Argentina vs Spain World Cup Final Match Preview | Can Messi Win Another World Cup?

Project 90 Soccer: We are live. Welcome to another episode of Project 90. My name is Antonio, and I'm here with, as always, my brother wearing that Mexico jersey, Marco Munoz. Marco, how you doing, brother?

Marco: What's cracking, man? Anticipating these games, cause man, not having games is kind of I feel like I'm just shoved in a corner waiting for the g for the next game to start. I missed the group stages.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. I know, man. I missed that daily, that daily just who's playing today? Three games on the schedule, even four games on the schedule, you know? We are we were so spoiled. but

Marco: Yeah, yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: Marco, this weekend obviously we have one of the biggest games, not only in soccer, not only in football, but in sporting history, right? The biggest global sporting event to ever grace humankind. In my opinion, the biggest game of all time, the World Cup final. Spain versus Argentina. Okay. Now, if you're listening to this right now, we're going to give you that score prediction at the end of this video. So stick around. Before we give you that prediction, though, I am going to land. I'm going to I'm going to drop on Marco a nice trivia question that's that's in regards to the World Cup final. So stick around for that as well. Maybe you know the answer. Maybe Marco doesn't. We're going to find out. but yeah, this weekend, man, the biggest game in history, right? FIFA World Cup final, Spain, Argentina.

Marco: Okay.

Project 90 Soccer: And I thought before we dive into what our predictions and our our sort of sort of take on this game, I think it's good to maybe look back at how both of these teams sort of got to the final, right? They're they're sort of their road to the final. And I want to see if you notice what I noticed, right, between these two teams. So I'm gonna start with Spain, right? In the group stage, they opened up with cut Cape Verde, zero zero, which was a shock, right? Right out the gate, zero zero with the complete underdog of the tournament.

Marco: But Yep.

Project 90 Soccer: Second game, four-zero, they beat Saudi Arabia. Third game in the group stage, one zero against Uruguay. Okay. Moving on to the round of 32, Spain beat Austria 3-0. Then in the round of 16, they beat Portugal 1-0. In the quarterfinals, 2-1 against Belgium. Semifinals last week, Spain versus France, 2-0 Spain. Okay. Obviously reaching the final now versus Argentina. Now Argentina. Little different, right? They opened up the group stage three to zero versus Algeria. Okay. Then two to zero versus Austria. Then three to one versus Jordan in their group stage. Okay. The round of thirty-two, three to two versus Cape Verde, which we watched together. That game was wild, right? We actually for a second there thought Cape Verde might pull off the impossible. Did not happen, unfortunately. After that, in the round of 16,

Marco: Yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: Argentina versus Egypt, right? Another game where Argentina sort of almost almost lost it there. They won three to two. Okay. Quarterfinals, Argentina, Switzer Switzerland, three to one. And then obviously in the semifinals, two to one versus England to reach the final versus Spain. Now, I see here obviously Spain, Argentina, they both won, right? They made it to the finals. But the biggest difference that I notice. Well maybe I should ask you, what what's the biggest difference you notice between Spain and

Marco: The opposition. The opposition, the opposition, the opposition. So let me let me put it this way Spain was eighth grade playing against seventh graders, while Argentina was eighth graders or eighth graders playing against fifth and sixth graders. Right? So I don't see any top 10 teams, any like I don't even know, top 15 ranked teams during the entire process outside of the semifinal.

Project 90 Soccer: The opposition. boy. Okay.

Marco: So if that's what you're referring to, it's the opposition and the caliber of the opposition.

Project 90 Soccer: That personally is not what I'm referring to, but that take right there, I think a lot of people share the same sentiment as you. And it's been talked about from the start, as soon as the brackets came out, right? It's how how much easier the road seemed for Argentina to the final, which I think is a valid argument, right? Sometimes it's easier, you play easier opposition than other teams. So either way though, they both made the final, right? They won their games. But what I'm alluding to is more so Spain They only conceded one goal all the way to the final. Okay. Argentina, look what they've conceded. One goal against Jordan, two goals against Cape Verde, th two goals against Egypt, one goal against Switzerland, one goal against England. Okay. So what does that tell me? That tells me that Argentina might not be as defensively sound as we're thinking, right? Although they have great defenders, they've obviously conceded a lot of goals. So when I look at Spain, I see their attack, you know, that's maybe a big factor for people picking Spain in this finals, not only how they play, not only them having a good team, but maybe the fact that they've only conceded one goal, right? What do you think about that?

Marco: We were kind of talking about it in the previous match, the previous semifinal, where the defenders push up quite a bit. And even on the latter part where Scaloni was going all in, I mean, you put in Otamendi, who not gonna give you much defense. Right. So I think that's just the style of play that they have. but to your point, I wasn't thinking about the goals. I was just thinking about the results and the the opposition. But no, yeah, valid point. Spain with quite a bit of clean sheets.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Marco: I think you have have mentioned it in one of the previous episodes. I don't know if it was four or five clean sheets.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, yeah. They you know, and it it points to maybe Kubarsi and Laporte, which we've we've seen through the tournament. Maybe Spain hasn't played their greatest, you know, style or greatest football you can say in these games, but yet nonetheless they've kept the clean sheets and they've made it to the final. We saw Argentina sort of struggle against Egypt, Cape Verde, right? And even like with England going down and having to come back and win the game, essentially. So To me, it's just an interesting sort of point of view to see them coming together now. I think personally for Spain, you know, Spain's best chance to win this game is gonna come from if these three players in particular start the game number one and have the game of all games, right? And for me, those three players, number one is Rodri in the center mid. Laminha mall. Okay, we've talked about him over and over. He has not come to life yet. But God, we all know when he does come to life he can really control a game and absolutely just torment the other team's defense, right? So Flamini Ball, yeah.

Marco: And before you say anything, before you say anything, is it third person Nico Williams?

Project 90 Soccer: The third person is Nico Williams, is exactly who I'm gonna say. Because, you know, if we look back at the Euros, you know, Spain was so dangerous, and it was because of the two wings, right? La Miña Mall and Nico Williams. Now we know for Spain, he's back, he's healthy, he has not started every game, he has not played the entire game, but I think finally now he's come back from injury. He has gotten minutes, right? And I think that Delafuente is maybe not.

Marco: Yeah, yep.

Project 90 Soccer: certain certain, but I think he's highly considering starting Nico Williams. And I think if Lamine and Nico Williams play and they have a good game and Rodri really like dominates the center of the field, I actually think Spain might have a better chance of winning this game than Argentina, which is sort of changing on what I've thought previously. But when you look back at the Euros, it's kind of hard to deny that Spain is, I mean, they're they're dangerous up top. And going back to the goals conceded throughout this tournament, You know, you're not playing Cape Verde anymore, you're not playing Egypt with just Mo Salah and some other good players up top. You're playing with like some world class attackers against you now, right? So I don't know. What do you what do you think Nico Williams is gonna start? Yeah.

Marco: yeah. I agree. I actually thought you were gonna say Pedri is gonna continue to be on the bench and and Fabian Reese, who I think has won the spot, was was gonna be the was gonna be the change in the starting lineup. But no, yeah, good point. You when back going back to the Euros, when you have Nico and Lamine on each side, you kinda have your hands full with those guys and you forget about the strikers up front, which are gonna leave those guys wide open. And to your point, Argentina has conceded quite a bit of goals and

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Marco: this can be definitely one of those games where if Nico Williams does start and they are having the game that we think they're gonna have, Argentina is gonna be gaining it from from everywhere.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, I agree. And and going back to now, obviously Argentina's conceded quite a few goals this tournament, but they've also scored quite a few goals, right? So looking at Spain, you got Kubarsi, he's only nineteen years old. He's a young guy, it's his first World Cup. he was not on that Euro team that won the the tournament. And Laporte obviously is more experienced, but the fact that Argentina have a deadly attack, I think Their strength as a team definitely comes in their attack. It's pretty much saved them the last like three games. So it's gonna be interesting, I think, seeing their attack go against Kubarsi, Laporte, Pedro Porro, all these guys, Cukuraya as well. and yeah, it's just gonna be can they keep another clean sheet? I don't know. You know, it's hard to say. So we'll see.

Marco: What what about for the sorry to cut you off, what about for the Argentinians? Right? is Simeone gonna start again or did he start against England because it was a physical first half and he's a physical but player. He's like a freaking pit bull. So does he stay in the lineup or do we see some adjustments there?

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think particularly against England, it's you know, English style is very fast, very physical. I think Simeone fits fits that perfectly, right? Especially Argentina's style. It's very rough, it's very aggressive. I think against England he was perfect. Me personally though, I think he might not start this one. I think actually Nico Gonzalez is gonna get the start. And if that means Simeone coming out, maybe not. Maybe he does start on the right, but I think Out of the wingers and attackers, I think Nico Gonzalez is going to start this game just because of the the impact he made in the last game versus England. but then you know, with Argentina, of course, there's Leo Messi, right? Arguably one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest player. And, you know, going back to back, talk about having experience now, second World Cup final in a row. He's been in three World Cup finals. Argentina, most of their players have already been in this position. for Spain, for a lot of them, it's the first time in a final in a game of this magnitude. So yeah, I don't I don't know. I mean, I I sort of think it's gonna come down to their star players, Messies, Lamine, Nico Williams if he plays, Julian Alvarez, Rodri, for Argentina, Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, like these guys, they need to have like the game of games, right? Because the better team on the day obviously is gonna win this game. And to me, who wants it more, right?

Marco: We're forget we're forgetting about one guy that can just change it off for Spain. Marino.

Project 90 Soccer: Who's that? Mikel Marino, man. This yeah. Yeah.

Marco: Dude. That guy, I see him on the score sheet.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. You see him coming on late?

Marco: I think so, man. He's he's been the right super sub.

Project 90 Soccer: He is the right super sub and and to sort of counter off that Martinez, right? Lotaro Martinez. Soup the super subs of super subs, both of them, right? And they've literally, they've both delivered coming on late in the game, right? So like if this game ends up maybe a one one, and let's say it's like the 70th, seventy fifth minute, I can't I can't see either coach not putting them on, right? Based on what we've seen already in this tournament.

Marco: Yeah. lucky.

Project 90 Soccer: But you know, man, starting wise, I think I think the lineups are gonna stay for the most part the same that we've been seeing. They haven't really changed them too much. Interesting for Spain, though, is Gavi. I actually thought he was injured and couldn't play or was had had some sort of injury. He's just been flat out just been benched by Dela Fuente. Pedri as well has been benched. Sort of shocking. But when you see Fabian Riz sort of step in and play the way he has, it's kind of understandable. you know, question I want to ask you though is.

Marco: no break.

Project 90 Soccer: Who do you think for Spain and for Argentina, if you had to pick two or three key players, right, to look out for in this final, who would they be?

Marco: For me, I mean, we already expect him or expecting from Leminamal and the strikers up top. For me, as Roger, right? He needs to like I like I keep mentioning it, mentioning it, he needs to be solid in the back, which he typically always is, and ensure they're playing coming out from the back versus playing long ball. I'm not a fan of longball, so I think for Spain, that's her guy. for Argentina, I mean, a lot of people probably wouldn't say this, but

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah.

Marco: Probably need another good game from Julian Alvarez. it looks like he got a lot of momentum from that banger he scored. So another good game from him up top, which if he has a good game, that means he's gonna be available for Messi to give an assist.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, I agree. They need to be they need to be on their game. And, you know, I'd I'd expect them to show up and play, right? These guys know know what game they're about to walk into. They know it's the World Cup final. You know, you see you see the fierceness and the passion from Argentina, and you see the sort of quiet composure, but sort of dominance of Spain at the same time. So very interesting clash, very interesting game and matchup. yeah, this game's really gonna come down to I think who controls the midfield, who wins the midfield, can sort of stop the opposing attacks. I think there's gonna be chances from both sides, right? Both teams are gonna have quality chances on goal. I expect a lot of big saves. I expect this game to get a little chippy, probably. I could probably see some cards. Argentina is really good at doing that, a lot of fouls.

Marco: for sure. For sure.

Project 90 Soccer: versus in that England game. but yeah, man, I'm really, really excited for this game,

Marco: Yeah, and who's to say they won't go to overtime and then go to PKs? and if they do, I think Diebo Martinez, he's shown that he's capable. And look what we did last World Cup, right? He can stop some PKs. So well I I give them the edge on that.

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Spe in that last World Cup final, I remember that big savers, I think it was Touram, right? Absolutely saved them in that game. So yeah, man, it's an interesting game. I guess, you know, in terms of of of who can win it, who's maybe favorited. I sort of see it as a fifty fifty. I don't necessarily see one one team being the absolute favorite. you know, we saw we saw, you know, these smaller teams come up against both of them and give them a run for their money. So Really, all that's just talk at the end of the day. It's walking onto the field, playing 90 minutes, maybe 120. And it's gonna come down to who wants it more, ultimately. That's what I believe. Okay, Marco, look, before we get into our final predictions for this game, right? Actual scores, before we get into t touching on the third and fourth place game, right? France versus England, that'll be an interesting one. We'll end the episode with that.

Marco: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: I wanna throw just this trivia question at you and see what you got. Okay. So, Lemigol, okay, is the third youngest player to ever play in the World Cup final. My question to you is who are the top two youngest players to have played in the World Cup final?

Marco: I can just think of one.

Project 90 Soccer: Who's that? That is correct. Number one, right? Seventeen years old and two hundred and forty-nine days. That was in nineteen fifty-eight versus Sweden. And now why why I asked this question is because we always like hype up how young Lamine is, how young, you know, Hilberto Moro was, or how young Kubarsi. Mbappe sits at fourth place, notable mention at nineteen. But sometimes we forget that this stuff's been done. This stuff's been we've seen this stuff, right? So we can't forget about the past. Okay, so that's number one. Lamine's number three. Number two, do you even have a slight clue of who it could be? Do you need a hint? Maybe you can throw give you a hint. Okay, well, he's Italian. Okay. Nineteen eighty two World Cup. He was an inter Milan legend, a whole career at Inter Milan. Legend legendary defender.

Marco: Give me a hint.

Project 90 Soccer: I say this name I say this name all the time for fun, just screaming out to the heavens.

Marco: Why am I?

Project 90 Soccer: No clue? It's okay, dude. It's okay. I think a lot of people might struggle with this one. But the answer, and for me, this is obviously easier. I'm Italian. Giuseppe Bergomi. Giuseppe. Yeah, Giuseppe Bergomi, 1982. He played they played versus West Germany, right? He was 18 years old, 174 days old. Wow.

Marco: drawing a blank right now. I'm drawing a freaking blank right now. Gio seppe

Project 90 Soccer: So that I mean to imagine being Pele at seventeen years old playing in the World Cup final, bro. Seventeen. That's Hill Belcher. That's Mora. That's literally if Mora would have made the final and started and played and won that shit like Pele did. Legendary. Okay, Marco. I thought that was fun. We're moving on now. This is the big question. This is the big question everyone's been debating. This is the question of questions leading up to Sunday, okay, July the nineteenth, the World Cup final.

Marco: Yep, yep.

Project 90 Soccer: MetLife Stadium, two international heavyweights, Spain versus Argentina, Marco. What is the final score of this game? Who's winning it?

Marco: As much as I want Spain to take the trophy home, I have to go 2-1 Argentina. They just know how to get their second win going. They know how to get it done. So Argentina 2-1. Doesn't matter who scores, it's going to be 2-1 Argentina, and they're taking it back to back.

Project 90 Soccer: Wow. That's a that's I think a lot of people are on the same page with you. And I'm on a similar page, but I'm gonna say I think Lamine, I think Nico Williams plays, I think Danny Olmo has a good game. I think Merino probably comes on. To be honest, I see this going one twenty. I see this going the distance, not to penalties. I'm gonna say a final score, three Argentina, Spain two.

Marco: Three goals, okay.

Project 90 Soccer: I think it's gonna be three to two. Yeah, I think Ar I think Argentina's gonna concede, right? We've seen it over and over. I think they're gonna concede two goals, but I think they're gonna go on that the other side of the field and just bombard Spain. I think Kubarsi's gonna have a very, very, very long night. Cucurrea, Pedro Porro, Laporte, Unay Simon's gonna have to be on, right? He's gonna be getting it from all angles. He's gonna be getting it from the left, from the right, Messi. Alvarez, I mean, you got the whole entire Enzo Fernandez be shooting from everywhere. So yeah, man, we're gonna find out. Now, tomorrow, Saturday, right? World Cup Finals Sunday, tomorrow we have, which is an interesting place to be, right? Is it sadder to I'll ask you this. This is a fun question. Is it is it more heartbreaking to make the final and lose, or to lose in the semifinals and play the third, fourth, fourth place game? What do you think's worse?

Marco: Okay. For me, I always want to make it to the ship. So to me, it would be losing the World Cup. but looking at this third place game, I don't think I don't think France wants to play this game. I don't think England wants to play this game. It's just one of those games where like, for what? You know, let's just go home. It's gonna be one of those games where neither of them really want to play. but ultimately, I think France ends up taking this one. I wouldn't be surprised if England goes home with the third place. I know I ripped Tuchel.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Marco: Right, for for making those adjustments and just holding, trying to hold for dear life for thirty-five minutes. But we can't forget what he did with the pi with with the with the selection of of the squad, the adjustments he was making, and how he had England deep into the semifinals. We can't forget about that and the the caliber players that they have, but ultimately I think France is gonna end up taking this third place.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, you know, Tuchel got a lot of shit for this last game, right? And it's kind of crazy because he's done so well with England and to now everyone just absolutely just tear this guy apart after making one couple maybe questionable decisions in that game. It's understandable to be upset, but he's a he's a top manager, right? He's a top coach. France did not have did not have a good game at all versus Spain. I thought they were way subpar to what they're used to. interesting though for this game is Mbappe is still tied, I believe, for for for most goals at this World Cup, right? So it'd be interesting to see how these coaches and these teams approach this game. Do they do you think they start all their starters, their best lineup, or do you think this is a game where all the all the players who maybe didn't get much time or any time at all sort of start this game and come on and play?

Marco: I think you should you go with your starting lineup. regardless of being a third place game and and you're not you're not playing for the final, it's still a very important game. You're playing for the third best in the world. and then I think we go with the starting lineup. But who knows? I wouldn't be surprised if there's some adjustments there and some players go in.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, I do. I see I honestly see Spain or I'm sorry, France putting in a lot of people who did not play as much. Maybe like Lucas Hernandez, Teo Hernandez. I see them maybe starting. some of the players who just sort of stayed on the bench, but I fully expect to see like I I expect Mbappe to go in because I still think that there's some pride there on a personal level. also for France, right? They want to go into this game and they wanna win. I'd say they definitely want to win this game, especially having lost the semifinals the way they did. Both of these teams. I think Mbappe, though, he's really chasing that golden boot, right? I think he's trying to get some some sort of victory, if you will, for France. but I end up I actually think this is going to be quite an exciting game. I think they're gonna come out with full intensity, and I think we're gonna be we're gonna have a special treat tomorrow when we watch this third and fourth place game. you know what? Time will tell. World Cup final. This Sunday, Spain, Argentina, those are our predictions. if you have your own prediction, if you think something else is gonna happen, leave it in the comments, okay? We want to hear what you think about this game. if you're new to our podcast, Project90Soccer.com, you find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram, TikTok. Project90Soccer.com has all of our links, everything you need to know about this podcast. but yeah, we'll be back after the final on Sunday for our match recap. I'm really excited for this game. And if you listen to this entire episode and you're hearing this right now, we appreciate you listening and tuning in. yeah, and until the the final until the final recap, this has been Project Ninety.

Marco: We're loving the comments. Keep dropping them.

Project 90 Soccer: Keep dropping man. We'd love to hear from you guys. Peace.