EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey \u2013 Spain\u2019s midfield rock Rodri hopes younger generations can learn from his experience in overcoming adversity after he won the World Cup \u200bon Sunday to complete his collection of the game\u2019s major prizes less than \u200ctwo years \u200cafter rupturing his knee ligaments.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old was named the tournament\u2019s \u200bbest player and joined greats Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Zinedine Zidane as the only men to win the World Cup and European Championship at international level, \u2060the European Cup\/Champions League with his club, and the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n
His achievement was all the more \u2060remarkable for the fact that he arrived at the tournament still looking for the dominant form that brought him soccer\u2019s most prestigious individual \u200baward in 2024 after helping Spain \u2060win the Euros and steering his club Manchester City to a record unbeaten streak of 74 matches with him in \u2060the side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like \u200bthe perfect script,\u201d he \u200bsaid after receiving FIFA\u2019s Player of the Tournament award, confusingly named the \u200bGolden \u200cBall. \u201cI certainly didn\u2019t expect this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love for the younger generations to see that a player who touches the heavens, then descends into hell, can come back. It\u2019s a lesson in overcoming adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodri may be Spain\u2019s most influential player, but La \u200cFuria Roja are all about the collective, and Rodri heaped praise on his teammates for the way they kept at their task against a resilient Argentina side and finally secured a 1-0 victory with a Ferran Torres goal in the second period of extra time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s \u200bthe \u200bsecret of the national team,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re always going to \u200bgo for you. In the end, God rewards you. We\u2019ve been brave.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on Cloud 9,\u201d \u2060he added. \u201cThis squad is sensational. We\u2019re two-time World Cup champions. It was the toughest tournament in World Cup history. We beat a great Argentina side, featuring (Lionel) Messi, the best player in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although it was a tough final, Rodri \u200bwas in no doubt that his team deserved to join their Spanish 2010 predecessors by lifting the biggest prize in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cArgentina. World champions,\u201d he said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t created much, but they\u2019re hard to break down. Spain are simply very good, and in the end, the result was fair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey \u2013 Spain\u2019s midfield rock Rodri hopes younger generations can learn from his experience in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13995,8,39767,2796],"class_list":["post-61227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-japan","tag-rodri","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}