EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi rarely loses. Spain never loses.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been how things have worked in recent years, anyway. Soccer\u2019s best player<\/a> and soccer\u2019s dominant team<\/a> are set to collide Sunday in a World Cup final<\/a> worthy of the sport\u2019s grandest stage. Messi and Argentina will face a Spain squad that is unbeaten in 37 consecutive matches going back to early 2024.<\/p>\n For Spain, it\u2019s a chance at a second World Cup title to go along with the one from 2010 and to cement itself as the unquestioned dominant force in the game right now. For Argentina, it\u2019s a chance to become the first back-to-back men\u2019s World Cup champion since Pele and Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. And for Messi, it\u2019s a chance to write the perfect ending<\/a> to what he has indicated will be his final run with his national team.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Sunday, we will watch a great show,\u201d said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who has guided his side to a 28-0-9 record during this unbeaten run. \u201cTwo great national teams \u2014 two superteams, in my opinion \u2014 very similar in some aspects in terms of attitude, footballers\u2019 talent. I think that it\u2019s going to be an amazing final.\u201d<\/p>\n In simplest terms, the matchup looks like best player vs. best team.<\/p>\n In actuality, it\u2019s so much more than that.<\/p>\n The Messi-Spain history<\/p>\n There is history there, given that Messi was born in Argentina but spent part of his youth and most of his club career in Spain, and would have been eligible \u2014 if he wanted \u2014 to play for that national team instead. Spain tried to convince Messi many times. He never wavered.<\/p>\n Sunday will be the first time he plays against Spain since a friendly in 2010, when Argentina routed the then-reigning World Cup champions. He obviously understands the enormous stakes around this match and insists the approach will be simple regardless \u2014 spending a Sunday afternoon with some friends, kicking the ball around, albeit with 80,000 people watching in the stadium and probably somewhere around 2 billion watching worldwide.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s also the incredible storyline of how Messi and Spain star Lamine Yamal,<\/a> who were photographed together nearly two decades ago when Yamal was a baby, will be sharing the pitch in a World Cup final.<\/p>\n \u201cWe grew up playing soccer with passion, eager to play,\u201d Messi said in his native Spanish. \u201cWe played everywhere. We played on the street. We played at school. We played with teams. We didn\u2019t think about the pressure. It was just natural play.\u201d<\/p>\n But there will be pressure Sunday, and tons of it. Win or lose, Argentina knows this is likely the end of the Messi era in blue and white. <\/p>\n \u201cThe best footballer that the world has seen,\u201d Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.<\/p>\n Messi\u2019s short-lived retirement<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t always that way. Go back a decade, and this run \u2014 Copa Am\u00e9rica champions in 2021, World Cup champions in 2022, Copa Am\u00e9rica champions again in 2024 \u2014 almost never happened for Argentina.<\/p>\n Messi retired from the national team in 2016, after he and Argentina lost that year\u2019s Copa Am\u00e9rica final to Chile in penalty kicks \u2014 one of which he missed. Fortunately for all parties involved, the retirement only lasted a few weeks. But he had grown tired of always coming up short in big matches for his national team, and was ready to step away from that squad at 29.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m done,\u201d Messi said that night \u2014 at MetLife Stadium, which just happens to be the site<\/a> of this World Cup final.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t done, of course. He continued starring for Barcelona, then Paris Saint Germain, then Inter Miami. He\u2019s the two-time defending Most Valuable Player in Major League Soccer, the star of that league\u2019s reigning champions, someone who can still create goals in the biggest moments with virtual ease.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is pure history,\u201d Scaloni said. \u201cHistory. A legend.\u201d<\/p>\n Spain chasing defensive history<\/p>\n Spain is chasing history as well. La Roja \u2014 \u201cthe red\u201d \u2014 are the favorites for Sunday, deservedly so after giving up just one goal in the team\u2019s first seven matches of this tournament. Spain has not spent a single second trailing at this World Cup; Argentina has trailed for more than 100 minutes, including stoppage time.<\/p>\n Defensive performances like this simply do not happen, even in the World Cup. There are three teams \u2014 Spain in 2010, Italy in 2006 and France in 1998 \u2014 who won the title and gave up a total of two goals in the tournament. This Spain team is in line to do even better than that.<\/p>\n \u201cArgentina is far more than Messi,\u201d Spain captain Rodri said. \u201cThey\u2019ve proven that they\u2019re a very complete team with top players. … We are the best two teams playing in a collective manner as a group. Of course, we need to be mindful of Leo, but many other players.\u201d<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s down to two. The 104th and final match of the biggest World Cup in history \u2014 48 teams, spread out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico \u2014 comes down to the defending champions against the heirs apparent, the biggest star in the game against those who have idolized him and now can end his reign.<\/p>\n It was not a World Cup without challenges.<\/a> The tournament had geopolitical discomfort and controversy, like an Iranian team<\/a> facing what it said were onerous travel restrictions as its country was at war with the U.S., criticism of FIFA for lifting U.S. star Folarin Balogun\u2019s red-card suspension<\/a> following urging from President Donald Trump \u2014 who will be at Sunday\u2019s match to present the trophy \u2014 and the British government wanting an investigation of Argentina\u2019s team<\/a> after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after their semifinal win against England.<\/p>\n But in the end, the World Cup will close as it always does, with one side celebrating and one side devastated.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve got their strengths. So do we,\u201d Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez said. \u201cI wish it will be a final that goes down in history.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n