Steve McManaman Predicts Spain to Defeat Argentina in World Cup Final

Spain against Argentina. New York. Sunday. A World Cup final with history stitched into every thread and a former Liverpool winger convinced he already knows how it ends.

Steve McManaman, speaking on ESPN FC, has nailed his colours firmly to the Spanish mast, predicting not just a win for Luis de la Fuente’s side, but a comfortable one.

“I’m going 3-1 to Spain. I’ll be nice and concise,” he said, declining to dress the forecast up with tactical breakdowns or caveats. Just a clear scoreline and a clear favourite.

Spain’s surge to the brink

Spain arrive in New York with the swagger of a side that has rediscovered its old, ruthless edge. Their 2-0 semi-final win over France in Dallas was more than an upset of the pre-tournament favourites; it was a statement.

They outplayed the 2018 world champions, dictated the tempo, and shut the door at the back. It was the kind of performance that drags a team to the brink of history. One more victory and Spain will have their first World Cup title since 2010, and only the second in their history.

De la Fuente’s team have carried the weight of being European champions without looking burdened by it. Against France, they looked liberated. That display, more than reputation or sentiment, underpins McManaman’s confidence.

Argentina’s late drama and familiar resilience

Argentina, though, have not reached the final by accident or on reputation alone. Their route has been built on nerve and that ingrained, almost cultural refusal to accept defeat.

In the semi-final, they produced yet another escape act. Trailing Euro 2024 finalists England, they found two goals in the final five minutes plus stoppage time to flip a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory and secure their seventh win of the tournament.

It was classic Argentina: stretched, emotional, chaotic at times, but devastating when it mattered most. They bend, they creak, they look gone — and then they rise.

A rivalry with a 58-year gap

For all their global stature, Spain and Argentina have barely crossed paths on this stage. Their only previous World Cup meeting came in 1966, in England, in a Group 2 clash that still lingers in the background of this final.

That day, La Albiceleste edged it 2-1, progressing to the quarter-finals where they were narrowly knocked out by the eventual champions, England. It was a different era, a different sport in many ways, but the record books don’t age. Spain have never beaten Argentina at a World Cup.

McManaman believes that matters to this Spanish generation. Not as a burden, but as an itch to be scratched. A chance to settle a very old score on the grandest stage of all.

Revenge, renewal, and a final that almost came too soon

These sides were supposed to meet not long ago. The Finalissima, pencilled in for March, was meant to pit the European champions against the South American champions in a showpiece occasion. It never happened, cancelled for various reasons, and the questions it posed were left hanging.

Now the stakes are infinitely higher.

Spain, riding the wave of their demolition of France, look to turn continental dominance into a global crown. Argentina, fuelled by late goals and late drama, chase another chapter in a tournament defined by their resilience.

McManaman has already called it: Spain 3, Argentina 1. On Sunday in New York, we find out whether that prediction reads like cold analysis — or the first line of this World Cup’s final, decisive story.