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As the largest World Cup in history comes to a close, the 48-team tournament provided unforgettable moments, from comeback wins to international fans experiencing American culture for the first time. Ahead of Sunday's final, FOX Sports soccer analysts Zlatan Ibrahimovi, Thierry Henry and Alexi Lalas recapped their favorite moments from the tournament: Zlatan Ibrahimovi: The Fans Ibrahimovi: I will think about the fans. For me, the fans are very special. Different cultures, you have seen them sing, you have seen them cry, you have seen them celebrating, different cultures coming together. That is what football does. I can speak about goals and winning, whatever. Fans make it really special. We wouldnt be able to have this beautiful World Cup, or a game. Its all about the fans. You give back to the fans, and they make it very special. I dont want to enter a special country, because everybody has a special way of celebrating or bringing their cultures [together]. Football connects people. And that is whats beautiful about it. Thierry Henry: Tearful Tributes Henry: First, the tears of [Alexi] during USA vs. Paraguay in the national anthem. Second, [Rebecca] getting emotional when England got knocked out. Third, fairytales, Cape Verde and Vozinha. Viking Row. Special moment for me, when Ronaldo put the shirt off of Diogo Jota, remembering him. And lastly, maybe this is not a favorite moment, but we lost someone, Jayden Adams. Lets not forget about that. Condolences to the family. That will stay with me forever. Alexi Lalas: American Culture Lalas: That national anthem at that first [USA] game. For what it represented in that moment, in terms of nostalgia, and looking back 32 years and how far we had come. But also, I didnt necessarily know it at the moment, but now a month later, it was also kind of the starting point for the discovery of people who came from outside the United States. Or the rediscovery of Americans through the lens of the World Cup. Maybe a newfound respect. Its something our country needed, and this tournament provided it. Sometimes, you need to look at it through somebody else's lens to really appreciate it. I think that really happened this summer for Americans and for people that visited.

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Jul 19, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) pitches against the New York Yankees during the second inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesIn the first game of Sundays day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, Yankees ace Cam Schlittler and Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto matched wits on the mound. Schlittler ended his outing dejected and frustrated by a Los Angeles lineup which took no give-up at-bats all afternoon. Yamamoto ended his outing on the mound, tossing a complete game for the Dodgers in an 8-2 slog in the Bronx. Despite New Yorks offensive futility, the game remained close until a five-run top of the eighth inning for the back-to-back champs put it on ice. Much like in the 2024 World Series which wrapped up in a tidy five games, Los Angeles simply outclassed the Yankees this afternoon. This contest kicked off with one of the more rousing opening frames you could draw up. Schlittler faced down the top of the Dodger order and blew them away with his signature heat. Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman all went down by way of the K. Cam picked up six swings and misses in that first inning alone. View LinkThis Dodger lineup will make you work, though. Thats what they did to Schlittler increasingly as the game went on. Their effort began in earnest in the second, as they fouled off tons of pitches to jack up his pitch count over 40 after two innings. A sun-aided double from Max Muncy exacerbated matters, but Anthony Volpe offset the misplay by making a beautiful leaping catch up the middle to take a single from Kyle Tucker.Yamamoto countered Schlittler with an eight-pitch bottom of the inning to help set the tone for the afternoon. He then needed just nine pitches to retire the Yankees in order. His efficiency is what makes him particularly dangerous. It doesnt just deflate your lineup; it forces Schlittler to get right back on the mound with far shorter breaks. The Dodgers saw 50 pitches in their first time through the orderwhich must have felt like 80 pitches by the time Ohtani came back up in the third. He was looking for revenge after the first-inning strikeout, and had Tommy Edman at first base to work with. Schlittler mislocated a cutter low and in, and Ohtani unleashed, driving the ball at 111 mph through the right-center gap. Edman raced home from first to score the opening run of the game.View LinkAnother long battle with Andy Pages set up an opportunity for the Yankees World Series nightmare, Freddie Freeman. Freeman was on a power kick during that Fall Classic; here, he did the other thing he does best. On two strikes, he shortened up and shuttlecocked an obnoxiously perfect little looper into left center field, scoring Ohtani for a 2-0 Dodger lead.The bottom of the Bombers order provided as much resistance to Yamamoto as a wet napkin in the third, compelling Cam to take the mound in short order once more. Schlittler bounced back to grab three more strikeouts in the fourth, but as he walked off the mound you knew he had one full inning left, maximum.The game flow reminded me of the game flow Ive seen in some of the ugly football games Ive commentatedin which one team goes three-and-out every drive while the other team runs twenty plays and chews up a whole quarter worth of clock when they get the ball. Its almost irrelevant how much they score; as long as they score at all, the game is lost.Well, the hope for a baseball team lies in the fact that no matter what, theyll get nine chances to make something happen. At any point, someone can come up with a big hit. Thats exactly what Trent Grisham did, leading off the bottom of the fourth by grabbing the Yankees first hit and first run on one swing. His big blast into the second deck in right field got New York and their anxious fans right back in the game.View LinkLos Angeles, however, wasted little time getting that run back against the increasingly frustrated Schlittler. You dont often see a pitcher react with more anguish after hitting a batter than the batter himself, but Cam hunched over in frustration after plunking Edman in the fifth. A grounder from Ohtani advanced Edman to second, and he scored on a broken-bat looping double which settled along the right field line. That bleeder marked the end of a supremely enervating afternoon for Cam. He brought his best stuff to bear against the back-to-back champs; they simply outwaited him, picked their spots, and cashed in on their chances. Yamamotos brutal efficiency only exacerbated matters, forcing him to throw more and more pitches in quick succession against an offense which had begun timing him up. Its a testament to Schlittlers stuff that LA only managed to coax three runs out of him with so many factors working in their favor.Yamamoto finished the sixth inning on pace for a Maddux, with just 68 pitches and the one blip to Grisham representing the only man to reach base. Ben Rice became the second Yankee to get aboard when he doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but three straight Bombers came up as the would-be tying run and were foiled in quick succession. Schuemann put up a great fight with two outs, but his line drive on the payoff pitch shot straight to Pages in center field. Yamamoto survived his first true threatThe rest of the afternoons proceedings were not devoid of positives. Tim Hill finished up the fifth and began the sixth on the mound for the Yankees, then Angel Chivilli turned in a truly impressive performance, striking three of the four Dodgers he facedincluding Pages and Freeman consecutively to finish the top of the seventh. Could Chivilli become an X-factor for this pitching staff in the second half? Time will tell, but the Dominican youngster was remarkably sharp today.As soon as Chivilli departed, though, it was LAs cue to put the finishing touches on this matine against Jake Bird and Camilo Doval. Teoscar Hernandez began the bloodshed with a ground rule double which scored one and put two in scoring position. Dalton Rushing walked, loading the bases for Edman, who worked the count full and slapped a grounder through the right side of the infield for two more insurance runs. Ohtani followed with a base hit of his own, scoring Rushing, then a sac fly from Freeman added yet another tally for five in the inning and eight in the game for Los Angeles.New York grabbed a pity run in the eighth inning thanks to another ball getting lost in sunshinethe Sun has no rooting interestand a Volpe base hit. McMahon was doubled up to expunge thoughts of an extended rally, and Yamamoto completed eight innings. In the top of the ninth inning, Dave Roberts, the same guy who thought challenging a call in the All-Star Game was a cool idea, challenged the final out of the top of the ninth in a game which was now meaningless. After five minutes of nothing, the call stood. Cool. Glad we have replay review for such important purposes. It also gave Yamamoto even more time to get ready for a breezy bottom of the ninth.The Bombers themselves had the courtesy to keep it brief, going down in order to give Yamamoto the complete game he was looking for. One hundred and two pitches of brilliance for the Dodger ace, who left no meat on the bone in a comprehensive victory for the visitors.The Yankees will get their chance to bounce back later this evening. Enjoy the World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina in the meantime to take your mind off another stiff performance from the pinstripers, then buckle up for another dose. If you want to. NBC has the broadcast for this one starting at 7:20 pm with LA deploying a bullpen game and the Yankees using Elmer Rodrguez as either the starter or bulk guy for an opener.Box Score

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President Donald Trump took in his first and only match of the World Cup after arriving at Sundays final to watch Argentina and Spain battle it out for the trophy.The president briefly appeared on MetLife Stadiums scoreboard screen, where he was seen standing in a secured area behind protective glass with FIFAs president Gianni Infantino and first lady Melania Trump. There was no discernible reaction from the crowd, according to White House pool reporters.A staffer held out the FIFA trophy for the president to inspect, which Trump patted before it was whisked away.Trump said he would bring up the idea of hosting the championship again during a Friday press conference with Infantino. Hosting rights for the next two World Cups have already been decided. Trump and Infantino attended Sundays match together, and their friendship has added another political layer to the global tournament.It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think its going to remain, Trump said Friday during an event at Trump Tower in New York. This has really brought the world together.Donald Trump and Gianna Infantino attend the World Cup Final (AP)Trump, his wife Melania, and FIFAs president listen to the National Anthems performance before Sundays game (AFP/Getty)The president left his Bedminster, New Jersey club via Marine One around 1 p.m. Sunday, and reporters were quickly ushered onto the field for pre-game events.Trumps helicopter completed a brief flyover, which went largely unnoticed by the crowd, according to reporters in the stadium. Marine One then touched down outside the arena.He also spoke to reporters on the Fox Sports pregame show ahead of Sundays game.His attendance came amid a reignition of his administrations war with Iran, with the two countries trading strikes over the weekend and news breaking a day earlier that two U.S. servicemembers were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan on Friday.A third service member was killed Saturday after the controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone, military officials announced Sunday.Trump is set to present the trophy to the winning team after the game. He isnt outright backing Argentina, but he told Fox reporters earlier in the day: Its hard to bet against [Lionel] Messi.I thought about it a lot. I knew that was a question. I hate to get involved, even though politically, it doesn't matter so much. The head of Argentina is a friend of mine, hes done a terrific job. But I would say that it's hard to bet against Messi, Trump told Foxs Jenny Taft. I won't pick sides. I just think its very hard to bet against Messi. He's great.Trump gave a pre-game shoutout to Lionel Messi ahead of Sunday's final (Reuters)He described his idea for helping FIFA avoid controversy by allowing the U.S. to host again in the near future, adding: I had a great idea for Gianni.I said: You have to do two countries. So announce us for next time, and then announce another country after that and itll take out some of the anger and the shock! Now I think its a great idea, Trump said. Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately. I said, to take out the shock, you could announce another country for the next one... but we have to do this again.The president sparked anger among football (soccer) fans after he called on Infantino to overturn a referees red card against a player on the U.S. team before their elimination earlier this month.That incident put a sour note over what has generally been a successful effort by the U.S. to host the World Cup, which played out in more than a dozen stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico this year. Roughly 10 million people were projected to travel to the three countries to witness the games.tThe next FIFA World Cup tournament will be primarily hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, and the 2034 event will be held in Saudi Arabia.The earliest the U.S. could conceivably host the next World Cup would be 2038, or nine years after Trump leaves office.

If Argentina is going to beat Spain in the 2206 FIFA World Cup Final, it'll have to do it without one of its top defenders. Lisandro Martnez departed Sunday's final right before halftime due to an apparent leg injury. It's unclear how the injury happened, but Martnez went down on the pitch during a break in play and remained down until he departed. Nicols Otamendi replaced Martnez. Martnez has been a crucial player for Argentina in the World Cup. He started all but one match for Argentina in this World Cup, with his lone benching coming when his side had nothing to play for in its group play finale. Martnez also scored a goal in Argentina's round of 32 victory over Cape Verde. That goal was his second in international play, and he had an assist in that match. Sunday marked the Manchester United standout's 35th appearance for Argentina. As the match remained scoreless through halftime, Argentina made another substitution out of the break. It replaced forward Nicols Gonzlez with midfielder Leandro Paredes. Paredes picked up a yellow card a few minutes after his entry.

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After a physical first half that went into the break in a scoreless tie, tensions boiled over early in the second half of Sundays World Cup final and resulted in a yellow card for Argentinas Leandro Paredes.As Spain controlled the ball at midfield, Paredes shoved an unsuspecting Rodri in the back, sending the Spanish midfielder flailing to the turf away from the ball. The whistle blew, and players from both teams converged around Rodri and the official at midfield.Tensions rise between Argentina and Spain players early in the second half pic.twitter.com/eJ8JsyBnCS FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 19, 2026A handful of Argentinian players attempted to stand over Rodri as he remained on the turf as Spanish players blocked their path. Paredes ran in to join the scrum and delivered more shoves to multiple Spanish players.His second shove of Dani Olmo sent Olmo to the turf, and referee Slavko Vini finally determined that Paredes had crossed the line. Vini showed Paredes a yellow card.The yellow card was the second of the day for Argentina after Lisandro Martnez drew one in the first half for tripping Mikel Oyarzabal on a challenge. Lisandro Martnez is shown a yellow card for this challenge pic.twitter.com/BawIGuQXkn FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 19, 2026Argentina entered Sunday with a reputation of physical play bordering on dirty. Its play with the World Cup trophy at stake did nothing to dispel that notion.