Messi's Argentina face Spain's cool machine in World Cup final rich with personal twists

NEW YORK, July 17 : Argentina and Spain were supposed to settle a score in Qatar earlier this year, in the Finalissima between the champions of South America and Europe, before U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran forced the match to be cancelled. On Sunday in New Jersey, they will finally meet with rather more than ceremonial silverware at stake.

The World Cup final offers football's grandest stage a deliciously odd pairing: Argentina, all pulse, fire and Lionel Messi, against Spain, the European champions who appear to treat chaos as an administrative error and have turned control into something close to an art form.

It is South America v Europe, passion v precision, a match threaded with curious personal history, from the touchline to La Masia, where Barcelona's greatest graduate, Messi, will face teenager Lamine Yamal, the academy's dazzling young heir.

Argentina are back in the final four years after their cathartic triumph in Qatar, when Messi finally lifted the trophy in a breathless win over France. Back then, with Messi aged 35, another World Cup final seemed fanciful. Now 39, he is still bending time, defenders and probability.

Argentina's campaign has been less a smooth title defence than a pilgrimage through suffering. With 17 members of their 26-man squad having been part of the 2022 triumph, Lionel Scaloni's side have reached the final the hard way: beating Cape Verde in extra time and surviving nerve-shredding clashes with Egypt, Switzerland and England.

They have played at times like a team with their hearts on the toe of their boots, powered by Messi's goals, assists and flashes of sorcery. Each intervention has added another page to the never-ending argument over whether he or Brazilian Pele is the greatest