Messi and Yamal meet as Argentina face Spain in World Cup final

Argentina and Spain are down to the last dance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and ESPN’s match coverage has the final set for 3 p.m. ET with the trophy on the line.

The matchup brings together the top two teams in the FIFA World Rankings, according to ESPN, and it arrives as the 104th game of the tournament. The winner leaves with the World Cup and the right to call itself champion.

ESPN framed the final around a sharp generational split: Argentina’s Lionel Messi, listed at 39, against Spain’s Lamine Yamal, listed at 19. The network billed it as a meeting of master and apprentice, with two of the sport’s biggest names at opposite ends of their careers.

The game page listed Spain at +125 and showed coverage on FOX, TeleFOX and FOX One. ESPN’s scoreboard identified the fixture as Spain vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

England’s wild third-place win sets the stage

The final follows a record-scoring third-place match. ESPN reported that England beat France 6-4 on Saturday, calling it the highest-scoring third-place game in World Cup history.

That result closed the consolation side of the tournament and left only the main event: Argentina against Spain. ESPN’s live coverage promised features, news, video analysis and color from around the final day.

Former Germany striker and coach Jurgen Klinsmann also appeared in ESPN video coverage, where the segment was titled around his view that the final would be an “extreme mental battle.”

For Argentina, the spotlight lands again on Messi as he faces Spain in the final match of the competition. For Spain, Yamal enters the same stage as one of the headline figures in a team ESPN described as one of the world’s two highest-ranked sides.

The stakes are as simple as sport gets. One more match, one trophy, and one team left standing at the end of the 2026 World Cup.

This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.