#广场预测世界杯赢40000U Argentina vs Spain! A World Cup final makes history: whichever team wins will write a brand-new chapter

It’s a bit stuffy in Paris on July 18. In the bars on the Champs-Élysées, French fans watch a replay of the semifinal where they lost 0-2 to Spain, chug down the remaining beer, then immediately start booking rooms at a Mediterranean resort hotel. L’Équipe says the whole squad was “disgusted” about the third-place match against Germany two days later, and some key players have already arranged to fly with their families to Ibiza on the day of the final.
At the same time in Buenos Aires, it’s the opposite: under the obelisk, a few thousand people gather, waving Argentina flags and shouting hoarse—because two days earlier, they were behind England 1-0 in the semifinal, yet Enzo’s world-class strike and Lautaro’s stoppage-time header turned it into a 2-1 comeback. It was the seventh time in the team’s history that they reached a World Cup final. The contrast in form between these two camps is stark: one side—an elite team that just lost out on the title—wants to take a break, while the other—defending champions who advanced by a comeback—celebrates across the whole city. And the final to be kicked off in New Jersey at 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on July 20 originally might have involved France or England—yet the teams standing at the end are Argentina and Spain. Just laying out each side’s records already delivers a scene the World Cup hasn’t seen since 1996.
Many people may not have noticed: this final is the first time in World Cup history that the top two FIFA-ranked teams have met in the final.
In the June international window, Spain drew with Iraq, while France were upset and lost to Côte d’Ivoire. Argentina “sauntered” to the top with a slim 1.3-point advantage. After the semifinals, Spain beat France 2-0 and Argentina beat England 2-1; the real-time rankings still had these two occupying the top two spots. Opta dug through the archives: back in the 1928 Uruguay vs Argentina edition, there was no ranking concept like this—so in 96 years, it’s the first time the pre-match first and second meet in the final. Just that alone is enough to be written into the history books. If Spain win, they can stack two solid, tangible records on the books. First, they’ll extend their national-team unbeaten streak to 38 matches, surpassing the 37-match record set by Italy from 2018 to 2021—claiming the title for the longest unbeaten run for an adult national team. Their last loss was the 2022 UEFA Nations League final against France; after that, for four straight years, no one has managed to take three points from them again. That kind of stability is like Real Madrid’s second-generation core after a Champions League three-peat—dynasty power is clearly already in view. Second, it would be the second second-ever FIFA World Cup for the national team. The last time they lifted it was in the 2010 South Africa final, when they beat the Netherlands; that’s a 16-year gap. Once they win again, they can match France and Uruguay’s total number of titles. In the semifinal against France, you could already see it: the Bulls of Spain pass the ball like a string of candied hawthorns, while Mbappé managed just one shot all match. France’s midfield never got hold of the rhythm, from start to finish. That kind of overall dominance really is the strongest version they’ve had in these years.

Argentina’s records are even denser—effectively carrying onto the field three “curses” that have been haunting the game for decades.
The first is the defending-champion curse. After Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1962, no team has been able to win back-to-back. The last side with a chance was France in 2022 itself—yet the final ended with the title falling at Argentina’s feet. Now Argentina has become the second team in the new century to reach the final as defending champions; the first was… themselves. No matter how you look at it, it feels a bit fate-driven.
The second is the curse of being FIFA’s No. 1. Since FIFA introduced rankings in 1992, across 8 World Cups, every team ranked first before the tournament failed to win the title: 1994 Germany, 1998 Brazil, 2002 France, 2006 Brazil, 2010 Spain, 2014 Germany, 2018 Germany, and 2022 Brazil—each of them fell in the knockout stage. This 32-year rule now is being pinned on Argentina.
The third step is the ladder of total titles. Argentina had previously won 3 titles—once each in 1978, 1986, and 2022. If they win this time, they’ll reach 4 titles, tying Germany and Italy for second in history. Ahead of them, only Brazil’s 5 titles remain, one step away.

So why are the last two teams only these, not others?
Take a look at the other two who are out. France were completely flattened in the semifinal by Spain’s possession and control; after the match, the whole team’s fitness report went red. They were already pent up and just wanted to rest—so the third-place match against Germany was basically a formality. FIFA setting up a third/fourth-place playoff originally was to sell one more ticket and earn a bit more broadcasting money. Now the French people aren’t pretending anymore: on secondary ticket platforms, tickets for France vs Germany have dropped by 40%, and many scalpers are dumping their listings.
England is even more unfortunate. After leading Argentina 1-0 in the semifinal, Tuchel replaced Kane and shifted to a five-defender setup to protect the result. But Enzo blasted the goal open with a long-range shot. In stoppage time, Lautaro headed an instant winner. After the match, British media put Tuchel on the hot search, blasting him for wasting the best chance England had to win a World Cup in the last 60 years. England’s last World Cup win was the 1966 tournament on home soil; this time, it could’ve made Tuchel the first foreign coach to lead a team to World Cup glory—but it’s all gone. Before the tournament, 538 simulated 25,000 finals: Spain’s probability of winning was 56.31%, Argentina’s was 43.69%.
On the numbers, it’s still hard to deny the Bulls’ stability these past few years. Since the 2022 UEFA Nations League, this team hasn’t lost. In midfield, Rodri plus Pedri keep the tempo pinned down; in defense, Laporte plus the ever-reliable center-back pairing of Koundé and Simón stays steady too. It wasn’t an accident that the semifinal ended with France unable to get any rhythm. But Argentina has never bought into data trends. In the Qatar World Cup, they started by losing to Saudi Arabia, yet still ended up winning. And in this semifinal too, being down 1-0 to England and still turning it around—when Lautaro headed in that stoppage-time moment, the entire bench exploded and surged forward to stack like a pile. That kind of champion mentality is truly impossible to hide. Messi didn’t play in this tournament, but within the team, De Paul, Enzo, and the others are a group that touched the trophy in 2022—they know how to bite down in the final.

Now it all comes down to the match in New Jersey at 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on July 20. No matter who lifts the trophy, the history books will record it: either Spain produces a second title with 38 matches unbeaten, or Argentina breaks the 32-year first “curse” plus the 64-year defending-champion “curse” to win a fourth. Put the two scripts side by side, and they work better than any buzzworthy “hype” ever could. On secondary platforms, final tickets have already been pushed to an average of $1,200 per ticket—roughly three times the semifinal price. In domestic group chats where people stay up late to watch the games, some have started stockpiling beer and peanuts. Either way you bet, when you wake up the next morning and check the hot searches, at least seven of the top ten will be taken up—either all trending “Spain’s dynasty is back,” or all trending “Argentina somehow can defend the title.”

By the way, which side are you betting on this time? Are you backing Spain’s steadiness with 37 matches unbeaten, or betting on Argentina’s ruthlessness with consecutive finals in two straight tournaments?