Spain and Argentina will close a memorable World Cup with a top-level showdown between the two best teams in the tournament.
The two teams entered the most important match in completely opposite ways. Spain defeated heavyweight France in the semi-finals, while Argentina had to create a spectacular comeback against England in the final minutes.
When the two teams meet at MetLife Stadium, the highlight will be the showdown between Lionel Messi and the most solid defense of the Spanish league.
Can Messi penetrate Spain's steel defense?
Lionel Messi and Spain's defense are both showing excellent form at the 2026 World Cup. However, in the final, one of the two will definitely have to give way.
Spain has proven their ability to neutralize the world's strongest attacks when they made the trio Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise of the French team only create 0.31 expected goals (xG) in the semi-finals. This is the lowest index of a team in the World Cup semi-finals since 1994 (calculated from 1966).
In that journey, Unai Simon and the Spanish defense kept a clean sheet in 6 matches, becoming the first team to do this in a World Cup. Before Charles De Ketelaere scored for Belgium in the 34th minute of the quarter-finals, Simon had a streak of 649 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal at the World Cup.
However, Messi is probably the best player of this year's tournament. The Argentine superstar started the World Cup with a hat-trick in the opening match, then scored 2 more goals in the second match to surpass Miroslav Klose's World Cup scoring record.
In the last 3 matches, Messi switched from the goal scorer to the assist provider. He started the comeback against Egypt in the round of 16 with a "cooking" pass for Cristian Romero before scoring himself. In the quarter-finals against Switzerland, Messi continued to assist Alexis Mac Allister to score.
In the semi-final match against England, El Pulga created four chances and assisted both goals to help Argentina win a ticket to the final. That achievement also made him the player with the most assists in World Cup history with 12 times.
Clearly, to penetrate the most solid defense of the tournament, a special moment will be needed. And that is the quality that Messi always possesses.
Messi does not need anyone to speak for him. But besides personal titles, his career speaks for itself. For me, Messi is the best player of all time. He is GOAT. In Qatar, he led Argentina to win the championship.
He has played at the highest level for many years. Turning 39 and still maintaining that state, and also being the best player in the World Cup, is truly unbelievable" - Spanish midfielder Rodri affirmed.
The match between Spain and Argentina takes place at 2:00 AM on July 20 (Vietnam time).
