{"id":7604,"date":"2026-07-15T23:05:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7604"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:05:45","slug":"the-world-cup-final-is-set-with-messi-and-argentina-facing-yamal-and-spain-for-the-title-on-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7604","title":{"rendered":"The World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi (10) reacts as he leaves the ground after their win in the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jacob Kupferman)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The best offense. The best defense.<\/p>\n

The World Cup<\/a> final is set, and fittingly, a clash of styles awaits. Lionel Messi \u2014 the most prolific goal scorer in the tournament\u2019s history \u2014 and defending champion Argentina will take on Spain\u2019s defensive juggernaut on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>

Read more England\u2019s Tuchel: \u2018Easy to say that it was wrong\u2019 to play defensive with lead vs Argentina<\/a><\/p>\n

Spain beat France<\/a> in one semifinal on Tuesday; Argentina, the comeback king of this tournament, rallied to beat England 2-1<\/a> in the other semifinal on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Argentina is seeking its fourth title and is looking to become the first back-to-back World Cup champion since Brazil pulled off the feat in 1958 and 1962. Spain is looking for its second title, after winning in 2010.<\/p>\n

Argentina leads the tournament in goals scored \u2014 19.<\/p>\n

Spain leads the tournament in fewest goals allowed \u2014 one.<\/p>\n

Something will have to give on Sunday, when the biggest World Cup ever \u2014 a 48-team, 104-match extravaganza spread out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico \u2014 comes to an end.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not Finalissima<\/a> . It\u2019s going to be better.<\/p>\n

South American champion Argentina and European champion Spain<\/a> were supposed to meet in Doha, Qatar, in late March in Finalissima, a showdown between the teams led by Messi and Lamine Yamal in a prequel of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

That game never happened. Security became an issue because of unrest in the Middle East, with Iran intensifying its attacks on neighboring countries at that time in retaliation to the aerial attacks by United States and Israel in a war that is still ongoing. The game was called off.<\/p>\n

So, instead of playing at Lusail Stadium, the site of the epic 2022 World Cup final<\/a> where Messi and Argentina won on penalty kicks over France and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, they\u2019ll play just outside of New York in soccer\u2019s biggest game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be a showdown of soccer\u2019s present versus soccer\u2019s future, not to mention a showdown of the teams that held the top two spots in FIFA\u2019s world rankings entering the World Cup \u2014 Argentina at No. 1, Spain at No. 2.<\/p>\n

There was a famous photo taken in 2007 when Messi was part of a UNICEF program and posed with a baby.<\/p>

Read more SMU launches a Heisman push for Kevin Jennings and is putting QB\u2019s name on a new recovery center<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamal was that baby. Like Messi (who now plays for Inter Miami), Yamal would become a left-footed star for Spanish club Barcelona. It is the most improbable of stories: From a photo together two decades ago, the two stars are set to be together again to end this year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

A picture-perfect finish.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Record: Six wins, one draw, zero losses.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Goals for: 13.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Goals against: 1.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Group stage: drew with Cape Verde 0-0, beat Saudi Arabia 4-0, beat Uruguay 1-0.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Knockout stage: beat Austria 3-0, beat Portugal 1-0, beat Belgium 2-1, beat France 2-0.<\/p>\n

Record: Seven wins, zero draws, zero losses.<\/p>\n

Goals for: 19.<\/p>\n

Goals against: 7.<\/p>\n

Group stage: beat Algeria 3-0, beat Austria 2-0, beat Jordan 3-1.<\/p>\n

Knockout stage: beat Cape Verde 3-2, beat Egypt 3-2, beat Switzerland 3-1, beat England 2-1.<\/p>\n

Both teams enter the final with impressive unbeaten streaks.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Spain is carrying a 37-match unbeaten streak across all competitions and friendlies into the final, having won 28 of those matches with nine draws. Its last loss was 1-0 to Colombia in March 2024.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Argentina is unbeaten in its last 13 World Cup matches, with 11 victories and two draws since falling to Saudi Arabia to open group play at the 2022 tournament.<\/p>\n

Spain (+120) has been installed as the early favorite over Argentina (+275). Odds for a draw were quickly set at +200, and it\u2019s reasonable to think all those numbers could change considerably before the title matchup.<\/p>

Read more The Latest: Messi rallies Argentina in 2-1 win over England in World Cup semifinal<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Cup final is set for Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, featuring a clash between Argentina and Spain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7604\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The World Cup final is set for Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, featuring a clash between Argentina and Spain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7604\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T23:05:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5c294828228c241dd61ff67f94f8ac80-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"The World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T23:05:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604\"},\"wordCount\":704,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b7885668deb7a1bb00e9a9e1f6a5f4d5-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604\",\"name\":\"The World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b7885668deb7a1bb00e9a9e1f6a5f4d5-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T23:05:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7604#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b7885668deb7a1bb00e9a9e1f6a5f4d5-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b7885668deb7a1bb00e9a9e1f6a5f4d5-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) reacts as he leaves the ground after their win in the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. 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