The road ends here. After 103 matches featuring 48 countries across three nations, only Spain and Argentina remain. One more match. One more afternoon. One more place in soccer history.
Sunday’s World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey brings together two champions who reached the same destination by very different paths. Spain has squeezed the life out of opponents with relentless pressure, collective brilliance and a defense that has allowed just one goal. Argentina has survived one knockout drama after another, leaning on Lionel Messi, late heroics and an unshakeable belief that the final whistle belongs to them.
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There is Messi, seeking to cap the greatest career the sport has ever seen with a second straight World Cup. There is 19-year old Lamine Yamal, the heir apparent chasing his first. There are two coaches leading teams built on collective strength rather than individual fame. And there are billions who will spend Sunday enjoying the beautiful game on its biggest stage.
How to watch Spain vs. Argentina
Kickoff time: 3 p.m. ET
Date: Sunday, July 19
Venue: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
TV: Fox, Telemundo (Spanish)
Streaming: Fox One, Peacock (Spanish)
Follow along below for all the latest news, lineups, highlights, analysis and live updates from Spain vs. Argentina:
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Kari Anderson
The 2026 World Cup has been one filled with both excitement and controversy. Though there’s been a lot of entertaining soccer, there’s also been plenty of outrage.
Everything from on-field decisions — with ever-meddlesome VAR reviews making controversial calls throughout the tournament — to off-field visa concerns has been tinged by controversy and debate. FIFA has stepped in to handle everything, even Mother Nature, receiving scrutiny for decisions consequential and baffling alike.
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Nick Bromberg
In this photo illustration, (L-R) Rodri, Alex Baena, Lamine Yamal and Unai Simon of Spain and Emiliano Martinez, Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez of Argentina ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match on July 19, 2026.
(FIFA via Getty Images)
Spain: The 2024 European champions have mastered the best way to go undefeated in a soccer tournament: Don’t allow your opponents to score a goal. Through seven games, Belgium is the only team to score against Spain, and that was just a single goal by Charles De Ketelaere.
Every other opponent has been shut out, and that includes a France team that entered the semifinals with 16 goals through six games. Spain has bossed the midfield against every opponent and will look to do the same against Argentina.
Sure, the group stage was a bit rough. Spain opened with a draw against Cape Verde and then needed a blunder from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera to win its final group game. But Spain has looked especially good in the knockout rounds and hasn’t felt in danger of losing a game for a single minute this tournament.
Argentina: Argentina has been the opposite of Spain. Sure, it keeps winning games at the World Cup, too. But there have been numerous times when Argentina has been pushed to the brink in the knockout rounds after an incredibly easy group stage.
By now, you know how often Argentina has sweated out games in the knockout rounds — and we’ll go through all of them in a second. But the win over Switzerland in the quarterfinals is the team’s only multi-goal win of the knockout rounds. In the group stage, Argentina outscored its opponents 8-1.
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Jay Busbee
ATLANTA — So it turns out that the method to create a two-time World Cup finalist squad is fairly simple. Start with a fan base whose devotion to the team makes reverends and pastors envious. Build a squad of rabid wolverines trained to drag anyone in a different jersey down to the grass, hard. Add in a manager who calmly turns up the heat on the pot you’re sitting in, so slowly you never realize it’s boiling until it’s too late. And top it all off with a divinity in human form, a genius with the ability to see the chess board that is a soccer pitch five moves ahead of the rest of humanity.
Easy, right? There’s your roadmap, USMNT: Be more like Argentina.
Of course, nobody can be like Argentina. That’s the whole point of La Albiceleste. They’re singular, a force unlike any in the World Cup this year, maybe unlike any in World Cup history. They are the defending champions, yes, but they’ve found a new, bizarre roadmap to victory in this year’s tournament.
Argentina scored twice in under seven minutes with less than 10 minutes left in regulation time to defeat England 2-1 on Wednesday, which would be impressive enough on its own … but this marks the fourth straight time La Albiceleste has yanked out the heart of the opposition with little time left on the clock. [Continue reading]
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Steven Goff
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It’s hard to fathom Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium eclipsing the prior five weeks of soccer theater performed across North America.
Could it possibly top the England-Mexico Round-of-16 firecracker at Estadio Azteca? Or any of the Argentine knockout cliffhangers? How about Belgium’s late rally toppling Senegal or Morocco coming back to oust the Netherlands?
But here we are, at the end of the road — at Exit 16W off the New Jersey Turnpike — for the last of 104 matches laid out over 39 days across 16 venues in three countries. [Continue reading]
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Armando Botello II
One match remains.
After five weeks of chaos, brilliance, heartbreak and unforgettable moments, the 2026 World Cup comes down to Spain vs. Argentina. One team refuses to lose. The other barely lets opponents breathe. Something has to give.
Welcome to our live coverage of Sunday’s World Cup final. Stay with us throughout the day for the latest news, lineups and updates before kickoff, then every twist and turn as a world champion is crowned.
