World Cup 2026: Spain v Argentina final buildup; England win 10-goal thriller – live

Key events

Tottenham first-team coach Stuart Lewis is set to leave to take up a role at newly promoted Premier League club Ipswich, the Press Association understands.

Former Wycombe and Gillingham midfielder Lewis has spent the last decade coaching at Spurs and won three trophies in charge of the Under-18s across a four-year spell before he earned a promotion last summer.

Lewis, 38, spent the 2025-26 campaign in a newly created first-team academy transition coach role and helped Jun’ai Byfield and Luca Williams-Barnett make their professional debuts during a difficult season for Tottenham, but will now join Ipswich as part of Gary O’Neil’s coaching set-up.

It ends a lengthy association with the north London club for Lewis, who featured in the FA Youth Cup for Spurs as a player before he returned as a coach in 2015 and contributed towards the development of highly-rated teenager Mikey Moore, who excelled on loan at Rangers last season. PA Media

It is a bumper day of live sport …

Formula One

Cricket

Cycling

Golf

Needless to say, it’s been a busy few days for Sid. He’s also been writing about that of Lionel Messi and baby Lamine Yamal.

I wonder what the rubber duck is up to now.

The man who took it, the photographer Joan Monfort, says he didn’t believe in destiny before but does now. In it, Messi, the greatest footballer of all time, bathes an unknown baby with a cherubic smile. The child, chosen at random and surrounded by bubbles, is Lamine Yamal. The footballer De la Fuente says was “touched by God’s wand” was baptised by him too.

Lionel Messi bathes Lamine Yamal. Photograph: Joan Monfort/AP

Sid Lowe went to have a big chat with Mikel Merino (another Basque) about his role as supersub at this World Cup and plenty more.

Coming from the bench isn’t the ideal plan for any player, but when you join a national team that’s as strong as I and Lautaro have, you value every opportunity and try to help your team if you come on or if you don’t. You focus on the present, embrace the situation, and think of yourself as the guy who can do it. I have complete belief in myself, my ability: every time I come on to the pitch I think I can have impact. In the final, I hope anyone [Spanish] is the hero. The trophy belongs to all of you, not just the 11 on the pitch.”

Mikel Merino and his vest. Photograph: Pablo Garcia/The Guardian

Unai Simon has had a quietly confident World Cup, helping take Spain to the final. It always go to show that having a Basque goalkeeper is worthwhile. I suspect he will have a key moment later on that could define his tournament.

Can Lionel Messi catch Kylian Mbappe after the Frenchman’s two goals last night?

I would still suggested goals in the bronze medal match are worth less.

It’s an impressively quick turnaround from finishing a match in Miami at midnight BST. You have to admire the logistics involved.

Hopefully the players can finally get some rest are a ludicrously elongated tournament.

The England squad has safely arrived back in the UK, landing at Birmingham Airport not long ago.

Bystanders watch the plane carrying the England squad land. Photograph: Cody Froggatt/PA

Ed Aarons has come up with his player ratings for the England squad from this tournament.

It transpires that Jude Bellingham was quite good.

Senne Lammens will come back from his World Cup frustration as a better goalkeeper, according to Manchester United team-mate Tom Heaton.

Lammens was at fault in Belgium’s 2-1 quarter-final loss to Spain when he spilt Pau Cubarsi’s 25-yard strike into the path of Mikel Merino, who fired into the roof of the net for an 88th-minute winner.

Lammens had come off the bench to replace an injured Thibaut Courtois in what was his only appearance at the World Cup. It was a huge moment for the 24-year-old but, having spoken to him in the aftermath, Heaton has no doubt the man who has locked down United’s number one position will bounce back.

“It was obviously a challenging moment for him, but I think that’s the life of a goalkeeper,” Heaton said following United’s 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki. “As soon as you put the gloves on and go between the sticks, you have to be ready to deal with that. He certainly is. I actually think he’ll be stronger for it.

“I think his personality is fantastic for a goalkeeper, so no issues there. It’s obviously disappointing for him, but I do honestly think it can help him in the long run.”

All goalkeepers go into a match knowing any mistakes are likely to lead to goals and can determine games. Heaton is sure Lammens has the personality to handle it at the highest level.

“I’ve certainly seen that from him as a young goalkeeper coming into Manchester United and dealing with that unbelievably well,” Heaton added. “I highly doubt he’ll be going into (the next match) with fear or worrying about what may happen. It’s more about what you want to go and achieve, whilst also accepting if it happens you can deal with it.” PA Media

Senne Lammens was unhappy at full-time after Belgium were knocked out of the World Cup. Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock

Get in the mood for the final by testing your brain matter with this devilish quiz.

Bukayo Saka hailed England’s mentality after their thrilling 6-4 win over France sealed a third-place finish at the World Cup. It’s England’s best finish at the tournament since winning it in 1966.

My colleague Philipp Lahm has written his latest column.

The architect of Spain’s vision is Johan Cruyff. He brought the 4-3-3 formation and a specific ideology to Barcelona. A cadre of tactical purists, such as Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery, refined his approach into a philosophy that has defined the playing style of the entire league, all youth squads and the national team for nearly two decades. Its principles include ball-oriented defending, clearly defined positions and roles, a high level of organisation, and technical, combination-based football. Eleven players operate as a unit, moving like a swarm.

Spain’s head coach, Luis de la Fuente, has internalised this guiding philosophy. He spent decades working in youth development at club and federation level, and his assistants are longtime associates. On the pitch, this style is embodied by Rodri, the world’s best player.

Fifa has been accused of providing an “open door to fraud” and allowing political influence to cast doubt on the integrity of the World Cup in a stinging rebuke by the Council of Europe’s secretary general.

In an open letter published to coincide with Sunday’s final, Alain Berset also called for a new integrity framework to be built before the 2030 tournament, which is mainly being staged in Europe, and warned that Fifa was embroiled in a crisis involving money and power.

Niall Mullen writes: “The never ending introspection after England go out of a major tournament is the gift that keeps on giving. What does the Peasant’s Revolt tell us about our inability to keep the ball under pressure? Do the Corn Laws mean we’ll never truly thrive in a positionally inflexed modern game etc.? All of this disappears various penalties down the years aren’t missed, if Gazza doesn’t slow down in 1996, or if Jordan Pickford was a step to his right and had slightly longer arms on Wednesday night. The psychoanalysis of a nation based on the bounce of a ball is obviously absurd, but it is hugely entertaining. So please keep it coming.”

THIS IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR!!!

Goalkeeper Radek Vitek is ready to leave Manchester United in search of regular first-team football.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan with Bristol City, where the former Czech Republic Under-21 international kept 12 clean sheets in 41 appearances.

With Senne Lammens having locked down United’s number-one spot since joining last September and Karl Darlow freshly arrived as his new number two, Vitek knows he must leave Old Trafford to further his development and is ready to make the move permanent if necessary.

“I feel great and ready to go again somewhere to hopefully be number one,” Vitek said after playing the second half of United’s 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki. “I hope there will be some interest. I think you will know when the things are more concrete.”

Vitek, who has been linked with Scottish champions Celtic, has two years left on the United contract he signed last summer. He joined United as a 16-year-old from Czech club Sigma Olomouc and spent time on loan with Accrington and Austrian club BW Linz before spending last season in the Championship.

Asked if he preferred a loan or a permanent move, Vitek added: “I’m ready for both to be fair. It depends on what the club wants and also depends on the options and, yeah, we’ll see.

“There’s been a few interests on the table, but we’re hoping to get the best one and hopefully it will happen soon. I want to play every week and that’s the goal for next season. Hopefully I find out soon where that’s going to be.” PA Media

Radek Vitek featured for Manchester United in a friendly on Saturday. Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

The Nobel prize-winning economist Simon Kuznets said there were four types of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan and Argentina. Not fitting easily into a type, especially in our binary times when complexity and nuance have become increasingly alien to our processing abilities, is characteristic of Argentina and its people.

There is a meme doing the rounds that says: “To kick the Spanish out, first we had kick out the British. History is cyclical and repeats itself.” The image is of battles of independence more than two centuries ago, and the reference is to two British military incursions met with enough resistance to stop them. We learn about the British invasions in primary school in Argentina but I have never met a Briton who has heard of them.

Thanks Daniel. Larks galore await!

Righto, that’s it from me for now. Here’s Will Unwin, who’ll croon you through the next bit.

It’s amazing, really, the environment Scaloni has cultivated for his squad. Their sense of mission is palpable, the sense of destiny mystical, and their unity in that supernatural. How well that works against Spain’s composure will go a long way towards settling our final.

For England, watching Sunday’s final will be painful. Why can’t we cross the line? Is it to do with our social, cultural makeup? I believe it is to do with the mental part of the game. At the highest level you have to train your muscles in your brain as much as you train the rest of your body, to be able ensure emotion doesn’t plague your performance under pressure. We have to ask ourselves, why are Argentina so successful at delivering when it really matters and we’re not?

This is not about tactics, it is not about substitutions. We are being shortsighted and emotional when we discuss those things straight after a semi-final defeat. Long term, we have to ask what is it in our psyche that we haven’t addressed as a nation to overcome this? And how do we all contribute to that; players, coaches, fans, media, clubs … all of us?

I think this point is reflected in the difficulty English football has with controlling midfielders, players able to remain calm in the maelstrom, in favour of box-to-boxers charging about, exhorting their teammates to yet greater physical effort.

Emma Hayes has been, for mine, the best pundit on UK telly. I’m delighted to embed her in written form.

We’re just under way at Lord’s…

Email! “I know not many people pay attention to the Olympics,” writes Santi Alonso, a nervous Spain fan in the UK. “But after winning the Euros, Spain had a barnstorming final against Henry’s France. Fermín and Alex were part of the Euros squad and went on to win the gold medal and, due to Fermín’s injury Alex finds himself in a unique position. Should Spain win today, he would simultaneously be reigning European champion, reigning Olympic champion and reigning world champion. That exact three-crown status would be unprecedented. Quite literally the most complete reigning international champion any male footballer has ever been.”

Decent haul, in fairness.

I daresay the sides will be hoping for different things from the ref. Spain will want Slavko Vincic to punish fouls and dish out cards, while Argentina will hope he gives players a chance or two and lets the game flow. I’m not foreseeing a classic.

Argentina have scored goals, yes, but doing so against Spain is a different proposition to against any other team, requiring a level of efficiency in possession and ruthlessness when converting chances. In Messi and Julián Alvarez, they have players able to bag out of nothing, but whether they’re afforded requisite opportunity to make that happen is far from a given.

I do wonder, though, if Argentina will change systems, as I’m not sure you can beat Spain with a 4-4-2. France’s 4-2-3-1 cost them the game, I think, Deschamps’ major error not leaving out a wide attacker for an extra midfielder. Though De la Fuente’s men aren’t the greatest in attack, the control they’ll have if Rodri, Fabián Ruiz and Dani Olmo have only Leandro Paredes and Alexis Mc Allister tracking them will surely be too great for them to be seriously threatened.

But should Argentina man-mark Rodri? I’m minded – of course – of the time Sam Allardyce stuck Kevin Davies on Claude Makélélé, and I’m certain Scaloni is too. Thing is, Rodri is a different league as a player, stronger, cleverer and a better passer; perhaps it’d make more sense to try cutting off his passing angles.

Rodri in action against France. Photograph: DeFodi Images/Shutterstock

I can’t think of any reason to man-mark Messi. He barely features in the game these days, so to take a man away from your own team takes away the advantage of a contest that, at times, is 11v10. What Spain must do is track his run when he attacks the box and, er, um … not allow him unchallenged possession just outside their box for 15 minutes straight until he conjures something.

The thing with Kane is he needs service, which is one reason I think his big-game record is spotty: it’s hard to give him what he needs against the better teams. But it’s also the case that England’s wingers, perhaps with the exception of Saka, aren’t providers, rather wide attackers looking to get themselves to goal. I think that’s why, as the tournament progressed, Kane seemed to drop deeper, playing more as an attacking pivot than a spearhead – all the more so as England’s full-backs weren’t equipped to keep the width. The problem is not insurmountable, but for it to be solved, the manager must recognise it exists.

To change the subject for a second and return to an old one, the more i think about it, the more £117m on Morgan Rogers is bizarre. It’s amazing that Chelsea are able to keep spending like this, almost £2bn done in four years; if that’s within the rules, the rules are wrong, because it isn’t sport.

Theren’t many, if any, better at dissecting football and Argentinian culture than Marcela.

I struggle to see a footballing route to victory for Argentina, but luckily for them, it’s not really about that, rather a quasi-religious attempt to write their own mythology: they believe. And that is a very potent thing, especially when as the high prophet of destiny, they have Lionel Messi.

The extent to which the squad revere him, committed to doing his running, getting him the ball, and getting after anyone who dare foul or cheek him, is unlike anything I’ve seen before. If Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez play really well – and they are capable – they’ve a chance.

So to our final…

A bit of non-World Cup news:

I like Andrey Santos – in particular his ability to punch passes through the lines. He’s not as good as Mateus Fernandes, who United hoped to sign, and in the end, quality is more important than value for money, but the arrival of Youri Tielemans for a bargain fee makes this look a fairly solid acquisition.

The miscalculation here is that football, rather than making money because it exists, exists to make money. Flogging tickets to corporates is no great genius and there is more than enough money in the game to keep it for the people – the problem is the lack of will and care.

For England, I’m not sure I’d want to use Rogers in the same XI as Jude Bellingham – initially, Tuchel felt the same and I’m not certain why he changed. If you’ve got Harry Kane in your team, you need wide players to service him, and Rogers is looking to score, not provide.

Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane – is there room for all three in an England starting XI? Photograph: Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

What do we think about this move? I guess I’m glad he’s not going to Arsenal, who I think need a winger more than a threat starting from wide – Christos Tzolis seems a better fit – and I’m interested to see how Xabi Alonso uses him.

The fee, of course, is astounding – he’s a good player but neither elite nor a cert to become so – but if any transfer succeeds, it’s worth the money a club is lucky enough to pay for it.

Watching England against France – though, of course, defensive intensity was lower – it was still noticeable how dangerous Saka and Marcus Rashford were on the counter. Had Tuchel sent them on against Argentina soon after England scored, Lionel Scaolini’s men would’ve had to respect it and might well have feared it, forced, at the very least, to leave defenders back to mark them, while their own team would’ve had out-balls and a serious threat, meaning when they cleared their lines, it wouldn’t have simply been to face yet another attack.

It find it strange that, given his team struggled for control and also to break down tight defences, Tuchel didn’t give Mainoo a single second on the pitch – and seemed to have decided as much by the Panama game, when he brought on Henderson in preference. England desperately lacked midfield balance, control, poise and craft, a problem that eventually cost them – and is the main reason I’d have given them little chance of beating Spain had they made the final. Anderson and Rice are fine players, but given Bellingham is essential, I’d want only one, with the trio completed by a more technical and cerebral type – which needn’t be Mainoo, he was just the only one in the squad.

Kobbie Mainoo’s position in the team-group shot is sadly perfect.

I can’t say this didn’t grind ma gears. In picking Henderson, a player miles off the standard and never likely to play in a meaningful match – with Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White, Fill Phoden and Cole Palmer left at home – the tacit message was the players weren’t trusted to motivate and inspire themselves, the squad sufficiently complete to do without maverick and unique attacking talents. it was patently not the case at the time, and was shown to be so throughout the tournament.

Tuchel revealed that Jordan Henderson had delivered a speech before the game that had helped to put their achievement in perspective. ‘He put us in the right frame of mind, with everyone in one mindset. It was unbelievable because today was very emotional. We built something very special in the last seven weeks, and we’ll never negotiate on that. I still stand by my words, that we need to play better football, manage games better under pressure, take better decisions under pressure. We need to defend more economically.”

Tuchel shares his thoughts on game and tournament.

Here’s Ed Aarons’ match report.

Was Thomas Tuchel too sparing in his use of Saka? If he was fit enough to start and star against France, he was surely ready to deliver against Argentina, yet Morgan Rogers was preferred from the start and, in the event, didn’t even get on to the pitch. I can’t say those are calls which looked great at the time, nor have they aged well.

This isn’t the first time the third-place playoff has delivered goals. I wonder if, in a match which does’t matter that much to the teams, many of whom are nursing severe disappointment and regret – certainly so of England and France – defending is the first thing to go.

A score more tennis than football, but what do we think of England 6-4 France? Relive it with John Brewin’s MBM report:

Preamble

Greetings greetings! forty-eight teams, five weeks and 103 matches; welcome to World Cup final day!

Of course we’ll be looking back at England’s absurd victory France, as well as forward to our Spain v Argentina denouement, the champions of Europe taking on the champions of South America with the former going for two major tournament wins in a row and the latter a fourth, including what would be a second consecutive World Cup and the first since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. Never has football seen anything like this.

So what makes these teams special? Send in your thoughts, and we’ll also reflect on our best and worst moments, goals, matches, performances, players, and ephemera. Let’s go!