Spain squeeze the life out of Argentina to take away big new World Cup
Ferran Torres' extra-time strike separated the sides in a gruff encounter at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
The 1-0 victory was Spain's second triumph at the most prestigious national team tournament on the planet and denied Argentina the chance to join Italy and Brazil as the only countries to win back-to-back World Cup competitions in its 96-year history.
The game was a contrast to the whirling third place play-off between England and Francein Miami on Saturday.
Bukayo Saka scored the 300th goal at the tournament to give England a 3-0 lead.
The Arsenal forward struck two more to become the fourth English player to hit a hat trick in a World Cup tie as England scraped past France 6-4 to claim the bronze medal.
It was England's best performance at the World Cup since they won the trophy in 1966.
The helter-skelter game furnished other highs.
Mbappé takes 2026 golden boot
France skipperKylian Mbappé scored twice to take his 2026 tournament tally up to 10 and 22 overall to move one goal ahead of Lionel Messi as the World Cup's record goalscorer.
During the final, Messi could not respond.
Mbappé won the golden boot for his 10 goals in seven games and 39-year-old Messi, a former teammate of Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain, departed with only the memories of the eight goals that fired his team to the final.
In their surge to the crown, Spain conceded one goal in eight games.
Spain skipper, Rodri, was voted player of the tournament as the lynchpin of their possession-based aggression.
Goalkeeper Unai Simon was awarded the 'golden glove' and Pau Cubarsi was deemed young player of the competition. The 19-year-old Barcelona defender played in all eight games of the campaign and received one yellow card.
Luis de la Fuente, who guided Spain to the 2024 European championship title, said: "I'm so proud of this generation of footballers who have grown up with this philosophy of playing, remained true to it, made it even better and set an example as a team and a family.
"They're excellent, world-class footballers with exceptional talent."
Fifa boss suggests bigger tournament
Even before the final, Gianni Infantino, who heads World Cup organisers Fifa, hinted that the tournament should expand to 64 teams.
In an interview with a Swiss TV channel Blue Sport, Infantino said the shift to 48 teams had opened the competition to less celebrated countries.
"I think it is important that when you want to organise a World Cup, you do it for the whole world, not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world," said the 56-year-old Swiss.
"Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
Fans from debutant participants such as Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan bore out his assertion.
They came in their droves to see their teams.
'Joy of World Cup'
"I never believed that we would qualify for the World Cup," said Sef Middelhof who travelled from Curaçao to watch his country's national squad against Cote d'Ivolre in Philadelphia.
"Everybody is glad," added the retired social worker. "There is nobody working on the island. Firms have given people the day off to watch the games."
Though Curaçao departed after the group stages along with the other first timers Uzbekistan and Jordan, their fans injected verve and vigour.
Scotland's fans, the self-classd 'Tartan Army', charmed Boston into submission.
Clad in kilts, thousands prowled the city dispensing bonhomie and banter. They also attended a game of the Boston Red Sox baseball team at Fenway Park
Boston twins with Glasgow
Before they departed, the mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, announced the city would be twinned with Glasgow to boost economic, cultural, and educational ties.
Less instructive but no less unfamilar were the controversies that appear to form the fabric of the World Cup moment.
It started with American authorities refusing to allowthe Iran squad to stay in the United States before and after their games and was followed by a Somali referee Omar Ortan falling foul of immigration officials in Miami.
Just as the tournament appeared to have recovered from those incidents, the American president, Donald Trump, admitted he had lobbied Fifa's top brass to review the red card of the US striker Folarin Balogun during his last 32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 July.
And Fifa performed the necessary administrative gymnastics to let the forward play against Belgium in the last 16 despite protests from the Belgian FA and European football's governingbody Uefa.
Sense of injustice
Duly aggrieved, Belgium walloped the US 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Following the victory, the Belgium team posted a message on social media that was aimed at Trump that was headlined: "Overturn this!"
“Of course, what happened motivated the group,” said Belgium midfielder Nicolas Raskin.
“It was an injustice that made for a special build-up. That makes winning this match extra special.”
Infantino's malleability appears unlikely to cost him. He is favourite to extend his Fifa presidency at next year's election.
"This World Cup has been the most incredible event in human history," Infantino told Fifa member association executives on the eve of the final.
"Not just the biggest World Cup, it has been the greatest sporting, social and cultural event in humanity. I think we have to invent some new words,” he added.