Spain and Argentina set up World Cup final showdown in New Jersey

Spain and Argentina will meet Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, after each cleared a semifinal shaped by late scoring and a dispute that spilled far beyond the field. Spain advanced with a 2-0 win over France, while Argentina beat England 2-1 and moved within one victory of becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.

Spain’s place in the final marked a return to the stage it last reached in 2010, when it won the World Cup. Since then, Spain had not gotten back to a final until this run, which also included a 3-0 knockout win over Austria and a 2-1 semifinal victory over Belgium earlier in the tournament. The results restored Spain to the sport’s biggest match with a path built on control and clean finishes, not the chaos that has often defined knockout football.

Argentina arrived with a different kind of momentum. Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez scored late to seize a 2-1 victory over England, with Martínez striking in the 92nd minute to complete the comeback and send Lionel Messi’s reigning champions into the title match. The finish fit a pattern that has defined Argentina’s tournament, where late surges have carried the team through pressure moments and kept alive the chance to defend the crown.

The final has also been framed by one of the tournament’s biggest off-field controversies. FIFA lifted Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension after intervention from Donald Trump, a decision that drew criticism from Belgium and UEFA and became a major talking point around the event. The dispute sharpened attention on discipline and authority at a moment when the tournament’s central story should have belonged to the teams on the field.

By the time the sides walk out in New Jersey, Spain will be chasing a first title in 16 years and Argentina will be chasing a place in a very small slice of World Cup history. One arrives seeking a return to old dominance, the other seeking a repeat that has not been done in more than six decades.