Key events
Here’s guides to the two teams in the final:
This is an interesting article, the World Cup through the age of conspiracy. One key part is the amount of AI generated content this tournament has seen:
Wayne Rooney said if Norway reached the World Cup quarter-finals he would row the River Mersey. Norway did exactly that, going out to England 2-1, and the former Manchester United player has stuck to his word but in a different location. He took to the Hudson in New York:
An exclusive bit of news here from our very own Matt Hughes and Nick Ames who are in New York.
double quotation markGianni Infantino is poised to escape without sanction after complaints he breached rules on political neutrality in his dealings with Donald Trump over the Folarin Balogun affair.
After beating England, the Argentinian players held up a sign which read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” which translates to the Falklands are Argentinian. Politicians have called for Fifa to bring sanctions on the team for the political statement but the White House has now back to Argentinian team. Read more here:
There is always a debate about the commentators on football but some English-speaking fans have switched to Telemundo for more energetic coverage. Have you made the switch?
Will Enzo Fernandes stay at Chelsea? He is having a good World Cup but his future at the Blues is still up in the air:
Some of the highlights of the World Cup haven’t been related to playing the game, but instead have manifested in generational memes. Here’s a round-up of the best ones:
The leader of the UK political part the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, has called for the Football Association to withdraw from Fifa after accusing the organisation of “destroying the integrity of the beautiful game”.
Among incidents at this World Cup has been the US president Donald Trump calling the head of Fifa Gianni Infantino to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card. Davey said:
double quotation markThe only route forward is for the FA, along with other European governing bodies, to lead a co-ordinated exit from Fifa.
It is time for Uefa to step up and walk away from Fifa, and start working with other confederations to build a clean, transparent governing body that puts fans first.
Thank you Billy and hello everyone. The half-time show during the final tomorrow has mixed opinions amongst the fans but if you were to pick your dream performer for it, who would it be? Email us and let us know.
It’s time to hand you over to Sarah Rendell.
Strong and thorough views BTL on England and Tuchel …
More lines from Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino’s press conference at Trump Tower yesterday …
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Trump indicated that he’d like the US to host another World Cup, but “this time we’ll leave Mexico and Canada out”, a remark which drew laughter from the assembled dignitaries.
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Trump also shared that Infantino has approached him about the possibility of the US and China co-hosting a World Cup in the future.
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Trump repeated that he was “forced to call Gianni” about the Folarin Balogun red card and said Infantino had “made yet another of his many good decisions”.
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Trump repeated his claims about the 2020 presidential election being “rigged”, saying: “I was supposed to not be here right now. I was supposed to be president for eight years.”
It is not immediately obvious what Infantino’s reactions to these comments were but he thanked Trump for putting on “the greatest human social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed”.
Atmosphere B-, Affordability F – here’s how Jeff Rueter has graded America’s World Cup hosting duties …
A couple of World Cup TV reviews for you.
From the UK …
double quotation markThe BBC clearly hasn’t quite fathomed its post-Lineker roster, where he acted as host and a pundit who had been there and done that at a World Cup. You either love or loathe the energy of Micah Richards, but from the BBC ranks the former England No 1 Joe Hart was the one who stood out, with Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney often coming across as pedestrian as an England backline faced with an Argentina attack.
And the US …
double quotation markDarren Fletcher won points for noting during England’s first knockout match that “if it’s coming home, it’s taking a while to get there”, but lost them all for his execrable “siuuu” to mark Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal against Uzbekistan, which sounded like someone dying mid-orgasm. In a World Cup that has seen much important and difficult work done to fit America’s artificial turf NFL stadiums with soccer-friendly grass, the reforestation of Landon Donovan’s head still stands out as this tournament’s most impressive single feat of terraforming.
Yes, one last chance this summer for us to get a glimpse of the highly rated Maghnes Akliouche.
Fifa has held a legends match in New York and it’s not taken Vozinha long to elbow in on this particular part of the retiree circuit.
I’ve done a brief search of a few ticket resale sites for tomorrow’s final and, if you’re in New York and interested in attending Spain v Argentina, then it’ll probably set you back around $7,000. If you find some spare cash down the back of the sofa then maybe you could stretch to the most expensive seats – upwards of $40,000.
To the wildfire smoke that is threatening to disrupt tomorrow’s final in New Jersey – from Matt Hughes in New York …
Wildfires in Canada’s wildlands have led to thick smoke spreading south across many of the United States’s eastern cities, with an air quality advisory altered from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” late on Thursday.
New York city hall’s emergency management officials issued a citywide code red for Tuesday to Thursday, telling residents to stay inside unless absolutely necessary and to avoid strenuous exercise, hardly conditions for the biggest match in global sport, which is expected to attract a worldwide television audience of 1.6 billion.
The smoke was clearly visible in downtown Manhattan, unlike the Statue of Liberty across the Hudson River that was temporarily hidden from view, with conditions so bad that many flights from New Jersey’s Newark airport were cancelled.
I’m still getting my head around the 2007 photo of Lionel Messi, 19, bathing Lamine Yamal, four months, for a Unicef calendar shoot.
Sid Lowe has done some digging to find out how it all came out …
double quotation markThe photograph was taken around Christmas 2007. Sport newspaper was putting together a charity calendar on behalf of Barcelona and Unicef, a studio set up in the away dressing room at the Camp Nou. Each player had a month and appeared with a child. Ronaldinho, the star, was July. Messi was January. Lamine Yamal was four months old. His mum, Sheila, had put him into a draw to take part. Monfort got the idea the night before when bathing his daughter, taking a plastic tub and a rubber duck with him. Although the baby was tiny and Messi was timid, with Sheila’s help he got a shot he was happy with.
OK, let’s talk about the final. Spain’s late-goal-getter Mikel Merino has been doing exactly that with Sid Lowe in New Jersey …
double quotation markComing from the bench isn’t the ideal plan for any player, but when you join a national team that’s as strong as I and Lautaro have, you value every opportunity and try to help your team if you come on or if you don’t. You focus on the present, embrace the situation, and think of yourself as the guy who can do it. I have complete belief in myself, my ability: every time I come on to the pitch I think I can have impact. In the final, I hope anyone [Spanish] is the hero. The trophy belongs to all of you, not just the 11 on the pitch.
It’s important to have ego as a footballer. With all the criticism from outside, you need it. But you also need the humility. Players come to the national team because they’re important [at their clubs] and find a new reality. It is easy to talk about ‘family’ but when things don’t go well, when they’re difficult, is when you truly see that. It’s thanks to Luis and the squad he assembled, focused on being a good human first and then being a good footballer. That helps a lot when it comes to spending a lot of time together. We know each other very well, we know when to joke, when to be silent; that’s the strength of the group. That after 46, 47 days all together, we’re still …
It is interesting to see the dial shift quite so quickly on Thomas Tuchel. There was something heroic about choosing to sit back (albeit with 10 men) against Mexico but now …
Wayne Rooney has honoured his pledge following Norway’s run to the World Cup quarter-finals by rowing down the Hudson River in New York.
Norway’s fans delivered some of the most memorable images of the 2026 tournament with their ‘Viking row’ celebration, leading the former Manchester United and England striker to promise he would take to Liverpool’s River Mersey if they toppled Brazil in the last 16.
Erling Haaland ensured they did with a brilliant late double and he challenged Rooney to keep to his word.
The 40-year-old has done just that, albeit swapping Merseyside for New York, alongside fellow BBC Sport pundits Micah Richards and Joe Hart.
“I loved it. The [Norwegian] fans were brilliant, weren’t they? So we’ve done it out of respect for the fans. We gave it our best shot!” Rooney said.
Addressing Haaland directly, Rooney added: “Enjoy it. We’ve seen a video of you dancing in Marbella, so hope you enjoy this!”.
Norway pushed England to extra time in the quarter-final before succumbing to Jude Bellingham’s winner. PA Media
The fallout from England’s exit continues. Jonathan Liew’s column is cutting and a must-read …
double quotation mark“If we lose, we lose in our way,” Tuchel told his players at half-time in the opening game against Croatia, a call to arms that generated some of the most thrilling football England have played at a major tournament in my lifetime. Where did that go, Thomas? Or: where did that Thomas go? Perhaps at some point on the road to the Azteca, or in the heat of Miami, Tuchel lost the simple faith that had brought England to this point.
In other through-the-looking-glass events, Trump’s comments were put to Thomas Tuchel in his pre-France press conference in Miami. The England head coach was not overly pleased …
“Do you use Donald Trump as your witness for the case or … ?” asked Tuchel.
double quotation markWe defended in a deep block. That’s what you do if you defend in a block. You defend in a block. We were not active enough. We could not escape the deep block. That is what teams build: togetherness and mentality is translated to in football terms. We defend as a 10 and as an 11. Together as a team, the team spirit, the togetherness, the mentality that this team built in the last six and a half weeks, is not to be questioned.
Ed Aarons was there …
Donald Trump joined the chorus of criticism over Thomas Tuchel’s defence-minded approach against Argentina as the United States president questioned the England manager’s “unusual” use of his golf buddy Harry Kane.
The inquest into Wednesday’s late 2-1 World Cup semi-final collapse to their bitter rivals is well under way, with fans and pundits alike panning the head coach’s tactics and substitutions in Atlanta.
In a World Cup event at Trump Tower in New York, the US president surprisingly joined those questioning Tuchel as England ready themselves for Saturday’s unwanted bronze medal match against France rather than the final against Spain.
Trump was particularly puzzled by the way the German coach utilised captain Kane, who revealed last week that they had played a round of golf together around 18 months ago in Florida.
“You have a great player in England, who I played golf with,” Trump said in a press conference. “You know that, right? He is Harry, who’s been fantastic.
“I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence.”
Gianni Infantino laughed alongside Trump, with the Fifa president shrugging and then applauding his remarks.
President Trump continued: “We have got to be a little offensive, right? But, no, I am not going to call it.
“Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual, but Harry is a great guy, actually.” PA Media
Argentina and Spain have arrived in New York ahead of tomorrow’s final, with Lionel Messi, Emi Martínez and Rodri among those taking part in a fanfest in the city last night.
Can you spot the other famous faces in attendance?
Pablo Iglesias Maurer was there for a Q&A with Messi, Martínez and Lionel Scaloni, with the Argentina head coach lauding his captain once more …
double quotation markHe is pure history. A legend. Reaching a final at 39 years of age is unbelievable. We must enjoy him as it happens. With Diego [Maradona], we miss him. But Messi is still with us. He is the history, he is the legend, and together with this group of people who have brought us these wonderful years, we’ll always remember him.
Hello and welcome to the final weekend of the 2026 World Cup. After five and a half weeks, 102 games and 44 teams have gone home, it’s time for the prizes to be handed out. The big one is tomorrow, with Spain and Argentina contesting a hugely intriguing final in New York/New Jersey – and that’s before you factor in wildfire smoke, a lengthy half-time show and Donald Trump crashing the trophy lift.
Today’s action comes from Miami as France and England fight for bronze in the third-place playoff. What’s the approach here? Ring the changes? Go all out to try to get your star striker the golden boot? Just avoid a heavy defeat?
Either way, we’d like to hear from you about how you think the tournament has gone and what you think will happen in tomorrow’s showpiece. Get in touch via email or comment below the line.
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