Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to lift the World Cup for the first time in 16 years. Lamine Yamal was electric. But the image that's going to live longest from this tournament? A three-year-old in full celebration mode after nutmegging Nico Williams on the MetLife turf.
Keyne Yamal — Lamine's younger brother, unofficial mascot, and arguable breakout star of the entire tournament — was filmed having a post-final kickabout with Spain's winger. Williams played goalkeeper. Keyne launched a mighty kick. Williams went down theatrical and deliberate, letting the ball roll past him. The toddler then went on a full celebratory lap around the grass while New Jersey cops and nearby players watched on, barely keeping it together.
The tournament's most unlikely fan favourite
Keyne has been a fixture throughout Spain's World Cup run — spotted in the stands, animated in the crowd, often draped over a parent or a teammate, always impossible to miss. Commentators kept cutting to him. Football Twitter kept screenshotting him. Even mid-match, Yamal would clock his brother in the crowd and light up.
That bond is clearly genuine. "My little brother means everything to me," Yamal said recently. "I am in love with him; it feels like he is my son." At 19, that kind of perspective is rare. It might also explain why Yamal plays with a looseness that most players his age don't have — when your emotional anchor is a toddler who just wants to see you score, the occasion never gets too big.
After the final whistle, Keyne ran straight into Lamine's arms, clutching a piece of the goal netting he'd been gifted as a souvenir. He got to hold the trophy. He charmed the security staff. And then he went and settled things with Nico Williams on the pitch.
Williams — one of the best wingers at the tournament — took a theatrical dive for a three-year-old's shot. That's the World Cup right there.
