FIFA World Cup 2026 excitement continues

Hey, let's talk World Cup. The World Cup final is set for Sunday at New York, New Jersey Stadium. It'll be Spain versus Argentina in a major matchup. To talk a little bit more about that, we bring in soccer expert and co-host of the Total Soccer Show podcast, Joe Lowry. Joe, good to see you, my friend. Hey, thanks for having me. You bet. Well, let's talk about yesterday's semifinal between Argentina and England. Just tell me your reaction to really an epic comeback by Argentina here. I mean, another one of those epic comebacks from Argentina, truly one of the best games I thought of the entire tournament. And there have been some bangers, even ones involving Argentina. Think back to Argentina's result against Cape Verde earlier on in this tournament. So many of those moments have followed little Messi and company throughout the World Cup. This is a team that is sort of becoming the cockroach of the World Cup. You just cannot kill them despite how much you try. This is Argentina coming back from one goal deficit against England, all of a sudden becoming the better team, really, as soon as England managed to take the lead. An incredible comeback. Little Messi at his best yet again, the parts around him functioning like this highly oiled machine. It was absolute cinema, one of the best games of the tournament. Well, and what a cockroach for English fans, because they really thought there for more than 80 minutes of this match that they were going to get this 60 year monkey off of their back. How disappointing is this for the three Lions here? I mean, it's devastating. And you could see it after the game. You don't need to be a soccer expert, right, to understand just how much emotion and effort goes into getting to this moment. All these players from the support staff and the coaching staff to everybody involved. This was the moment for England. This was a hotly contested game. It was a tense, chippy affair from the start. They managed to take the lead. And then really, from the moment that England got into the lead, it felt like that's when they lost the match and they didn't have a way to really control the game from that point forward. They ended up getting pinned so deeply. And manager Thomas Tuchel then made subs to make them even more defensive and tried to help them execute better in that phase of play. And none of it worked. And you could see the devastation as soon as the first goal goes in for Argentina, that makes it one one. Everybody in that stadium in Atlanta, everybody watching at home, I have to imagine felt like the second one was coming for Argentina. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah. Deflating for English fans, for sure. All right. Let's talk about Spain versus Argentina. There are so many storylines that it is hard not to talk about sort of this generational talent clash between 19 year old Laminia Mall and 39 year old Lionel Messi. Who's got the edge here, Joe? I mean, I think Spain should be favored coming into this game. I do think Spain will prevail on Sunday, but it's not going to be easy. Right. We've already talked about Argentina having the real grit within themselves and of course, the quality to come back late in games. There may be more equipped than any other team on the planet to do that because nobody is better at playing the final pass than Lionel Messi. You mentioned these generational stars. I mean, Lionel Messi on one side, Laminia Mall on the other. There's the viral photo that's resurfaced again over the last 24 hours or so now of Lionel Messi holding Laminia Mall when Laminia Mall was just a baby. These are players that sort of feels like we're destined to meet in a moment like this. Messi and Argentina looking for their second consecutive World Cup trophy, meeting the reigning European champions in Spain with Laminia Mall with their balanced approach to the Spanish. There's just so much quality in the Spain team. And we saw it against France. And what I think was maybe the most impressive result of the tournament so far there to no win in the semis. France's ability to not just control the game with the ball, which is what they're so good at, but also to do it without the ball, whether it was in the press or when they're defending deeper in a low block. Spain had all the answers against a team that I think was clearly favored to win the whole thing. You can look at the markets. You can watch the tape. France was expected to win this. And Spain made them look like a team that didn't belong. So impressive. And I think they'll carry that momentum into Sunday's game. Well, and Spain's defense has been really incredible throughout this tournament. Joe, can Messi or anybody on Argentina sort of crack through what has really been a brick wall here? Yeah, of course they can. Right. And you mentioned it with Lionel Messi. He is the player. If you're Spain, you should feel confident about how you've approached this tournament defensively. You've gotten good performances out of Unai Simone in goal. You've gotten good performances out of young Paul Kubarski at center back next to Emerick Laporte. There's real performances that have come out of the Spanish back line in their goalkeeping unit as well. But then you look on the other side, and that's why it's so hard to predict these sorts of things. You look on the other side and you see the greatest player that this sport has ever seen in Lionel Messi. And you see the talent around him that is perfectly functioning to help make him perform at the highest level. I mean, Messi at this tournament, he's tied for the lead in goals. He had to assist in that in that win over England yesterday. He is still playing like the best player on the planet. Maybe if you drop him into a 34 game Premier League season, he doesn't look like the best player on the planet over the entire span of that long, grueling season. But in the World Cup, we have to win less than 10 games to go all the way. He still looks like the most impactful, the most talented, the most impressive player that this sport has, even now at 39. So can Argentina do it? Of course they can. Are they are they going to? That is, of course, the big question that they're going to have to reckon with. Yeah. Joe, I want to ask you, obviously, you've got a world class athlete and all of these guys are world class athletes. And then Lionel Messi, who is no stranger to pressure. Do you think Argentina feels the fact that no team has gone back to back in six decades? I mean, does that come up in the locker room as they're getting ready to take the pitch here? I don't know if it'll be something that's spoken about in the locker room, but I do think it's something that these players are probably thinking about. I mean, 2022 was this amazing moment for Argentina, right? Because Argentina really I know this sounds like hyperbole. They function around Messi. Messi is a deity to them and he's a deity to so many people around the world. Messi is different. And the players in this squad, world class players playing at the highest level themselves, they are willing to set aside their own personal ambitions for Messi. That's how it works. They run for him. They do the extra work for him on the field so that Messi can do what he's best at and what nobody else on the planet can do. So when Argentina won the World Cup in 2022, that was this vindicating moment for Messi's career and all the debate about is he the best ever? And of course, he always was. But really now there's there's no way anyone can argue, even from a results or trophy standpoint. That was the moment. It was about getting Messi his World Cup. Now the chance to do it again, to do something that we haven't seen in so long, to do something special in a game between the reigning South American champions and the reigning European champions, which we've never seen in a World Cup final before. There are so many narratives for this. The new generation against the old, the Spanish against the Argentines. Messi is at the center of all of it. And for Argentina, you can bet that they're going to want to get him another World Cup. Joe, maybe this is obvious, but we've been talking a lot here about the golden boot race. But I want to ask you about the golden ball. I mean, who do you think at this point and depending on how this final goes, maybe who the MVP of this entire tournament has been for their squad? Yeah, I mean, I think for Argentina, the answer is clear with little Messi. And we've talked a lot about him for Spain. I think it is a bit more nuanced. And if they are able to triumph on Sunday, and I do think they have a very, very real chance to do that. I think less about a player like Luminia Mall, who has been incredible. He's had his moments in this tournament, but he's not been 100 percent fit, was coming into the tournament, dealing with an injury, didn't start. The first game has not been quite at his best. He's been impactful, but not the truly elite. Maybe he is the heir apparent to Messi in a way that we've never seen anybody take up that mantle before kind of way. I think for Spain about Rodri, their defensive midfielder, it's not as glamorous of a position. Rodri, the Manchester City midfielder, he is the heart and soul of this Spain team. He embodies so much of what they want to do. He controls the ball at the base of midfield. He can play any pass. He can get out of any spot with pressure surrounding him and his timing defensively and his ability to control the game without the ball. It's been crucial for Spain. I think he was the best player on the field against Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, Michael Lyssaie and that French team. Rodri was the true star of that game. And maybe he's not a player that's going to jump out to you in the same way as someone like Luminia Mall or Messi or these other attackers. But he is so essential to everything that Spain doing without him. They would not have a chance to lift that trophy on Sunday. Yeah, fascinating stuff. OK, I know you kind of said it already, but let me before you go get a final. Prediction here, your score and who wins this thing and hoist that trophy at the end of Sunday? Yeah, I was wrong about both semifinal games. So maybe people should stop having me on shows like this. I do think Spain will edge it here just just barely. I think two one to Spain feels about right. What we saw against France was just how well Spain could dominate the play, even without the ball. I think they're low block defending their high pressing. They're in possession play. They'll be able to squeeze Argentina back and create just enough. I think Argentina will get something out of this game. But I do think Spain are going to win it. OK, beautiful. We're looking forward to it. Certainly enjoy the conversation. Joe Lowry, co-host of the Total Soccer Show podcast. Always appreciate the time, my friend. Hey, thanks for having me.