World Cup final live updates: Spain vs. Argentina latest news, score, highlights and analysis

For those still hoping to get a chance to see Argentina vs. Spain in the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday, it's going to cost you big.

As of 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, prices to see the big event have ballooned to a median ticket price of $13,336, per Gametime. The get-in price for the match is $8,856, but tickets are going for as much as $63,524.

The game will be taking place in New York New Jersey Stadium, which has a capacity of 80,663. The highly anticipated matchup will see Argentina and Lionel Messi attempt to win back-to-back World Cup titles, while Spain vies for its first trophy since 2010.

The soaring prices make this World Cup final one of the most expensive sporting events ever. In terms of tickets sold, Sunday's final has a minimum sale price of $6,095, an average sale price of $9,3951 and a median sale price of $8,048.

For the first time ever, FIFA is putting on a halftime show during the final.

Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber and BTS will co-headline the halftime performance. Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel, the PS 22 Chorus and Coldplay will also take part in what FIFA originally dubbed an "11-minute broadcast."

FIFA is actually reportedly targeting the halftime show to last around 20 minutes. That is in conflict with the International Football Association Board rules, which state that halftime should not exceed 15 minutes, but "may be altered only with the referee's permission."

Expect the halftime break to be much longer than a usual match.

Unlike the Olympics, the World Cup closing ceremony will not mark the final moments of the tournament. Think of it more as like a pre-game show for the final.

Post Malone will perform approximately 90 minutes before Argentina and Spain kick off as part of a show that "will unite music, culture and football on the world's biggest stage," according to FIFA.

The closing ceremony will also see performances by Laura Pausini, Nicole Scherzinger, Robbie Williams and IShowSpeed. Plus, movie star Tom Cruise will make an appearance.

The pomp and circumstance will end with Jennifer Hudson performing the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Given the dominance shown at times, Spain is understandably the favorite in the final, and I trust them enough to win on the 90-minute three-way line (+130).

I have more faith that Spain won't get sucked into chaos ball than that Argentina will figure out what to do without its 62% possession from the rest of the knockout stage. Spain won't bunker like England did.

In 174 knockout-stage minutes while leading, Spain has had 56% of the ball, including 49% against France. Spain might get more defensive, but I doubt the Spanish press will diminish much, so Argentina won't turn into the battering ram that worked against previous knockout opponents.

Seeing a first half similar to England-Argentina wouldn't be surprising, though. That game was the first in recorded World Cup history (since 1966) in which no shots were taken through 30 minutes. This final could be equally cagey, at least in the first half.

Of Spain's last four first halves, two have been scoreless and one more had only a penalty; none had more than 1.2 expected goals. None of Argentina's four knockout-stage first halves had more than one goal or 0.9 non-penalty expected goals, and all had eight or fewer shots. I like getting good plus money (+156) on under 0.5 first-half goals.

Finally, even with a low-scoring first half, I think each team finds a way to get a goal in 90 minutes, and I'm going with both teams to score (+115). Both have repeatedly found a way throughout the tournament.

Argentina has scored at least twice in every game, and Spain has scored twice four times, with a single goal in two other matches, getting shut out only in the opener despite outshooting Cape Verde 27-6. If you can find a plus-money price on the second half having more goals than the first half, I like that too.

Best bets:

Spain on the 90-minute three-way line (+130)

Both teams to score (+115)

Under 0.5 first-half goals (+156)

When Argentina secured the right to face Spain in Sunday afternoon's World Cup final, the mouthwatering showdown sparked renewed interest in one of international soccer's most tantalizing what-ifs.

How close did Lionel Messi come to playing for Spain instead of Argentina? In an alternate reality, could Messi be taking the field at MetLife Stadium in the red shirt of "La Roja" instead of Argentina's sky blue and white vertical stripes?

Messi grew up in a modest home in a working-class neighborhood of Rosario, a city of nearly 2 million in Argentina's Santa Fe province. It was on these rock-strewn lots and unpaved roads where he became obsessed with soccer, where he spent hour after hour playing against his older brothers and neighborhood friends, where he developed a knack for producing magic with the ball at his feet.

When word spread about an unusually small but exceptionally talented Argentine phenom, FC Barcelona offered to not only sign Messi but also to pay for the growth hormone treatment he needed to help his body grow and develop. At age 13, Messi packed his belongings and moved to Spain to join Barcelona's famed youth academy.

Under Spanish law, immigrants who hail from a former Spanish or Portuguese colony can apply for citizenship after just two years of continuous legal residency instead of the usual 10 years. That put Messi on a path to potentially obtain Spanish-Argentine citizenship and to have his choice of playing for either country's national team. [Continue reading]

Spain: The 2024 European champions have mastered the best way to go undefeated in a soccer tournament: Don't allow your opponents to score a goal. Through seven games, Belgium is the only team to score against Spain, and that was just a single goal by Charles De Ketelaere.

Every other opponent has been shut out, and that includes a France team that entered the semifinals with 16 goals through six games. Spain has bossed the midfield against every opponent and will look to do the same against Argentina.

Sure, the group stage was a bit rough. Spain opened with a draw against Cape Verde and then needed a blunder from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera to win its final group game. But Spain has looked especially good in the knockout rounds and hasn't felt in danger of losing a game for a single minute this tournament.

Argentina: Argentina has been the opposite of Spain. Sure, it keeps winning games at the World Cup, too. But there have been numerous times when Argentina has been pushed to the brink in the knockout rounds after an incredibly easy group stage.

By now, you know how often Argentina has sweated out games in the knockout rounds — and we'll go through all of them in a second. But the win over Switzerland in the quarterfinals is the team's only multi-goal win of the knockout rounds. In the group stage, Argentina outscored its opponents 8-1.

ATLANTA — So it turns out that the method to create a two-time World Cup finalist squad is fairly simple. Start with a fan base whose devotion to the team makes reverends and pastors envious. Build a squad of rabid wolverines trained to drag anyone in a different jersey down to the grass, hard. Add in a manager who calmly turns up the heat on the pot you're sitting in, so slowly you never realize it's boiling until it's too late. And top it all off with a divinity in human form, a genius with the ability to see the chess board that is a soccer pitch five moves ahead of the rest of humanity.

Easy, right? There's your roadmap, USMNT: Be more like Argentina.

Of course, nobody can be like Argentina. That's the whole point of La Albiceleste. They're singular, a force unlike any in the World Cup this year, maybe unlike any in World Cup history. They are the defending champions, yes, but they've found a new, bizarre roadmap to victory in this year's tournament.

Argentina scored twice in under seven minutes with less than 10 minutes left in regulation time to defeat England 2-1 on Wednesday, which would be impressive enough on its own … but this marks the fourth straight time La Albiceleste has yanked out the heart of the opposition with little time left on the clock. [Continue reading]

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