After 38 days of fun and games, the World Cup finally reached its conclusion with Spain against Argentina.
A match billed as Lamine Yamal vs. Lionel Messi; young vs. old; the future vs. the past, present and potential GOAT, was actually decided by Ferran Torres, a 26-year-old who doesn’t fit into any of those categories.
While Yamal skittered around the fringes of the contest, delivering a performance befitting his entire World Cup, almost but not quite as impressive as he can typically muster, Messi emphatically failed to show up.
Argentina’s talisman had just one shot, which smacked Mikel Merino in the face, throughout the entire 120 minutes. The defending world champion only managed one other effort in a bizarrely tepid showing. Unai Simón didn’t need to make a single save.