Argentina face Spain with a second straight World Cup on the line

Sunday night: Spain, Messi, and a second straight World Cup

Your team is one win away. Argentina face Spain in the World Cup final Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, defending the crown won in 2022 (1) (3) (4). No team has gone back-to-back since Brazil in 1962. Scaloni kept it simple in the buildup: "When the ball starts rolling, the players forget the pressure" (3).

Scaloni is already worried, and it is not about Lamine Yamal

"The fact that Spain leaves the hotel by bus already worries me" (1). That was Scaloni on Saturday, and it tells you exactly where his head is at. He is not naming names, but the tension is unmistakable. Spain's Lamine Yamal is the obvious threat, but Scaloni's concern is the whole operation, not one winger.

Oldest, shortest, one game from immortality

Argentina are the oldest squad at this World Cup. Also the shortest (2). None of it has mattered. Messi, 39, leads a group that defies every modern data point and keeps winning anyway (2). Scaloni's core, Emiliano Martínez, Nicolás Tagliafico, Rodrigo de Paul, has seen it all before. This is a second final for them.

Rodri and de la Fuente cannot stop talking about Messi

Spain's Rodri called Messi "the best player in history" ahead of the final (4). Manager Luis de la Fuente went further: there will never be another player like him (4). Mutual respect between the camps is real, but Sunday night will have none of it.

Fan reactions

The semi-final against England left its mark off the pitch too. Streamer IShowSpeed needed his bodyguards to shield him after Argentina fans threw beer cans during the match (r/soccer). The mood online is split, some laughing it off, others calling it an embarrassment. Either way, Atlanta got wild.