Who wins World Cup final battle between Messi and Yamal? We do

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEW YORK -- It might not happen because this sport is wickedly unpredictable, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but it's impossible to ignore the narrative ahead of Sunday's FIFA World Cup final. GOAT begetting GOAT-in-waiting. Argentina's Lionel Messi passing the torch to Spain phenom Lamine Yamal. Or, just as compelling (if not more), Messi triumphing and saying, "Not yet, kid, this is still my time."The thread linking them is almost mystical.You know the story: Nineteen years ago, give or take, a proud dad enters his newborn son in a competition to appear in a charity calendar with Barcelona players. He wins, and his child and his mother appear in a photo shoot with a 20-year-old forward who just established himself in the first team the previous season. They are pictured together -- the awkward, long-haired young player earnestly bathing the puffy-cheeked infant in a big powder blue tub.- Spain's secret sauce at World Cup is a suffocating defense- Why Messi is best player at World Cup, and best athlete all time- Just tuning in to World Cup? Here's what you missedNerds can calculate the probability of one of soccer's greatest-ever players communing with his heir apparent -- who is well ahead of his curve, by the way -- when the latter was just a few months old.Critics can wax pretentiously about the symbolism of the tub and the water and the ritual of anointment and investiture.Believers can cite it as further evidence that there is a greater, mysterious cosmic plan to the universe, a meaning to our existence.The rest of us will just marvel and wonder whether Sunday afternoon just off Exit 18W of the New Jersey Turnpike, amid the man-made wetlands and landfills of the Meadowlands, the succession prophesized in those old calendar photos will come to pass. Or whether we will need to wait just a little bit longer because Messi isn't ready to get off his throne just yet.To some, the juxtaposition might seem odd. And in many ways, it is. Messi is 39 years old, Yamal turned 19 only on Monday. Messi was playing -- and scoring -- in the World Cup before Yamal was even conceived, let alone born.Why place this sort of burden on a teenager, however talented? We've seen precocious kids rock the game to its foundations and then fizzle away by their mid-20s or simply settle into great -- but not GOAT -- careers. But Yamal rather forces you to make the parallel. Not just because of the common Barcelona bond and the photo shoot but because of what he has achieved in his career already.Namely, some numbers that put him well ahead of Messi at the same age.Yamal has already played 151 senior games for Barcelona, scoring 49 goals. When Messi was his age, he had clocked 32 appearances and nine goals. With one notable exception (Pel), that puts Yamal ahead of any of the GOAT candidates of yesteryear (from Diego Maradona to Johan Cruyff), of this era (Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo), and of the future (Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbapp). Yamal has already won two league titles in a starring role for Barcelona, and he dragged Spain to the Euro 2024 crown two years ago.It's true that Yamal hasn't really popped at this World Cup, contributing just one goal and no assists, but there are reasons for that. He was injured April 22, and when he made his debut in Spain's opening game of the tournament, coming off the bench with 19 minutes to go vs. Cape Verde, he hadn't played in 54 days.His role in Spain coach Luis de la Fuente's system is also somewhat different from what he does for Barcelona, where he enjoys freedom and responsibility. At this World Cup, he has been playing more a disciplined, team-oriented game, tucking into right midfield off the ball and focusing on possession until the final third.But it's also true that heroes are made, and narratives built, in finals. He can steal the show Sunday and carry Spain on his back, just as has done time and again with Barcelona. And if he does that, we will be forced to acknowledge the moment. We'll have the rare privilege of being fully aware in the moment when we are sliding from one era into the next.Equally, Messi can put him in his place, conjuring up one last dance at the precipice of disbelief just as he has time and again. Back-to-back World Cups along with back-to-back Copa Amrica titles, a four-peat no country has ever achieved. If that happens, you'd like to imagine Yamal watching and thinking, "Right, that's where the bar has been set."Of course, we could also get neither. We could get both Yamal and Messi turning in pedestrian performances on the biggest stage because even genius takes days off. We could see the game decided by somebody else, with both superstars relegated to a status somewhere between bystander and supporting actor. That can happen in this sport because although stars matter, teams matter more.But, really, we don't want that. We want our stars to shine, and the sense is that one of these two will make all the difference come Sunday. Either accepting the baton and taking up the mantle of aspiring GOAT or riding off in the sunset and ascending directly into soccer Valhalla in his final World Cup appearance.We can only hope.