Spain deserved champions as Messi's magic deserts Argentina in World Cup final

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The route to this World Cup victory involved beating the other 2022 finalist and then suffocating Argentina as they dried out in the sun

Time to break the staff, bury the book and call time on that rough magic. There was, by the end, an undertone of sadness about Lionel Messi , New Jersey and a World Cup final that brought Spain the glory of an entirely deserved second trophy , and which saw Argentina offer almost nothing beyond a gnarled and gristly sense of resistance.

This is an Argentina team built on faith, devotional energy and a belief in the frankly irrational magic of your lone scurrying 39-year-old genius. Well, sometimes that magic will forsake you. The deus ex machina will refuse to appear. And he is perhaps gone from this stage now for good, a Prospero giving his final address to the crowd from a clanky metal bowl outside New York.

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