World Cup 2026: Where the final could be won or lost

The 2026 World Cup is coming to a close after churning through six weeks, 46 teams and 103 games since its launch in June.

Just two teams — Argentina and Spain — remain in contention for the quadrennial world championship.

It's Argentina's second appearance in the final in as many attempts; it's Spain's first return since its victorious run in 2010.

They are, for all intents and purposes, the two best teams in the world, and it's fitting to see them here in the World Cup final. Their matchup is a fascinating one — here are the factors that could swing it:

The "teacher versus student" battle on the coaching front.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and Spain coach Luis de la Fuente shared an unlikely route to the top of world soccer: both worked almost exclusively with youth before making their senior coaching debuts with their respective national teams. "Scaloni and I, despite our age difference, have followed a similar path," said de la Fuente before the World Cup began. "Our victories have solidified our roles."

But Scaloni and de la Fuente's paths don't just follow a similar trajectory: they intersected at a key inflection point in the early 2000s. de la Fuente was a teacher of coaches then, working out of Spain's famous Las Rozas school, and Scaloni was his prized pupil. "It would be easy to now say Scaloni stood out, but it is true that there were some who had something a bit different," de la Fuente said. "That restlessness, how they would challenge you."

Twenty years on from those classroom days, Scaloni is the champion of South America, de la Fuente is the champion of Europe, and one of the two is set to become the champion of the world. Will Scaloni triumph over his former tutor? Or will de la Fuente prove exactly why he was tapped to train coaches in the first place?

The fitness of an Argentina legend...

Argentina is largely known for the antics of Lionel Messi, and indeed the diminutive attacker has been the Albiceleste's best player at the World Cup by far. When Argentina went through South America's arduous World Cup qualification process, though, the team didn't rise or fall based on Messi's performances: it did so based on the world of its legendary defender Nicolas Otamendi.

Otamendi is 38; he's unlikely to start this match. (Tottenham Hotspur's Cristian Romero and Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez are expected to be Argentina's opening center back pairing.) But as the game ticks on and the result gets tighter, Argentina is likely to leverage Otamendi as a security substitute to keep Spain from scoring late. If Otamendi does this job well, as he did against many teams in World Cup qualification, Argentina will have a massive advantage. If he whiffs his requirements, though, as he did against Ecuador in the final qualification game, he could put Argentina in a difficult situation instead of keeping it out of one.