{"id":805462,"date":"2026-07-17T05:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805462\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:28:19","slug":"world-cup-final-predictions-experts-discuss-the-argentina-v-spain-final-and-whats-in-store-for-socceroos-in-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805462\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup final predictions: Experts discuss the Argentina v Spain final and what\u2019s in store for Socceroos in 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

France were the hot favourites to make the final, but instead, come 5am Monday (AEST), it will be Spain who battle Argentina for World Cup glory.<\/p>\n

Despite being the European champions, Spain flew under the radar during the tournament before putting France to the sword in the semi-finals with a masterful performance that brought Kylian Mbappe\u2019s tournament to an end.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the pitch will be reigning champions Argentina, with their superstar Lionel Messi leading the way.<\/p>\n

This masthead\u2019s football reporters took a look back at the tournament and discuss whether we were always going to end up here, whether England were unlucky to lose to Argentina, and what the Socceroos are capable of in 2030.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Vince, you were the only one of our experts to predict Spain would be in the final. What did you see pre-tournament that made you think they\u2019d be there?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Oh, just because I have a level of foresight and intelligence that no others possess, basically.<\/p>\n

No, just because they\u2019re good, and when you get to the semi-finals of a major tournament, there\u2019s going to be four good teams, and the margins are fine. I don\u2019t think it should be that much of a shock. They\u2019re an excellent team, and they were just better than France on the day, but picking Spain to be in the final was not some Nostradamus act.<\/p>\n

\"SpainSpain celebrate winning the Euros in 2024.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Were there early indications that they would get this far in the tournament? Did they always look like a sure thing of at least making the final four?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Not after Cape Verde. But then Cape Verde ended up looking really good. But as it was their [Spain] tournament opener, a 0-all draw with a small archipelagic country, which at the time they qualified was the smallest country by landmass to reach a World Cup, they didn\u2019t look good back then.<\/p>\n

But then I would add that Lamine Yamal during the group stage, and then into the knockouts, started looking like a standout and someone who could impress and be a difference-maker. But he\u2019s still only scored one goal.<\/p>\n

\"LamineLamine Yamal will be a key man for Spain in their battle with Argentina.Getty Images<\/p>\n

I mean, as much as a team as good as Spain could sneak into the final four, maybe it just wasn\u2019t that all the storylines were really around Spain. I mean, they were for the Cape Verde draw, but then they had these minor struggles along the way, and we had all these other major dramas and upsets going on in the rest of the tournament. And there was a little bit of negativity, I think, around Spain in those early stages. And I think (their manager) Luis de la Fuente was a bit like, \u201cIt\u2019s fine\u201d. He thought it was just business as usual, and they were going to grow into the tournament, and maybe then it\u2019s all on us (pundits). <\/p>\n

I knew Spain were this crazy, intelligent, technical team, as we all know that they are. But what he\u2019s actually done with that team, their winning record and their undefeated record over the past couple of years says it all, really. So maybe we should have expected it. I just thought France\u2019s front three, four, if you include Michael Olise, was just unstoppable. But they just didn\u2019t show up when they needed to, and that\u2019s football.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And also, Spain have defended so bloody well, and not just in the sense that they put so many bodies behind the ball. They just don\u2019t let the other team have the ball for long periods. And if you\u2019re doing that, then in theory you can\u2019t lose, right?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s defensive football, but not as we usually think of it. It\u2019s just full control, and I just struggle to see, looking ahead to the final, how they will lose that control.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Who are our reporters tipping?<\/p>\n

Vince Rugari:\u00a0Spain win 2-1 in extra time. Lionel Messi will score, maybe Lamine Yamal will score the winner and we\u2019ll have a proper passing of the torch moment between the bath buddies.<\/p>\n

Emma Kemp:\u00a0Spain are going to score first, Argentina will score after the 85th minute or in stoppage time. It\u2019s going to go to extra time, and then Spain will win 2-1.<\/p>\n

Frances Howe:\u00a0Argentina will win in extra time. I think it will be close, and Spain will score, but Argentina will find a late winner like they have in most of their knockout stage matches. Argentina 2-1.<\/p>\n

Nick Ralston:\u00a0I think Spain wins 3-1. Possibly, Spain lead 2-1 with not long to go, Argentina are pushing and Spain get a definitive winner on the counter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Billie Eder:\u00a0I think it\u2019s 1-1 as we near the end of the match, but then Messi comes up with something to wrap up the match before extra time. Whether that\u2019s an assist or a goal, I reckon Argentina win 2-1.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s probably a good segue into France because they were the tournament favourites. Most people had France and Argentina as their final two. So why isn\u2019t Kylian Mbappe getting an appearance in the final?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Because he didn\u2019t show up in the semi-final.<\/p>\n

\"MbappeMbappe reacts to France\u2019s semi-final loss to Spain.AP Photo\/Julio Cortez<\/p>\n

Spain were very good though. I would just say that Spain\u2019s performance was probably the best of the tournament. I know France didn\u2019t show up, but Spain didn\u2019t let them show up either. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Which is interesting looking ahead to the final, isn\u2019t it? Because that Spain midfield is going to be the thing that dominates, and Argentina just don\u2019t really have a midfield.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

How do we see that final playing out? Do we think it\u2019s a sure thing Spain will win? Or are Argentina going to be able to find a way to go back-to-back?<\/p>\n

\"LionelLionel Messi and his Argentina teammates bask in the glory of their 2022 World Cup win.Getty<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi is such a difference-maker. I know that\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but I feel like we saw that in the semi-final against England with his two assists. He makes chances for Argentina, and they don\u2019t need a lot of them. They don\u2019t need to hold on to possession for extended periods of time, and they just don\u2019t quit. Look at the amount of late-game goals they\u2019ve scored \u2013 all of their match-winning goals in the knockout rounds have come after the 90-minute mark. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Spain will make the same mistake England did of going 1-0 up and then just trying to park the bus. In that game against France, Spain took the lead, but they kept pushing. England didn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think Spain would be stupid enough to go 1-0 up and then sort of, you know, borrow from the Gareth Southgate and Thomas Tuchel playbooks, and just try and see out the match. I think Spain wins.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The thing is, you can\u2019t stop Messi. No one has been able to, and no one ever can, I don\u2019t think. He\u2019s going to have chances to influence the game and set up goals. It\u2019ll come down to whether Spain allow them to be decisive in the match. Spain are going to need to properly put them away if they have an advantage. Otherwise, this bloke will find a way to damage them. And it\u2019s just about making sure that they\u2019ve done enough damage to make sure that when that moment happens, it doesn\u2019t cost them the game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The thing that\u2019s interesting when talking about Messi is how do you even try to mark a player like that? It\u2019s because he spends so much of the time walking. Half his tournament, he\u2019s been walking. But the way he reads everything, he can just be like going for a stroll, having a little meander, and he\u2019s just got eyes everywhere in the back of his head, and he\u2019s reading the game. And he\u2019s picked that pocket of space before anybody else even knows it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

\"LionelLionel Messi will be the most dangerous player on the pitch come Monday\u2019s final.AP Photo<\/p>\n

This version of Messi is maybe more dangerous than previous ones because he walks around, and so you probably think, as a defender, \u201cOh well, it\u2019s fine\u201d, because he\u2019s not causing you any damage, and maybe you subconsciously become a little bit more relaxed defensively. And you just fall into his trap because he will walk around, and then he\u2019ll run once and kill you.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Nick, you mentioned England before. Were they unlucky not to beat Argentina? Or did they get what they deserved?<\/p>\n

\"JudeJude Bellingham looks on after England\u2019s loss to Argentina in the semi-finals.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Related Article\"England<\/a><\/p>\n

They got what they deserved, didn\u2019t they? My phone was blowing up with English friends who couldn\u2019t believe that 35 minutes out, they were already parking the bus. There was all this talk of getting rid of Southgate and Tuchel finding ways to win these games that England haven\u2019t been able to win. But I think everyone, even those people who only watch football every four years, were like, \u201cOh, Argentina were always going to score at least two goals the way England were playing\u201d. It seemed so obvious, and it was like watching a very predictable movie play out in front of you. It was bad.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I was having this debate with my dad because he was so dogmatic about how cowardly England have been playing throughout this tournament, and I was almost defending England and Tuchel and saying, \u201cWell, they hired him because they knew exactly what he was, and he was the guy who was going to come and manage games and get them through to where they are\u201d. And he\u2019s done that, and he\u2019s done that through his smart game management. But against Argentina, it was cowardly, and there\u2019s no other way to describe that. To make some of the substitutions that he made at the times that he made them, it just honestly baffles me.<\/p>\n

\"HarryHarry Kane after England\u2019s loss to Argentina.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s quickly look back at our Socceroos. Do we think they ended up where they deserved to? Or should they have done better?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I think where they finished this year was in line with where they probably are as a team. It was a very tight group. They got a win, a draw, and a loss out of it. They progressed to the knockout round, and then missed out on the round of 16 on penalties, which means they got close. People can and should have issues with the way Tony Popovic handled the last game, and the shootout in particular, but I think, it was as expected. And I think some of the reaction has been a little bit hysterical, to be honest. I understand it, but I think it\u2019s been a little bit over the top because my fear coming into the tournament was that this World Cup would be a little bit too soon for this group of players, and that\u2019s sort of how it turned out.<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u2019sAustralia\u2019s Nestory Irankunda.AP<\/p>\n

But expectations will rise for 2030, and I think the minimum expectation, assuming that these players progress in their club careers in the way that we all think that they will, is that they must win a knockout game, as a minimum. And then possibly more than that, because it\u2019s a really good group of players with a really high ceiling.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Erling<\/a><\/p>\n

This may be one of the best groups of players Australia\u2019s had for a long time. Is it golden generation level? We\u2019ll find out in the next few years if Nestory Irankunda can get to the Premier League or if Alessandro Circati can take the next step and stuff like that. But I wasn\u2019t too down on where they finished. We should expect them to challenge for the Asian Cup in six months\u2019 time, and then why not go deep at a World Cup?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-805462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}