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Spain Wins First Title Since 2010, Second Ever, Beating Argentina 1-0; U.S. Begins New Wave of Strikes Against Iran; Ukraine Blames Russia for Overnight Air Attacks; Lettuce Linked to Stomach Bug Recalled in 27 States; Trump Speaks to Reporters After World Cup Final; U.S. War with Iran Shifts Attention Away from Ukraine; Fans Celebrate in New York After Spain's Championship Win. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 19, 2026 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:01:20]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

The biggest sporting event on planet earth ends with a championship match for the ages. Spain beats reigning champions Argentina one-nil in an extra time thriller to win their first title in 16 years since 2010 and their second World Cup championship ever. As you might imagine, that set off incredible celebrations all across Spain, as people will probably be out celebrating well into the morning there.

CNN's Amanda Davies and Pau Mosquera join us. Amanda, from New York- New Jersey stadium, and Pau Mosquera from Madrid.

But, Amanda, I want to start with you. What a match. Just bring us into what this journey has been, of course culminating in this Spain win here.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Omar. I mean what a match and what an occasion. A who's who of film, music, sporting royalty, a new Super Bowl-esque half time show. And of course that presidential trophy presentation. But none of that is going to overshadow this, Spain's moment.

The best footballing team at this tournament, rightly won. They fought the fighters and took the victory, stealing the crown from the defending champions, Argentina. So, as you rightly say, Spain are the 2026 World Cup winners. The Spanish boss, Luis de la Fuente, had said a little bit earlier in this tournament he was going to channel a bit of Julius Caesar, saying you have to suffer to win, and boy, did they suffer in this one.

It was a gladiatorial kind of performance that the Roman emperor would have been proud of. They did everything they could. They were the ones who went out for the victory in this match, dominating possession, creating the chances that Argentina did everything they could to stifle. And ultimately it was when Argentina's Enzo Fernandez was sent off very late on in the original 90 minutes that the tide turned. Fernandez sent off for a very, very clumsy challenge on Pau Cubarsi

and then it was Ferran Torres who stepped up and scored the winner in the 106th minute. That meant, as you rightly said, Spain adding the World Cup title to that European championship success from two years ago, replicating what we had seen from the 2010 winners.

It was ultimately just a comeback too far for this Argentina side, who really had used 11 of their nine lives to get to this point in the tournament. The big question now is, what does it mean for Leo Messi? Not the ending that he was hoping for. And this his sixth edition of the World Cup, not able to get his side over the line to become the first captain to win two World Cup titles. Argentina, of course, has been looking to do it back-to-back.

He has without doubt cemented his legacy at this tournament as the greatest of all time, and he is absolutely entitled to do whatever he wants to do next. We wait to see that. There is no doubt there will be plenty more to come from this new generation of Spanish talent, though, the likes of Rodri, the likes of Lamine Yamal.

[20:05:02]

They are setting a new benchmark. We've seen that over the last few weeks. But here, as you can see, the sun now setting on what has been an incredible World Cup frankly unlike any other -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Sad that it's gone. I'm really going to miss these matches, and sad we're going to have to wait another four years and maybe won't even see Messi, likely won't, the next time this comes around. Truly the end of an era here.

Amanda Davies, appreciate it. Great to see you.

All right. We're also following a lot of news going on across the world, including the latest from the Middle East. Just in the last hour, the United States military says it launched a wave of new strikes against Iran. It marks nine straight nights of strikes and comes after three U.S. service members were killed in action this weekend.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now with the latest from the administration.

And, Julia, what are you hearing about where things stand tonight?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the United States is carrying out another round of strikes against Iran. U.S. Central Command recently in a statement said this, that, "CENTCOM began conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran at 7:00 p.m. Eastern today." This is the ninth consecutive night. The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

This continues days of escalation in the region. Again, this is the ninth consecutive night of U.S. strikes, and there have been waves of Iranian drones and missiles fired at a widening number of targets at countries with U.S. bases. This also comes after, on Friday, two U.S. service members were killed during an attack in Jordan and one service member was categorized as missing in action. They're providing a bit more information there as well, saying that remains were found in that area. They are waiting to verify some of that information, though.

And then on Saturday, there was a U.S. service member killed, this time in northern Iraq. And they said that that happened during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. This brings the total number of U.S. service members killed during this now nearly five-month long conflict to 17. So there are concerns that this could grow into an even wider conflict.

We have not heard President Donald Trump comment directly on these most recent developments after the two service members were killed in Jordan. He did give a few brief phone interviews. He told the "New York Post" that he would speak with their families at some point. He told NewsNation that it is a very sad thing. It is in service to our country. And then he reiterated a point that he has made throughout this conflict.

He said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. So there are a lot of questions here about his strategy going forward. He is now traveling back to Washington, D.C.. He spent his weekend here in New Jersey, of course, played a role there in that World Cup game at MetLife Stadium. And that's really a time when a lot of eyes are on not only him, but the United States as a whole. So waiting on a comment from him here.

JIMENEZ: All right. Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting.

Meanwhile, overnight, Russia launched one of its largest ballistic missile attacks against Ukraine since starting its war in motion more than four years ago. Ukraine saying that Russia's main target in these new overnight attacks was the country's capital city of Kyiv.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau has the details.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was just a relentless attack on the Ukrainian capital. We understand 40 missiles raining down in less than two hours, causing fires in residential areas and including a shopping center.

Now, this comes on the heels of that twin drone attack deep inside Russian territory. On Saturday, eight people killed as these retail centers were struck that Ukraine says were part of a drone manufacturing operation. Changing the strategy Ukraine had previously only really attacked energy infrastructure and maritime assets.

All of this really underscores what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been saying about Russia's attitude towards is that they have no intention of ending the war anytime soon. Let's listen to what he had to say about the Russian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia has long had the opportunity to turn the diplomacy and end its aggression. It is the Russian leadership's refusal and its desire to continue fighting that are the reasons this war goes on. This year alone, we have approached Russia dozens of times with proposals to stop the war. The response has always been rejection. Our partners are working to help organize a meeting between the leaders, The United States, Turkey, other European countries and Arab leaders. Putin has no desire to end the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:10:11]

LATZA NADEAU: And Russia says they're not done yet in terms of the retaliation. Now, it remains to be seen whether Ukraine has the capability to again attack deep inside Russia and if that will bring these two sides anywhere closer to negotiations and anywhere closer to peace.

JIMENEZ: All right. Barbie Latza Nadeau, really appreciate the reporting.

Still ahead for us, almost 7,000 cases of that debilitating stomach bug across the country but is the worst over? We're going to talk with a doctor about it on the other side of the break.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:15:20]

JIMENEZ: By now, you've probably heard about cyclospora, that parasite that is causing a terrible, painful stomach illness for those that have been infected. It's been linked to lettuce sold in several states, some of it at Taco Bell restaurants. The lettuce comes from the supplier Taylor Farms, a giant when it comes to distributing lettuce to big stores in America, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco and more. Now, Taylor Farms says it's pulling all of its iceberg lettuce from central Mexico and from U.S. store shelves.

But I want to talk about this with Dr. Megan Ranney, who joins us now. She's an emergency physician and dean of Yale's School of Public Health.

Great to see you. Can we just start with how big of a health concern is this right now? How are you categorizing this in your head?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: On a scale of one to 10, this is somewhere around a three or a four. Now this is the biggest cyclospora outbreak that the United States has ever experienced.

JIMENEZ: Wow.

RANNEY: It is a really unpleasant illness. To be explicit, it is explosive diarrhea that comes and goes for weeks on end. But it's not, by and large, a super dangerous parasite. For most people, excluding the elderly or the young or the immunosuppressed, for most people, it is just unpleasant and it is easily treatable. There is a very common, inexpensive antibiotic that eliminates it once it's been diagnosed.

What I do find concerning and why it's not a one or a two in terms of my level of concern is because of how big this outbreak has been and because of how long it took us to identify the source. That makes me worried. Just as in the very early days of the hantavirus epidemic or hantavirus outbreak, it makes me worried about the capacity of our nation's public health system, and about how we would handle things if there were a super serious, super dangerous pathogen here in the United States.

JIMENEZ: So let's get into that a little bit, because, look, this illness did hit a lot of people in a very short time across many states. How does something like that happen and where do you even begin to sort of peel back the path to contact trace in a sense of where this may have originated?

RANNEY: Yes. So cyclospora is a little bit complicated. There are lots of foodborne illnesses. Most of them show up within one to two days of eating or drinking something that's contaminated. For cyclospora, it takes one or two weeks before you start getting symptoms. And then on top of that, we don't normally test for cyclospora in the doctor's office. If you come in with those stomach upset symptoms, the doctor has to actively think about it and actively order the test.

So it makes it tougher for us to even start to see the signal that there is a cyclospora outbreak. And then finally, that process, as you said, of figuring out where it came from, that requires what I call shoe leather epidemiology. It requires there being trained public health professionals who go and talk to the people who have the infection and try to figure out what it was that they ate. Look for that signal of the common food or common drink between all the people with the infection, and then go back and do the testing of the site.

Now, because so much defunding has happened at the CDC, at the FDA, and then with a trickle-down effect for state and local health departments, that process was slower this time. We have fewer trained experts out on the ground. We have less coordination between the different agencies, and we have less reliable national accounts of disease than we would have had two years ago or six years ago or a decade ago. So that's what has made this outbreak a little more complicated and again what gives me some concern about the future.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, in terms of what comes next, obviously, you know, we've gotten some clues as to the supplier. This came from some places where people may have had this lettuce. You know, it provides at least people some context. But then the next question becomes, well, when can I kind of go back to eating shredded lettuce in the way that I was before, the iceberg lettuce in the way that I was before?

How soon can people feel safe about doing so? What is that time frame typically like? RANNEY: Yes, so Taylor Farms, as you said, has recalled all of this

lettuce. It's going to take a little while potentially for it to come off of the shelves. I would recommend to people that they avoid eating that bagged shredded lettuce for a little bit longer, a few more days, another week, and then they can go back to eating it.

[20:20:00]

In the meantime, eating other brands, locally grown, lettuce, hydroponically grown lettuce, all decreases your risk. I think for all of us, this serves as an important reminder that being healthy, eating healthy food is about eating nutritious food for sure, about avoiding chemical additives, which is what a lot of the current federal government has been talking about.

It's also about having access to food that is not contaminated with disease-causing organisms, and that requires a significant system in place to make sure that we all stay safe. So for viewers, you can go back to eating lettuce. Be careful about where it comes from for right now, and then go off and enjoy and eat lettuce, eat fruit. If you are one of those people in a high risk group, make sure that you're careful about washing your produce well.

JIMENEZ: Dr. Megan Ranney, whom I've spoken to many times on CNN but only met for the first time in person this week, so it was great to meet you in person and thanks for taking the time tonight. Good to see you.

RANNEY: Thank you, Omar. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still ahead, Congress is pushing a bill to sanction any countries that buy oil from Russia. We'll tell you how the sanctions might affect the war in Ukraine as Russia launches one of its biggest attacks since the war started, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: And President Trump is speaking right now on his way back to Washington. Let's take a quick listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Five times actually, they're telling me today. So we're very proud of our country. We're very proud of the job that was done by everybody. We congratulate Gianni Infantino and all of his staff and the incredible job they did. But this was one of the greatest events of any kind ever held. So we're really happy that it did so well.

And all over the world, people have come and they've loved our country. You know, it's shown off our country in a different light. And it was a great thing. It was a great event. And I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were you sad Argentina lost, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Again?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were you sad Argentina lost?

TRUMP: No, I wasn't sad. I think they both played well. I would say Spain played better really. But they both played well. I mean they got to the finals and it was very exciting actually. It looked like Spain dominated, but it was a very close match. So it was great. It was a great event. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, we feel very badly. But, you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They've lost everything almost militarily. They've got very little left. They've got some missiles. They've got some drones. They've got some manufacturing ability, not much. We control the strait. They don't control anything. So we'll see what happens.

But we hit them very hard again tonight. And we did that in honor of the probably three. It's probably three as opposed to two great patriots.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, what are the consequences for China for meddling in U.S. elections?

TRUMP: Well, we're going to see. We'll be speaking to them. But we'll see.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, can I ask you, did you have a conversation with Carney from Canada?

TRUMP: I did. Yes, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How did that go?

TRUMP: Well, it went good. But I told him, I mean, you got to stop these fires from coming in and, you know, poisoning our air. Our air has been poisoned. I have a good relationship with Mark Carney. But, you know, we got to stop the fires up there. If we can help them, we'll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something? Or we should do some tariffs. But it was terrible.

I mean, you had businesses closing in particular Michigan. If you look at Detroit, the Detroit, Michigan, area, they had to close everything. They had to closed car plants and a lot of other things. So I've never remembered this happening. Over the last four or five years you saw it starting to take place. I've never remembered it happening before.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you have a chance to talk to the prime minister of Spain as well?

TRUMP: I did. I spoke to Spain and I congratulated them on having a great team. I spoke to -- I really spoke to a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) of Spain?

TRUMP: No, I have no tension. I have no tension with anybody. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Well, it has -- it has a lot. And, you know, it has a lot of capability. But as I understand it, in about a month or so, they're going to send it to have it be maxed out. So they're going to be sending it and they'll have it be maxed out. It'll take about a month.

[20:25:04]

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, Canadian wildfires, did you speak to the Canadian prime minister?

TRUMP: I did. Well, I was just saying, I gave an answer here. I spoke to him about it. I said, you got to -- you got to get it stopped. It's really forest management and they should know how to do that. If you go back four or five years, I don't remember ever having a problem like this. And we do have that problem.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, you said at the start of the war it would be four or five weeks.

TRUMP: Well, you keep hitting me. This is a far bigger job that we're doing. We were doing a little job in stopping them from having a certain capability. Now we're just ending it. So it's really not the same thing. What we're doing now is we're ending any chance where they can have a nuclear missile. If you look at it after a week and a half, not four weeks, a week and a half, two weeks, we stopped them from probably. But I don't want to have the word probably.

Thank you very much, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.

JIMENEZ: All right. That was President Trump speaking at Joint Base Andrews on his way back to Washington, D.C., after attending the World Cup Final.

We've got our team standing by. Julia Benbrook for us, White House correspondent, and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton as well.

And, Julia, I just want to start with you because we had heard from Central Command leading into the president's comments today that the United States was launching new strikes, that this was the ninth consecutive night of strikes. And the president claiming Iran has been very badly damaged. Did anything else stick out to you from what the president said there?

BENBROOK: Well, you hear him there just at the end saying they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Again, we've heard him repeat that over and over again throughout this nearly five-month long conflict now. And we heard Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaking earlier today about the conflict as a whole, as well as the Strait of Hormuz, and how it's impacting shipping. And he was adamant that Trump wants to find a diplomatic offramp, a diplomatic solution here. But what has been clear so far is that that has not been successful. We have seen this just really ramp up in recent days.

As you pointed out, it's the ninth consecutive night now of U.S. strikes. We've also seen waves of Iranian drones and missiles fired at a widening number of targets in countries with U.S. bases. And there are fears that this could turn into a much wider conflict. It's been just over a month since there was this hope for a diplomatic breakthrough. The memorandum of understanding was signed by both the United States and Iran.

But in recent days, Trump has said that, in his opinion, that memorandum of understanding is, quote, "over." And then, of course, these deaths of the U.S. service members. On Friday two U.S. service members were killed in an attack in Jordan, and another was categorized as missing in action. They did say today that they have found remains in that area, but they are working on the verification process there.

And then another U.S. service member was killed in action on Saturday. That time in northern Iraq. But of course, bringing this a lot closer to home. That brings the number of U.S. service members who have been killed in this months' long conflict to 17. And those are some of the first remarks that we're seeing on camera from Trump himself about what's taking place over the weekend and this recent escalation.

JIMENEZ: And, Colonel Leighton, you know, we heard the president there saying that, confirming, of course, what we heard from Central Command in the strikes tonight, saying we hit them very hard again tonight in honor of those killed, of the service members killed. There were questions, obviously, of how the United States was going to respond as we got the news of the service members killed.

But how does that sort of change the calculation ahead for the U.S. in terms of not just strikes, but strategy overall?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Omar, it's a question that's actually a really pertinent one here because what you're looking at is if there is an escalation of this type every time that a U.S. service members killed or injured, that there's another strike in Iran and the Iranians are killed as a result of that, that is really that escalation ladder that we talk about every now and then.

And it really becomes almost not only a self-fulfilling prophecy, but almost a never ending cycle that we go through. And it doesn't look like we're really going toward an offramp either militarily or diplomatically at this particular point. So when they go ahead and strike targets, what you're looking at is targets in the southern part of Iran basically along the coastline. But I also think that they may be expanding their target list a bit to go after more command and control elements or restriking command and control elements that were struck before.

[20:30:00]

And some of those elements are not just in the south, but also in the western part of the country, as well as in the northern and the area around Tehran specifically. So this could very well escalate out of control. And it's something that has to be managed very carefully.

JIMENEZ: And just, Colonel, one more thing. I mean, look, this is the ninth consecutive night of strikes here, again, as we heard earlier from Central Command. To this point, Israel has not seemed to be involved in contrast to how involved at least in lockstep militarily with the U.S., they were at the start of this war.

How do you assess their relationship to the U.S. right now? And maybe the relationship of why they have been sort of to the side in this moment?

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think part of it has to be definitely the -- we'll call it friction between Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and President Trump. So one of the things that has happened here is that the U.S. administration is realizing that Israeli strategic interests are not exactly the same as American strategic interests. And, you know, we want to, for example, keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

Israel doesn't really get very much through the Strait of Hormuz. And so they not really as concerned from an economic standpoint as is the United States or is Europe or is Asia. So the United States is taking a role where they're looking at this as being one of the aspects where our interests diverge. And with those interests diverging in this way, what we're looking at is finding a way, hopefully an offramp, diplomatically off of this. But every time we are struck, we feel obligated to respond.

And that's something that not just the Trump administration would do, but almost any American administration would do.

JIMENEZ: Sure, sure. Colonel Cedric Leighton, Julia Benbrook, really appreciate both of you all being there on a moment's notice as we heard from the president just a few moments ago.

Meanwhile, the war with Iran has taken attention away from Russia's war with Ukraine and diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war pushed by President Trump have seemed to largely stall.

So I want to bring in Jed Sunden. He's the founder of the American Ukraine Committee, which advocates for congressional support for the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.

And Jed, one, I wonder, do you believe the focus has shifted from the war in Ukraine? And what impact do you believe that shift has had?

JED SUNDEN, TECH AND MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR: Sure. I mean, here in the U.S., it's not on the front page in a way. And, you know, this Russian invasion, it's dragged on and it's been continuing over four years. So, you know, it's not front of mind as it was in 2022 at the outset. Fortunately, there's some momentum in the aftermath of the sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham who, you know, has played a key role between Washington and Kyiv.

There is new momentum for the bill, the Russian sanctions bill, that he led, and President Trump has come out and said that he supports it. And the Senate has pushed it forward. So it does look like that will be a strong diplomatic breakthrough and, you know, allow for the U.S. to enforce stronger sanctions on Russia and more importantly on those countries trading with Russia.

JIMENEZ: You know, and really this weekend, Ukraine says Russia launched one of the largest ballistic missile attacks of the war overnight. And it's because of these missiles Ukraine has been pleading for more interceptors. And I just wonder, what difference would these make? And what do you believe is the most important thing for Ukraine from the Americans in this moment?

SUNDEN: Sure. I mean, Russia has continued to bomb civilians and they've scaled up the bombing, in particular on Kyiv. And they went from drone attacks to now ballistic missile attacks, and ballistic missile attacks into schools, into churches, into civilian areas.

(CROSSTALK)

JIMENEZ: Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead.

SUNDEN: And the movement on it in terms of giving Patriot, Patriots, which protect and can protect the civilians from these ballistic missile attacks. There was some movement in the recent NATO meeting in Ankara, and hopefully some of those will be coming and will also be able to protect civilians in Ukraine.

JIMENEZ: You know, there was an event recently in New York where there was the release of this, I mean, really incredible -- incredibly powerful photo album called "Through Her Eyes: Future Fate is Unknown." Images from six Ukrainian women documenting the war in Ukraine.

[20:35:04]

I mean, they're really striking images. And I just wonder, one, tell us about this photo album, these images, and what the hope was to convey with some of these photos.

SUNDEN: Sure. And thank you. So this was a project and again, we as an organization are working on two fronts. One within Congress in terms of legislation. And then number two, towards the American people. And as you mentioned, reminding them of the continued effect and devastation of the Russian invasion.

So this was a project, my wife, she was on a military base in Ukraine and met a soldier, a female soldier who started documenting the war on the front lines in the civilian areas through photography. That first meeting led to another meeting with another photographer and another one, and this collection was put together, you know, just trying to document in human terms what's going on day by day, through the Russian invasion, through the bombarding of civilians.

So there was a photo exhibition and then a book which put together and documents, documents the war, documents the war crimes that the Russians are committing by bombing civilians.

JIMENEZ: Jed Sunden, I really appreciate you taking the time tonight, especially on a weekend where we've seen, again, the largest ballistic missile attacks of the war potentially on Ukraine overnight. Thank you for taking the time. Appreciate the perspective.

SUNDEN: Thank you so much. Have a good evening.

JIMENEZ: You too.

All right. We'll be right back, everyone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:38]

JIMENEZ: If you're a fan of Spain or you're just not a fan of Argentina, celebrations are happening around the world after an electrifying World Cup.

What you're looking at is live images out of Madrid right now. A lot of fans, a lot of police there too. Clearly a lot of people super excited as they approach 3:00 in the morning there in Madrid. Spain shut out Argentina one-nil to win their first World Cup since 2010 and just their second title ever, finishing off really just an amazing, sensational tournament.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is across the Hudson River in New York from where the championship was being played, where some of the parties are just getting started.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, it was Argentinian territory for most of the day here in New York City, but now it is very much a Spanish party. Fans from Spain have been gathering here in the last few minutes, celebrating this world championship. We've been hearing them chant the names of these players, talking to me about how much this means to them to be a world champion for the second time.

I want to show you what it looks like right now. Everyone celebrating as they take in this win. You know, it was a sort of a nail biter of a game, a really close game until the very last minute. There was a lot of stress here in Times Square as people were trying to watch. But I think this is a moment and a place that shows us what this World Cup was all about. Gathering, the gathering of communities, the gathering of all different cultures and people coming together to celebrate this beautiful game.

That's what this World Cup has been all about. We're seeing it play out right here, people are celebrating, the fans celebrating their team. I even spoke to a fan from Egypt who was rooting for Spain today. He told me he felt like he finally got his justice after that Egypt-Argentina game. So good vibes here in Times Square. A lot of celebration that I think we're probably going to miss here in New York City now that this World Cup has come to an end -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Gloria Pazmino, really appreciate it.

I want to bring in "USA Today" soccer editor Seth Vertelney. So, Seth, look, Spain had only allowed one goal the entire tournament

coming into the championship. I just wonder what you assess of this actual championship match because it seemed like they absolutely dominated, even though it was just one-nil.

SETH VERTELNEY, SOCCER EDITOR, USA TODAY: Yes, you're right. It was an incredible performance by Spain in a tournament full of them. I mean, Argentina came into this game maybe as the slight underdog, just based on the way that they had barely scraped by in all of their knockout round games. But what you saw was a completely dominating performance by Spain. I mean, Argentina went into extra time without having a single shot, not just on target, a shot at all.

And Spain just managed to control the game. And then of course, in extra time, Spain had a man advantage after Argentina got a red card. And for a brief moment, it seemed like maybe Argentina would be able to hold out and make it to a penalty shootout. But when Spain scored, it was definitely no less than they deserved because they controlled this game from start to finish.

[20:45:02]

And they had a great tournament from start to finish. And I think, if you're a neutral, you can be satisfied with Spain because they are definitely worthy champions and the best team in this tournament.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, coming into this World Cup, I mean, you look at some of the heavyweights, Argentina certainly among them, But France, England had its best finish in decades. But Spain coming off being European champions leading into this World Cup tournament, would you say they lived up to the hype that they had from the beginning, or did they overperform sort of where they were expected to be here?

VERTELNEY: I think when you entered this tournament, there were four teams, at least to me, that kind of stood head and shoulders above the rest. And those were the four semifinalists, France, Spain, England, Argentina. So definitely Spain winning this tournament is not an upset. Like you mentioned, they're the reigning European champions. They have some of the best players in the world across the entire field.

But I think the manner in which they went about this tournament probably overperformed the expectations that we had for them. I think back especially to the semifinal, you know, France went into that game probably as the slight favorite because of how they had performed the entire tournament. I mean, their attack looked basically unstoppable. It seemed impossible that anybody could shut out France.

And that's exactly what Spain did. They controlled that game from start to finish, just like they controlled the game against Argentina. And I think that's why they went into today's final as favorites. Just looking at what they did to France. But yes, overall, just an amazing performance by Spain throughout the tournament.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, as we reflect back on this World Cup, it's kind of, it's sad that it's over, you know, that we're not having the caliber of soccer that we've seen and kind of gotten used to over the last few weeks. How would you rate this World Cup? It had a lot of firsts, especially across multiple countries. But I just wonder what sticks out to you about what we've seen over the past two months or so.

VERTELNEY: Yes, there's a lot of things really that stick out. I mean, I'll start at the end. I see -- I look at the semifinals and I see all the favorites getting through. So it does appear to be a tournament that kind of went according to script. But if you go a little bit further back, there were definitely some upsets, some memorable moments. Even the first game that Spain played, drawing Cape Verde, the only team that Spain didn't beat in this tournament. And then Cape Verde going through to the Round of 32 and putting a big scare into Argentina. That was certainly one of the best games of the tournament.

I think about a team like Norway making the run that they did, seeing the country kind of fall in love with Erling Haaland, their superstar striker. If you didn't know who he was before this tournament, you know now. You know, I think back to the U.S.'s performance. Three wins, which was an incredible achievement for them considering they had won three games combined at the previous four World Cups.

But of course it ended in very controversial fashion with the Balogun red card being overturned and then seeing them go out and kind of fall flat on their face against Belgium was a tough way for the tournament to end. But, you know, I think all of the hosts had moments. Canada and Mexico also made it through to the Round of 16. So a lot of great memories. And also just of course seeing all of the visitors from outside of the country come in and seem to really enjoy themselves and all the cultures combining, it's always one of the best parts of any World Cup.

JIMENEZ: It's good to know that people from outside the U.S. love barbecue as much as I do, because it just made me -- it was a lot of good vibes, as people discovered America in many cases.

Seth Vertelney, really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for being here.

VERTELNEY: Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, we're going to have a look at the top stories that will make headlines this week. Stick around.

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[20:53:59]

JIMENEZ: Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate are set to be in a Miami courtroom tomorrow. The brothers were arrested by U.S. Marshals yesterday on a U.K. extradition request over rape and sex trafficking charges. U.K. officials accused the brothers of abusing women between 2010 and 2017. An attorney for the brothers said they are innocent. Meanwhile, funeral services will be held tomorrow for Nolan Wells.

He's the 18-year-old black teen, a college football player and member of the swim team whose body was found off the Mississippi coast after a Fourth of July trip with friends. His family has questioned the circumstances around Nolan's death, and they are conducting an independent autopsy here. Those results are expected soon.

And meanwhile, tropical depression two has formed in the Gulf, bringing severe weather threats from the Florida Panhandle to the Texas coast as well. The system is expected to strengthen tonight or tomorrow becoming Tropical Storm Bertha. Heavy rain up to eight inches is forecast along with winds gusting to more than 40 miles an hour.

[20:55:02]

Storm surge also a big risk as water levels could rise one to three feet above normal in the Big Bend region in Florida.

And then Vice President J.D. Vance says he and Second Lady Usha Vance welcomed their fourth child this morning. The VP says that both his wife and the baby boy named Alec Neill Vance, are happy and healthy.

All right, everyone, thank you all for joining me this evening. I'm Omar Jimenez, and I want to show you something from Madrid before we go, because it's been an amazing show this hour. But it's also been an amazing World Cup. And no matter what you were doing this Sunday night, if you think you're celebrating, you thought you had a great weekend, you're not having as good a weekend as those in Madrid, Spain as it is almost 3:00 in the morning. Doesn't look like anyone's going home anytime soon.

"K-EVERYTHING," a CNN Original Series, is next. Good night, folks.

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