It’s Spain vs. Argentina in the World Cup final. Follow live updates.

For the past six weeks, North America has played host to the world’s greatest soccer players as they battle to make it to the World Cup final.

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And now, finally, the championship is here: Argentina vs. Spain. One of the greats, Lionel Messi, faces the face of the future, Yamine Lamal.

Argentina is trying for its second straight World Cup title and fourth overall. Spain searches for its second title, having won once before in 2010.

The game kicks off at 3 p.m. at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. You can watch the game on Fox. Follow live updates below.

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By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff

Picked-up pieces while waiting for Argentina vs. Spain on Sunday at 3 p.m. …

“Soccer is the sport of the future and always will be.”

Artificial intelligence attributes the well-worn quote to the late Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano, or perhaps Keith Olbermann. Roger Bennett, founder and CEO of the Men in Blazers Media Network, prefers, “Soccer is America’s sport of the future — as it has been since 1972.”

Dripping with sarcasm, it’s been my futbol fallback for decades.

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By Tara Sullivan, Globe Staff

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 on 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.

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By Tara Sullivan, Globe Staff

Greetings from MetLife … er … New York/New Jersey Stadium for the World Cup Final! Happy to report I’ve made it to my press box seat, though not after outlasting the lengthy, circuitous line to get past the first level of security, then another long, snaking line to get up to the press box. While I was early enough to avoid traffic on the roads, the human traffic on the grounds proved tough to navigate, worse than any Super Bowl or Olympics I’ve been to. But here we go – ready to find out if Lionel Messi wins again, or perhaps hands the baton to Lamine Yamal as the next great superstar, to see if Spain’s pinpoint and control can outmaneuver Argentina’s physicality.

By Amin Touri, Globe Staff

In a world of AI images and online hoaxes, it’s a little hard to believe the photos are real.

But there sits a 20-year-old Lionel Messi, not yet quite the global sensation he’d become in the following years, bathing Lamine Yamal — all of 5 months old and so far from his own path to soccer stardom.

The photos first went viral in 2024 when Yamal’s father posted one on social media. They resurfaced this week, with Messi’s Argentina and Yamal’s Spain set to meet in Sunday’s World Cup final.

Nineteen years after they were taken, with Yamal becoming one of the biggest stars in soccer and inheriting Messi’s mantel as the cornerstone player for Spanish club Barcelona, people still can’t quite believe what they’re seeing.

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