The biggest-ever World Cup comes to a close
48 teams. Three host countries. 104 games in 39 days. Those are just a few numbers that sum up what was the 2026 World Cup that just transpired across North America. But those numbers pale in comparison to the countless memorable moments that entailed on and off the pitch.
There was Cape Verde, a small island with a population of about 530,000, capturing the hearts of soccer fans worldwide by drawing with Spain and giving Argentina all they had in extra time. There was Norway, led by their goalscoring machine Erling Haaland and their fans’ “Viking Row” ritual, making a magical run to the quarterfinals. There was Paraguay upsetting Germany on penalty kicks in the Round of 32. There were a myriad of superstars who shined on biggest of stages: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, the list goes on.
In a tournament chock full of late drama, incredible comebacks and plenty of “hydration breaks”—or for the more cynical, commercial breaks—it was only fitting that the grandest edition of the World Cup pitted the two best teams in the world against each other. Top-ranked Argentina vs. second-ranked Spain. The defending world and South American champions vs. the reigning European champions. The 39-year-old supernatural Messi vs. the 19-year-old rising superstar Lamine Yamal.
Sunday’s final in New Jersey had all the makings of an entertaining battle. Well, maybe not quite as entertaining as England’s 6-4 win over France in the completely meaningless third place game, but it was still set to be a captivating contest for the sporting world’s most prestigious trophy.
Instead? It was total domination from Spain from start to finish.
Now I know what you’re thinking. A 1-0 victory in extra time doesn’t sound all that overpowering from the Spaniards. But make no mistake: Spain were in control for almost all 120 minutes of play. The eye test was crystal clear in that regard, but the statistics paint an even more transparent picture. While Spain out-possessed Argentina 65% to 35%, it felt like they had the ball the entire time. Spain had 20 shots, 12 of which were on target. Inexplicably, Argentina had only two shots and it took until the 116th minute to record their first attempt.
Both the numbers and watching the actual game prove that Spain were the deserved winners of not only the final but the entire tournament. Defensively, they allowed just one goal the entire competition, a World Cup record. Their midfield controlled the tempo in every game and effortlessly strung together pass after pass. Rodri was the heartbeat of the team in his defensive midfield role and was rightfully given the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player at the World Cup. As for the attack, while they didn’t blow away many teams, they did just enough to win games.
Another advantage that Spain had over their opponents was their depth and the effective use of substitutions from manager Luis de la Fuente. In both the Round of 16 against Portugal and the quarterfinal against Belgium, Mikel Merino came off the bench to score a late winning goal. Then against Argentina, two substitutes combined for the lone strike, as Nico Williams’ cushioned header was smashed into the net by Ferran Torres.
Spain could’ve easily gotten frustrated from not being able to break down Argentina’s wall with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez making saves left and right. Spain also could’ve easily been overwhelmed by Argentina’s physical style of play, something that did not win over many fans watching, to put it lightly.
But it was that sort of physicality that got Argentina into hot water with Enzo Fernandez picking up a second yellow card and being sent off for a reckless tackle at the end of regulation. Spain simply had to score in extra time with a man up because Argentina had the advantage if the game were to go to penalty kicks, which is how they won the last World Cup in Qatar. So on they kept knocking at the door, until Torres finally blew the house down.
On the flip side, the final proved to be one comeback attempt too many for Argentina. This was a team that living life on the edge throughout the entire knockout stage: getting taken into extra time against Cape Verde, rallying from a 2-0 deficit against Egypt, going into extra time once more against Switzerland, and scoring two late goals to beat England. The “power of friendship” can only take you so far, and when they played a more talented and highly-disciplined team, they were exposed. In other words, the strategy of giving Messi the ball and having him conjure up some magic can only work if he actually has the ball. He only managed 54 touches, well below his average of 77 at the tournament No Plan B for Lionel Scaloni’s team meant no back-to-back World Cups.
Speaking of Messi, this was probably the last we see of him at the World Cup. He’ll be 43 once 2030 rolls around, though I won’t fully rule him out of playing just like I won’t for Cristiano Ronaldo to play then at the age of 45. Messi played brilliantly yet again with eight goals and four assists and was a constant threat both on and off the ball. He has already cemented himself the greatest of all time to many by winning the last World Cup, so coming up short at this edition is by no means a failure. It simply would’ve been the cherry on top of an unparalleled career for his country.
It is quite the time to be a Spanish soccer fan. Not only are the men’s team now the European and world champions, the women’s team will get set to defend its World Cup title next year in Brazil. I highly recommend tuning in next summer, especially since the United States has a much, much better chance to actually win that competition. They’ve won it four times, by the way.
Now some of you might be wondering what I thought about the real entertainment from yesterday’s World Cup final: the first-ever halftime show. The only two highlights were seeing the Muppets (specifically Dr. Teeth and Electric Mayhem) perform “Seven Nation Army” and Shakira emerging out of the abyss every four years for a banger of a World Cup song, the rest of the performance was pretty unnecessary. Justin Bieber performing a downbeat acoustic ballad? No thanks.
Did the MLB All-Star break deliver the goods?
It is uncontroversial to say that of the “Big Four” North American professional sports league, MLB has the best All-Star break. While the other three leagues continue to revamp their current All-Star formats, what makes MLB stand out is that their festivities are the closest to the actual game itself. While a league like the NBA is implementing target scores into their new round-robin format, MLB has remained largely the same for nearly a century with a nine-inning game between the American League and the National League.
I say “largely the same” because when it comes to the Home Run Derby, MLB has tinkered with the event in recent years. Since 2015, a clock was implemented to speed up the process. While it led to some pretty insane home run totals, everything felt a bit rushed, and it was hard from a broadcasting perspective to keep up with all the action.
Thankfully, MLB for once came to their senses and actually listened to feedback from fans. Although it’s not the old outs system, they’ve done something pretty close to it with a swing system. The first round gave all eight hitters 20 swings each, while the final two rounds saw that number reduced to 15.
The biggest fear was that the derby would drag on for too long. After the first round was over, you could see where those complainers were coming from. But the event ended up lasting two and a half hours, which is the length of a typical baseball game in the pitch clock era.
It also helped that the derby itself had a dramatic ending. Jordan Walker needed to hit six home runs in order to take down Kyle Schwarber in the final. With the boos from Phillies fans raining down on Walker, the Cardinals’ slugger remarkably answered the call to silence the home crowd. While this derby might not be as iconic as Josh Hamilton’s 2008 performance at Yankee Stadium or the star-studded 1999 edition at Fenway Park, give it enough time and it will be remembered very fondly.
But in not-so-good-news, the ratings came out for the derby and they don’t paint as pretty a picture. The event drew 5.3 million viewers, the lowest total since 2003. The elephant in the room was airing it on a paywalled streaming service like Netflix. But I know the actual reason why viewership dropped: Not having Chris Berman on the call. Hearing him say the word “back” hundreds of times is Home Run Derby heritage, and I guarantee more people will tune in just to listen to his signature style.
As for the All-Star game itself, it was far from an instant classic. The American League’s pitching was just too overpowering for the National League as they were blanked 4-0 for the Midsummer Classic’s first shutout since 2013. The game was a microcosm of the current era of baseball where pitchers are the dominant force.
Contrary to the derby, the All-Star Game saw a rise in ratings with 8.79 million viewers, the largest since 2017. You could argue that a World Cup semifinal just two hours before the event was a factor in the increased numbers, but it’s fair to say that the All-Star is not in a “fragile state” like Buster Olney believes. One of his reasons was that many players are opting out of the game. But he then proceeded to say that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani as examples of players not being there. For starters, they’re both injured, so why should they be there if they’re not even going to play? Secondly, there are plenty of other superstars out on the field that aren’t named Judge or Ohtani. Perhaps that’s more on MLB for not marketing anyone outside of those two.
Olney also points to the fact that the stands were cleared out by the eighth inning. Maybe if the pre-game festivities didn’t take forever to do, maybe the game wouldn’t have wrapped up after 11 p.m.. Of course fans are going to leave early so they can get to work the next day. The Philly faithful did their part by selling out the game. But would it kill MLB to have the game “start” an hour earlier?
Either way, the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game are by no means perfect. But I’ll gladly watch them over whatever the NFL is trying to do with their Pro Bowl.
Knicks pull off another sweep… at the ESPYs
Did you really think I’d be done talking about the Knicks’ championship a month on from them lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy?
New York made headlines once again on Wednesday night at the annual ESPY Awards. They were nominated for five categories, and they ended up winning all five. That might be a more impressive sweep than their playoff series against the Sixers and Cavaliers. That might be pushing it since ESPYs voting is essentially a popularity contest since fans get to cast their votes online, and we’re all well-aware of how massive and passionate the Knicks fanbase is. But they were deserved winners for each category.
Jalen Brunson paced the Knicks with a hat trick of individual awards. The Finals MVP was unsurprisingly named the “Best NBA Player” ahead of MVP Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama. He also won the “Best Championship Performance” award for his 45-point performance in Game 5. He beat out both Team USA hockey gold medal winners—Aerin Frankel for the women, Connor Hellebuyck for the men—as well as Teagan Kavan for Texas softball. Again, not too much of a debate, there.
The only category I would slightly push back on Brunson winning was “Best Male Athlete.” I personally would have given it to Messi given that he not only was one of the best players at the World Cup at 39 years old, he also helped Inter Miami win its first MLS Cup and was named the league’s MVP. You could even make a case for Shohei Ohtani, who won another MVP and helped the Dodgers win the World Series. But don’t underestimate the power of Knicks fans and recency bias.
OG Anunoby’s tip-in was named the “Best Play.” Even as a UConn fan, I have to bite my tongue and admit that was more worthy than Braylon Mullins’ miraculous three-pointer to beat Duke in the Elite Eight. While both plays capped off crazy comebacks, the Knicks’ 29-point halftime deficit was the largest in NBA Finals history compared to the Huskies’ 19-point first half deficit.
But the award that stands out the most was the Knicks being named the “Best Team.” There were some sour grapes over the award, most notably from Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti. There is certainly a strong argument to be made that the Hoosiers should have won given that they steamrolled their way to a national championship undefeated after years of being in the doldrums. But they didn’t have to face the amount of adversity the Knicks went through. There is something to be said about a team that overcame double-digit deficits four times to win its first title in 53 years. Plus, the Knicks are a true definition of a “team,” from their Villanova connections to Jalen Brunson passing up on $113 million pay cut just so they could build around him.
In the grand scheme of things, an ESPY award doesn’t hold as much weight as an Oscar or a Grammy. But Wednesday night proved once again just how much weight a Knicks’ championship carries in the wide world of sports.
Other things that caught my eye:
- The second half of the baseball season got underway this past weekend. The Yankees were thrown directly into the fire as the Dodgers rolled into town. It was always going to be a difficult task against the best team in baseball, so there’s no need to press the panic button by losing two out of three games. It would’ve been nice to see their bats get going against Roki Sasaki and his 4.98 ERA on Friday night, though there’s little shame in allowing Yoshinobu Yamamoto to toss a complete game. Thankfully Jazz Chisholm was able to salvage a win with his go-ahead solo shot in the night cap of Sunday’s doubleheader. That’ll get the fans and media off his back… at least until he makes another mental mistake. As for the Mets, taking two of three from the Phillies is always worth celebrating. After all, they haven’t had much to celebrate this season.
- A couple more notable news items for Cornell men’s basketball. Last Monday, the Big Red announced that Clay Wilson was returning to East Hill as an assistant coach after spending last year as an assistant at Hawaii, helping the Rainbow Warriors make the NCAA Tournament. Wilson coached at Cornell from 2019 to 2021 before making four stops at other colleges. Then on Thursday morning, Adam Hinton was selected first overall in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) Draft by the Kaohsiung Aquas. It seems like Big Red athletes getting selected first in drafts is becoming a habit. Just ask men’s lacrosse’s CJ Kirst, Gavin Adler, Jeff Teat, and Rob Pannell when it comes to the Professional Lacrosse League (PLL). And ask Kirst and Teat again along with Jonathan Donville for the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
- It’s a little scary to think about, but football season will be here before you know it. I was reminded of this after watching Syracuse’s media day at ACC Kickoff on Thursday. The quote that stood out from head coach Fran Brown was that when the first question he was asked was about what he learned from last year, he half-jokingly said, “to have backup quarterbacks.” Let’s hope that they don’t have to worry about their season capitulating now that Steve Angeli is fully healthy. With NFL rookies reporting to training camp this week—the Bills on Tuesday, the Giants on Thursday, and the Jets on Saturday—get ready for some more gridiron talk in the weeks to come.
