JAKARTA - Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni admitted that the Spanish national team performed better than his team in the 2026 World Cup final match at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, Sunday local time.
"They (Spain) are better, that's the reality," Scaloni said, quoted from the official FIFA website, Monday.
Scaloni admitted he was sad following Argentina's failure to retain the World Cup title, but they had done everything.
The Argentine coach continued to say a lot about their journey to that point, even though this is not the right time.
"I want to say a huge thank you to them for bringing us back to the World Cup final and fighting to the end," Scaloni explained.
In the final match of the 2026 World Cup, Argentina had to swallow a narrow 0-1 defeat from Spain due to Ferran Torres' goal when the match entered the 106th minute.
In addition, Argentina had to play with 10 men since the end of the second half after midfielder Enzo Fernandez received a red card from accumulating two yellow cards.
Even though he was disappointed, Scaloni assessed that Argentina's journey back to the final party was certainly a beautiful memory and they needed to appreciate it.
"We were great when we won, and we also have to be great when we lose. Today we showed that we know how to accept defeat," said Scaloni.
"We lost this match and we admit it. However, that does not mean we will stop remembering all the efforts we have made to get to this point," he concluded as reported by Antara.
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