New Delhi, July 17 -- "God writes his own stories". The phrase once again came to life as Argentina set a Spanish date in the final of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on the night of July 19 at New York's MetLife Stadium. But nobody thought that it would turn up like this, after 19 years at the "football's greatest show". The two lead characters in the story are Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi.

While the 18-year-old Spanish Yamal is featuring in his maiden final on World Cup debut, for Messi, the 39-year-old will be in his third summit clash appearance in six World Cups with Argentina who finished runners-up in 2014 before winning the coveted trophy in 2022 in Qatar. Incidentally, this could be Messi's last World Cup.

In fact, arguably the greate...