in the first half as Lionel Scaloni’s charges had no answer for Spain’s dominance on the ball.

At the other end, Yamal was being closely monitored by both Nicolas Tagliafico and Nicolas Gonzalez down the left side of the Spanish defence, although Marc Cucurella and Alex Beana had a lot more joy down the other flank but the clear-cut chances were hard to come by in the 18-yard area.

Scroll through the gallery above to see action from the World Cup final.

It was more of the same in the second period as La Roja continued to dominate the possession without creating much in the final third, as they had to wait until the 66th minute for their first big opening when Yamal raced to the byline to pick out Ferran Torres, who sent his header straight at Emiliano Martinez.

La Roja coach Luis de la Fuente opted to make a couple changes with 15 minutes remaining in the second half to improve their attack by throwing on Nico Williams and Mikel Merino, who already had two goals off the bench in this tournament.

Argentina, however, were dealt a big blow in second-half stoppage time when midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a late challenge on Cubarsi, while Cucurella was lucky to avoid a red card of his own despite covering his mouth when talking to Messi.

The defending champions failed to register a single shout throughout the 90 minutes, not even a shot off target.

The game went to extra-time but Spain had to wait until the second half to find the breakthrough when Nico Williams did well to header a cross back into the path of Torres, who sent a superb volley into the back of the net, sealing their first World Cup title since 2010.

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