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Argentina and Spain will meet in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, where Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will face off in a star-studded showdown that unites the past, present and future of football.
FOX Sports soccer analysts Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović reacted to Argentina’s comeback victory over England on Wednesday.
For Henry, Sunday’s final is more than just Spain and Argentina: it’s a clash between one of the best the sport has ever seen against one of the brightest young stars in the sport today.
“For me, what more 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] It is the past, the present and the future and forever. “I’m excited to see that.”
Lionel Messi has a chance to lead Argentina to back-to-back World Cup titles, while 19-year-old Yamal can give Spain its first championship since 2010 and further establish himself as one of soccer’s brightest young stars in what looks like a torch-passing showdown.
The debate quickly moved on to an even bigger question: Who will win the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain?
Henry declined to make a prediction, saying that Messi’s history with Argentina and his legendary career at Barcelona made it too difficult to choose a team.
“I didn’t actually finish any,” Thierry said. “It’s why Leo [Lionel Messi] represents in Spain. “He played his entire career there and the fear that they will face someone stronger than any other human being because of what they have seen so many times in their country.”
Ibrahimović shares Henry’s opinion, but believes Spain has the tools to take on Argentina because their style of play fits well with that of the defending champions.
“Spain handled France very well… I think they can handle Argentina,” Ibrahimović said. “They are going to play their possession. Argentina is not a counterattacking team like they did today. They were attacking, but I think Spain is going to do their thing.”
Ibrahimović believes Spain’s path to its first world title in almost two decades will come down to patience. If they can maintain their composure and control the pace, he believes Spain has what it takes to dominate Argentina and emerge with the victory.
“You are going to challenge Yamal on the sides and I think Argentina, if they are not patient, will chase the ball and lose patience,” Ibrahimović said. “I think Spain is going to dominate that match.”
As he continued to analyze the matchup, Henry pointed to Spain’s dominance of possession as one of its greatest strengths.
“Now we have these two competing cultures colliding in this finale,” Henry said. “What we saw yesterday in Spain, in terms of possession, I don’t think it’s necessarily going to change against a team like Argentina. Here tonight [Against England]”appeared.”
Argentina once again found a way, scoring two goals in the final minutes to complete another comeback victory over England. The question now is whether Messi and Argentina have enough left in the tank to defeat a complete Spain.
“Is this the night they took the last scoop? I don’t know,” Henry said. “Are you going to bet against them with a guy like Messi and what this team is? There always seems to be a little bit of water in this Argentine well and it served them well.”
