Spain kept six clean sheets and conceded a single goal on the road to the World Cup 2026 final. On Sunday at MetLife Stadium, that wall meets the champions.

By Vasco Almada

Image: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Our running World Cup 2026 tracker: results from every round, the updated knockout bracket and the day's big stories, updated through the 19 July final.

This is our running World Cup 2026 tracker, updated after every round through the final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium. Instead of hunting for the day's article, you'll find the results that matter, the stories shaping the tournament and the road to the final here — with the official schedule and results always available on FIFA's site. For the first time there is a round of 32 before the round of 16: the top two in each group advance along with the eight…

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The 2026 World Cup Golden Boot race is level: Messi and Mbappé sit on eight goals each. The tiebreaker favours the Argentine — but the Frenchman plays first.

Eight goals apiece. The 2026 World Cup Golden Boot race heads into the final weekend with Messi and Mbappé locked together at the top of the scoring charts — and with one delicious detail: if neither scores again, the trophy already has an owner. FIFA's tiebreaker looks at assists first, and that's where the Argentine smiles. Messi has four to Mbappé's three — and his latest two were worth their weight in gold, setting up both goals in the stoppage-time…

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World Cup 2026 final tickets are reselling at an average of $11,000 at MetLife, with some listings asking millions. Here is what Sunday's Argentina-Spain final is really costing fans.

If you were thinking of nipping over to New Jersey for Sunday's World Cup final, sit down before you look at the prices. Getting into MetLife Stadium for Argentina-Spain costs, on average, around $11,000 on the resale market — more than plenty of people pay for a second-hand car. The average resale price is hovering around $11,272, and even the cheapest secondary-market seat rarely dips below $11,000. It is the most expensive final ever: for context, the…

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DAZN has secured exclusive MotoGP broadcast rights in Portugal from 2027 to 2031, including Moto2, Moto3 and the World Superbike championship where Miguel Oliveira races. The Portuguese GP stays at Portimão.

Motorcycle racing fans in Portugal have a new name to memorise. DAZN has secured exclusive broadcast rights to MotoGP in the country from 1 January 2027, in a five-season deal running through the end of 2031. The package covers everything: practice, qualifying, sprint races and the full Grands Prix across MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3. On DAZN, exclusively — the streaming platform becomes the only home of motorcycling's premier class in Portugal for five…

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FIFA has confirmed Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić for the World Cup 2026 final between Argentina and Spain on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. He refereed the 2024 Champions League final — and Argentina's shock loss to Saudi Arabia in 2022.

The whistle for the biggest game of the next four years has an owner. FIFA has confirmed Slovenia's Slavko Vinčić, 46, as the referee for the World Cup 2026 final between Argentina and Spain, Sunday at 8pm Lisbon time at MetLife Stadium. He'll have serious company: Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic on the lines and Jordan's Adham Makhadmeh as fourth official. One of Europe's most experienced officials. An international since 2010, he took charge of the…

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Argentina and Spain meet in the World Cup 2026 final on Sunday 19 July at MetLife Stadium, 8pm Lisbon time. How they got there, the storylines, and where to watch.

Nearly there. On Sunday at 8pm Lisbon time, at MetLife Stadium, world champions Argentina face European champions Spain — and, remarkably, it is the first time these two have ever met in a World Cup final. They took very different roads. Spain saw off France with a composed 2-0 sealed by Oyarzabal, while Argentina had to suffer: a goal down against England before roaring back to win 2-1 through Enzo Fernández late on.

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Didier Deschamps questioned referee Iván Cisneros after France lost the World Cup 2026 semi-final 2-0 to Spain, claiming a penalty was missed — while admitting his side fell short.

Didier Deschamps did not leave the World Cup quietly. After France went down to Spain in the semi-finals, the French coach posed the question still doing the rounds: was the referee really up to the level of a World Cup semi-final? His target is Mexican official Iván Cisneros, who took charge of Spain's 2-0 win, settled by Oyarzabal and Porro. Deschamps insists a penalty on his side went unpunished and that it wasn't the only questionable call of the…

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Daniel Bragança's Sporting contract runs to 2027 with no renewal offer on the table, and the club wants 8-12 million euros. What we know about the midfielder's future.

Some names feel like part of the furniture at Alvalade, and Daniel Bragança is one of them. Academy product, club captain, owner of some of the cleanest passing in the Primeira Liga — and, by all indications, on his way out. The 27-year-old midfielder is on the list of players Sporting are willing to sell this window, and the subject has Lisbon talking. Cold contract maths. His deal expires in 2027 and there is no renewal offer on the table, which makes…

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England and France meet in the World Cup 2026 third-place match on Saturday 18 July at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, 5pm local time (10pm in Portugal). Here's what's at stake.

Nobody grows up dreaming of the third-place match, but there are worse ways to end a World Cup than England vs France in a Miami stadium. The two sides that left the semi-finals heartbroken get one more night to make a month of work mean something — and to decide who climbs onto the podium. This Saturday, 18 July, at 5pm local time — 10pm in Portugal — at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, which waves goodbye to the World Cup with this fixture. It's the…

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The 2007 photo of Lionel Messi bathing a five-month-old Lamine Yamal has gone viral again: on Sunday, Argentina and Spain play the 2026 World Cup final and the two share a pitch for the first time.

Some photographs age like prophecies. In 2007, a 20-year-old Messi — shy and visibly out of his depth — bathed a five-month-old baby in a plastic tub in the Camp Nou dressing room, for a UNICEF charity calendar shot by Joan Monfort. The baby's name was Lamine Yamal. On Sunday the two lock eyes again, this time with a World Cup final between them. Yamal's family, from Rocafonda in Mataró, entered a neighbourhood raffle to have their picture taken with a…

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Argentina 2-1 England in the 2026 World Cup semi-final: Gordon scored on 55, Enzo Fernandez levelled on 85 and Lautaro Martinez headed the 92nd-minute winner, both goals made by Messi. The final is Sunday, against Spain.

With five minutes left, England were going to the World Cup final. Then Argentina did the thing Argentina does, twice in a row. The holders won 2-1 in Atlanta on Wednesday in front of 68,239 people and will play Spain for the trophy on Sunday. For England it would have been a first final since 1966. They finished three minutes short. With Messi making both assists, which is the most predictable and least survivable way to lose a football match. England…

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Watching the 2026 World Cup in a room full of people from back home became this tournament's real habit. How watch parties and diaspora bars changed the way fans follow it.

One thing this World Cup has made obvious: plenty of people are no longer picking the match, they are picking the room. And the room, more and more, is a bar, a community hall or a square packed with people from the same place back home — people who do not need the stakes explained to them. None of this is new — watching football in company is as old as football. What changed is the scale. With the tournament spread across the United States, Canada and…

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The US travel ban covers 39 countries, four of them qualified for the World Cup 2026. Fans from five more faced a $15,000 visa bond — Cape Verde among them.

On Sunday, MetLife Stadium will fill up for the World Cup final. But there's a set of fans this tournament never got to welcome, and it wasn't for want of a ticket. They couldn't get a visa into the United States. The US travel ban covers citizens of 39 countries, and four of them qualified: Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal. There were carve-outs — players, coaches and essential squad staff got in, as did dual nationals, permanent residents and anyone…

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England face Argentina in Atlanta tonight and the winner goes to the final against Spain. Kick-off time, where to watch from Portugal, and why Messi has somehow never played England at a World Cup.

Twenty-four years after their last World Cup meeting, England and Argentina collide again — and this time a place in the final is sitting on the table. Spain have been waiting since yesterday, after seeing off France 2-0, and will spend the day watching this one with a notebook open. The match is today, 15 July, at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, kicking off at 19:00 local time — which lands in the small hours in Portugal. Worth checking the exact time…

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