Spain’s Trophy, Everyone’s Triumph
by Daniel Britt ◊ photos by Leah Bullard
Legendary Irish footballer Danny Branchflower once said, “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory.”
While, on their way back to their locker rooms following their respective losses, the players for England, France, Norway and Morocco may have disagreed with this sentiment, it rings true for the tournament as a whole. South Africa, Paraguay and Cape Verde may have harbored no illusions entering the competition that they would be bringing home the hardware, but each nation provided its inhabitants with far more renown than they ever could have anticipated.
From the opening national anthems to nail-biting stoppage-time goals to postgame Viking rows, each squad was able to showcase exactly what made them them, and all were able to do it on an international stage in front of the largest audience to ever watch a single sporting event.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was not a success because of the individual brilliance of Lionel Messi or the exemplary efficiency of the entire Spanish team, but rather because of the grandeur of the sport of soccer and the pride and passion with which it is played. This tournament was a success because of the inherent glory.
Africa shows up
For many teams in the World Cup, success is more about exceeding expectations than lifting the trophy. This is true of most countries apart from the blue bloods, but especially so for the African nations.
The continent has a middling history at best in the tournament. It didn’t send multiple teams to the competition until 1982; it never had multiple teams in the round of 16 until 2014 (Nigeria and Algeria); and it earned its first semifinal berth just four years ago in Qatar (Morocco).
However, Africa sent 10 teams to this year’s World Cup, four more than in any other previous edition. And although many were predicted to finish last in their respective groups, nine of the 10 advanced from group play into the knockout stage. To put that in perspective, only six African nations had ever qualified for the knockout stage prior to 2026.
Many African players and fans also entered this tournament with a shift in focus from previous iterations and openly cheered for the success of their continental neighbors. This pan-African solidarity grew mightily as the teams moved from the group stage to the knockout stage, with fans gravitating towards their geographical brothers and sisters once their teams were eliminated.
Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi, who holds the record for most World Cup starts for an African player, echoed this sentiment directly after his side’s penalty-kick win over the Netherlands, saying that the victory was for all of Africa, not just Morocco. Hakimi was far from the only player to express support for other African teams, making the stunning success of the continent even more profound.
Win or go home
Joining the nine African nations in the group stage were 23 teams from each of the other inhabited continents. Shocking results and late-game heroics came early and often, with the round of 32 featuring five extra-time matches leading to three penalty shootouts. On top of that, three game-winning goals were scored in stoppage time, making it perhaps the most entertaining round of any World Cup.
Paraguay stunned powerhouse Germany by winning on penalties, but many other underdogs had victory snatched from their grasp at the last second. Belgium scored in the 86th and 89th minutes to force extra time against Senegal, and DR Congo led for almost 70 minutes against England before ceding two late goals.
The most heartbreaking knockout loss, though, belongs to Cape Verde. The upstart squad, hailing from an island country with roughly the same population as Atlanta proper, drew all three of its group-stage games (including a nil-nil result against eventual champion Spain) to advance to the knockout round – a huge accomplishment considering it was the country’s first-ever World Cup appearance.
The team drew eventual runner-up Argentina in its knockout game and very nearly delivered what would have been the biggest upset in World Cup history. Cape Verde was able to equalize after a first-half goal from Argentina and force extra time, in which it again conceded a goal to the Argentinians. The Blue Sharks equalized again via a gorgeous goal from Sidny Lopes Cabral in the 103rd minute before again conceding what would prove to be the final blow.
Cape Verde was not supposed to be in the knockout stage, much less in extra time against the then-reigning champion, and much of the well-deserved credit went to the goalkeeper. At 40 years old, Vozinha was the ninth-oldest player in World Cup history, but that did not stop him from keeping two clean sheets in group play to secure his country’s advancement. He saved seven shots against Spain and eight against Argentina, allowing only one goal in regulation in the two games.
Cape Verde may have lost the game, but its players became national icons in the process. Vozinha and company were greeted with a hero’s welcome upon their return home and will be remembered for decades as a perfect example of what can happen when a team disregards the pre-tournament narrative.
The new face of soccer
Somewhat surprisingly, all three host countries – Canada, Mexico and the United States – advanced to the round of 16. Somewhat unsurprisingly, none of them made it any further. Mexico seemed the most likely to advance, but El Tri couldn’t overcome Jude Bellingham and England despite playing almost the entire second half with a man advantage after a 54th-minute red card.
Elsewhere, Spain scored a stoppage-time game-winner over Iberian neighbor Portugal to continue its methodical march to the final, and Switzerland provided the biggest surprise by knocking out a deep Colombian side on penalty kicks.
The round did not pass without a bit of controversy, however. Argentina scored three goals super late in the second half to complete an improbable comeback versus Egypt. Up 2-0 after a second-half Mostafa Zico tally, many still believed the Pharaohs should have been up 3-0 due to a disallowed goal earlier in the frame. This would have altered the game significantly – and perhaps insurmountably – in Egypt’s favor. Criticism was directed at VAR in general throughout the tournament, with many purists not trusting the technology and blaming it for fundamentally affecting the game.
The downfall of the Egyptian squad was soon outshone, though, by the rise of soccer’s favorite personality: Erling Braut Haaland. Not only did the Norwegian show up when it mattered, sealing a victory over Brazil with a late goal, but he did it with a panache that is increasingly becoming his signature.
His exuberant style of play bleeds over into his daily life, and Haaland established himself as a social media darling as a result; over the course of the World Cup, his Instagram following ballooned from ~40 million to ~70 million.
The Manchester City forward catapulted himself into household-name territory at a wonderfully opportune time, as two of soccer’s biggest stars – Ronaldo and Messi – likely were competing in their final World Cups. Only time will tell regarding their respective retirements, but Haaland has certainly positioned himself to be the new face of the sport alongside Kylian Mbappé.
Cream rises
The diversity of the earlier rounds dwindled with the number of teams, and the quarterfinals saw six European teams out of eight total. France dispatched Morocco in a rematch of the 2022 semifinal, winning by the exact same scoreline, 2-0, as that prior meeting.
The final remaining non-European team, Argentina, also won by a two-goal margin, but far less comfortably. The Swiss squad was able to force extra time even after its star striker, Breel Embolo, was sent off in the 72nd minute for simulation. The man advantage proved decisive in extra time, as Argentina scored twice for a 3-1 victory. The reigning champ would live to fight another day, but each of its three knockout games to this point were startlingly close.
Belgium became the only team to score a goal against the smothering Spanish defense, but it was not enough thanks to a late goal from Mikel Merino off a goalkeeper error to give La Roja a 2-1 victory. In the remaining all-European game, Haaland and Norway took an early lead against England but could not hang on in extra time, as a well-taken Bellingham goal ultimately sealed their fate. The victory sent England to just its third semifinal since claiming the 1966 title. The final four teams remained, and they just happened to be Nos. 1-4 in the FIFA rankings.
Unfortunately for England, luck ran out as it always seems to for the Three Lions. Leading a tense, hard-fought game 1-0 with only five minutes remaining in regulation, Argentina pulled off yet another miracle comeback to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat. Messi saved his best for last, racking up an assist on Enzo Fernández’s equalizer before crossing perfectly to Lautaro Martínez for the decider in stoppage time and further adding to the luster of his legacy.
Spain came into its semifinal as a slight underdog but used their world-class defense to shut down the vaunted French offense. The shutout versus the likes of Mbappé, wunderkind Michael Olise and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé set up a final that was largely seen as a contest between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. The immovable object, the Spanish defense, had allowed a single goal across seven games to that point, and Argentina appeared to be a team of destiny due to its slew of miraculous late victories.
All good things
With a worldwide viewership of about 1.8 billion people, it is a fair assumption that you, dear reader, watched the final yourself and do not need a recap. The culmination of the most-watched sporting event of all time saw the immovable object live up to its potential and claim a second World Cup victory.
The match, which sometimes moved at a glacial pace, could not have been more different than the third-place game, which saw England jump out to a 4-0 lead at halftime before an embarrassed France made four substitutions immediately after the break to storm back to make it 4-3 midway through the second half. France was never able to tie the game, though, and eventually fell 6-4 in the highest-scoring game of the tournament.
Each phase of the World Cup was special for its own reasons, and while Spain may have lifted the hardware in the end, there were many other winners in different respects. Some individual players earned notoriety and respect that will follow them for the remainder of their careers. Some teams elevated or solidified their prestige on an international scale and will now have to live up to the higher expectations that come with a seat at the table.
Much maligned for its coverage of the tournament in the past, Fox recruited Rebecca Lowe from NBC, Thierry Henry from CBS and Zlatan Ibrahimović from his advisory role with AC Milan to spearhead live broadcasts that also featured network mainstay Alexi Lalas. The pairing of strong personalities was awkward and combative at first, but the dynamic became must-see TV as the competition progressed, with Lowe using her Premier League and Olympics experience to assuage egos and provoke conversation in real time. Already a beloved media figure in soccer circles, accolades continue to pour in for the English journalist in the wake of the World Cup.
Ultimately, the biggest winners of the 2026 tournament were the viewers, who were treated to a spectacle unlike anything else in sports. Entire countries – and sometimes even continents – reveled in the glory of the moment, holding their collective breath and hoping while the rest of the world watched. 2030 can’t get here fast enough.
britt@blanknews.com
