Sixteen years later, Spain are world champions again. From Andrés Iniesta’s goal in the 116th minute to Ferran Torres’s in the 106th. A cross from Pedro Porro, a header full of belief from Nico Williams and the finish from the Valencian striker to place a second star above Spain’s crest. A 1-0 victory, and at MetLife Stadium justice was done after a grinding match filled with kicks, dirty play and the “other football”, as they wrongly call a practice that does so little to help this sport grow or to convey its values.
“Why do Argentina kick so much?” Sitting beside me, my five-year-old son asked me this every time a Spanish player fell to the ground or appealed for a foul. It is difficult to explain the idea of playing “at the limits of the rules” when an innocent mind only understands playing without trying to hurt anyone, either physically or morally. That way of playing, which FIFA permits —and consequently passes on to referees—, has taken Argentina to two consecutive World Cup finals. They see it as a reward for effort, while the rest of the world watches such a philosophy with astonishment, one supported by flashes of talent such as those provided by Leo Messi.
Emiliano Martínez, Dibu, became Argentina’s key player. Spain finished with 20 shots compared with Argentina’s two, and Argentina did not have a single attempt during the 90 minutes of normal time. Extraordinary, but that is how they play football.
It was a final that brought together two almost completely opposing ways of competing, and football ultimately won. Spain wanted to play, while Argentina spent far too long trying to prevent the game from being played. The match became filled with interruptions, protests and challenges beyond the limits of the rules —and yet only Enzo Fernández was sent off—. Even after the final whistle, the pushing and confrontations continued. Deplorable, but it is what they have been allowed to do under Messi’s protective umbrella.
Luis de la Fuente had warned about it before the match began. “The referee cannot act permissively and allow the rules to be exceeded. Those boundaries of footballing legality cannot be crossed,” he said of Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic. It was not an attack on Argentina, a team for which the Spain coach said he had admiration, but a request to protect the match and football itself… The way the final unfolded ultimately proved the point behind his words.
Lionel Scaloni, who before the match had defended his players’ attitude of interrupting play and taking every action to the limit, later acknowledged Spain’s superiority. “They were better, to be honest. Spain are deserved champions,” the Argentina coach admitted. He also said that his players “gave everything”. That was true, although for much of the match Argentina used that effort to resist and destroy rather than to try to win. Until now, it had helped them win matches and lift trophies.
The triumph of a shared idea
Spain have not won the World Cup because of a moment of inspiration or because they depend on one extraordinary footballer. They have won it because years ago they decided how they wanted to play football and began teaching that idea from the youth categories upwards. “They have an identity, a philosophy, and they play the same way at every level,” Thierry Henry had said during his analysis on FOX Sports. Spanish players know what to do because they have been learning the same footballing language since childhood.
Francis Hernández, the former coordinator of the RFEF’s youth categories, explained in 2022 how the Federation turned that footballing tradition into a common method. “Tiki-taka was in the air, and our task was to give it shape through a playing model and a player profile, and to put it in writing for everyone who comes after us,” he said at the time in a report published by Prensa Ibérica.
The style stopped being an inheritance that depended solely on whichever coach happened to be in charge. Spain defined it, developed it and documented it so that all its national teams could work from the same foundations. “We have worked based on a playing model, and we have it stored on a massive scale,” Hernández explained in an interview with AS in March 2025.
Every footballer who joins the national team receives an explanation of what the team is trying to achieve and how they can fit into that idea. Every coach receives the same explanation. From the youth categories to the senior team, Spain try to dominate the ball, create chances, defend far away from their own goal and recover possession quickly after losing it. They defend so far from their own goal that Unai Simón has conceded only once during this tournament, an incredible and historic record.
Luis de la Fuente did not need to invent anything
Luis de la Fuente has possibly been the national team coach most faithful to that work. He joined the RFEF’s youth setup in 2013 and developed professionally within that structure. He knew the method, the people responsible for it and many of the players before they became stars.
During his first few months, that background was presented as a weakness. He had never managed a major club or handled a dressing room filled with international stars. His experience came from modest teams and Spain’s youth sides. That was precisely why he ultimately became the perfect candidate: he did not arrive to impose a personal revolution, but to develop an idea he knew better than anyone.
A Nations League, European Championship and World Cup
His start was not easy either. Spain lost 2-0 to Scotland in March 2023, in his second match in charge of the senior team, and doubts began to emerge about the coach and about a generation in which many supporters barely recognised some of the names. Three years later, that cycle has produced a Nations League, an European Championship and a World Cup.
De la Fuente has also become a world champion at the age of 65, making him the oldest coach ever to win the tournament. He has done so without changing the nature of Spanish football and without turning the team into an extension of his own personality. His main achievement has been understanding what he already had in his hands and convincing the players to believe in it.
A national team greater than its stars
Spain have world-class footballers and a Ballon d’Or winner in Rodri, but they do not depend on the inspiration of a single figure. Their hierarchy is built through their football, their behaviour and their ability to understand what the team needs.
Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, Pedri, Fabián, Dani Olmo, Cubarsí and Ferran Torres can all decide a match. The difference is that none of them needs to take ownership of the national team in order to do so. Ferran started the final on the bench and ended it by scoring the most important goal in Spanish football since Iniesta’s in Johannesburg. “Destiny was written. It is the goal of 47 million Spaniards,” he said afterwards.
That collective strength allowed Spain to overcome Portugal, France and Argentina during the knockout rounds. Along the way, the teams of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi were eliminated. Spain did not need to answer one star with another. They answered all of them with a team.
The World Cup confirms an extraordinary period for Spanish football. This generation has won the 2023 Nations League, Euro 2024 and now the 2026 World Cup. Spain are also the men’s Olympic champions and the women’s world champions. It does not appear to be a coincidence, but the result of a way of working maintained over many years. The formula had been defined long before Ferran Torres struck that ball in the 106th minute.
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