21 Jul 2026

Hasta que se acabe

Zito Madu on Lionel Messi

Today: Zito Madu, a journalist and author of The Minotaur at Calle Lanza.

Issue No. 611

There’s Always Crying in Football
Zito Madu

There’s Always Crying in Football

by Zito Madu

After a World Cup of dramatic late comebacks and wins, it wasn’t to be in the final for Argentina. Unlike their previous opponents in England, Switzerland, and Egypt, Spain didn’t withdraw into their shell at the end out of fear and allow Argentina to come roaring into the match. Rather than giving in to the frustration of thoroughly dominating the game while remaining unable to score, Spain stuck to their plan and their identity, making like-for-like changes in order to maintain the pressure on their opponents. As they had in their previous matches, Spain believed that their ability to control and squeeze the life out of their opponents would pay off.

If Argentina had had the chance they could probably have equalized, but Spain didn’t give them one. In the few moments when Argentina found space to possibly get a shot at goal, there was always a Spanish player in front of the attacker to block the shot or shepherd them away. Mikel Merino, who had played the hero in previous matches for Spain, coming in to score winners, notably blocked a Lionel Messi shot with his face. In the end, Argentina didn’t have a shot at all in the first 90 minutes, and overall, they never got a shot on target.

Argentina also tried to destabilize their opponents through hard fouls and trying to goad them into a fight, aiming both to buy enough time to get to penalties and possibly to win a red card, but in the end it was the Argentinian player Enzo Fernández who would be sent off and make things harder for his team. The referee had been lenient, but it was impossible to overlook Fernández sending Pau Cubarsí flying and twirling in the air. And then Spain refused to give in to their opponents’ attempts at provocation, and waited for the game to be decided on the merit of the better team.