2026 FIFA World Cup: FINAL - Argentina vs. Spain

Yea, regardless the final outcome, this campaign already gives us so many thrills & joy , even more so than in 2014. We beat our most annoying bigmouth rival in semi, that alone is more satisfying than beating any other teams (including Brazil & France).

Now if we could win it back to back, it would be unprecedented, but if not, I'd still thank Scaloni and the whole squad for showing us such fighting spirit . Its a kind of run that could only happen in fiction. 7 wins in a row, overcoming huge obstacle throughout but still made it all the way to the final.

 

Just glad we avoided losing to a small team (yes that includes England).

Still that fourth star is waiting for us right there! And Spain are due for a loss and conceding a couple goals.

 

They should give the winners of this match two trophies (WC & Finalissima)

 

I hope we don’t fall into the trap that the Spanish are our neighbors and that a lot of our players and Scaloni have a lot of family members in Spain. Of course, with Messi’s history there as well. Also that we are just happy with a final.

We are at the cusp of achieving something that has never ever never ever never ever been done before.

Scaloni can arguably be called the greatest international manager of all time, and our team arguably the greatest national team of all time.


If anything, Scaloni needs to have us even more focused and motivated than against England. This is the World Cup final. This is the game of their lives - and they need to play to the maximum intensity possible, albeit with a lot of intelligence.


We absolutely should not be happy with just a final. And who knows - this might be Messi’s last game with us.

Also, if we don’t play with the right mindset, we could absolutely be humiliated, God-forbid.

 

100%! we concede first and they will hurt us even more and we will end up running and chasing the ball. Rodri and the fullbacks needs to be stopped. They are the real danger besides Yamal of course

 

I dont think any pre match talk matters for our squad. Despite also having strong connection with Italy, we almost blew them 7-0 if wasnt Donaruma heroic.

 

The risk is here is that we get too complacent/ happy being just in a final or beating England. Great achievement, but we need to be motivated like crazy to win the final.

And this squad has way more connection to Spain than Italy, especially with De La Fuente being Scaloni’s coaching mentor.

 

Copying over my post from the semifinal thread:



My two cents/SWOT on Spain.

Strengths:

1. Obviously possession game. Very distinctive style of play.
2. Yamal/Nico Williams. Both haven’t gotten to their level, but can get to it at any time.
3. Pressing high up the pitch.


Weaknesses:
1. They play the offside trap quite a bit. Need the timing of long passes or passes over the top to be extremely precise (Messi/Paredes), and runners to time their run (Julian/Lautaro).

2. Goalkeeper who likes to come out a lot and play sweeper. Need to test him also with long range shots and crosses.

3. Fullbacks. Cucurella and Pedro Porro have been great this tournament, but they like to bomb forward and overload with their wingers on the wings. There’s a lots of space to be exploited on the wings. But that also means that we have to get Tagliafico/Montiel or Molina help. Game calls out for Nico to help with Yamal especially, and also be a runner at the other end.


Overall:

Spain loves teams that like to come out and attack them with 4 forwards like France did, but normally has a hard time dealing with low block teams.

Key is to stack up our midfield and not get frustrated when we don’t get the ball for long stretches. You cannot go with less than 4 mids against Spain.

Also, to get free kicks near their penalty box and not waste them. France did get a few.

Need extremely fast transitions. Spain does not like to defend in their area. Use smarts to break their offside trap.

Shoot from range.

In God I trust. God-willing we will win this World Cup.

 

Yea, I hope the players doesnt gets drowned in euphoria after defeating England. I mean Maradona did famously stated "that's it, that's the final for us" after beating them, but his team went on to win next two matches.

 

Spain are fantastic and Rodri is back to his best. Tagliafico could have similar issues with Yamal that DiMarco had. If you are not quick he is trouble. BUT with that said this game actually suites Argentina and Messi. Spain play slow and let the ball do the work. Messi will get his opportunities to create. Spain also will not shoot until they have a .90 XG chance. Against France they shot twice scored twice. They will wait as they don't want to give up the ball ever as a defensive tactic.

Argentina have more fire power. Messi Julian and Latauro are something Spain lack. Yes they shit down the french front 4 but that is in part because the 424 gave up the midfield completely. Argentina can match Spain numerically in the midfield. They are the only team that can beat them.
If Portugal used Leao and Ramos they could have beat Spain but otherwise it's a good match up for Argentina for me. They also have nothing to prove as almost all of them are already world champions. For Spain this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity the pressure will be there though we know they always stay calm and want to put the match to sleep. Its really is two sides of the same coin. Very fascinating.

 

I'd argue that if the match still tied after 60-70 mins, Spain might eventually committed to attack more since they have an abysmal shootout record. Even againts Netherlands in 2010, the later part of the game was very open .

They will be fully aware of our experience when its comes to shootouts.

 

My man, loco, excellent work in creating this thread, as always. Just a request - can you make it a pinned up thread? Thanks.

 

After all those games. The real weak link is identified. It is Molina

 

Can Montiel go longer or is he only good for sub?

 

RDP did pretty good job as a sub though. Made some well weighted passes to the right channel even a good lob into the box.

He should be sub aswell in final.

 

One concern about this match is smoke from Canadian wildfires.

Is it still safe to have the World Cup final in New York with smoke like this? pic.twitter.com/wPwWpXSNZf

— Michael Guo (@Michaelzsguo) July 16, 2026

https://archive.is/DARTW

 

Or stay in Atlanta so Spain are the ones that have to travel. Only fair since they got an extra day of rest.

Does sound like it should clear up by Sunday.

 

I would just put Simeone instead of Molina. Yea Simeone wasnt exactly good at playing football but he kept running and running. Cant be worse than Molina defensively. Or sub Molina for Montiel exactly at half time.

I also liked super sub RDP who doesnt have his battery drained.

 

Btw aside from Molina inability to defend, the goal yet again came from a transition and then a stupid clearance. JUST BLAST THE BALL OUT.

 

yes and Martinez is an advantage over Simon in shootouts

 

its not safe I am in toronto and its awful I cant breathe outside.
its a code red right now they have to move it to LA ..ASAP.