Former England striker Michael Owen believes Spain are a ‘lot better’ than Argentina and deserve to win the World Cup final on Sunday. Speaking to Sky Sports, Owen made a confident prediction, citing Spain’s impressive form and Argentina’s perceived luck.
Spain’s dominant run to the final
Spain booked their place in Sunday’s final in New Jersey with a hugely impressive 2-0 win over tournament favourites France. Goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro secured the victory, extending Spain’s remarkable defensive record — they have conceded just one goal in the entire tournament. Luis de la Fuente’s side, the defending European champions, are now unbeaten in 37 matches, tying the record set by a European nation in men’s international football. La Roja will aim to add a second men’s World Cup to their trophy cabinet on Sunday.
Argentina’s path to the final
Standing in their way are the defending champions Argentina, who pulled off another last-ditch comeback, this time against England, to reach the final. The South Americans scored late through Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez to beat the Three Lions 2-1. Argentina are now looking to become only the third team to retain the World Cup. Despite their fairy-tale run, Owen is unconvinced.
Owen’s assessment of Argentina
‘Argentina have had quite a lucky path through to the semi-finals,’ Owen said. ‘They made hard work of Cape Verde, they made hard work of Egypt, they scored last-minute goals against England. We probably let them through as opposed to beating us and I don’t think they’ve been very impressive throughout the tournament. Whereas Spain are impressive, that performance against France was pure class; that was a serious performance against a great opponent. I think Spain are a lot better than Argentina and I expect them to win the World Cup and deservedly so.’
Owen criticises England’s mentality
Owen did not hold back with his assessment of England’s semi-final exit, labelling England’s approach in the final 30 minutes as ‘rubbish’. ‘After an hour, we’re in total control. We’re 1-0 up. All we had to do was watch Spain the night before and see what happens when you’re 1-0 up. Keep playing, keep the ball, stay brave, stay confident and we just panic, and we’re scared of losing. And then even our manager makes mistakes, throws on three defenders and takes off attacking players. Totally hands the initiative to Argentina. We gave them that game.’
He continued: ‘Our problem was against Mexico. We did exactly the same. We’re in total control, two goals ahead and we go all negative and think this is great football, this is brave football, defending our box. It’s not. It’s not. I can get my local pub team to do that and that’s where we lost the tournament: celebrating beating Mexico the way we did. It was the wrong way, and the problem is, as a player, once that happens, it’s in your mind: “Ah, we won. Everybody thinks we’re great and we did it doing this.” Subconsciously, as soon as you go 1-0 up now, what do you think we’re going to think? What do you think that the players are going to think? And then the manager brings on three defenders. What do you think message that sends to Argentina? This lies squarely on the manager’s decisions and our mentality as a nation because it’s not the first time we’ve done it. There’s nothing wrong with our team, there’s nothing wrong with anything, it’s purely mentality.’
Third-place play-off
The two losing semi-finalists, England and France, will go head-to-head in an underwhelming World Cup third-place play-off on Saturday.
