{"id":946570,"date":"2026-07-20T02:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/946570\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T02:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:32:18","slug":"spain-fans-flock-to-nyc-landmarks-to-celebrate-world-cup-win-among-dejected-argentinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/946570\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain fans flock to NYC landmarks to celebrate World Cup win among dejected Argentinians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jubilant Spain fans flocked to major Big Apple landmarks from Times Square to Hudson Yards and Rockefeller Center to fete their World Cup champs <\/a>Sunday.<\/p>\n

Shouts of \u201cF\u2013k Messi!\u201d broke out among the red and yellow set in the Crossroads of the World, according to wild video \u2014 as photos showed Spain fans hoisting up a replica of the World Cup trophy in celebration of their country\u2019s soccer heroes.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo! Go! Espana!\u201d another frenzied crowd chanted in the shadow of the Vessel in Hudson Yards in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Spanish fans celebrate their team\u2019s World Cup Final win in Times Square on July 19, 2026. Stephen Lovekin\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

A billboard in Times Square congratulates Spain on winning its second World Cup title. Peter Gerber<\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t quite believe it,\u2019\u2019 Javier Morales, 42, of Madrid, said of his winning team after the sensational 1-0 game outside MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, where the final was held.<\/p>\n

\u201cArgentina made the match very difficult,\u2019\u2019 Morales said. \u201cThey defended with so many players, and you always had the feeling that one counterattack could change everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Spain didn\u2019t lose its shape or get desperate. They kept the ball, kept moving Argentina around and waited for the space to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now they\u2019re world champions. It\u2019s hard to even say that out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish fans celebrate at a watch party at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. AP Photo\/David ‘Dee’ Delgado<\/p>\n

A young La Roja supporter cheers at Rockefeller Center. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Spain fan Diego Navarro, 31, called the excitement level \u201cinsane.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy voice is completely gone,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been screaming, jumping, hugging strangers \u2014 I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s happening anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain had chance after chance, and you\u2019re thinking, \u2018Come on, just put one away.\u2019 Then the goal goes in, and the whole place explodes. Argentina fought hard, obviously, but Spain was on top of them all night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember the final whistle. I just remember everybody losing their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

A proud Spanish fan displays her flag in Times Square. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Elena Ruiz, 36, of Miami admitted, \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m mostly relieved\u2019\u2019 that the down-to-the-wire match was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have that much of the ball and still can\u2019t score, you start imagining the worst. I kept thinking it was going to penalties, and I really did not want to watch that,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Spain stayed calm. They didn\u2019t start rushing or taking wild shots. They just kept playing, kept believing something would open up. And it finally did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy for them. They looked like the best team in the tournament, and tonight they proved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish fans lift a replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy in Times Square. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Argentina fans meanwhile looked on in jealousy at Spain\u2019s exuberant contingents, overcome with disappointment at their team\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

Some wept \u2014 keeping in mind that the game could be the last World Cup match for their beloved star player<\/a>, Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought this was going to be our day. But what can you do?\u2019\u2019 said Santiago Ferreyra, 34, of Buenos Aires, outside MetLife.<\/p>\n

Dejected Argentina fans sulk after their team lost the final match. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

A young Argentina fan weeps at the result. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

He called his team\u2019s loss to Spain \u201cbrutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain was just \u2014 they were so good with the ball,\u201d Ferreyra told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to lose, I guess losing by one goal to a team like that is about all you can ask. It hurts like hell right now, though. I\u2019m proud of them, but I\u2019m hurting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Matias Benitez, 29, of Astoria, Queens, added that despite the loss, he was proud of how Argentina played, saying the team showed \u201ca lot of heart.<\/p>\n

An Argentina fan covers his face during the final. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never let the game get away from them. One break the other way, and maybe we\u2019re talking about extra time,\u201d Benitez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s so frustrating. But yeah, I\u2019ll remember how hard they fought more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game drew rabid football fans to the metro region from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Fernando Serlnanga told The Post that he flew up from Argentina the day before the final game with two relatives, who paid $9,000 per ticket to see their team\u2019s doomed championship match.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty hours on a direct flight,<\/a>\u201d Serlnanga said.<\/p>\n

A Spanish fan reacts to the big win among the throngs in Times Square. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Santiago Guti\u00e9rrez Mar\u00edn was decked out in red facepaint, repping Spain as he ran to catch his train to MetLife earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup final with your country in it. Unbeatable!\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Jetlagged pals and Argentina fans Andres Garin and Hector Espinosa said they\u2019d taken 15 flights to follow their team across the US, watching them play in Kansas City, Miami and New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went back to Argentina, saw the result of the game against England, and we thought, \u2018Let\u2019s go back\u2019 then turned right back around,\u201d Espinosa said.<\/p>\n

-Additional reporting by Fenix Suriel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jubilant Spain fans flocked to major Big Apple landmarks from Times Square to Hudson Yards and Rockefeller Center…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":946571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,380985,32980,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,221,310936,9307,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,105860],"class_list":["post-946570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-argentina-soccer","tag-metlife-stadium","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-soccer","tag-spain-soccer","tag-times-square","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116949965011542510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}