Spain v Argentina: World Cup 2026 final – live

Key events6m agoPreambleSixty years or hurt never stopped us dreaming that Spain and Argentina would meet again at the World Cup.PreambleThe surprise is that it took so long. For the champions of Europe and South America to meet in a World Cup final; for Spain and Argentina to meet in a knockout game; and, if we must, for tactics expert Donald Trump to attend a match at the 2026 World Cup. All three will happen for the first time today.It’s exciting enough that this is the first World Cup final between the champions of Europe and South America*. The fact Argentina are world champions makes it even more mouthwatering, especially as they look about as willing to surrender their title as Tony Montana did his life. They are tantalisingly close to becoming the first team to retain the men’s World Cup since Brazil in 1962.Argentina have a little friend too. This time four years ago, Lionel Messi was 35 years old and had never scored a goal in a World Cup knockout game. If there was an asterisk against his goat-ness, it has long gone. Messi’s ice-cold destruction of England on Wednesday was the latest in a series of mind-blowing World Cup performances.Messi is up against an old acquaintance today. We’ve all seen the picture of him cradling a six-month-old Lamine Yamal, and it’s kind of bonkers that they will now meet in a World Cup final. Yamal hasn’t dominated the tournament like Messi, in deed or hype, though that’s partly a reflection of the identities of each team.Spain, like the European club champions Paris Saint-Germain, are a triumph for teamwork in the age of the galactico – a point they made quite emphatically against France on Tuesday. Argentina are a hybrid model: the other 10 players serve an ageless genius who has redefined the concept of walking football. The success of both models is proof that there’s more than one way to shape a golden age.Few of us saw Spain’s renaissance coming. From 2014 to 2022, they left almost no trace at major tournaments. Even at Euro 2020, when they were arguably the best team in the competition, they won only two of their six games. But Luis de la Fuente has built a joyous team who are the antidote to so many of football’s ills.Their win at Euro 2024, in which they beat and outplayed the holders Italy, the hosts Germany and the pre-tournament favourites France and England, has a case for being the impressive European Championship win of all. They haven’t quite hit those heights in America – or rather they hadn’t until they taught France a lesson in the semi-final.Spain have had tougher fixtures en route to the final; Argentina have had the closer shaves. In different ways, both have earned the right to feel invincible – and not just during this tournament. Spain are unbeaten in 37 games; Argentina have won 14 in a row and 31 of the last 37.Never mind the despair of losing a World Cup final; the losers face some hellish cognitive dissonance.Kick off 3pm EST/8pm BST/5am AEST* Since you asked, Uruguay, not Brazil, were South American champions in 1970. Brazil withdrew from the 1967 South American Championship, but that is literally another story.