The World Cup Final That Could Make History

New York is getting its last few days of World Cup fever. Sunday's final will be the eighth match at New York-New Jersey Stadium. After that, most of the local population will be back to their first love of baseball, basketball, American football or hockey. Although the World Cup has been almost universally embraced. I'm into basketball. Do I think soccer is going to have the same impact? You know, I think with time, absolutely. Everybody's so excited about it. I love Messi. I have a bunch of shirts. I was in Germany for the Euros. So much better than any American sports event. So much. There's no comparison. Including this World Cup? Including this World Cup. It may not be the Super Bowl or the World Series, but soccer's biggest prize is currently the greatest show in town. Well, this is it. This is the World Cup trophy. This is the prize. Either Lionel Messi of Argentina or Spain captain Rodri will be getting their hands on after the final whistle on Sunday. It'll also be a cool moment for one of the tees when they realize how close they came and yet still so far. That's a pain Lionel Messi felt when Argentina lost to Germany in the 2014 final. But eight years later, he made up for it, lifting the trophy in Qatar. Now Argentina could become the first team since Pele's Brazil of 1962 to retain the crown. First, we have to win. I only focus on winning. I don't think beyond winning. For years, we have been building something that truth be told is difficult to say in words. To be honest, sometimes I cry alone. Just thinking about what we have achieved. Spain, meanwhile, have only been in one final before and they won that in 2010. If they do it again on Sunday, they'll once again be European and world champions at the same time. I said it back in the day that this team and this generation were going to give people something to talk about and that the path toward lifting the World Cup had to be precisely the one we have taken. First winning the Nations League, then continuing with the Euros with the difficulty that that entails and now being in the final of a World Cup. But we don't stop there. Our ambition goes much further and on Sunday, we have a beautiful challenge ahead of us to make this unforgettable for a great generation. We've had 102 matches across three countries. The only one left that really counts is going to be across the river in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday. Whether the World Cup leaves a legacy here remains to be seen, but it certainly will in either Spain or Argentina. Paul Rees, Al Jazeera, New York.