Spain vs Argentina could be a proper all-timer

Analytically, the big question is whether either side can impose their usual rhythm without getting dragged into a chaotic end-to-end game. Finals often punish ambition, so the team that stays calm in possession may end up having the edge.
 
On paper it is probably the most prestigious possible final you could get without inventing a new tournament, because you have the best from Europe and the best from South America meeting with actual silverware behind them and not just a bunch of hype, but football never stays that tidy for long does it, someone will get sent off in the 20th minute or a keeper will have a nightmare or the whole thing will become about one dodgy decision and then everyone will pretend the history of the matchup never mattered, and that is before the usual online nonsense starts with people calling the winner lucky or the loser frauds which is just exhausting because a final like this should be celebrated for what it is and not turned into another excuse to act like a gobshite for engagement
 
This is exactly the kind of final that sounds classy right up until the actual game turns into a scrap and everyone starts moaning about who was better on the day, which is football I guess, but the setup is brilliant and people should just enjoy it instead of doing the usual agenda nonsense, because you already know the minute one team goes behind the comments will be full of people saying they were always overrated and the other side were carried by luck and it will all be a mess and i swear if the ref becomes the main character again i might throw my phone out the window
 
The internet is going to be unbearable for this one and I am almost looking forward to that more than the football tbh because the takes will be outrageous and every neutral will suddenly become a tactical mastermind until the first mistake then it is all over
 
People are acting like Spain and Argentina meeting in a final means one side has to be the villain and the other the pure footballing hero and that is such a stupid way to watch the game, both teams would deserve to be there if they got there and that is the whole point, the losing side would not suddenly be trash because they lost a final to another elite team, finals are fine margins and sometimes the better team on the night does not win and sometimes the team that looks uglier gets the job done and that is just football, so all the smug nonsense that will come after it would be annoying as hell because this would still be a massive occasion even if your favourite side did not lift the trophy
 
I was already thinking this tournament felt a bit special but that stat makes it hit different and now I am fully in the mode of hoping it actually happens because that would be one for the ages and I would be unbearable about it for weeks
 
It is a neat historical note, but it also shows how rare it is for two continental champions to meet at this stage. That should add to the occasion rather than distract from it.
 
The thing about a final like this is that it should be judged on what it is, two proper champions meeting with real pedigree, and not on whether the internet can be bothered to stop making everything into a culture war for five minutes, because the actual football is the point and the rest is just noise, but of course the noise will be massive and people will spend three weeks pretending they are above the hype while secretly refreshing every clip and every argument and every fan account in sight, and then when the match actually happens half of them will be screaming about the ref, the other half will be screaming about legacy, and some gobshite will be in the middle insisting the whole tournament is fake because their team was not involved and honestly that is why football discourse is cooked
 
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