ATLANTA — Lionel Messi sent in the cross that sent Argentina to the World Cup final after another improbable comeback.
Trailing 1-0 going into the last five minutes of regulation time, Messi fed a pinpoint ball to substitute Lautaro Martinez in the second minute of injury time to give the defending champions a 2-1 victory over England on Wednesday.
Messi also provided the assist to Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute for the equalizing goal.
At the end of another exhausting match — another in which Argentina was stretched to the final minutes — Messi dropped to his knees in celebration.
Argentina will play Spain in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey — now just one game away from becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
The title game features the best offense against the best defense — a clash of styles that pits Messi, the most prolific goalscorer in the tournament’s history, against Spain’s defensive juggernaut.
Argentina leads the tournament in goals scored with 19.
Spain leads the tournament in fewest goals allowed — one.
Something will have to give this weekend, when the biggest World Cup ever — a 48-team, 104-match extravaganza spread out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico — comes to an end.
It’s not Finalissima. It’s going to be better.
South American champion Argentina and European champion Spain were supposed to meet in Doha, Qatar, back in late March in Finalissima, a showdown between the teams that are led by Messi and Lamine Yamal in a prequel of the World Cup.
That game never happened. Security became an issue because of unrest in the Middle East, with Iran intensifying its attacks on neighboring countries at that time in retaliation to the aerial attacks by United States and Israel in a war that is still ongoing. The game was called off.
So, instead of playing at Lusail Stadium, the site of the epic 2022 World Cup final where Messi and Argentina won on penalty kicks over France and Kylian Mbappe, they’ll play just outside of New York in soccer’s biggest game.
It’ll be a showdown of soccer’s present versus soccer’s future, not to mention a showdown of the teams that held the top two spots in FIFA’s world rankings entering the World Cup — Argentina at No. 1, Spain at No. 2.
There was a famous photo taken in 2007 when Messi was part of a UNICEF program and posed with a baby.
Yamal was that baby. Like Messi (who now plays for Inter Miami), Yamal would become a left-footed star for Spanish club Barcelona. It is the most improbable of stories: from a photo together two decades ago, the two stars are set to be together again to end this year’s World Cup.
To climb into this year’s picture-perfect finish, Argentina had to come through yet another tough match after surviving scares against Cape Verde and Egypt.
Anthony Gordon had given England the lead in the 55th minute but the team’s other chances failed to find the back of the net.
Fernandez scored the equalizer with a long range effort as Argentina pressed desperately for a goal, and Martinez headed in the winner with time running out.
The game resumed one of the biggest rivalries in international soccer and there was a raucous atmosphere in the stadium even before kickoff as both sets of fans tried to drown out the other team’s national anthem.
That continued on the field in a first half that was repeatedly broken up fouls.
Leandro Paredes went in late on Jude Bellingham early in the game. Fernandez did likewise with Elliot Anderson soon after.
A tense first half ended goalless, with no clear chances, but the game opened up after the break.
Argentina and Spain enter the final with impressive unbeaten streaks: Spain is carrying a 37-match unbeaten streak across all competitions and friendlies into the final, having won 28 of those matches with nine draws in that span. Its last loss was 1-0 to Colombia in March 2024.
Argentina is unbeaten in its last 13 World Cup matches, with 11 victories and two draws since falling to Saudi Arabia to open group play at the 2022 tournament.
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