The Final Is Set: How Spain and Argentina Won Their Semi-Finals

Two nights, two single-goal margins, and a final nobody quite saw coming when the tournament began. Spain and Argentina came through the World Cup semi-finals to book a meeting at MetLife on Sunday — the reigning European champions against the reigning world champions, the best defence in the competition against the best attack. For the Irish living room it was a bittersweet week: England, the last British-Irish side left and the adopted hope of these islands, took Argentina to the wire in Atlanta and lost it in stoppage time. Here, after a two-day pause with the finalists resting, is how the last four became the last two.

Spain Strangle the Favourites

The "final before the final" turned out to be a demolition of a kind few expected. In Dallas on Tuesday, Spain beat France 2–0 — and the scoreline flatters the losers. Luis de la Fuente’s side held the tournament favourites to 0.30 expected goals from ten shots, France’s lowest attacking output at a World Cup in sixty years, and never looked like conceding the clean sheet that has become their signature. It was the sixth shutout of the edition for Unai Simón, a goalkeeping record for a single World Cup that had stood unbeaten for ninety-six years.

For France it was a chastening end to a run that had promised more. They had scored sixteen and conceded just two on the way to the last four, the most complete team on the numbers, but they met a wall and could not breach it. The night also cost them William Saliba, forced off after half an hour with the back injury that now rules him out of the third-place play-off. Spain, meanwhile, marched into a first World Cup final since their 2010 triumph, unbeaten now in thirty-seven matches — level with the all-time world record.

Argentina Break Irish Hearts, Just

Wednesday belonged to the tie this island had waited for, and it delivered agony. In Atlanta, England and Argentina — meeting at a World Cup for the first time since 2002 — produced a semi-final of extraordinary caution. Neither side managed a shot in the opening half-hour, the first time both teams had been held shotless that long to start a World Cup match since 1966. Anthony Gordon broke the deadlock for England just before the hour, in the 55th minute, and for half an hour the improbable was on: England, the last flag from these islands, leading a semi-final.

Then Argentina did what Argentina do. Enzo Fernández levelled in the 85th minute, and deep into stoppage time, in the 90+2′, Lautaro Martínez struck the winner — Messi the provider for both goals. There was no extra time; it finished 1–2 in normal time, and England’s sixty-year wait for a World Cup final rolled on. It was a desperately hard way to lose, on legs that FanDuel later described as "physically and emotionally spent", but the holders were through to defend their crown.

Records, and a Golden Boot Still Live

The two results left the tournament’s individual races poised on a knife-edge. Messi, thirty-nine and holder of the all-time World Cup goals record on twenty-one, carried his tally to eight goals and four assists and leads the Golden Boot — but only on the assists tiebreak, with Mbappé level on eight goals. Because France play the bronze final a day before the showpiece, Mbappé has the first word in that race, and even a chance to draw level with Messi’s career record of twenty-one World Cup goals before the great man kicks a ball on Sunday. It is broken down in full on our Mbappé v Messi Golden Boot page.

Spain’s numbers, meanwhile, keep rewriting the record books: one goal conceded in seven matches, six clean sheets in an edition, and a thirty-seven-match unbeaten run that a win or draw in the final would push to an outright world record of thirty-eight. Argentina counter with the tournament’s leading attack — nineteen goals, all seven matches won — and a captain in the form of his life. The immovable object, and the irresistible force.

What It Means for the Irish Neutral

The shape of the last weekend is now clear. Spain play Argentina in the final at MetLife on Sunday 19 July (20:00 IST), a first-ever World Cup knockout meeting between two nations dead level over a century of fixtures — dissected in full on our Spain v Argentina final preview. Before that, France meet England in the third-place play-off in Miami on Saturday 18 July (22:00 IST) — Deschamps’ last match in charge, and Mbappé’s stage for his Golden Boot chase.

Every minute is free-to-air on RTÉ, which has carried all 104 matches of the tournament across RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Every weekend pick, meanwhile, is broken down on the World Cup final betting tips page, and the regulated Irish brands — names such as BillyBets and MrPacho — are pricing the final in euro and fractional odds. Keep it measured to the end: our responsible betting guide is a two-minute read worth having before the biggest match of them all.