Argentina

Argentina's run for a 2nd World Cup in a row ended 1 win short, beaten by Spain in the final.

They had won all 7 games before that, and the group stage was the only calm part of it.

They beat Algeria 3-0, with Lionel Messi scoring all 3 goals, then beat Austria 2-0, then beat Jordan 3-1 to win Group J with 9 points from 9.

After that, every single knockout game went right to the very end.

In the round of 32 they needed extra time to get past the tiny nation of Cape Verde, winning a tight game 3-2.

Extra time means the game was tied after 90 minutes, so both teams had to play another 30.

And all that extra time started to take a toll on them.

The round of 16 against Egypt was wilder still.

Egypt were winning 2-0 after 67 minutes, and Argentina were 23 minutes from going out.

What followed was the best 13 minutes of their tournament.

Cristian Romero scored in the 79th minute, Messi made it 2-2 in the 83rd, and Enzo Fernandez won it 3-2 in the 92nd minute.

The quarter-final took even longer, with Switzerland pushing them to extra time before Argentina won 3-1.

Then came England in the semi-final, and once again Messi decided it without scoring himself.

England led 1-0 with 5 minutes left, but Messi set up 2 goals in 7 minutes to win it 2-1.

So Argentina reached the final, where Spain were waiting with the best defense in the tournament.

For 90 minutes it stayed 0-0, and their goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made save after save to stop Spain from scoring.

Then their midfielder Enzo Fernandez was shown a 2nd yellow card right at the end of normal time, which turned into a red card and made him leave the field.

That left Argentina with only 10 men for all of extra time.

And Spain scored the goal they needed, with Ferran Torres getting it in the 106th minute to win it 1-0.

That is about as cruel as a final can get.

But the biggest goodbye of all belongs to Lionel Messi.

This was the last World Cup of his career, and he finishes it as a runner-up.

He still has the trophy he lifted in 2022, and a whole country will love him forever for that.

And the whole nation can be proud of the team built by Lionel Scaloni that kept winning and showing heart until the final.