Close your eyes and picture Spain in a World Cup final. You see Andrs Iniesta ghosting into the box in Johannesburg. You see Xavi conducting, David Villa finishing, Sergio Ramos flying down the right, Iker Casillas saving Spain's life against Arjen Robben. That team won everything from 2008 to 2012 and changed how the sport thinks about itself. It was the team with the most recognizable style: Tiki-Taka. This Spain is not that Spain. And after Tuesday at Dallas Stadium, it doesn't need to be. Luis de la Fuente's side dismantled France, 2-0, in the semifinal, and "dismantled" is being kind to France. A Mikel Oyarzabal penalty, won by Lamine Yamal, opened it in the 22nd minute. Pedro Porro, a right back, played a give-and-go with Dani Olmo and slotted the second in the 58th. Kylian Mbapp and the most feared attack in the tournament were held to almost nothing. It was a suffocation, administered the Spanish way. Here's the number that should terrify Argentina or England on Sunday: 1. That's how many goals Spain has conceded in six matches. Italy arrived at the 2006 final with the same figure (granted, an own goal by Cristian Zaccardo against the USA) and left with the trophy. Championship teams are usually built on this exact foundation, and nobody noticed Spain was building it because everyone was too busy waiting for the fireworks on the other end. Because let's be honest about what we all expected: We thought Lamine Yamal would be one of the big stars of this tournament. Instead, the 19-year-old has just one goal through seven games, perhaps lingering remnants of the injury he suffered during the La Liga season prevent him from achieving his very best. Read that again. Spain is in a World Cup final, and its biggest star's sole goal came way back in the group stage. If you'd offered that scenario in May, you'd have been looked at like you had three heads. There's still no true signature Yamal moment, as it's doubtful we'll be gushing over that goal against Saudi Arabia in 20 years. He's been dangerous, he won the penalty Tuesday, he had a finish chalked off for offside. But the eruption hasn't come. Even more impressively, Spain hasn't needed it. That's the point. This team hasn't even played its best soccer yet, and it's one win from the trophy. One of the stars has been Rodri, who controlled the France match from start to finish and has been the tournament's Mr. Reliable. The captain doesn't do highlight reels. He doesn't go viral on TikTok. He doesn't frost his tips. What Rodri does is 90 minutes of making the game look easy while the opponent slowly runs out of ideas. And the defense deserves flowers. Pau Cubars, still a teenager himself who wouldn't legally be able to celebrate these victories here in the USA with a beer, treated the France front line like a training exercise. Unai Simn has been unbeatable. Marc Cucurella looked unfazed against the generational opponents running at him. The fullbacks bombed forward against that legendary French counterattack all night and never once looked worried about the space behind them. Pedro Porro's goal was the reward. That takes either arrogance or total structural trust. With this Spain, it's the latter. Remember where this program was. From 2014 onward, the World Cup became a house of horrors: a group-stage exit as defending champions, then back-to-back round of 16 eliminations on penalties, the last one against Morocco in 2022. A generation of Spanish teams passed the ball beautifully and went home early. Euro 2024 broke the spell. Sunday can bury it. The golden generation had more individual talent. No rational soul disputes that. But that team needed extra time to win its final. This one has been so efficient, so ruthless in the back, that its best attacking player has taken a back seat to scoring, and it barely matters. Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos, Casillas. Those names built a legacy. They created an international dynasty. On Sunday for the final, the newkids on the block get the chance to start their own. And if Yamal finally picks that stage for his big moment, this story writes its perfect ending.

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PHILADELPHIA Beneath an exploding sky, illuminated by a bombardment of fireworks, the National Leagues most unlikely All-Star jogged in from the bullpen.Foster Griffin, a 30-year-old pitcher for the Washington Nationals who spent the past three years playing in Japan, gave himself a moment to pause, look up and soak it in. Hed been the final player added to the roster, albeit a thoroughly deserving last-minute replacement for this staggeringly patriotic Midsummer Classic coinciding with Americas 250th birthday. Griffin has gone from first-round pick to cast-off to afterthought and back again, restarting his career in improbable fashion this season with an upstart Nats team.Crazy, right? Its crazy to see where were at. Im looking back, just a year ago, super grateful, Griffin said postgame before admitting that stopping to appreciate the fireworks helped him calm his nerves before he took the ball in the top of the fifth inning.FOSTER GRIFFIN IN THE ASG:1 IP2 K0 ER0 H#Natitudepic.twitter.com/uPtEYBjfwU SleeperNationals (@SleeperNats) July 15, 2026The pyrotechnic spectacle was actually the dramatic finale of a five-minute midgame ceremony intended to echo the famous Fourth of July set piece from the 1993 movie The Sandlot. In that scene, a group of ball-playing youngsters take advantage of the holiday fireworks to hold their only night game of the year. Eventually, overawed by the technicolor bursts of light, the tweens redirect their focus skyward, mouths agape, childlike wonder pasted on their faces. Ray Charles legendary, moving version of America the Beautiful plays soothingly in the background.Its a killer scene, one that deftly weaves together the relationship between baseball, Americana and youthful innocence. Its an eternal summer. For a night, the kids on that sandlot dream their way into feeling like big leaguers, not middle schoolers playing make believe. Theres a saccharine, almost naive sense of limitlessness, of possibility, something that feels quintessentially America at its most optimistic.In that way, Griffin was the perfect character to then take the stage. For the past three seasons, the Nationals southpaw, born and raised in Florida, spent his July Fourths an ocean away. Because of the time difference in Japan, he slept through any televised firework displays happening back home. Across the world, his Independence Days held no special meaning. And so, it was touching to watch a guy who never stopped dreaming, like those kids in The Sandlot, see his own dreams fulfilled beneath a fireworked sky.Trading cardsPlaying catchMeeting your idolsThis is so much more than a game. This is baseball pic.twitter.com/HsoXKBRQtL MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2026The extended interlude it was fabulous and also two minutes too long was just one of many ornate, America-drenched moments in what was otherwise a massively disappointing All-Star Game. The American League scored three runs in the first off Phillies starter Cristopher Snchez, to the disappointment of the home crowd. Then the game went into cruise control for a few hours. White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas added a solo shot in the eighth. The NL managed just three hits. Nobody will remember this evening for the game itself.Thankfully, MLB planned a smorgasbord of theatrical presentations honoring the countrys 250th. There was a 13-piece band dressed up as Revolutionary War Era soldiers backing Jennifer Hudson as she crooned America the Beautiful ahead of player introductions. Patti Labelle belted the national anthem as four fighter jets raced through the early dusk. Four Air Force Academy cadets parachuted onto the outfield while ballplayers gawked from the dugout. That was all before the game even started.The apex, though, was the Sandlot tribute with its accompanying fireworks. It began with a video of a group of kids biking through the streets of Philadelphia, ballgloves in tow. Eventually, the gaggle ended up at the gates of Citizens Bank Park at which point a door in the outfield fence swung open, and a peloton of youngsters began pedaling across the outfield grass. Ray Charles live performance of America the Beautiful from Game 2 of the 2001 World Series glimmered on the JumboTron and blared over the stadium speakers. As the kids biked across the diamond, a handful of All-Stars emerged to greet them.At shortstop, one kid flipped through baseball cards with Bobby Witt Jr. Another played catch near first base with Freddie Freeman. Local legend Mike Trout looked on, providing tips while a boy in a Tug McGraw jersey took some dry swings. In the bullpen, Foster Griffin looked toward the sky.How can you not be romantic about baseball?Man, this is heaven right now, Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said of the scene. We should feel lucky, all of us as players, we get to do this for a living. ... To have moments and experiences like this, these are things that youre just never gonna forget.Philadelphia, you were amazing #AllStarGamepic.twitter.com/eeOgj4K9uo MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2026Out in right field, first-time All-Star and hometown favorite Brandon Marsh stood next to a preteen boy in a backward Phillies cap. This night had been a long time coming for Marsh. It took the hirsute outfielder four years to reach his full potential with the Phillies. He has evolved from a whimsical cult hero to a key contributor to a legitimate All-Star. This opportunity, this honor has meant a lot to him.And when the TV camera swiveled around to show his bearded face, Marsh very clearly had tears welling up in his eyes.It was incredible, bro, he shared afterward when asked about the experience. I couldnt stop crying.

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