Preview: Spain vs Argentina - prediction, team news, lineups

Defensive majesty meets offensive magnificence on the grandest stage of them all, as at 8pm UK time on Sunday evening at the MetLife Stadium, Spain and Argentina will contest the first-ever men's World Cup final between two continental champions.

La Roja seek only a second men's Mundial triumph to complement their European Championship crowning from 2024, the same year that La Albiceleste - bidding to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups - successfully defended their Copa America title.

The World Cup 2026 betting guide favours a Spain victory before the first ball is kicked, but ever since the knockout rounds began, the world champions have demonstrated exactly why they are the world champions.

Match preview

Lamine Yamal this, Lamine Yamal that; while Spain's teenage prodigy has dazzled and delighted with his dynamic dribbling ability - even if it has only brought him one goal and an unofficial assist for winning a penalty - Luis de la Fuente's resolute rearguard has stolen the World Cup 2026 spotlight.

Formerly going 649 minutes without conceding a Mundial goal before Charles De Ketelaere's equaliser for Belgium - which proved meaningless thanks to late-show specialist Mikel Merino - Spain found the formula to restrain a fearsome French attack in a thoroughly-deserved 2-0 semi-final triumph.

A crowd-pleasing penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal - refusing to give in to the stuttering trend - preceded a well-worked second from player-of-the-tournament contender Pedro Porro, as De la Fuente's men lived up to the favourites tag assigned to them by Didier Deschamps pre-game.

With Michael Olise shackled and Kylian Mbappe missing his spark, Spain restricted France to a paltry 0.31 Expected Goals in the semi-finals, the exact same total that all of La Roja's World Cup opponents have averaged against them in North America thus far.

Recovering from that scarcely-believable false start against Cape Verde, the European champions head to East Rutherford on a six-game winning sequence and have coincidentally kept a never-before-seen six clean sheets at the World Cup; a new all-time best for a single men's edition.

However, the statistics above pale in comparison to this spectacular Spanish sequence; La Roja are now unbeaten in 37 straight games since losing to Colombia in March 2024, and if De la Fuente's men come up trumps on Sunday, they will surpass Italy's Euro 2020 winners and set a new record for the longest-ever unbeaten run in senior men's football.

Argentina need only travel back as far as September 2025 for their most recent men's international defeat - an inconsequential 1-0 loss to Ecuador in World Cup Qualifying - but La Albiceleste are now seeking their own sense of immortality.

Copa America champions in 2021 and 2024 - either side of their World Cup 2022 coronation in Qatar - Lionel Scaloni's charges could become the first nation in history to win four consecutive major tournaments, thus making their case to be labelled one of the greatest football teams of all time.

The holders have thus far been unable to replicate Spain's masterful defensive formula, allowing Anthony Gordon to sweep home a mayhem-inducing opener for England in Wednesday's semi-final, before the Lionel Messi-inspired Albiceleste capitalised on a Thomas Tuchel-inspired implosion.

As England invited wave after wave of South American pressure, an Argentinian remontada appeared inevitable, and so it proved as Messi teed up Enzo Fernandez and substitute Lautaro Martinez to send the reigning champions into a seventh men's World Cup final.

Argentina

FIFA Ranking 3

Participations 18

Best Result Winners

Our Prediction Final

All-time legend

Many now argue that Messi has surpassed Maradona as Argentina's greatest player. Both carried the team on their back across different generations; both delivered World Cup titles that defined the country's football identity. The debate between them will outlast the careers of everyone writing about it.

Read the full World Cup 2026 guide →

We will score more than you has been the approach adopted by the Argentines throughout the World Cup, in which Scaloni's side have now gone five games without keeping a clean sheet but have struck at least twice in every match, racking up a tournament-high 19 goals in total.

Never before have Argentina found the net so often in a single Mundial - the 1930 crop managed 18 goals en route to a runners-up prize - and the holders can now emulate the 1938 Italy team and 1962 Brazil squad as just the third nation to defend a men's World Cup title.

However, La Albiceleste have lost three of their four showdowns with Spain in the 21st century - most recently suffering a 6-1 friendly humiliation in 2018 - but if Sunday's showpiece is to be another seven-goal spectacular, something tells us the full-time scoreline will be much closer this time around.

Spain World Cup form:

Argentina World Cup form:

Team News

Twenty-one seconds was enough to spark Spanish concern on Thursday, as Yamal was filmed with a bandage on his left leg while the rest of the team took part in full training, but there are no serious worries surrounding his availability for the final.

The same goes for semi-final scorer Porro, who complained of muscular fatigue at the end of the France victory and was also spared from Thursday's practice session, but only as a preventative measure rather than as an indication of anything more sinister.

As a result, De la Fuente should have the luxury of naming an unchanged XI for the championship match, meaning no Pedri in the starting lineup once again as Fabian Ruiz and Rodri reprise their effective partnership.

On Argentina's end, Cristian Romero and Leandro Paredes both overcame post-quarter-final cramps to start in the victory over England, meaning that the holders have a fully-fit group of 26 at his disposal for Sunday's showdown.

While Spain are expected to stick rather than twist, Scaloni was given plenty of food for thought against England, and a couple of changes should be in store in the wide areas.

Giuliano Simeone registered more fouls (5) than shots, dribbles and chances created combined (2) in the semi-final, so Rodrigo De Paul is surely in line for a return to the XI, while Gonzalo Montiel is in the same boat after Nahuel Molina's struggles against Djed Spence and Anthony Gordon last time out.

However, match-winner Martinez is expected to be confined to the bench again, as Julian Alvarez joins forces with Golden Ball and Golden Boot-chasing Messi, who has refused to shut the door on a 2030 World Cup appearance at the age of 43.

Spain possible starting lineup:

Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz; Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal

Argentina possible starting lineup:

E. Martinez; Montiel, Romero, L. Martinez, Tagliafico; De Paul, Paredes, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez

We say: Spain 2-1 Argentina

Argentina never know when they are beaten, and the holders' exceptional scoring record speaks for itself, but Scaloni's side are yet to face a team with the defensive discipline, cohesiveness and tactical ingenuity of De la Fuente's Spain.

So long as the European champions do not follow the Tuchel blueprint, they can exploit the Albiceleste's well-documented rearguard vulnerabilities, bring the World Cup trophy back to Europe, and trigger Messi tears of tragedy rather than the Messi tears of triumph we have become accustomed to throughout a fabulous festival of football.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.