Spanish domination

Spain has won its second World Cup, and the scoreline flatters Argentina more than the match did. A single goal from Ferran Torres in the 106th minute settled Sunday's final at MetLife Stadium in New York, but the number on the board understates what happened on the field.

Spain took twenty shots to Argentina's three. Spain held nearly two-thirds of possession. Spain dictated tempo from the first whistle to the last, and only a heroic goalkeeping performance from Emiliano Martínez, twelve saves in all, a World Cup final record, kept the margin from turning embarrassing. This was domination that the scoreboard tried to hide. Argentina arrived as defending champions with Lionel Messi at the forefront. Sentiment favoured a fairytale ending. Football did not oblige. Spain's football, built on patient possession and positional discipline, has now beaten every kind of opponent this tournament could offer, including a France side with Mbappe in irresistible form in the semi-final.

That tension between control and conversion defined the tournament as a whole. Expanded to 48 teams for the first time, the World Cup delivered genuine romance, with smaller footballing nations reaching stages previously closed to them, and genuine bloat, with a longer schedule, heavier travel burden across three host countries, and group-stage matches whose outcomes occasionally invited suspicion of convenient results. Ticket pricing drew its own criticism, with demand-based costs pushing marquee matches beyond the reach of ordinary supporters the tournament claims to serve.

Officiating, however, dominated the conversation more than any single match. VAR was meant to remove doubt from football. Instead it relocated the doubt from the pitch to the review room, and this tournament made clear that a human being still sits at the end of every review.