EAST RUTHERFORD: Spain captain Rodri won the Golden Ball award for the best player at the 2026 World Cup on Sunday after leading his team to a 1-0 victory against Argentina.
The 30-year-old Manchester City midfielder, who won the Ballon d’Or for the world’s best player in 2024, said the team were “a bit shocked right now”.
Rodri ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament while playing for City against Arsenal in September 2024, making his competitive return the following May.
“Even myself I cannot express with words,” he said. “I think now we’re like in a cloud.
“It’s been a very tough time. I just want the new generations to see my example as an opportunity — when you go down you can rise again.
“This is my philosophy my entire life. Of course, sometimes things go well, things they go wrong.
“But always the positivity I said to the lads before the game — we have to go for the game.
“We need to face them. We have to look to the eyes and see it. We won this game and then life gives you the World Cup or not.”
“But we were brave and I was brave in that moment.” jw/gj org idsrc= “isin” value= “US0584981064 “-AFP
MBAPPE TAKES GOLDEN BOOT
France captain Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Boot twice after Lionel Messi failed to add to his tally in Sunday’s final.
Mbappe scored 10 goals to top the charts ahead of Argentina great Messi, who finished with eight.
England midfielder Jude Bellingham and Norway striker Erling Haaland each scored seven times.
Real Madrid forward Mbappe, 27, also won the prize with eight goals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where France were beaten finalists.
The Frenchman, who made his World Cup debut in 2018, scored twice in Saturday’s third-place play-off, which England won 6-4.
Mbappe is now the top scorer in World Cup history, with 22 goals across three World Cups, one ahead of Messi, who failed to sparkle in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Spain.
“When you score that many goals in the World Cup, it certainly takes you to a whole new level,” he said after the match against England.
“But I would have preferred not to be the top scorer and to have played in the final. It’s good for my legacy once I’ve retired, but right now, that’s not what’s on my mind.”
Spain’s gloveman Unai Simon claimed the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper after conceding just once in eight games.
Spain defender Pau Cubarsi, 19, won the FIFA young player award.
Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2026