In the record books of Spain’s 2026 World Cup-winning campaign, Nico Williams Jr.’s name will be remembered as the man who provided the assist for Ferran Torres’ winner. Less spoken about, however, will be Pedro Porro’s cross that made it possible.
In the final, for 105 minutes, Spain battered the Argentina defence without reward. Then, in the 106th minute, Lamine Yamal, as he had throughout the tournament, drew two markers towards him before finding fullback Porro in space. Porro whipped in a first-time outswinging cross that had enough pace and swerve to confound Emiliano Martinez in the six-yard box and pull four Argentina defenders towards their own goal. Williams Jr. did enough to head it back into an inviting area for an unmarked Torres to lash the ball into the roof of the net.
Porro’s cross was Spain’s 18th and final attempted cross of the game. Although it did not earn the assist, it was just as decisive, disrupting an Argentina defence that had held firm for 105 minutes. In a World Cup that marked the resurgence of traditional wing play, it was fitting that a cross provided the turning point in the final for Spain, the tournament’s top-crossing side (178).
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Crossing proved to be one of the tournament’s defining attacking weapons. Of the 308 goals scored, 75 came from open-play crosses, a rate of almost one in every four. Outswinging crosses were the preferred choice, with 1,007 of the 2,563 attempted crosses curved away from goal.
Their impact was evident, with several crucial goals following this crossing pattern. Lautaro Martinez’s winner for Argentina against England in the semifinal, Erling Haaland’s opener for Norway against Brazil, Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage-time winner against Egypt and Jude Bellingham’s opening goal for England against Mexico, all in the Round of 16, came from outswinging crosses.
Argentina was perhaps the biggest beneficiary of this weapon. It attempted just 11 crosses across its opening three group games, slicing through opponents with its slick passing football.
In the knockouts, the game state necessitated a greater reliance on crosses. Across the five matches that followed, Argentina ramped up its crossing, averaging 13 per game, particularly against Egypt, Switzerland and England, despite not having a traditional marksman up front.
Ten-man England survived an onslaught of crosses against Mexico in the final 40 minutes before cutting the supply to Haaland in the quarterfinal. Against Argentina, however, Thomas Tuchel opted to crowd the penalty area and repel the crosses. Argentina’s relentless drive, coupled with the genius of Lionel Messi, ultimately proved to be England’s undoing. Messi delivered the perfect outswinging cross across the face of the goal for Martinez to thump home the winning header.
Lionel Messi’s right-footed cross after dropping the shoulder set up Lautaro Martinez to score the winning goal against England in the semifinal. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“They won every header. They kept crossing and crossing. So we went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be stronger in the air. Straight after our goal, with no substitutions, we just conceded way too many crosses and way too many chances,” Tuchel lamented.
In the final, however, Argentina and Messi were starved of the ball by Spain. Argentina registered just four open-play crosses, three of which came in the final five minutes as it desperately tried to claw its way back, but to no avail.
By then, however, Porro’s cross had already had the final say for Spain.
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Published on Jul 24, 2026