World Cup 2026 Recap
By Shane Stay
7-19-2026
Spain Earn a Second
Spain are your 2026 FIFA World Cup champs! Spain's second World Cup championship arrived with a 1-0 defeat over Argentina.
France Was Unstoppable for a Moment
Everyone saw it. For the 2026 World Cup, France was looking unstoppable. Shots that don't usually go in were going in left and right it seemed by Mbappe, Dembele. A lot of goals came from the corner of the box area with the inside of the foot touch-shots to the far corner. Lamine Yamal has gotten so good at those shots. Where did it originate? No one really knows but it was popularized by Messi, for example, in the 2000s and onward. You could also throw in Kaka. From thereabouts it became fashionable to hit such a shot, more of a pass-style shot that aggravates goalies in that far corner area. And what about before that era? Why that sudden shift in popularity? From my era, back when Diadora was cool, if you got close to the goalie for a one-on-one you'd be instructed by, say, coaches at Indiana Soccer Camp, to slot the ball opposite corner with the inside of your right foot, like Valdano scoring against West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final. But for the most part, if you were around the top of the box, players were instructed to strike the ball with their instep, with the laces, and drive through it for a line drive...power. For example, you had Belanov: shoot like Belanov which is to say slam it with the inside of your foot from around the top of the box with power. That he did. Have you seen Belanov? He was a World Player of the year in the 80s, big time shooter.
So here we see France in 2026 using modern techniques to just get open around the box and tinker it in with elegant directed touch-shots from the inside of your foot, guiding the ball with a little curve past the outstretched arms of a befuddled keeper, helpless to your scoring charm. And that France did. It was scoring goal after goal, over and over again. It was like they were from another planet good. No one was stopping them until they met the all-mighty Spanish in the semifinals to which France began to look human. Spain is also from another planet good. In all the tapes you may or may not have seen over the years, there's moments in big games when top players shank, they miss a shot, it goes just over, or it goes really over. That's a normal expectation for most top players and teams around the world. Brilliance only comes every once in a while. Yet France was finding that brilliance a lot, it was finding goals, it was toying with teams. Then it met Spain. Things changed. France came back down to earth from planet amazing. Lo and behold, it started making mistakes, missing shots...just like other teams in the past have done. It started to look like a normal team. Every single shot wasn't going in.
Spain's Brilliance
Then on the flip side, you saw the steady, determined, resolute, organized, stringent, structured, short-passing machine of a Euro Cup champion dynamo in Spain, notably players like Cucurella and Rodri that just keep the little touches going, the "every pass is a right pass" approach. It was absolutely brilliant what Spain did. It systematically broke down the tournament favorites, France, and produced a 2-0 defeat. Though, it should be pointed out, Spain was also one of the tournament favorites. France and Spain both know: Don't underestimate the other, whether it's bread, wine, beer, soccer. On this day it belonged to Spain, a team that looked like a true champion with confidence, precision, aggressive defense that kept a strong opponent in check, and team unity. Tough to beat.
Argentina Finds a Way
The only one that could beat both France and Spain, perhaps, would be the defending World Cup champs, Argentina.
In fact, that's my choice:
1 Argentina
2 Spain
Though it turned out to be Spain.
Yet, if there's a team to challenge Spain's perfect passing approach, the kind that keeps you off the ball for long stints of time, it could be Argentina. Because, guess what? Argentina can do much of the same. Argentina had Messi, the team leader who might not have a burst of speed any more but it's still there in doses and it can get the job done with his intuitive guile that finds pockets of space in-between players with a shift of the foot, a swivel going the other way, to create a chance for others with that pass on the move he does with the inside of his left foot often to great effect; a move that keeps the play flowing in an attacking way almost unique to his choosing. Still the pulse of the team, Messi was to be the largest problem for Spain. But that didn't turn out to be the situation. You also had multiple threats (in various positions) that were available. For example, outside back Montiel who pushes things in the right direction, helping to create useful space for a teammate to take advantage of. Don't forget Paredes, who maybe had the best game against England with valuable tackles that escalated his squad to a higher realm.
With all this operating together, as Argentina accomplished a 2-1 win over England in the Semifinals, it was looking for a fourth overall World Cup title to compliment 2022, 1986, and 1978.
It's the first time Argentina and Spain have met in the final. Argentina has been there multiple times. Spain has previously been there in 2010.
Before it started it was going to be a great game no matter which way you looked at it. Then the game started. For a while it seemed like back and forth possession, Argentina holding its own. That was portions of the first half. Slowly but surely, Spain asserted itself with dominant possession and eventually you heard the announcers say things like, "There have been 20 shots for Spain and zero for Argentina." Huh? What? As you saw Spain take over with possession, it became clearer that Argentina was having a hard time getting ball into attacking areas. It just wasn't Argentina's game. A great team, Argentina had one of those days. Spain was the better team.
Hence, Spain earned a well-deserved second World Cup title:
2010
2026
A big one for a nation that is clearly a world leader.
For more, visit Cardinal Publishers Group.
By Shane Stay
7-19-2026
Spain Earn a Second
Spain are your 2026 FIFA World Cup champs! Spain's second World Cup championship arrived with a 1-0 defeat over Argentina.
France Was Unstoppable for a Moment
Everyone saw it. For the 2026 World Cup, France was looking unstoppable. Shots that don't usually go in were going in left and right it seemed by Mbappe, Dembele. A lot of goals came from the corner of the box area with the inside of the foot touch-shots to the far corner. Lamine Yamal has gotten so good at those shots. Where did it originate? No one really knows but it was popularized by Messi, for example, in the 2000s and onward. You could also throw in Kaka. From thereabouts it became fashionable to hit such a shot, more of a pass-style shot that aggravates goalies in that far corner area. And what about before that era? Why that sudden shift in popularity? From my era, back when Diadora was cool, if you got close to the goalie for a one-on-one you'd be instructed by, say, coaches at Indiana Soccer Camp, to slot the ball opposite corner with the inside of your right foot, like Valdano scoring against West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final. But for the most part, if you were around the top of the box, players were instructed to strike the ball with their instep, with the laces, and drive through it for a line drive...power. For example, you had Belanov: shoot like Belanov which is to say slam it with the inside of your foot from around the top of the box with power. That he did. Have you seen Belanov? He was a World Player of the year in the 80s, big time shooter.
So here we see France in 2026 using modern techniques to just get open around the box and tinker it in with elegant directed touch-shots from the inside of your foot, guiding the ball with a little curve past the outstretched arms of a befuddled keeper, helpless to your scoring charm. And that France did. It was scoring goal after goal, over and over again. It was like they were from another planet good. No one was stopping them until they met the all-mighty Spanish in the semifinals to which France began to look human. Spain is also from another planet good. In all the tapes you may or may not have seen over the years, there's moments in big games when top players shank, they miss a shot, it goes just over, or it goes really over. That's a normal expectation for most top players and teams around the world. Brilliance only comes every once in a while. Yet France was finding that brilliance a lot, it was finding goals, it was toying with teams. Then it met Spain. Things changed. France came back down to earth from planet amazing. Lo and behold, it started making mistakes, missing shots...just like other teams in the past have done. It started to look like a normal team. Every single shot wasn't going in.
Spain's Brilliance
Then on the flip side, you saw the steady, determined, resolute, organized, stringent, structured, short-passing machine of a Euro Cup champion dynamo in Spain, notably players like Cucurella and Rodri that just keep the little touches going, the "every pass is a right pass" approach. It was absolutely brilliant what Spain did. It systematically broke down the tournament favorites, France, and produced a 2-0 defeat. Though, it should be pointed out, Spain was also one of the tournament favorites. France and Spain both know: Don't underestimate the other, whether it's bread, wine, beer, soccer. On this day it belonged to Spain, a team that looked like a true champion with confidence, precision, aggressive defense that kept a strong opponent in check, and team unity. Tough to beat.
Argentina Finds a Way
The only one that could beat both France and Spain, perhaps, would be the defending World Cup champs, Argentina.
In fact, that's my choice:
1 Argentina
2 Spain
Though it turned out to be Spain.
Yet, if there's a team to challenge Spain's perfect passing approach, the kind that keeps you off the ball for long stints of time, it could be Argentina. Because, guess what? Argentina can do much of the same. Argentina had Messi, the team leader who might not have a burst of speed any more but it's still there in doses and it can get the job done with his intuitive guile that finds pockets of space in-between players with a shift of the foot, a swivel going the other way, to create a chance for others with that pass on the move he does with the inside of his left foot often to great effect; a move that keeps the play flowing in an attacking way almost unique to his choosing. Still the pulse of the team, Messi was to be the largest problem for Spain. But that didn't turn out to be the situation. You also had multiple threats (in various positions) that were available. For example, outside back Montiel who pushes things in the right direction, helping to create useful space for a teammate to take advantage of. Don't forget Paredes, who maybe had the best game against England with valuable tackles that escalated his squad to a higher realm.
With all this operating together, as Argentina accomplished a 2-1 win over England in the Semifinals, it was looking for a fourth overall World Cup title to compliment 2022, 1986, and 1978.
It's the first time Argentina and Spain have met in the final. Argentina has been there multiple times. Spain has previously been there in 2010.
Before it started it was going to be a great game no matter which way you looked at it. Then the game started. For a while it seemed like back and forth possession, Argentina holding its own. That was portions of the first half. Slowly but surely, Spain asserted itself with dominant possession and eventually you heard the announcers say things like, "There have been 20 shots for Spain and zero for Argentina." Huh? What? As you saw Spain take over with possession, it became clearer that Argentina was having a hard time getting ball into attacking areas. It just wasn't Argentina's game. A great team, Argentina had one of those days. Spain was the better team.
Hence, Spain earned a well-deserved second World Cup title:
2010
2026
A big one for a nation that is clearly a world leader.
For more, visit Cardinal Publishers Group.
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