The 104th—and final—match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will pit European champion Spain against the most recent World Cup champion and South American champion at New York New Jersey Stadium (July 19, 10:00 p.m.) at New York New Jersey Stadium, where European champion Spain will face Argentina, the most recent World Cup and South American champion.
The curtain falls on the biggest tournament in history amid the excitement of a major match between Argentina’s star Lionel Messi and Spain’s «comet» Lamine Yamal, in the 23rd World Cup final, which for the first time will feature a halftime break lasting more than 15 minutes—ranging from 20 to 30 minutes—due to the “Halftime Show.”.
Four years after Doha, Argentina could win a second consecutive title, a feat not achieved since the Brazil team of Pelé, Vavá, and Garrincha in 1962.
The «blue-and-whites» entered this World Cup with low expectations, but transformed into a «cold-blooded beast» that overcame one obstacle after another with resilience, solidarity, and the guidance of the one and only Lionel Messi.
As his career draws to a close, the 39-year-old captain of the Argentine national team dreams of giving his country—and himself—a second World Cup title.
Messi, with his eight «Golden Balls,» is backed by an army at his service: his «lieutenants» Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis McAllister in midfield, «soldier» Nicolás Otamendi and his «comrade» Cristian Romero on defense, the one and only goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and the amazing Julián Álvarez on offense.
Argentina will also be driven by the incredible energy of its tens of thousands of fans. Facing them is Spain, which hopes to repeat the “double,” just as it did in 2010, when it won the only World Cup trophy in its history, two years after Euro 2008. So now, riding a 37-game unbeaten streak, it aims to…cap off Euro 2024 with the World Cup title in New York. It boasts a host of stars and the prodigy Lamine Yamal.
Spain
Spain reached the final after defeating the favorite, France, in the semifinals. Luis de la Fuente’s team controlled the match from start to finish, stifling France’s powerful offense with long stretches of possession and precise finishing. This semifinal match against Les Bleus was the highlight of Spain’s tournament so far.
After a scoreless draw in their opening match against Cape Verde, «La Roja» made up for its slow start by scoring four goals against Saudi Arabia and then securing a 1-0 victory over a strong Uruguay team.
They advanced to the round of 32 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Austria. But in the next two rounds, it took Mikel Merino’s winning goals in stoppage time to overcome tough European opponents.
Merino’s first goal, in the Round of 16, came against Portugal (1-0). This was followed by a second last-minute victory against Belgium (2-1) in a match in which they conceded what was, at that point, their only goal of the tournament.
This Sunday will mark Spain's first return to a World Cup final since it lifted the trophy in 2010, when it competed for the first time in South Africa.
Argentina
Argentina has followed a difficult, yet exciting, path to its second consecutive World Cup final and seventh overall. The defending champions began their tournament with three consecutive wins in the group stage, led by the exceptional Lionel Messi, who now has eight goals in this tournament and a record 21 goals throughout his long World Cup career.
Albiceleste defeated Algeria 3-0 thanks to a hat trick by Messi, Austria 2-0 thanks to two more goals by him, and then Jordan 3-1 (with another goal by Messi) to cap off a perfect group stage. In the knockout stage, their path became much more difficult. Lionel Scaloni’s players needed extra time to defeat the undefeated «Cape Verde» team in a 3-2 thriller.
In the Round of 16, the score was the same and the match was even more dramatic: Egypt led 2-0 going into the 79th minute, but Argentina turned the tables, staging a historic comeback to win 3-2.
In the quarterfinals, Argentina needed extra time to finally defeat Switzerland (3-1), which had been down to ten men since the 72nd minute. The drama didn’t end there in the semifinal against England, which took the lead early in the second half thanks to Anthony Gordon and looked poised to win. However, the Albiceleste rallied with two assists from Messi (2-1) and goals by Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez.
As a result, Argentina is now back in the final four for the first time in four years following its victory over France at Qatar 2022, and once again, a European team stands between Argentina and the World Cup trophy.
Previous World Cup Matches
A lot has happened since the only previous World Cup match between Spain and Argentina, which took place in 1966 at Villa Park. It was the opening group stage match for both teams, and the Albiceleste won 2-1 in a game where all the goals were scored in the second half. The standout player for Argentina was center forward Luis Artime, who scored both of their goals, while midfielder Pirí was the scorer for Spain.
This is the only official match between the two teams, which have played 13 friendly matches against each other over the years (six wins for Spain, five for Argentina, and two draws). Their last friendly match took place in 2018 in Madrid, with Spain crushing Argentina 6-1.
As champions of their respective continents, they were scheduled to face off in February at the Finalissima in Qatar, but the match was canceled.
The final whistle will bring tears of joy to one of the stars— 39-year-old Lionel Messi or Lamine Yamal, who is 20 years his junior, while leaving the other with tears of sorrow.
The referee will be Slovenian Slavko Vidic
Possible compositions
Spain (Luis de la Fuente), Simón, Porro, Laporte, Kubarshi, Cucurella, Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal
Argentina (Lionel Scaloni): Emiliano Martínez, Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Tagliafico, Paredes, McAllister, Enzo Fernández, Giuliano Simeone, Messi, Julian Álvarez
Antonis Vazogiannis
