World Cup 2026 Winners: Spain!

What. A. Game.

There was a lot of fussiness over the 104 games of futbol (soccer) in this year’s World Cup held in the USA, Mexico, and Canada, over the past four weeks. Many of the calls on the field of play were questionable, including cards (their colors - yellow or red) or no cards, calls from a president of a country to the president of FIFA, calls from the fans in the seats in all the stadiums hosting games, and calls from the millions/billions watching from their homes/bars/arenas on a small to giant T.V.s. Don’t kid yourself: the tournament is compelling for those who love the sport, whether or not they’ve played the game. It's a global event and loved by many.

Today’s final match between Argentina v. Spain was a true nail-biter, down to the last minute or two in double overtime (no golden goal in WC play any longer). This final match had the drama; a red card (Argentina, so down to 10 players), injuries, subs who came in and played great, or not, egregious pushes and shoves on and off the ball, almost goals, keepers playing out of their skin, screaming fans, singing fans, celebrities in the house, and the trophy on the line for just ONE team who came out on top after an electrifying 120 minutes of play on the field.

Spain won the grueling match 1-0.

Argentina, with the best player on the planet, Lionel Messi, did not have even ONE shot on goal. Spain suffocated Messi with every trick he tried to pull on the defense. That is really saying something about Spain and their quick style of play, which kept Messi “maybe second-guessing” his team and whether they could win the match despite his slippery play, though not today.

Watching this tournament over the past month was amazing. I was able to view many games (and taped every single one of them to go back and view if I wanted to, through key plays). I especially liked watching how the referees handled a lot of situations on and off the field of play - mostly good, and some, not so good. Today's center referee for the final match, Slavko Vinčić from Slovenia, I thought, was terrific. He did what he needed to do: award a much-needed red card to an Argentine player.

In the final minutes, Spain managed to hold on to their slim lead, and I am thrilled that Spain hoisted the 2026 World Cup Trophy! It's really tough for any team to win back-to-back World Cup Championships.

Throughout the past month, I loved all the matches I watched - even the early rounds in bracket play to the final whistle today in the final. I thought every match was exciting, with only a few ho-hum ones thrown in for good measure.

It won’t be long for the next World Cup: the multi-continental event—marking 100 years since the inaugural 1930 tournament—is scheduled to run from June 8 to July 21, 2030. The three South American centenary matches will take place at historic venues in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, and then Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will serve as the main hosts. Tickets may be a fortune by then!

And, I realize, at the end of the day, it’s only a game…and a beautiful one at that.

bSoleille!

Terri