Spain deserved to win the World Cup. Pleasingly, Trump hates Spain.

It took several hours of dedicated concentration, keeping the focus on a clear goal, not being distracted by extraneous goings-on. I could be speaking about the Spain soccer team’s marvelous 1-0 win over Argentina in the World Cup final today, but actually I’m referring to me.

Because I exhibited world-class television-watching discipline in how I managed to leave our house at 12:30 pm, half an hour after the final started, returned home at about 3 pm, and managed to watch all of the recording I’d made of the World Cup final (except the halftime show) without learning the outcome.

Didn’t look at my iPhone once, or my computer. Didn’t listen to anything in my car but music on satellite radio. Pressed the mute button on the TV remote with amazing speed when I turned on the television to watch the recording and caught a glimpse of the live post-match show, but didn’t hear a word of what was said before I switched over to where recordings are stored on our DVR.

Impressive performance. Just like Spain’s defense, which made Argentina’s offense look pitiful by comparison. Even Lionel Messi, who wasn’t much of a factor, surprisingly. Spain’s offense looked much crisper than Argentina’s. There were moments when their passing struck me as a thing of beauty, how the Spanish players seemed to almost magically sense where a teammate was without even looking.

At least, that was my impression as a soccer neophyte, since it was only about a week ago that I found myself eager to watch a World Cup match without fast forwarding through most of it, as before I really only was interested in how a goal was scored. So I was pleased to see that a New York Times story about the final confirmed my feeling about how Spain performed.

Here’s some excerpts:

The 39-year-old Messi had his quietest game of the tournament, with just a single touch in the opening 15 minutes — and that was from the kick-off. Argentina didn’t have a shot in the first half and struggled to test Spain, who were the better team throughout but failed to find a breakthrough until Torres finished off an excellent move.

…Argentina were already second-best in the game when, as proceedings were heading for extra time, they had Enzo Fernandez sent off for a second yellow card after he sent the young Spain defender Pau Cubarsi catapulting into the sky at MetLife Stadium in New York, New Jersey.

And with a player advantage in the 30 extra minutes, Spain began to exert even greater control, and after having one goal ruled out for a soft foul on the Argentina centre-back Nicolas Otamendi, Torres’ goal was enough to win the World Cup.

…Spain kept pushing, probing, attacking and asking incessant questions of the Argentina rearguard.

It was one-way traffic when Argentina had 11 players, let alone when they had 10, but as Argentina kept fouling, spoiling and slowing the game, penalties seemed inevitable.

Then, finally, in the 106th minute and with their 20th shot, Spain broke through.

As was the case in their quarter-final victory over Belgium and their semi-final win against France, Pedro Porro played a pivotal role, with his deep cross finding Nico Williams at the back stick, with the Athletic Club forward arching his neck to direct a perfect header back into the path of Torres, who lashed his shot past a despairing Martinez dive.

Their pressure had finally told and, given how they improved as the tournament went on, played as a complete team, knocked out the free-scoring favourites France and then overcame and didn’t stoop to Argentina’s rough-house tactics, Spain deserved it.

The icing on the World Cup cake for me was seeing Trump have to present the first place trophy to Spain, a country he detests. A Politico story says:

Turns out, revenge is a dish best served on a warm Sunday afternoon in a New Jersey swamp.

President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in office berating Spain over its anemic military spending and refusal to allow American forces to use Spanish bases for bombing missions in Iran. Earlier this month, Trump branded the country “hopeless,” derided the Spanish as “bad people” and briefly threatened to cut off all trade in goods with Madrid.

The New York Times devoted an entire story to the presentation of the World Cup. Since Trump always has to make everything about himself, he had to be dragged off the stage by the soccer federation president because Trump was hanging around during the Spain team’s celebration on the stage, rather than letting the focus be, you know, on the team that just won the World Cup!

A World Cup final which rarely burst into life saved some of its biggest intrigue for after the final whistle.

And predictably, the focus was on Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino, whose relationship delivered the single most controversial incident of this tournament (the Folarin Balogun affair).

Both men were met with loud booing when they appeared on the MetLife pitch on Sunday as they prepared to present Spain with the World Cup, moments after a fractious finale where members of both sides had engaged in a shoving match.