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How do Spain and Argentina stack up? World Cup final teams by the numbers.

▶ Watch Video: Fans elated for Argentina and Spain to face off in World Cup final

As Spain and Argentina headed into the 2026 men’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, soccer fans have already experienced heartbreak, pure joy and controversy during the historic 39-day tournament.  

Forty-eight nations competed in the largest FIFA World Cup in history, leaving just two left standing, with Spain in search of its second World Cup title and Argentina shooting for back-to-back championships.

“Spain came into the tournament as the favorite,” Paul Tenorio of The Athletic told CBS News. “This is a team that now is riding a 37-game unbeaten streak going into the finals.” But on the other side, he said, “Argentina is Argentina. They’ve won three consecutive international tournaments going into this World Cup, and they’ve done it with the best player of all time, [Lionel] Messi being kind of the heartbeat of the team. You can tell that the Argentina players are playing for Messi.” 

Here’s what to know about the World Cup final teams, players and their records so far: 

Spain looks for its 2nd World Cup title

Spain v Belgium: Quarter Final - FIFA World Cup 2026
Spain’s starters pose for a team photo before the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match against Belgium at Los Angeles Stadium on July 10, 2026.

Liza Rosales/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images

Despite being one of Europe’s top teams, the first and only time La Roja lifted the World Cup trophy was on July 11, 2010, in Johannesburg, South Africa, after a team of superstar Spanish players defeated the Netherlands 1-0.

Spain is one of just two teams ever to lose its World Cup opening match and go on to win the title — the other, ironically, being Argentina. It is also the first European nation to win a World Cup played outside Europe.

Without the likes of Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas, Spain’s lineup at the 2026 World Cup signifies a passing of the torch to a new generation.

Coach Luis de la Fuente took over the reins of Spain’s national team after Luis Enrique exited following Spain’s disappointing World Cup round of 16 exit in Qatar in 2022. 

De la Fuente chose several young players for his World Cup roster, including 19-year-old Pau Cubarsi and 21-year-old Dean Huijsen, some of whom he worked with when he was in charge of the U-19s and U-21s.

At just 19 years old, Lamine Yamal has been one of Spain’s breakout stars. He helped lead the team to the 2024 Euro title, and Spain’s World Cup squad includes 15 other players from the Euro roster.

“I think that I have very high expectations,” Yamal told CBS News’ Jon Wertheim in a “60 Minutes” interview last year. “I think it’s been a long time since Spain was a serious contender to win the World Cup. I see that the country is excited. I am very excited…. I feel good. I’m really looking forward to it, and I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”

France vs Spain, 2026 FIFA World Cup
Spain’s Lamine Yamal during the semifinal match against France at Dallas Stadium in Texas on July 14, 2026.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Spain is entering the final with a 37-match unbeaten run in regulation time, matching Italy’s all-time world record. 

In its seven World Cup matches before the final, Spain has conceded only one goal, against Belgium (2-1) in its quarterfinal. Goalkeeper Unai Simón had kept a clean sheet for a record 650 minutes, the longest scoreless streak at the tournament.

Another player to watch is 29-year-old Mikel Oyarzabal, who has netted five goals since the start of the World Cup and matched David Villa’s record for the most goals scored by a Spaniard in a single tournament.

Oyarzabal and Yamal are neck and neck in their attempts on goal at the World Cup, with 22 and 23 attempts, respectively. But Spain’s defense has a lot of work to do against Argentina’s superstar Lionel Messi.

Back-to-back World Cup victory on the line for Argentina

Argentina v Switzerland: Quarter Final - FIFA World Cup 2026
Argentina’s starters pose for a photo before the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match against Switzerland at Kansas City Stadium on July 11, 2026.

Fernando Leon/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images

Coming into the World Cup as the defending champions, La Albiceleste are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brazil achieved the rare feat in 1958 and 1962. The only other nation to have done so is Italy in 1934 and 1938.

With Messi leading the charge, Argentina’s victory over France at the World Cup final in Qatar gave the team its third title and ended a 36-year drought.

During this year’s tournament, Messi further cemented his legacy by becoming the all-time leading scorer in men’s World Cup history. The 39-year-old has scored 21 goals across six World Cup tournaments, and he headed into the final with eight goals in this World Cup. (Kylian Mbappé of France edged ahead with 10.) Messi also has the most attempts on goal, 34, at the tournament.

Messi also holds the record for the most FIFA World Cup appearances, with 32 matches. He is one of only two players, the other being Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, to play in six World Cups. 

Argentina's forward #10 Lionel Messi
Argentina’s forward #10 Lionel Messi reacts during the 2026 World Cup semifinal match against England in Atlanta on July 15, 2026.

ROBERTO SCHMIDT /AFP via Getty Images

Another player to watch is Enzo Fernández. In 2022, the then-21-year-old became the youngest Argentinian to score a goal for Argentina at the World Cup since Messi, who was 18 at the time. In the semifinal against England, Fernández scored a masterful equalizer on a pass from Messi.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni left out nine players from the 2022 winning squad and added several fresh faces who could help support Messi while protecting the defensive line, including Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.

It was Martinez who headed in a goal on a pass from Messi in the semifinal to give Argentina the stoppage-time win it needed to advance into the final. Argentina is making its seventh World Cup final appearance.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is regarded as one of the best keepers in the world, known for his distraction tactics and intimidating opponents, and he’s returned to the World Cup final as the reigning Golden Glove winner. Martinez is also the only goalkeeper to win the Best FIFA Goalkeeper twice, in 2022 and 2024.

This story has been updated with Mbappé’s total of 10 goals in the tournament.

JD Vance and the Trump team keep moving the goalposts on Iran

By CNN
(CNN) — One of the Trump administration’s biggest problems in extracting itself from the Iran war is the list of very absolutist goals that President Donald Trump and his team laid out.The goals have included complete Iranian surrender, regime change, Iran never getting a nuclear weapon and ending Tehran’s support for its Middle East proxy groups like Hezbollah.As the war — now in its sixth month — has dragged on, this list of goals has conspicuously shifted and been pared back. And Vice President JD Vance appears to have pared it back recently in a remarkable way, offering the latest indication that the administration might be preparing to settle for less — maybe even a lot less.Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Vance was asked how the war might end. And he laid out two goals.“It’s ensuring that the Gulf countries continue to send oil and gas to the world economy so that we have energy price stability,” he said, adding: “That’s goal number one: Keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.“And then, obviously, goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”This is not the administration’s old list of goals — and the order Vance placed them in is striking.When asked about Vance’s comments on Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that “both goals are equally as important to the president.”The administration has almost always characterized Iran never getting a nuclear weapon as the overriding concern.And even if the goals are truly equal in the administration’s mind, including oil and gas prices at all — and not other items — is a notable shift.In fact, Trump explicitly rejected this as a goal back in May. When asked if he considered Americans’ financial situation when trying to resolve the war, Trump responded, “Not even a little bit.” He signaled that denuclearization was so important that he didn’t factor in anything else.(Trump echoed that line on Friday, saying he would “never apologize” for Americans paying a little more for gas, given the stakes in Iran.)I wrote in March about how the administration frequently listed four goals for the war — but how the four goals frequently differed depending upon who was speaking.Some lists included ending funding for proxy groups, for example, while others did not. Some mentioned destroying Iran’s missile infrastructure, while others omitted that. Some mentioned getting rid of Iran’s air force and navy, but others only mentioned the navy.It was like the administration was workshopping the list in real time.But the key point here is that none of those lists included keeping oil and gas prices low in the United States.And given the Strait of Hormuz was open before the war started, that particular goal could just be read as a return to the pre-war status quo — with denuclearization being the only goal that would represent a new achievement.Indeed, the new emphasis on low gas prices from some in the administration seems like the latest sign of relaxing the goals to prepare for a conclusion to the war that comes up well shy of Trump’s initial aims.By May, it became clear the administration was no longer going to emphasize certain goals.By June, the Trump administration entered into a memorandum of understanding with Iran that barely mentioned previously central US goals.And for the last two-plus months, Trump has been saying things that sounded a lot like he might scale back his nuclear demands.While the administration previously emphasized Iran turning over its enriched uranium, Trump’s spoken about how perhaps enough damage was done to its nuclear program and its nuclear materials are buried too far underground to be accessed. The president has also talked about how the US government could simply monitor from space to make sure Iran didn’t try to retrieve them.He’s even claimed that Iran was already denuclearized.In other words, Trump sounded a lot like a guy who knew he might not be able to cow Iran into accepting a really restrictive nuclear deal.His administration talking about energy prices as “goal number one” — even if Trump isn’t — would fit neatly with this progression away from the hard-and-fast goals that the administration set out to achieve.If a return to the pre-war status quo really is “goal number one” right now, that says a lot about how little this war has accomplished.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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