EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A few minutes after Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup Final, Lamine Yamal found an empty patch of grass and collapsed on his back, very clearly overcome with emotion.
Any spectator in the crowd of more than 80,000 here at MetLife Stadium could have ventured a guess as to what Spain’s teen sensation was feeling in that moment: The exhaustion of doing battle with Lionel Messi and company for more than 120 minutes; the joy of helping his country claim its second-ever world title; the gratitude for every person along the way that contributed to making this dream a reality, including the two family friends, after whom he’s named, that came to his parents’ rescue in a time of dire financial need.
“Winning the World Cup at just 19 completely alters his timeline,” Adam Holt, the CEO of sports marketing and analytics firm Spiqe, said in an email. “He is no longer the ‘future’ of football—he is the immediate present.”
Yamal, 19, didn’t light up the scoreboard on Sunday or notch a game-winning assist. In fact, he was rather light on the stat sheet throughout the entire tournament. But for two months, he played his part to perfection inside Spain’s strategy, a suffocating scheme of possession-based soccer that prevented Argentina from putting a single shot on goal until extra time in the final match.
