Steve McManaman Predicts Spain Will Defeat Argentina in World Cup Final
Spain against Argentina. New York on a Sunday. A World Cup final with history in the background and one of Liverpool’s most elegant former midfielders firmly nailing his colours to the mast.
Steve McManaman, speaking on ESPN FC, didn’t bother with caveats or tactical deep dives. He went straight for it: Spain 3, Argentina 1.
“I’m going 3-1 to Spain. I’ll be nice and concise,” he said, leaving the scoreline to do the talking.
Spain’s statement of intent
It’s not a wild punt based on romance. Spain arrive in the final looking like a side that has rediscovered its ruthless edge on the biggest stage.
Luis de la Fuente’s team dismantled France 2-0 in Dallas in the semi-final, a result that felt bigger than the scoreline. They didn’t just beat the 2018 world champions and pre-tournament favourites; they controlled them, squeezed them, and then pushed them to the brink of elimination long before the final whistle.
That win put Spain one step away from their first World Cup since 2010 and only the second in their history. The reigning European champions are playing like a group that understands the weight of that opportunity and has no interest in letting it slip.
McManaman clearly sees a team that can carry that authority into New York and turn it into a comfortable margin on the scoreboard.
Argentina’s late drama
Argentina, though, have taken a very different road to the same destination.
Their semi-final was chaos wrapped in defiance. Up against Euro 2024 finalists England, they trailed deep into the game, only to flip the script in the most Argentinian way possible: two goals in the final five minutes plus stoppage time, a 2-1 win snatched from what looked like certain extra time.
It was their seventh victory of the tournament and another reminder of their enduring resilience. This is a team that refuses to accept the idea of being beaten, even when the clock and the flow of the game appear to be against them.
That capacity to suffer and survive has carried La Albiceleste to New York. McManaman, however, is unconvinced it will be enough to blunt Spain’s momentum.
A grudge 58 years in the making
There is also the thin thread of history tugging at this final.
Spain and Argentina have met only once before at a World Cup, back in 1966 in England. On that occasion, Argentina edged a 2-1 win in a Group 2 match and moved on to the quarter-finals, where they were narrowly knocked out by the eventual champions, England.
Nearly six decades later, the stakes are far higher, and McManaman believes Spain will be driven to settle that old score on the grandest stage of all. De la Fuente’s side, already European champions, now stand on the verge of rewriting their own World Cup story and turning a distant group-stage defeat into a footnote.
The two nations were supposed to test this rivalry in March in the Finalissima, only for the fixture to be cancelled. That meeting vanished from the calendar; this one dominates it.
Now the rematch comes with a trophy, a legacy, and McManaman’s bold prediction hanging over it.
