Argentina v Spain in FIFA World Cup final: Preview, Messi v Yamal, kick off time

How does football keep doing this, throwing up story lines that make what is already the greatest show on earth even more spell binding?

If it isn’t enough that it is impossible to predict a winner between Spain and Argentina, then the deeper you dive, the more compelling the 2026 World Cup final becomes.

For starters, that photo. The odds of Lionel Messi ever playing against a random baby he did a photo shoot with are long enough, let alone he would become his heir apparent at Barcelona and that the Argentine would play on, long enough, to make a World Cup final at 39 years of age and overlap with the teenage sensation as he looks to steal his crown.

Then there’s the story of Luis de la Fuente being the teacher in Lionel Scaloni’s coaching course, to add a classic master against the apprentice tale to this clash of Europe’s best against South America’s reigning world champions.

But football and sport is so often about redemption; lost beneath the superlatives and other worldly achievements, like Messi gunning for the Golden Boot, his all-time scoring battle with Kylian Mbappe, while becoming the first human to start three World Cup finals in a bid to lead Argentina to football’s first World Cup title defence since Pele with Brazil in 1962, is that there’s a redemption arc to Messi himself in this final.

New Jersey New York Stadium, better known as MetLife Stadium, was where a crestfallen Messi trudged off after missing a penalty in the 2016 Copa America final penalty shootout defeat to Chile and announced his international retirement.

It was all too much. The pressure. The suffocating noose of leading his nation back to international silverware. The shadow of Diego Maradona.

At that point, it was 23 years without a trophy.

I remember hastily writing an international career obituary for Messi that night early in my career, full of what ifs, what could’ve beens and what does this means – for him, his country and for the history of our sport.

Thankfully, it was just a tempestuous, passionate snap.

Photo: Getty Images

But just look at the image at the top of the page and you can see the burden he carries in one moment caught in time.

As he slumped, an individual dealing with his own disappointment, his teammates look at him. To him. Even in defeat, it was as if they were looking for their cues from their maestro.

If one of the knocks on Messi from the Argentine faithful was he hadn’t just won a tournament for Argentina, but carried La Albiceleste all the way like Diego before him, then that just simply does not carry any weight any more.

Five years later, the Copa America trophy unleashed the shackles, ended the drought and released the pressure valve. The World Cup was then extraordinary.

But he wasn’t done.

Another Copa America.

Another World Cup?

With respect to this incarnation of Argentina, Messi literally has carried them through this tournament, particularly during the knockout phase. While Julio Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez have finally relieved some of the scoring burden off their captain, his influence against Cape Verde, Egypt, Switzerland and then England was other worldly – especially when you consider it is at 39 years of age.

Photo: Getty Images

Not that we need to reduce ourselves to debates over who is the greatest all time, but, if he lifts the trophy, anyone arguing against it being Messi will have to have a pretty compelling case.

If he were to do it on the turf where he nearly ended it all a decade ago, that would just be a story for the ages.

But, this is why Gianni Infantino can take his closing ceremony and half-time show and give it a big VAR review and offside call after this tournament has finished.

This game needs no bells and whistles.

It is everything a fan could ask for.

In a match laced with narrative, Messi’s role forms part of the compelling football theatre, leading a nation where this just means everything, where his continued success proves an inspiration for every little kid from every corner of the planet.

On one hand, this very accomplished team who are in their leader’s thrall, who have scrapped and battled, and who fight for this like it is still their holy grail, even though they already have it in their grasp, rely so heavily on an ageing magician despite having players who are at the biggest clubs on the planet.

On the other side, despite having the best young player – if not the current best player – on the planet, Yamal is just one part of this Spanish cog. One day, when he is not a baby, and takes command of this team, they might look to him in the same way Argentina does with Messi, but for now, he has a role to play. If he does something ridiculous, he will be the match winner. If he doesn’t, they will not lose the rhythm that has seen them saunter to the decider having conceded just one goal.

Spain celebrate their semi final triumph. Photo: Getty Images

De La Fuente’s side have all the hallmarks of their football DNA, one which this scribe in particular fell in love with circa 2008-2012. But what they lack in the panache of that side in their pomp they have in sheer cohesion. They’re perfect. They dominate games, they respect the ball, they have a machine in the heart of their midfield, Rodri, who controls the game in a very different and more subtle way than the other stars who have stolen the headlines in North America. But, they are anything but reliant just on the old tiki-take. Just look at the two goals against France in the semi final. If they need to switch gears, put a cross in, play more vertically or find a different solution, they will.

They were my tip well before the tournament, and a win for Spain is always a win for lovers of good football. They’re doing it with a coach who isn’t a rockstar appointment out of club land, but a preacher of what they believe in, who has turned this side into an international tour de force.

But, now that Messi is in another World Cup final, it is hard fathom he will bow out a loser.

That unpredictability, amongst the match up between calmness and chaos, teamwork over a talisman, precision against passion, is what makes the biggest game in world sport even more exciting on Monday AEST. I’ll take my coffee during the concert. Bring on the football.

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