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Argentina and Spain are set to meet in Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final, where Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will square off in a star-studded matchup that bridges soccer’s past, present and future.
FOX Sports soccer analysts Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović reacted to Argentina’s comeback win over England on Wednesday.
For Henry, Sunday’s final is about more than just Spain and Argentina. It’s a clash between one of the best the game has ever seen against one of the brightest young stars in the sport today.
“For me, what else do you want? European champion versus South American champion and world champion,” Henry said. “Lamine Yamal versus Lionel Messi. The future and this guy [Messi] is the past, present and the future and forever. I’m excited to see that.”
Lionel Messi has the chance to lead Argentina to back-to-back World Cup titles, while the 19-year-old Yamal can bring Spain its first championship since 2010 and further cement himself as one of soccer’s brightest young stars in what feels like a passing-of-the-torch showdown.
The debate quickly shifted to an even bigger question: Who will win the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain?
Henry declined to make a prediction, saying Messi’s history with Argentina and his legendary career at Barcelona made it too difficult to pick a side.
“I actually didn’t finish one,” Thierry said. “It’s because of what Leo [Lionel Messi] represents in Spain. He played all his career there and the fear that they might be facing someone stronger than any other human being because of what they’ve seen so many times in their country.”
Ibrahimović shared Henry’s view but believes Spain has the tools to handle Argentina because its style of play matches up well against the defending champions.
“Spain handled France very good. … I believe they can handle Argentina,” Ibrahimović said. “They’re going to play their possession. Argentina is not a counterattack team like the way they played today. They were attacking, but I believe Spain is going to do their thing.”
Ibrahimović believes Spain’s path to its first World Cup title in nearly two decades will come down to patience. If they can remain composed and control the tempo, he believes Spain has what it takes to dominate Argentina and come away with the win.
“You’re going to challenge on the sides with Yamal and I believe Argentina if they don’t have patience, they’re going to hunt the ball and lose patience,” Ibrahimović said. “I believe Spain is going to dominate that game.”
As he continued to break down the matchup, Henry pointed to Spain’s dominance in possession as one of its biggest strengths.
“Now you have these two competing cultures clashing in this final,” Henry said. “What we saw yesterday from Spain, in terms of the possession, I don’t think that’s necessarily going to change against a team like Argentina. Here tonight [against England], they showed up.”
Argentina once again found a way, scoring twice in the closing minutes to complete another comeback victory over England. The question now is whether Messi and Argentina have enough left in the tank to take down a well-rounded Spain side.
“Is this the night where they took that last scoop? I don’t know,” Henry said. “Are you going to bet against them with a guy like Messi and with what this team is? There always seems to be a little bit of water in this Argentinian well and it served them well.”
