By Karolos Grohmann
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, July 19 (Reuters) - Argentina staged several dramatic comebacks to reach Sunday's World Cup final but they were powerless against Spain, who beat them 1-0 after extra time and gave the defending champions no chance of producing another miracle.
Whether against Egypt in the round of 16 or England in the semi-finals, the Argentines had developed a way of finding their way back into a game, usually thanks to late Lionel Messi goals or assists.
But it was not to be on Sunday with Spain having done their homework and keeping the South Americans well away from the danger zone for almost the entire game.
Messi, who had scored eight goals in the tournament and delivered four assists, was very quiet. He had scored or assisted in goals in every knockout match in the last two World Cups.
The result was that Argentina, who became the first team to fail to have a single shot in 90 minutes in a World Cup final, did not have an effort on or off target until the 116th minute.
By then they were 1-0 down and playing with 10 men following the sending-off of midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
It became clear that Argentina had relied too much on 39-year-old Messi to carry them into the showcase match for a second consecutive World Cup, and when he was unable to escape the Spanish shackles on a sunny afternoon at the New York New Jersey stadium, they had no other options.
Spain did have strength on the bench with matchwinner Ferran Torres and fellow substitute Nico Williams injecting speed and attacking impetus to the European champions' game.
"I think the match should have been decided much earlier. (Argentina keeper Emiliano Martinez) saves prevented us from winning sooner," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.
"But this is a World Cup final and you have to dig deep even against 10 men, and we were prepared for anything."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
