It may be a Lionel Messi World Cup, but there’s more to the tournament than that
NEW YORK — The crowd made it clear from the jump: They love Lionel Messi.
Before the Argentine soccer star could even settle into his seat for a public pep rally/press conference at the Javits Center Friday, his name rose up like a song, chanted over and over by adoring fans. He smiled and waved into their sea of happy faces, adding a few winks of his twinkling eyes. Once again, without a doubt, Messi proved himself the face of this World Cup tournament, one that comes to its stirring conclusion Sunday in New Jersey, when world No. 1 Argentina faces world No. 2 Spain.
In the catalog of epic sports plotlines, Messi’s return to the World Cup final authors one of the best. The aging champion, already the greatest player of all time, is back for one more shot at glory. On 39-year-old legs, with an unparalleled soccer brain and an unmatched résumé of records, Messi has somehow managed to do it again, trying to win back-to-back World Cup titles before Father Time finally gets his edge.
But this is more than the Messi World Cup. While he deserves every headline and every cheer for all he has accomplished in the game, for the way he can create such magic out of inches of space or see plays develop so far ahead of anyone else, this titanic meeting between the world’s best teams is filled with many captivating subplots. From the metaphorical generational handoff between Messi and Spanish teenager Lamine Yamal to the enduring friendship between managers Luis de la Fuente of Spain and Lionel Scaloni of Argentina, the game itself should have no trouble delivering the goods.
Let FIFA and its egomaniacal minions insist on making this latest tournament the (newest) biggest one ever, stealing Super Bowl echoes with the Cup’s first-ever halftime show (pushing the normal break from 15 to 30 minutes) or piling up more cash with the now-regular hydration breaks. Let them bring out fellow sporting greats Tom Brady and Novak Djokovic and Kevin Durant to weirdly pose questions to the likes of Messi and other players on the stage. No matter how much FIFA brings the distractions (yes, the White House confirmed the appearance of President Trump at Sunday’s game) or how much Mother Nature brings unpredictability (smoke from Canadian wildfires, suffocating humidity), they cannot overshadow the play on the field.
For that, we can thank players such as Spain’s Rodri, a man who deserves just as many headlines as Messi.
Full name Rodrigo Hernández, the 30-year-old Manchester City stalwart has quietly led the Spanish side to a near-perfect tournament. The central defender has been such a calm and definitive force for a defense that has conceded but one goal in seven games, guiding a team that opened slowly (who even remembers that shocking scoreless draw with Cape Verde in the first game?) but has improved every time out, culminating in a complete and utter domination of France in the 2-0 semifinal victory.
“Against France I think we did or the best ever as a team,” the former Ballon d’Or winner said. “And we have to do even better against Argentina. I’m confident we can do it.”
If this is a classic tale of having to topple a champ to be the champs, Spain arrived here by following the roadmap Argentina laid out, building on the talent of a generation to rise to the world’s elite. They won the UEFA Nations League in 2023, reached the final again in 2025, and won the Euros in 2024. Included in their ongoing 37-game unbeaten streak (tied for longest in men’s international history), are three wins against mighty France. While Kylian Mbappé and Co. barreled their way into the semifinals and became the most popular pick to win it all, Rodri had his side ready.
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“I told this to my teammates in the semifinal, we needed to be more eager to win than fear of losing, and that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
“We’ve been growing. Our team has matured in the past few years. I said this back in the days that this generation was going to be very successful and that the road towards the greatest achievement for a footballer, lifting the World Cup trophy, would actually be a road like this, lower scale with the Nations League, we showed we could win titles, then the Euro, as difficult as that is, and then in a World Cup final. We are very much satisfied with the team’s process but we are far more ambitious than this.”
So here we are — knowing it’s almost certainly the last time we see Messi on the World Cup stage, knowing both he and Rodri are out to write a championship final chapter.
“Well, I think that it goes beyond words what Messi means as a player and what he means for Argentina,” Rodri said. “Obviously for me he’s the greatest of all time. He’s a player that has managed to lead his national team and he led his national team in Qatar toward the final and to the win.
“But Argentina is far more than Messi. They’ve proven they’re a very complete team with top players.”
Yes, it’s a Messi World Cup, but it’s more than that too, thanks to players like Rodri.
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