The 2026 FIFA World Cup is hurtling toward its climax, and Spain has already punched its ticket. A commanding 2–0 victory over France has sent La Roja into its second-ever World Cup final — the first since their triumph in South Africa in 2010. The Spanish Royal Family, clad in white jerseys bearing the number 26, celebrated in an emotional embrace at home. King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía are all expected to travel to the United States for the final on July 19 at the New Jersey/New York venue.
But the semifinal that has the world truly transfixed is still to come: Argentina versus England on Wednesday. For Argentines, this is far more than football. Forty years after Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century” against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico — and more than four decades after the Falklands/Malvinas War — the rivalry runs to the bone. In Buenos Aires, packed cinemas are screening Maradona’s legendary goals as if they were live. “I’m out of my mind, not sleeping, I have no other topic in my head,” one 33-year-old Argentine teacher told AFP. With Lionel Messi still in the squad for what may be his final World Cup, the emotional stakes could not be higher.
