NEW YORK, July 20 — Substitute Ferran Torres said destiny was written for Spain to win the World Cup after his extra-time strike sealed a 1-0 victory over 10-man Argentina in Sunday’s final.
Torres, who replaced Mikel Oyarzabal in the 62nd minute, swept home Nico Williams’ knockdown in the 106th minute to hand Spain its second World Cup title and first since 2010. “I think in the end the goal came from 47 million people, not just those of us that are here,” said Torres, who hadn’t scored in the tournament before Sunday. “Today destiny was written, it was made for us to win. We’re far from our people today but we tried to be as close as possible to them.” The Barcelona forward admitted facing Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the final had been a daunting prospect, but said Spain never doubted its approach. “Finals are hard. When you have Messi on the opposing team you do get worried but we always backed ourselves and tried to show our football and I think we managed to do it once again,” he said. Torres had come under scrutiny during the tournament before his match-winning intervention on Sunday. “It was a huge relief [to score],” he said. “I’ve been criticized throughout the whole tournament but as I said before destiny was written,” he added.
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