After a month of soccer and 100 matches, the World Cup field is down to the exact four teams FIFA, in a way, forecast: Argentina, France, Spain and England.
Read more Where did Erling Haaland get that raccoon holding a bottle of booze?
This was the scenario soccer’s global governing body seemed to covet when, for the first time in the tournament’s history, it set up the draw to keep the four highest-ranked teams in different corners of the bracket. Sure enough, the marquee matchups came to fruition: Kylian Mbappé’s France is facing Lamine Yamal’s Spain on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, and Lionel Messi’s Argentina will meet Jude Bellingham’s England on Wednesday in Atlanta. It all culminates with the World Cup final Sunday afternoon in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Whom should you root for down the stretch? We’ve broken down the cases for — and against — each of these heavyweight contenders.
Because Les Bleus are, to put it bluntly, the best team. And they deserve it the most.
France soared through an unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaign, then enjoyed a perfect group stage. This squad hasn’t conceded a goal through three knockout-round victories. No team has looked the part of a World Cup champion better than Didier Deschamps’s bunch.
Through it all, Mbappé is carving out a legacy as perhaps the most dominant player in World Cup history. The forward also has used his platform to speak out against racism, far-right nationalism and sports betting. So the captain who would actually lift the trophy Sunday in New Jersey is plenty worthy, to boot.
Because a French title would be all too predictable. Should Les Bleus make the final, they will play in a third straight World Cup title game (after winning it all in 2018 and falling to Argentina in 2022’s pulsating classic).
It’s not as though this would be many players’ last go-round, anyway. Mbappé is 27. Ousmane Dembélé, the reigning world player of the year, is 29. Playmaker extraordinaire Michael Olise is 24. Burgeoning attackers Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola are 21 and 23, respectively. This team is well positioned to run it back in four years.
Also, it sure seems as though Victor Wembanyama is going to dominate the NBA for the next decade. Swimming star Léon Marchand will probably hoard gold medals at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. How much French sporting excellence is enough?
Because Yamal is ready for the mantle. Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed that this was his World Cup send-off. Lionel Messi is surely done with the global stage after this Argentine run. So the torch is ripe for passing.
Yes, Mbappé is right there — but he can’t shoulder the burden of global soccer stardom alone. After Yamal’s Spain ousted France en route to the Euro 2024 title, the 19-year-old Barcelona winger could use a defining World Cup moment to certify his status as an all-time great in the making.
There’s also something to be said for the Spanish reinvention. After riding the possession-driven “tiki-taka” approach to a World Cup title and two Euro wins from 2008 to 2012, Spain crashed out of three straight World Cups in the round of 16 or earlier. Now utilizing a more aggressive style, La Roja deserves credit for its bold tactical evolution.
Because its narrative pales in comparison to those of the other semifinalists. France, Argentina and England have ridden transcendent stars to the final four. France and Argentina are also looking to build on dynasties, and an English triumph would end a 60-year drought.
The buzz around this methodical Spanish side feels tame by comparison. A run that has included a group-stage draw with Cape Verde and last-gasp victories over Portugal and Belgium in the knockout rounds hasn’t been overly convincing, either.
Read more All in the family: Cody Bellinger wins All-Star MVP as his dad, former big leaguer Clay, looks on
Yamal also has only scored one goal this summer after returning from a hamstring injury, and there would be something anticlimactic about watching him emerge triumphant from the summer of Messi, Mbappé and Bellingham. His time will come — but this tournament might feel premature.
Because you like storybook endings — especially the ones that make you realize the ending you thought you already saw was actually just the setup.
Argentina’s 2022 World Cup win felt like the perfect Messi climax: the tears, the trophy, the long-awaited exhale. But maybe that was just the stutter-step before the penalty kick. Maybe the real final flourish is Messi walking off the World Cup stage not as the guy who finally got his title, but as the legend who somehow came back and did it again.
Critics thought he was too old, that he’d lost a step, that this tournament represented his last dance. Instead, it could turn his career from complete to almost mythological, an encore no one quite believed was possible.
Because we have seen this movie. We liked this movie. We cried at the end of this movie. But was anyone really begging for the sequel?
As dominant as Messi has been, there comes a time for even the greatest to exit stage left, preferably while everyone is still applauding. Argentina already got its golden ending in 2022, and we agreed then: Yes, maybe the soccer gods had gotten this one exactly right. It was beautiful. It was complete. It was enough.
Messi has given the sport nearly everything it could ask for — genius, drama, heartbreak, redemption, tiny diagonal passes visible only to him. Now the generous thing would be to clear the stage, let someone else chase immortality and allow Argentina’s perfect ending to remain perfect.
Because England winning the World Cup would be both a sporting earthquake and a mass emotional unburdening. The Three Lions have the stars, the scars and the soundtrack.
Harry Kane has scored everywhere, carried everything, endured every almost, and somehow still lives in that strange soccer purgatory reserved for all-time greats without the one trophy that changes how history talks about them. A World Cup would launch him into the pantheon, no caveats required.
And Kane isn’t the only one worth rooting for. Who didn’t get at least a few chills watching a Miami stadium serenade Bellingham with “Hey Jude” after England’s win over Norway in the quarterfinals?
Because England winning the World Cup would make the internet unusable and all your British friends insufferable. The commemorative documentaries would begin before the final whistle. The pubs would levitate. They’d start mistaking Bellingham for Churchill, and Kane would probably be knighted before he exits the pitch.
And really, what would international soccer even be without England’s suffering? It is part of the furniture now, as essential to the tournament ecosystem as penalty shootouts, tactical fouls and VAR reviews. England is supposed to dream too big, believe too soon and then spend the next four years conducting a national inquest over a missed opportunity.
The sport needs villains and heroes, miracles and heartbreak. It also needs England, standing just outside the jubilant party, wondering why the door won’t open.
