If you were hoping to finish the World Cup with a free-flowing game full of great football, endless attacking and loads of goals, you should have made the third-place play-off your last match to watch.Spain versus Argentina in the final was never going to be a purists’ classic, but what unfolded was undoubtedly the dirtiest final since 2010, when Spain were again faced with an aggressive, uncompromising opponent in the Netherlands.Football won that day, with Spain edging it in extra time, and the same happened here.But just how dirty was the 2026 World Cup final? We’ve picked out the most niggly moments.It was the 14th minute when the skulduggery began in earnest with a rugged Argentina foul.Alexis Mac Allister went in hard on Dani Olmo with an uncompromising, flying challenge that left the Spaniard in a heap on the floor (after a few rolls for dramatic effect).
Was Alexis Mac Allister fortunate to escape a booking for his challenge on Dani Olmo? pic.twitter.com/N6frMjYuP7
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 19, 2026A few minutes later, Nicolas Tagliafico attempted to drag Lamine Yamal to the floor while also seeming to attempt to jump into an invisible bobsled, before going for the more conventional approach of clipping Yamal’s heels. All in all, it was quite a feat of human engineering.It was also a feat of patient refereeing that Slavko Vincic didn’t produce a yellow card.The Athletic’s refereeing expert Graham Scott said: “Tagliafico could have received a yellow card for persistent infringement for a single foul when he brought down Yamal.“It was an untidy and clumsy challenge to say the least and was undeniably deliberate.”
