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For the final time of the tournament, Pete Jenson here 🙋‍♂️

The commentator Mike Ingham didn’t get much wrong — and he can be forgiven for calling Jordi Alba’s goal in the 2012 final for Cesc Fabregas.

I mean, what would a full-back be doing rampaging through the middle of the park, after all?

I was instantly reminded of that when Pedro Porro scored against France in the semi-final (below).

There are important threads that unite the two eras.

There’s Rodri easing into the Busi position, centre-halves that can play penetrative passes, the ability to operate without a classic No.9…

And there’s one more thread… Graham Hunter — he was there then, and he is there now.

Vamos, Mr Revista!

Full disclosure: Today’s Revista is outside the paywall thanks to Polymarket sponsorship. I have no financial position in that market.

Jamie Easton here.

Firstly, apologies to Luis de la Fuente — I’ve doubted him at times, but he’s made big calls this World Cup… and got them spot on.

✅ Unai Simon as No.1 ahead of in-form Joan Garcia? Right call

✅ Benching Pedri? Right call

Everyone wants to talk about Lamine Yamal, but what about Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro at full-back? What about the levels Aymeric Laporte has reached? And what about the other teenager in Spain’s team, Pau Cubarsí? Exceptional.

I make the case for the defence and I’ll also give you my 1, 2, 3 of Spain’s most important players.

Enjoy the final!

Jamie

Who’s your pick for Sunday night?

Full disclosure: Today’s Revista is outside the paywall thanks to Polymarket sponsorship. I have no financial position in that market.

This was a day spent between Montclair in New Jersey — where Spain trained — and the northern part of Manhattan, where Spain will turn up to hold their press conference on Friday afternoon.

Training was routine, only a short period of access for the media but I’ll give you an alternative view on things. On Tuesday night, behind the scenes, where no other media were present, I watched Lamine Yamal really hobble out of the Dallas Stadium. He was sore, the limp was very patent and that night I genuinely began to worry for the likelihood of him participating on Sunday afternoon.

This morning, in the hotel, he was patently moving better and while the Spain media were understandably worried to see him sitting out the public part of training at the Red Bull NY facility, what I saw was a 19-year-old genius who is looking a lot more like he’ll be available to his coach for the World Cup final against Argentina. I damn well hope so.

Anyway, it was onwards to the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York to try and locate an interview area for Friday afternoon when we will have the chance to speak to Spain captain Rodrigo Hernandez.

Two things stood out from the experience. First of all, the Fan Fanatic Arena — where the football equivalent of ComicCon is taking place — was mayhem. Absolutely hoatching with people, big brands everywhere, noise level to drive you crazy, and further evidence of the way in which every droplet of juice is being squeezed out of our sport commercially. The second thing was more grave. New York was covered in a gigantic, dimming grey shroud. At first I couldn’t work out what was going on — I actually thought it was fog or smog or low lying cloud.

Instead, it’s smoke drifting south from the incredible fires in Canada. How hellish, how damaging it must be up there for this amount of smoke to drift this far south — to the extent that Chicago had to postpone their match tonight because of the poor air quality.

I’m no expert, so I won’t speculate upon whether the staging of the final on Sunday is under any threat but I’m glad that it wasn’t meant to be today because many New Yorkers were getting about wearing masks and it was clear that, even for those who are a little bit frail in their lungs, the quality of the air was a threat.

Full disclosure: Today’s Revista is outside the paywall thanks to Polymarket sponsorship. I have no financial position in that market.

Given how vastly important breathing well and clearing loads of oxygen through their body is for high level elite athletes, it really doesn’t bear thinking about that conditions might be as bad as this in a few days time when the biggest event in sport takes place.

But the most important thing is how Canada is coping, how people who are affected by the fires up there are kept safe and how the attempts to limit the damage are successful. That’s the real world.

Anyway, our job was done and we fought through the teatime traffic in the Big Apple — a 30-minute journey became a 90-minute journey. Ho hum. That’s life.

And it all starts again on Friday. I’m really looking forward to speaking to Rodri — no matter the fact that it will be a short interview. He’s extremely bright, media savvy, clever talking about the game and an increasingly imposing presence in this World Cup. If Spain win on Sunday, which I expect them to, it would not surprise me at all if Rodri picked up the Golden Boot for best player.

Anyway, it’s late at night here… it’s time to say adiós, hasta mañana. Thanks for being with Revista.

Pete Jenson here.

I’m on the ground here in Spain, and I can report that the nation is buzzing.

Mr Revista, Graham Hunter, called it correctly — and Spain are in the World Cup final.

Now for the second semi-final, England v Argentina tonight.

The theme around the fixture has been one of division, but there is plenty that unites the two nations. I watched this epic Oasis performance of Don’t Look Back in Anger a few days ago on YouTube, from River Plate’s stadium in Buenos Aires.

From The Beatles to Oasis, Argentina loves English music.

And England love Argentinean footballers — from Lisandro Martinez, to Kun Agüero, all the way back to Ossie Ardiles at Spurs.

England need to step back from the idea of this being a pitch battle tonight.

Tuchel will have a plan — more than one — and they need to stick to it.

Who will join Spain in the final?

Full disclosure: Today’s Revista is outside the paywall thanks to Polymarket sponsorship. I have no financial position in that market.

That was a foot-on-the-throat job from minute one to the last kick off the ball.

Spain are Kryptonite for Superman France. I thought they would beat them and they were so dominant, just like they were against Belgium and Portugal.

I’ll reflect on some of France’s deficiencies, but mostly focus on huge performances from Mikel Oyarzabal, Marc Cucurella, Aymeric Laporte and more

I think Spain are the best team in world and I think they’re going to win the World Cup.

Full disclosure: Today’s Revista is outside the paywall thanks to Polymarket sponsorship. I have no financial position in that market.

What you see here is the video of the making of the Wild Bill cowboy hat which now has Lamine’s world-famous goal celebration, based on his Rocafonda postcode, on the front…

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It’s just over 24 hours till Spain take on France in Dallas.

Here’s some thoughts — and a video — from the training-ground bleachers.

It’s Lamine Yamal’s birthday and, as you can see, he’s the latest to be been given a pasillo by his teammates.

I think he got off pretty lightly, don’t you?

But let’s cut to the chase — the young Spaniard has b…

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Pete’s video wasn’t appearing for some of you, so we’re re-posting it… Apologies to anyone who didn’t receive it first time around

“Pete Jenson here.

It is 45 years since one of my favourites bits of football commentary, when Bjørge Lillelien celebrated Norway’s 2-1 win over England in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers with his memorable monologue —…

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Pete Jenson here.

It is 45 years since one of my favourites bits of football commentary, when Bjørge Lillelien celebrated Norway’s 2-1 win over England in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers with his memorable monologue — “Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Clement Atlee, Winston Churchill, Henry Cooper, Lady Di” — culminating in the immortal line…

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I’m writing this at 19.58 California time on Wednesday — the breeze is nippy, the light’s fading into a darkened bronze and it’s all pretty heavenly.

It’s 24 hours since Spain arrived at this Los Angeles hotel and the arrival, or it’s impact, was startling.

The win against Portugal was pretty epic — Iberian rival dispatched, a dramatic, late, find-the-dop…

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