NEW YORK — The final day of a summer of FIFA World Cup fever in North America, and the last of 104 matches, has finally arrived, as the world’s top two ranked national teams — Spain and Argentina — will kick off at 3 p.m. Eastern time for the right to lift the sport’s most coveted trophy.
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A crowd of 80,000 people is expected to pack into the stands of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey just outside of New York City, where the cheapest tickets were going for nearly $10,000 on secondary market sites.
For days, wildfire smoke had swept over New York. Then a downpour on Saturday and a flash flood alert. But by Sunday morning, with a sunny forecast calling for clear skies and a high of 80 degrees at kickoff, all of that was in the rearview mirror.
For Spain, a win would mark a meteoric rise for a young and thrilling squad and their 19-year-old phenom Lamine Yamal, who despite an injury to his quad earlier this spring, has flashed greatness throughout the tournament.
Spain has beaten three of the world’s top-ten teams to reach the final — first a 1-0 win over No. 5 Portugal, then a 2-1 quarterfinal win over No. 9 Belgium, and most impressive, a 2-0 win in the semifinal over No. 3 France, whose attack had looked unstoppable until then. Spain has conceded only one goal in their seven World Cup games so far.
Meanwhile, for Argentina, a win would cap a historic and dominant era that has included the 2022 World Cup title, two Copa América trophies and the 2022 Finalissima — all while the team has been led by the global megastar Lionel Messi. “They are an excellent opponent, an excellent national team that has had a spectacular run over the last eight or 10 years since this group came together,” said Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente on Friday.
Argentina’s road to New York has been paved with improbable wins, one after another. In none of their four knockout games did Argentina hold the lead when the clock reached 90 minutes. Twice they have escaped with a stoppage time game-winner; twice they have escaped after going ahead in extra time.
At 39 years old, Messi’s performance in this World Cup has been nothing short of unbelievable: His eight goals and four assists — including assists on both crucial late-game goals in the heart-stopping semifinal against England — put him in second place behind only France’s Kylian Mbappé. He scored twice in Saturday’s bronze medal loss to England and now has ten goals.
“Messi is something else. He is an irreplaceable player, a player with extraordinary talent, and above all he is an example,” de la Fuente said. “His attitude and his behavior, at the age he is now and with the World Cup he is having, are truly spectacular.”
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Asked Friday whether the final would be Messi’s last time wearing the Argentina shirt, coach Lionel Scaloni smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know what to tell you. I don’t know, because he never stops surprising us,” he said.
The comparisons between Messi, 39, and Yamal, who just turned 19 last week, are irresistible. Both were prodigies in the famed Barcelona academy La Masia who burst into stardom as teenagers in the club’s red and blue stripes. Yamal now wears No. 10 for Barcelona, the number Messi wore until he left the club in 2021.
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Sunday’s match is the first head-to-head competition between the two, who are 20 years apart in age. Famously — and improbably — they first met when Yamal was a baby as part of a UNICEF charity calendar photo shoot.
Asked about the photo at a fan Q&A event on Friday in New York, Messi called it “una locura” — a madness. “That’s life,” he said with a smile. “I took a photo when he was a baby, and now the two of us are facing each other in a World Cup final.”
Yamal is a “tremendous” player, Messi added. “At just 19 years old, he is already one of the world’s leading players. He has his entire career ahead of him, and he has a great opportunity to achieve something historic [on Sunday].”
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen this time,” he joked.
At every stadium, the songs, cheers and tears of joy from thousands of Argentina fans, as their team has drawn closer and closer to hoisting a second consecutive trophy, has given Argentina’s players even more motivation to finish with a win, they say.
“We have reclaimed something that I think is very valuable: that people stand in front of the television in their Argentina shirt and give each other a hug, a Newell’s fan with a [Rosario] Central fan, and a Boca [Juniors] fan with a River [Plate] fan,” Scaloni said Friday, naming some of Argentina’s most famous domestic clubs and their biggest rivals.
“We see it. We feel it. We keep it in mind,” said Scaloni. “How could it not move you?”
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