The Argentina national team became the first team in World Cup history to not make a single shot during the regular time of the final. The reigning world champions completed 90 minutes of the match against Spain with a zero attempt statistic near Unai Simon's goal. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine.
Argentina set an anti-record in the World Cup 2026 final
Regular time of the final match between Spain and Argentina ended without goals – 0:0. Meanwhile, the teams exhibited completely different attacking activity.
The Spaniards created 19 chances near Emiliano Martinez's goal. Argentina, according to FIFA's official statistics, made no shots even toward the opponent's goal during the 90 minutes.
Previously, no World Cup finalist had completed regular time of a decisive match with zero shots. Even teams that chose a purely defensive tactic had at least attempted a shot once.
Argentina's zero statistic became especially noticeable against the backdrop of Spain's superiority. The South American team contained their opponent defensively but virtually created no threat on the other half of the field.
Spain and Argentina set another anti-record in finals
Another anti-record was established by the team in the first half. In the first 45 minutes, they combined for just three shots. Such low attacking activity in World Cup finals had not been recorded before.
All three attempts were made by the Spaniards, while the Argentines did not respond with a single shot of their own. At the same time, the score remained 0:0 at halftime.
The match showed that the draw after 90 minutes did not reflect the ratio of chances. Spain regularly approached Martinez's goal, while Argentina focused on containing attacks and failed to transfer the game into the opponent's penalty area.
Let us remind you that Ronaldo ended his career at the World Cup with an anti-record.