Welcome to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap into the world of soccer with me, your Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe. 🍻

We’ve finally got here. World Cup Final weekend. No time to waste, here is what is on tap today.

Lautaro Martínez — Argentina v England (90+2')

Ninety-two minutes gone in Atlanta. Enzo Fernández had leveled it in the 85th, and Argentina were pouring forward like the bell had rung.

Then Messi got the ball. No blast, no beating four men. Just the most delicate chipped cross you'll ever see, and there was Lautaro Martínez, on as a substitute, heading it past Pickford.

Martínez said that he predicted it. "I dreamed it, I swear. I told Alexis I was going to come on and win it."

Golazo

Some Sundays you open the bar and you just know. The regulars show up early. Strangers become friends by the second beer. Here's the details. Sunday, 3pm ET, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Spain against Argentina, on FOX in English and Telemundo in Spanish. There is no excuse to miss this.

It's the first World Cup final played on American soil since 1994. Thirty-two years. Some of you watched that one and some of you weren't even born. Either way, I’ve more on that below.

Spain arrive with incredible form. European champions, unbeaten in two years, one goal conceded in six games here. On Tuesday they took France apart 2-0 without breaking sweat. Their star is Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 last Monday. If he wins he can’t even order a beer to celebrate.

Argentina arrive as champions, and they've done it the hard way every time. Extra time against Cape Verde. Two goals down to Egypt and back. Extra time again against Switzerland. Then Wednesday, losing to England with five minutes left, and two goals out of nowhere. Messi set up both. He's 39. This is his last one.

So what to look out for? Three things.

So find your spot Sunday. A bar, a couch, a backyard with a projector and questionable wiring. Get there for kickoff. Order something cold. You only get this chance once every four years.

Most of all, enjoy it. You’re a Tap-Inn subscriber after all. This is what we’ve trained for.

Origin: Spanish TV commentator Andrés Montes gets the credit for popularizing it during the 2006 World Cup. It's basically onomatopoeia. Tiki-taka is the sound of the ball ticking from boot to boot, pass after pass after pass, like a clock that refuses to stop.

Definition: Long-time subscribers will remember that we touched on this concept a while back. A style of play built on short passes, constant movement, and keeping the ball so long the other team loses its mind. The idea is simple: if we have the ball, you can't score. Today's Spain plays a faster, more direct version, but the DNA is the same.

Usage: "Spain went full tiki-taka in the second half. France chased shadows for 20 minutes and never touched the ball."

The Two Men Nobody Wanted

Let’s forget the players for a second. The two managers in the dugouts on Sunday were up against it from the start.

Lionel Scaloni got the Argentina job in 2018 because nobody else wanted it. Seven caps as a player, barely a year of coaching, no big jobs. He was meant to be a six-month caretaker. Maradona laughed at him: "Scaloni is a great guy, but he couldn't even direct traffic." The federation renewed his contract in short bursts.

Scaloni actually played alongside a teenage Messi at the 2006 World Cup. He knew the kid long before the rest of us did.

Luis de la Fuente got the Spain job in 2022 and the country shrugged. Sixty-one years old, a decade buried in the youth setup, never managed a top club in his life. What critics forgot was that he'd already coached sixteen of Spain's World Cup squad as teenagers. His answer to the doubters was perfect: "If there is anyone in Spain who knows the present and the future of Spanish football, it's me."

Two men nobody wanted, but who know their players better than everyone else. Sunday, one of them wins the World Cup.

Let’s look back at how they got there.

🇪🇸 Spain 2-0 France (Tuesday, Dallas)

The final before the final, they called it. Spain made it look like a training session. Oyarzabal buried a penalty after Yamal was chopped down in the box, Porro added a second with a slick give-and-go, and France's superstar attack managed almost nothing. Mbappé spent 90 minutes surrounded by three shirts. The win makes it 37 games unbeaten for Spain, tying Italy's all-time international record. Avoid defeat Sunday and the record is theirs alone.

🇦🇷 Argentina 2-1 England (Wednesday, Atlanta)

England were 35 minutes from their first final since 1966. Then Tuchel went to a back five to protect the lead, and England spent the rest of the night watching. Twelve percent possession from Gordon's goal to the final whistle. Argentina just kept coming, which is all they've done all tournament. Two late goals, both made by Messi, and the champions are through. It’s not coming home. England are, though.

🥉 France vs England — Third-place playoff (Saturday, 5pm ET, Miami)

Soccer's participation trophy. Two heartbroken teams who both wanted Sunday, shoved out onto a pitch in Miami. Nobody in either dressing room wants to be there. Mow the lawn instead. Save yourself for the main event.

🏆 Spain vs Argentina — World Cup Final (Sunday, 3pm ET, MetLife Stadium, New Jersey)

You may have heard about this one. Full breakdown covered throughout this newsletter. But here's the bit I haven’t mentioned: no team has retained the World Cup since Brazil in 1962. Three holders have reached the final in the 64 years since, and all three lost it.

Best World Cup Finish: Champions in 1978, 1986, and 2022. The defending champs. They know exactly what Sunday feels like, which is either an advantage or extra pressure, depending on which regular at my bar you ask.

Star Player: Lionel Messi, 39 years old, playing in his final World Cup, chasing a second star... aka a second title in a row. You may have heard of him.

Joe's Favorite City: Buenos Aires. Steak at midnight, tango in the streets, and a soccer culture that is second to none.

Top-Selling Beer: Quilmes. Argentina's national beer, poured in the national colors. The whole country will be drinking it at 4pm local time Sunday.

"Joe, when Spain or Argentina win on Sunday, do they keep the trophy? Do they get rings? Medals? What's the deal?"

Thanks to Jimmy in Queens for the question. The answer will surprise everyone.

They actually don't keep the trophy. The real one, 18-karat gold on a green malachite base, belongs to FIFA and lives in a museum in Zurich. The winners lift it, kiss it, parade it around the pitch, and hand it straight back. What goes home with them is a gold-plated replica.

Why so precious? Because soccer learned the hard way. The original trophy was stolen twice. In 1966 it vanished in London and was found a week later under a hedge, wrapped in newspaper, by a dog named Pickles. In 1983 it was stolen in Brazil and never seen again, presumed melted down.

As for hardware you can wear: no rings. That's an American thing. Every player and staff member on the winning squad gets a gold winner's medal, hung around their neck right there on the pitch.

July 17, 1994: the last time a World Cup final was played on American soil. Exactly 32 years ago today.

Brazil and Italy meet at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, in front of 94,000 fans, under a midday California sun so brutal the game itself wilted. Zero goals in 90 minutes. Zero in extra time. The first final ever decided by penalty kicks.

And so it comes down to Roberto Baggio, the ponytailed genius who had single-handedly dragged Italy to the final. He needs to score to keep Italy alive. He sends it over the bar, into the Pasadena sky. Brazil are champions. Baggio never truly gets over it. Years later he called it "a wound that never closes."

Now you're reading this two days before the next one. Let's hope somebody scores.

Want to be inside MetLife on Sunday? I hope you've been saving.

The cheapest resale tickets for the final are going for around $7,700 before fees. One reseller listed a pair of lower-bowl seats at $45,322 each. That's over $90,000 for two tickets. In parts of New York, that's a down payment on a house. For one soccer game. Madness.

Meanwhile, FIFA quietly found nearly 1,200 "extra" seats in the top deck last week at $7,380 a pop, after the game had been listed as sold out. Funny how that works.

My advice? FIFA's fan festival in New York is free. But remember every bar in America has the game on, and the beer costs what beer should cost.

Sunday will make history twice. Once when someone lifts the trophy, and once at halftime, when the World Cup final has a halftime show for the first time in its 96-year history.

Here's the lineup: A Staten Island school choir, Madonna, Shakira, BTS, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy and unconfirmed reports of The Muppets. All crammed into 12ish minutes. Curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Soccer purists are furious, because halftime in soccer is a sacred 15 minutes, written into the actual laws of the game. Players stretch, managers yell, fans refill their drinks. That's the tradition.

As a bartender, I must object too. Halftime is my busiest fifteen minutes of the day. Now you're telling my customers to stay in their seats for Madonna? Somebody think of the pour staff.

As they say in both Spain y Argentina ,¡Salud! 🍻