WORLD CUP BETTING PREVIEW - SPAIN VS ARGENTINA

World Cup

2026-07-19 - Spain vs Argentina

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Spain v Argentina
Football: World Cup Final
Sunday 19th July 2026 - Kick Off 3pm (EST)
British Time 8pm

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Spain

You can imagine how easy it would have been for Spain to motivate themselves for the World Cup Semi Final having been dismissed by so many as just another team that France were going to steamroll. The overall attacking performances have not been as impressive as two years ago, but this Spain defence has been really strong and another clean sheet has pushed them through to just the second World Cup Final in the history of the nation.

There are some real similarities between the 2026 Spain and 2010 World Cup Winners- both began the tournament without scoring a goal and being upset by Cape Verde and Switzerland respectively, although the latter ended in a defeat and the former in a goalless draw. Both have been very good defensively with the 2010 team conceding twice on their way to winning the World Cup, while the 2026 team has conceded just once through to the Final, and these two teams are capable of wearing down opponents and overwhelming them.

Late goals have been needed by both teams to win matches and this year Spain have done that against Portugal and Belgium before beating France without offering up many chances. There is still a feeling that more is to come from the attacking players, but Luis de la Fuente is very confident in his defensive players and that is no surprise when you look at the underlying numbers.

Plenty of people back in Spain will be waiting to hear news about Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal after both had some kind of issue in training but it would be a real surprise if either misses out. Nico Williams has been given a bit more time to prepare after the ease in which Spain moved past France on Tuesday, but may have to settle for a place on the bench again.

Predicted Line Up: Simon, Porro, Cucurella, Cubarsi, Laporte, Rodri, Pedri, Olmo, Baena, Lamal and Oyarzabal (4-3-3)

Argentina

They may not look a great team on paper, but there is no doubt that this Argentina squad is filled with experience and a togetherness that has helped them through difficult moments. On Wednesday they faced another as Argentina fell behind against rivals England, but they took hold of the Semi Final from that point and had a clarity of thought that the opponent lacked and which ultimately saw Lionel Scaloni out-think Thomas Tuchel.

Scoring late looked like it was going to push the Semi Final into Extra Time, but Argentina still had one more big moment in them and beat England 2-1, just as they did in the 1986 Quarter Final. It is yet another display of the ‘never say die’ attitude Argentina have had throughout this Knock Out run and they are now one more win away from becoming the first nation in 64 years to win back to back World Cup titles.

Late goals helped Argentina beat Egypt and England, while they have needed Extra Time to get the better of Cape Verde and Switzerland so there will be a concern with the amount of football they have had to play. However, Argentina are still here and they will take confidence from the amount of goals they have been able to score at the World Cup Finals as they take aim at this Spanish defence.

Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal on Wednesday, but he may be used as an impact player again. The tactical tweaks look set to remain in place for Argentina in their bid to win this World Cup trophy for the fourth time.

Predicted Line Up: Emiliano Martinez, Montiel, Tagliafico, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Paredes, Mac Allister, Fernandez, De Paul, Messi and Alvarez (4-1-3-2)

Head to Head

Spain beat Argentina 6-1 when these teams met in an international friendly in March 2018 and they have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between the nations.

The exception is a 4-1 win produced by Argentina in September 2010 just two months after Spain had become World Champions.

Prediction

In the previews for both Semi Finals, the lean was with both underdogs to come through and that turned out to be the case when Spain beat France 2-0 and Argentina came from behind to beat England 2-1.

Both of the losing Semi Finalists will be very disappointed with the performances, but Spain and Argentina will enter the World Cup Final filled with confidence.

Some will look at this as a fixture between an immovable object in the Spanish defence and an unstoppable force in the Argentina attack through Lionel Messi. While Spain have been very strong defensively, Argentina have racked up the goals, but you do have to favour the European Champions.

They have contained better attacks than Argentina, at least on paper, while Spain will not offer up the ball as easily as England did in the Semi Final. If the Spanish move ahead, they will retain composure on the ball and they can make things very difficult for an Argentina defence that has been vulnerable to say the least.

This is going to be the first time the European Champions and Copa America Champions are going to be contesting the World Cup Final, but it is a fixture that was supposed to be played last year after a relaunch of an old tie under the ‘Finalissima’ branding.

Reports in South America suggested Argentina did not want to play Spain in that tie having previously beaten Italy 3-0 in 2023 and there is a real sense that the defending World Cup Champions know that the top European nations may be a little too strong for them.

Yes, Argentina have beaten England, but this is another step upwards in level of opponent and Spain are just looking too sharp at both ends of the pitch.

As mentioned throughout this tournament, this Spain team are not one that is going to be too concerned about beating teams by three or four goals, but they are balanced and that means they believe in the defending. Keeping a clean sheet would be a huge edge, but Spain will also know they can hurt Argentina as others have shown in the Knock Out Rounds and it feels like the Spanish are set for a second World Cup crown.

The Pick :

Spain 2-1 Argentina

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Spain to Win at 2.25 with Bet365 (early payout if a team is leading by two goals)