Former Liverpool striker makes Spain vs Argentina World Cup final prediction | OneFootball

Spain face Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final

Spain will be the next world champions, according to former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes.

La Roja will face off against holders Argentina on Sunday night at the New York/New Jersey Stadium, seeking to win the World Cup for a second time.

Spain overcame pre-tournament favourites France to reach their first World Cup final in 16 years, with Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro on target in a 2-0 victory.

Argentina, meanwhile, came from behind to beat England in the other semi-final to remain on course to become only the third nation to retain the World Cup, after Italy and Brazil.

Morientes, who represented Spain at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, believes his nation will earn a second goal star on their shirt.

"Who will win the World Cup this year? Spain are very strong. I think the champion will come from the semi-final between Spain-France," he told Reviant. "I might be wrong, but I think as the team who won that game, Spain has many possibilities.

"Obviously, on the other hand, Argentina are also strong. But I think if I were to bet, I would say that the next world champion will be Spain."

Fernando Morientes is backing his compatriots

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"Luis de la Fuente, the greatest coach in Spain’s history? Well, if we're talking purely about titles, he could be," Morientes added.

"But that comes down to context, as we were just discussing: which generation. Del Bosque's generation, I think that's been the best generation Spain has ever had on the pitch, collectively.

"And I'd argue this one arguably deserves even more credit, because I don't know that as much was expected of this squad, after losing Lamine Yamal to injury, and Nico Williams too, both of whom were architects of that great Euros squad.

"I think that's down to De la Fuente. So if he's capable of winning the World Cup too, I'd obviously put him up there with the great managers. And when we talk about the great managers, we obviously mean the ones who've been capable of winning both the World Cup, with Del Bosque, and the Euros, with Luis Aragones."