‘Chaos v calm’ – Sutton’s World Cup final and third-place predictions

July 17, 2026 No Comments

‘Chaos v calm’ – Sutton’s World Cup final and third-place predictionsByChris BevanBBC Sport journalistPublished6 minutes agoWill the 2026 World Cup end with glory for Spain or Argentina?We also have the game no-one wanted to be part of, the bronze final, where France and England will compete for third place on the podium.”I’ve seen Argentina numerous times at this tournament and, compared to their teams of the past, this is not an outstanding Argentina side,” mentioned BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton.”Still, you have to admire their fight and their aggression. They fight like no other team to stay in games and win any way they can.”They will throw everything they can at Spain – and of course they have Lionel Messi too.”Sutton, AI and the users of the BBC’s new predictor game are predicting the results of every game at this World Cup.Only AI managed to get one of the semi-finals right, correctly backing Argentina to beat England.But the users still have an insurmountable overall lead with 102 of the tournament’s 104 games now completed.Chris has been right 65 times (64%), AI has 66 (65%), but you lot are still on top with a score of 72 (71%).AI’s predictions have been generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat. We simply asked the tool to ‘predict the results of the World Cup final and bronze final’.The BBC predictor game allows readers to pick a winner from each knockout tie.

PLAY WORLD CUP PREDICTOR HERE

Who did our pundits predict would win the 2022 World Cup?

France (9): Scott Brown, Gael Clichy, Rachel Corsie, Olivier Giroud, Danny Murphy, Paul Robinson, Tony Pulis, Alan Shearer & Chris Sutton

England (7): Thomas Frank, Joe Hart, Steph Houghton, Martin Keown, Wayne Rooney, Sue Smith & Ellen White

Spain (1): Micah Richards

BRONZE FINAL

Saturday, 18 July

France v England

France v England

Miami / 22:00 BST

The truth is no-one really cares about this game.

Neither country really wants it, and you can imagine the mood in both camps and how deflated both sets of players are – they all probably just want to go home.

It is also very difficult to predict because it is likely to be France reserves against England reserves – but if it was France’s best team against England’s best, I would expect Didier Deschamps’ side to win in his last game as boss after 14 years.

I still haven’t got over England’s 2-1 defeat by Argentina to be honest. I think we will look back at this tournament and view what Thomas Tuchel did after going 1-0 ahead as one of the worst coaching errors we’ve possibly ever seen.

Sutton’s prediction: 2-1

AI’s prediction: 2-1

WORLD CUP FINAL

Sunday, 19 July

Spain v Argentina

Spain v Argentina

New York / 20:00

Fair play to Argentina and their manager Lionel Scaloni for the way they turned their semi-final around.

They smelt blood, and they put England away.

I have seen enough of Argentina in this World Cup to think they have been slightly fortunate to get this far.

But, as Radio 5 Live commentator Ian Dennis mentioned about the adversity they have come through, maybe it is one of those tournaments where their name is written on the trophy?

All of Argentina’s goals from the World Cup so far

I still fancy Spain strongly to beat them, however.

They have not been behind in any of their seven games at this tournament so far and if you look at the way they beat France in their semi-final, they absolutely dismantled them.

When I looked at their team beforehand, I thought they would struggle in the full-back areas against France’s wizardry.

I was wrong.

Not only did they nullify France’s fantastic attack, they absolutely played them off the park.

It was a near-perfect performance and I suppose the only question is can they do it again?

I will be at the MetLife Stadium for 5 Live and I can’t wait to find out.

Spain’s road to the final – every goal so far

I think we will see a similar set-up from Argentina to the way they played in the first half against England, in that they will defend deep, defend their box and pick their moments to attack.

I’d love Argentina to go for Spain the way they finished the game against England, but they will know they will get picked off if they do that.

Instead they will fight. I mean that as a compliment because I cannot think of another team where they are so ferocious and aggressive in the way they play so close to the edge – and in a positive way where the jersey seems to mean so much to every single one of their players that it elevates them.

Argentina will also be full of confidence after the way they got here and they may well feel they are untouchable, but I still think Spain have got a better team, who play the best football.

Also, Spain will not do what England did if they get in front. They will not retreat.

Instead, they have that belief where they don’t panic and they always know what they are doing with the next pass.

Lamine Yamal has not really got going for Spain yet at this tournament and I thought he was their worst player against France, although I need to qualify that statement by explaining that their performance was so good, the bar was really high.

He was still probably a 7/10, but you watch him and think there is so much more to come. That might happen in the final, because we know what he is capable of, but Spain will not be relying on him to win.

You go through their side and so many players are at the very top of their game. For example, Pedro Porro looks unrecognisable to the player we see for Tottenham, while Rodri looks like he is back to his physical best after the anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for most of the 2024-25 season.

How do you beat a team who are so confident that their build-up play is better than your press? Argentina will know they can’t match them like that.

The first goal is going to be absolutely crucial and maybe it will be another magic Messi moment that gives his team the lead, and some hope.

But, whatever happens, Spain will dominate the ball – they just will.

For different reasons, I love watching both teams play. Argentina will bring chaos but Spain will bring calm… and calmness will win the day.

Sutton’s prediction: 2-1

AI’s prediction: 2-1

Related topics

Football
FIFA World Cup 2026
Argentina
Spain
England Men’s Football Team
France

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