At last year’s Euros quarter-final in Brighton, Spain gave England the biggest scare of the tournament they won. In the 2019 World Cup, Spain narrowly lost to the US, who won it in the end. They may very well have been the second-best team at both tournaments.
A year on from the Amex, and for differing reasons, the teams feature different players but they still go into Sunday’s World Cup final as the two best teams in the tournament. I don’t think it makes sense to speak about the missing players (those who walked out for Spain and were not called up again and those who suffered injuries for England). The players who are there now are those who achieved this. It’s the first time for England in the final and the first time for Spain. The players deserve their moment.
