There was a hero’s welcome for the Spanish soccer team as they arrived in Madrid, where throngs of fans cheered their triumphant World Cup win. Spain’s victory ended Argentina and its star Lionel Messi’s reign, and caps off a tournament that defied expectations on several fronts. Stephanie Sy discussed more with Leander Schaerlaeckens, author of “The Long Game."Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Amna Nawaz:
There was a hero's welcome for the Spanish soccer team as they arrived in Madrid, where throngs of fans cheered their World Cup win over Argentina.It followed a tense final match, as Spain made history, securing their first title since 2010 and their second Cup title ever.Stephanie Sy tells us more.
Stephanie Sy:
Amna, it was a 120-minute display of athleticism and a win for soccer, as one commentator put it. Spain's signature possession-based play eventually wore down Argentina's tenacious defense.In extra time, with Argentina down one man from a late red card, Spanish forward Ferran Torres delivered the defining goal, the only goal of the game, scored 106 minutes in. Spain's victory ends Argentina and its star Lionel Messi's World Cup reign and caps off a tournament that defied expectations on several fronts.For more, I'm joined now by Leander Schaerlaeckens, soccer columnist at The Guardian and author of "The Long Game."Leander, I hope you had fun at the game yesterday. It sure was a long game, especially for us soccer neophytes, Spain, of course, controlling possession of the ball through much of the match, but they couldn't seem to break through Argentina's defense, even with so many shot attempts, at least until the very end.What do you think Spain did tactically to ultimately clinch the win?
