The match that a Trump war prevented in March has ended up landing, magnified by the extraordinary magnifying glass of the World Cup, precisely on Trump territory. Football has transformed the Finalissima, which could not be played in Doha due to the US attack on Iran, into a superlative World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. This Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will be the first in history where the last champions of Europe and America face each other (21:00, La1 and Dazn). What the failed Finalissima intended, but much more.
There is no match of greater magnitude than this one where the last Leo Messi and the first Lamine Yamal, two talents produced by La Masia, the predominant school in La Roja, cross paths. Also coinciding are the master Luis de la Fuente with his former student, Lionel Scaloni. And two teams in dominant cycles. An electric final in a place that on Thursday was submerged in smoke from the Canadian wildfires and on Saturday suffered disturbances from storms with flood risk. The security protocol dictated that Spain suspend its last training at the New York Red Bulls academy facilities in New Jersey, while a few kilometers away the rival trained half an hour later than planned.
With Scaloni, the Argentines won the Copa América in 2021 and 2024 and the 2022 World Cup. They are chasing this Sunday their fourth star, which would place them on par with Germany and Italy, just one step below Brazil, the last team to link two titles, in 1958 and 1962, still with Pelé. Before that, only Italy had achieved it, in 1934 and 1938, in the prehistory of the World Cup.
Spain won the 2023 Nations League in De la Fuente’s fourth match on the bench and the 2024 Eurocup. Although their path started much earlier, when they began winning in 2015 with the under-19s, already with Unai Simón, Mikel Merino, and Rodri, players who will appear this Sunday in the last World Cup match. The path towards the second World Cup certifies the validity of the process, of the Spanish football factory system, from training schools to the elite.
The summit of this second final in their history also indicates that Spain never completely lost the thread from South Africa, despite the setbacks against Brazil in 2014, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022. The star embroidered in 2010 was born from what was sown for years at the base, from structural improvements upwards, and from the definitive explosion of a latent competitive character that had been silenced for decades by doubts. Rodri pointed out on Friday that attribute in the generation crowned in 2010: “The mentality of going for something that at that moment seemed impossible for our country, which was to win the World Cup. They did it with that determination.” That drive is decisive for the captain: “I already told the guys in the semifinals that you have to want to win more than fear losing,” he said. “You have to go for the match. You have to want to conquer the World Cup and you have to be ambitious. And I believe it comes down to being ourselves throughout the entire match.”
Spain won 16 years ago following a first version of the current script, the one that already enamored in 2024 at the Eurocup in Germany. To control based on skill in midfield, always around the beacon of Rodri, they then added the vertigo and depth of two wingers who captivated everyone. In the World Cup, they have not yet been able to count on Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal in full, but even so, they found a way to overwhelm France, until the semifinal the most fearsome team in the tournament, with Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise, Barcola, and Doué. If something has settled in La Roja since they started winning big with Luis Aragonés in 2008, it is conviction. They have delivered some dazzling performances, pure virtuosity, and also solved, with the same composure, other more raw and less flashy ones. The team has only conceded one goal in seven matches, the lowest figure in the history of the tournament.
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Spain’s path in this World Cup traces a straight ascending line, from the disappointment of the debut against Cape Verde (0-0) to the symphony against France in the semifinal (0-2). The machinery was fine-tuned as the speed of the ball increased, with Rodri growing and Fabián as the best companion.
One day to go.#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/27qoy85jB5
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 18, 2026
Argentina’s journey has resembled more the jagged silhouette of an electrocardiogram responding to emotional impulses triggered by Messi’s genius when they have found themselves in desperate scenarios. While La Roja has not been behind on the scoreboard for even a second in seven matches, Scaloni’s team has found themselves twice on the edge of the abyss. The last time, against England in the semifinal. Gordon scored 0-1 in the 55th minute and the blow woke them up. They sank Tuchel’s team and Enzo Fernández scored 1-1 in the 85th. In the round of 16, they were even worse, losing 0-2 against Egypt until the 79th, when Cuti Romero started a comeback that culminated in the 93rd with Enzo Fernández. Also, the surprising Cape Verde pushed them to extra time in the round of 32 and Switzerland in the quarterfinals. “We are workers who never give up,” said Dibu Martínez on Friday. “Even though things are hard for us, we always get through, as we are experiencing in this World Cup.”
The final measures the football of the fiercest competitor, driven by Messi’s endless magic, with that of the team that has displayed the seduction of choral harmony while disguising the iron fist of a titan.
This last colossal match closes a unique World Cup, the largest in history, for the first time a showcase for 48 teams, which offered the possibility to discover, for example, Cape Verde with Vozinha. It was also the tournament of controversial hydration breaks by decree, and one of the most manipulated by a ruler. Trump marred it with his mistreatment of the Iran team, which had to settle in Mexico after the president bombed the country; with immigration raids; and with the show of his interference so that Infantino, the FIFA president, froze the sanction on Balogun so he could play the round of 16 with the US against Belgium.
And despite everything, football gave birth to one of the highest caliber finals in decades, that of the declining Messi, still sublime, the one awaiting Lamine’s explosion, a colossal occasion for Spain’s virtuous football to conquer the world again.
