Nadine de Klerk hits an unbeaten 41 to guide London Spirit to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Trent Rockets with three balls to spare. The win at Trent Bridge secures Spirit’s first win of their 2026 women’s Hundred campaign and marks the highest successful run chase in the team’s history.
READ MORE: De Klerk holds nerve as Spirit edge past Rockets
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If something happened once, it can happen again. That’s kind of what Yogi Berra was getting at when he said “it’s like deja vu all over again.”
Berra, the late Yankee catcher and once New Jersey’s unofficial poet laureate, spent most of his life within walking distance of East Rutherford, N.J., where history could repeat itself all over again in Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. And that makes his words newly relevant.
Argentina and Lionel Messi, the reigning champions, will be seeking to become the first to repeat in 64 years while Spain will be playing in the title game for just the second time ever. And the similarities to its first trip, in 2010, are uncanny.
Sixteen years ago Spain became just the second reigning European champion to win a World Cup. It will enter Sunday’s game as the reigning European champion.
In the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, Spain ran off a 35-game unbeaten streak, which matched the longest in history at the time. La Roja will enter Sunday’s game with a 37-game unbeaten streak, which matches the current longest streak in history.
And that 2010 team was known for an absence of ego and a depth of character, a blue-collar collection of quiet superstars built around a core of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol, players who emphasized humility, unity and selflessness.
This team? It’s the same.
“We’re one big family,” center back Pau Cubarsí said in Spanish.
A family that has already achieved its goal, according to coach Luis de la Fuente. So while Argentina may be feeling the pressure of chasing World Cup history, De la Fuente said his team is playing with house money
“I don’t believe in the idea that finals are there to be won. They’re there to be enjoyed,” he said. “What’s to come could be the icing on the cake.”
Of course a cake is nothing without the icing. But then Spain hasn’t had to separate joy from success in this World Cup, enjoying an unbeaten run to the final whose only blemish has been a tournament-opening draw with Cape Verde.
That was the first of six clean sheets for Spanish keeper Unai Simón, though it’s really been a group effort with Simón facing an average of just two shots on goal a game.
De la Fuente, 65, whose only senior international appearance as a player came in the 1988 Olympics, coached Spain’s U-23 team to a silver medal in the Tokyo Games in 2021 then took over the national team a year later, after it crashed out of a second straight World Cup in the round of 16.
De la Fuente spent nearly two decades coaching at the youth level, including nine years with Spain’s U19 and U21 national teams. But seven months after taking over the senior team, he led Spain to its first UEFA Nations League title and a year after that it won its first Champions League title in more than a decade. La Roja has lost just twice in 48 games under De la Fuente, who has the highest winning percentage of any man who has managed more than nine games for Spain.
Given his background, De la Fuente trusts young players — with an average age of 26.7, Spain has the sixth-youngest roster in the World Cup — and his starting lineup includes two teenagers in Cubarsí and forward Lamine Yamal. The core of the team — Simón, Mikel Merino, Dani Olmo, Rodri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Fabián Ruiz — are players he coached to European youth-level championships and ones he has known for half their lives.
That has given the team a level of familiarity and trust that goes both ways.
“This team never ceases to amaze me,” the coach said. “The scope for improvement is endless. It was a labor of love, a process. It was about reaching the crucial moment in the best possible shape.”
And they’ve gotten there, said right back Pedro Porro, another product of De la Fuente’s youth teams, by all pulling in the same direction.
“From the very first day we got here — not just me, but the whole team — we’ve been working toward a common goal,” Porro said. “That’s part of the process. There are no excuses.”
That, too, is something De la Fuente brought to the job, though it’s not an original concept for Spain. It’s more like deja vu all over again.
“We are ordinary, generous people,” the coach said. “We’ve recaptured the spirit of 2010.”
¿Y si sí?
As Mexico moves to the Round of 16 in the 2026 World Cup following its Tuesday night 2-0 win over Ecuador — advancing in the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time in 40 years — El Tri fans have rallied behind a unifying phrase: “¿Y si sí?”
The simple three-word expression — which roughly translates to “What if… yes?” — has given Mexico supporters all over the world renewed hope: What if Mexico wins the World Cup?
The now ubiquitous phrase has been featured in memes and compilation videos. Even Mexican goalkeeper Memo Ochoa has gotten in on the action, posting a selfie on Instagram wearing a straw cowboy hat with “¿Y si sí?” etched on it.
Origins of the phrase can be traced back to a May interview with Efraín Juárez, who led Pumas UNAM to the Liga MX Clausura final. During the media appearance, journalist Rodrigo Celorio asked the head coach, “Y si sí?” (“What if yes?”), to which Juárez responded, “Y si sí? Y si los Pumas sí son campeones?” (“What if yes? What if Pumas are be champions?”).
Although Pumas would lose to Cruz Azul 2-1, the optimistic sentiment resonated with TikTok users, especially with the World Cup just weeks away. Some hopeful fans took to social media to post their own interpretation of the phrase, often coupled with clips of past Mexican men’s national teams. Others included a mariachi soundbite of Juan Gabriel’s “Hasta Que Te Conocí” from his 1990 performance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes — an appearance that was seen as a milestone for Mexico’s working-class communities given that the iconic Mexico City venue was best known to cater to the elite class. Because if someone who grew up in extreme poverty like Juan Gabriel could bring a mariachi band to the illustrious Palacio de Bellas Artes, why couldn’t the Mexican national team win its first ever World Cup?
The phrase “¿Y si sí?” is also a callback to a 2018 interview Javier “Chicharito” Hernández gave to journalist David Faitelson, who asked the former striker if he was serious about Mexico’s chances of winning that year’s tournament.
“Why can’t we be Greece in the [2004] EuroCup? Why can’t we be Leicester in the Premier League? Why not?” said Hernández, referring to underdog teams that defeated the odds against more favorable clubs.
As the two discussed Mexico’s probability of advancing in the knockout stages of World Cup, Hernández balked back with his now famous phrase: “Imaginémonos cosas chingonas!” (“Let’s imagine badass things!”), followed by “Porque no?” (“Why not?”)
Now both “¿Y si sí?” and “Porque no?” have taken on new meaning in 2026. After Fox Deportes reporter Rodolfo Landeros asked attacking midfielder Gilberto Mora why Mexico could win the World Cup ahead of the June 11 kickoff, the 17-year-old responded with “Es qué, porque no?” (“Because, why not?”).
After Mexico won all three of its group stage matches, TUDN reporter Julio Ibáñez asked the wunderkind Mora, “¿Y si sí?” to which the young soccer player replied “Y Porque no?” When Ibáñez asked if people should get their hopes up, Mora said yes. “Si, que se ilusione” (“Yes, they should dream big”), playing up the running gag.
With Mexico set to face England, one of the teams favored at the start of the tournament, on July 5, would it be so wrong if fans allow themselves to dream? ¿Y si sí? ¿Porque no?