The Long-Awaited Spectacle is Here: A Historic Clash Between Spain and Argentina

Current world champions Argentina and European champions Spain are set to clash tonight at MetLife Stadium in the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup final. This marks the first time the continental champions of South America and Europe will vie for the trophy. A similar encounter was scheduled for March in Qatar, where Argentina and Spain were meant to face off in the "Finalissima," but the match was canceled due to military actions in the Middle East. Now, however, "La Albiceleste" and "La Furia Roja" will compete for a much more significant prize.

You can watch this match, along with all 104 games of the World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, live on bnt.sportal.bg.

The Spaniards are aiming for only their second World Cup title, while Argentina will attempt to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to successfully defend their World Cup trophy. Italy also achieved this feat, but that was much further back in 1938.

After starting their tournament campaign with a disappointing goalless draw against Cape Verde, Spain recorded six consecutive victories to reach the gold medal match. Remarkably, Luis de la Fuente's side has conceded only one goal throughout the tournament – in their quarter-final clash against Belgium. The Spaniards haven't played any extra time, though they secured victories twice with late goals from Mikel Merino – against Portugal and Belgium. "La Furia" convincingly defeated France in the semi-finals, winning 2-0 against one of the tournament favorites.

Even more astonishing is that the Spanish team is unbeaten in regulation and extra time in 37 consecutive matches. Their last defeat was in 2024 against Colombia. If De la Fuente's men win the title on Sunday, they will surpass Euro 2020 winners Italy and set a new record for the longest unbeaten streak in men's football history.

It has also been a considerable time since Argentina's last defeat, which occurred in September 2025 against Ecuador.

Having won the Copa América in 2021 and 2024, and the 2022 World Cup, Lionel Scaloni's squad could become the first nation in the world to win four consecutive major tournaments.

"La Albiceleste's" path in this tournament was far from smooth, but the team displayed exceptional character. In the knockout stages, Argentina had to go through extra time twice – in their Round of 16 encounter with Cape Verde and in the quarter-final against Switzerland. In the semi-finals, the Argentinians were trailing England 1-0 until the 85th minute but mounted immense pressure, securing a deserved comeback with late goals from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez to qualify for their seventh World Cup final. The assists came from Lionel Messi, who is having an outstanding tournament but is now two goals behind Kylian Mbappé in the race for the World Cup's "Golden Boot." The Frenchman now has 10 goals, while the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner has eight so far.

Argentina's team is the highest-scoring in the tournament with a total of 19 goals to date. This means today we will witness the best attack against the best defense.

However, "La Albiceleste" has lost three of their four clashes with Spain in the 21st century – the last of which was a humiliating 6-1 defeat in a friendly match in 2018.

Both national team coaches have no injury concerns, meaning they have their full squads available. Expectations are that Luis de la Fuente will field the same starting eleven as in the match against France. This implies that Pedri will once again start on the bench.

Scaloni will most likely make at least one change to his lineup – Rodrigo de Paul will return at the expense of Giuliano Simeone, who started against England. It's also possible that Gonzalo Montiel could start on the right side of defense instead of Molina, who had considerable trouble against Anthony Gordon a few days ago. Julián Álvarez will once again partner Lionel Messi in attack, despite Lautaro Martínez scoring the winning goal against the "Three Lions."