World Cup final: Spain v Argentina, MetLefe Stadium, New Jersey, Sunday 8pm Irish time – Live on RTÉ 2 and BBC One Fate and Fifa have decreed that the 2026 World Cup final should be Spain v Argentina. The perfect final, as we probably should have seen all along.France’s forwards had dazzled the world, but they proved in the end to be the false heroes. In Dallas, France were the bull and Spain the matador. In Atlanta, England’s cowardly lions fled before the fury of Argentina.The final is not so much a “clash of styles” as the confrontation of two opposite ways of seeing the world.On one side: structure, precision, foresight, the rational ordering of space and time, smooth classical harmony. On the other: an inexplicable frenzy of tears, rage, ecstasy, barbecue, violence and genius.Logic says Spain are the better team, with the clearer idea of what they are trying to do. But logic would say that. The Spanish team is pleasing to the eye of logic. Spain are built according to the principles of logic.But logic is only half the story in this, the greatest-ever final in terms of narrative dualities. Superego v id, left brain v right brain, Apollo v Dionysus.It’s almost too much that it’s happening on the same weekend as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opens across the United States. The wily bearded protagonist is on the verge of completing the most epic homecoming in the history of sport.Argentina's forward Lionel Messi celebrates after beating England in the World Cup. Photograph: Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Lionel Messi has schemed his way past all manner of trials and monsters. (Lopes Cabral’s shot for Cape Verde, in hindsight so clearly the hurled boulder of Polyphemus.)The final test brings him face to face with his own past.We see now that Messi has actually had two distinct careers: the first with Barcelona, the second with Argentina.He played his last game for Barcelona on the May 16th, 2021, a month before his 34th birthday. He scored Barcelona’s goal – his 672nd for the club – in a 2-1 home defeat to Celta Vigo. Thanks to Covid, there was nobody there to see it.Years of mismanagement had left Barcelona’s finances in chaos; they decided they could no longer afford to keep Messi on €100 million a year, and now they were plotting to be rid of him. His club career was fizzling out amid acrimony and betrayal.His international career until that point had brought only torment. For years he had been seen by his own people as other. A quiet boy, maybe more Catalan than Argentinian. A cold fish. Clearly brilliant, but different from the operatic Maradona in many disappointing ways. In the biggest moments, he had failed to deliver.When Argentina lost 3-0 to Croatia in the 2018 World Cup, Diego Simeone sent a WhatsApp voice note to a friend, who could not resist forwarding it to just one other person, and within minutes the whole world had heard the Atletico Madrid manager’s withering verdict on Messi’s time with Argentina.“I see anarchy, a team that is lost,” Simeone said. “There is no leadership from the management or from those who are supposed to lead.”Lamine Yamal of Spain controls the ball against Theo Hernandez of France in the World Cup semi-final. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty It was clear who Simeone blamed for the vacuum of leadership.“Messi is very good, but it is clear that he is very good because he is surrounded by extraordinary players [at Barcelona] ... The question I ask is if you have to choose between Messi and Ronaldo in a normal team, who would you choose?”Simeone was only saying what many at that time believed: that Messi was a kind of hothouse flower, a spoiled prince, superb in the Barcelona context where he was waited on hand and foot by great players, and wilting when forced to fend for himself in the real world.It looks as though Messi took that personally.Fifty-five days after his last match in the colours of Barcelona, he led Argentina to victory in the 2021 Copa America final against Brazil. They have not stopped winning since. Between the ages of 34 and 39, he has put together one of the greatest international careers of all time. He has done what seemed impossible in actually surpassing Maradona.Messi-Barcelona is widely seen as the greatest side in the history of club football. Win this final on Sunday and Messi-Argentina can legitimately claim to be the best international team of all time. No country has ever won two continental championships and two World Cups in a row.But Spain ... Spain came as close as anyone, winning a World Cup in 2010 between the Euros in 2008 and 2012.The new team is on course to eclipse the golden generation. If the reigning European champions win on Sunday, they will set a new world record in international football of 38 matches unbeaten.And this new Spain has what the Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets generation arguably lacked – a Messi-type one-off genius, a ghost in the machine. Lamine Yamal’s achievements at the age of 19 already surpass those of Messi at the same age.And so to win this ultimate victory, Messi must overcome what amounts to the living ghost of his old Barcelona team, complete with his own reincarnation and heir. Has anyone mentioned that there are pictures of the 18-year old Messi bathing the baby Lamine? We’re living in a simulation, aren’t we?World Cup Wallchart