Once again, we are graced with the presence of Spurs players on the biggest football stage - Pedro Porro lines up for La Furia Roja with Cuti Romero and new signing Marcos Senesi with La Albiceleste.
Christian Ziege was first up for Germany against Brazil in 2002, Hugo Lloris our first winner in 2018 and Cuti our second winner, last time around in 2022. Hugo made it two final appearances in Qatar in 2022, beaten by Cuti's Argentina in the final.
Cuti looks set to make his second appearance in the final, Pedro has been a regular for Spain throughout the tournament - and scored in the semi-final win against France - and Marcos featured in the group stage.
Looking at the wider picture, 11 Spurs players, past or present, have played in the World Cup Final.
In order of appearance - Martin Peters (for England, 1966), Ossie Ardiles (Argentina, 1978), Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany, 1990), Nicola Berti (Italy, 1994), Christian Ziege (Germany, 2002), William Gallas (France, 2006), Rafa van der Vaart (Holland, 2010), Ivan Perisic, Luka Modric (Croatia, 2018), Hugo Lloris (France, 2018; 2022) and Cristian Romero (Argentina, 2022).
As stated above, of those players, only Christian, Hugo and Cuti were Spurs players at the time of their appearance.
To gain some perspective as to the scale of a World Cup Final, viewing figures suggest a total audience of 1.5 billion watched Argentina topple France in 2022. By way of contrast, Super Bowl LX was viewed by an estimated 125.6 million.
So, what's it like to walk out in a game watched by everyone, a game that could define you as footballer, a game where you could be a hero for life?
Four years ago, we spoke a quartet of players who have experienced what it means to step out on the biggest stage in football, plus an insight from Martin Peters, who sadly passed away in 2019, from his autobiography, 'The Ghost of '66'.
Martin Peters - 1966
Writing in his autobiography, 'The Ghost of '66', published in 2006, Martin Peters was able to describe what it meant to win the World Cup 40 years earlier in 1966, that famous day at Wembley England beat West Germany 4-2 to lift the famous trophy for the one and, so far, only time.
"Before 30 July 1966 I was just another of the 2000 or so professionals in the Football League. By the end of that day, I'd become one of only 11 Englishmen to win the World Cup. From then on, life would never quite be the same for me, or for many others..."
Martin, at West Ham at the time - he joined us in 1970 as part of the deal that took Jimmy Greaves to Upton Park - scored England's second goal in the final as Geoff Hurst's hat-trick saw former Spur Alf Ramsey's team home. Hurst had come in for our legendary striker Jimmy Greaves, who was injured in the final group game, replaced by Hurst in the quarter-final and the not selected by Ramsey for the semi-final and final.
On his goal, he wrote: "For a second I couldn't take it all in. Suddenly, the roar of the crowd was rolling down the terraces. I'd scored - in the World Cup Final! It was the most extraordinary moment (pictured above), like being struck by lightning. My fingers were tingling with the excitement. My head was spinning."
Martin was part of Bill Nicholson's successful team of the early 1970s, helping us land the League Cup twice (1971, 1973) and the UEFA Cup in 1973. He sadly passed away in 2019.
Ossie Ardiles - 1978
Speaking to us at the start of the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Ossie recalled how he was an injury doubt for what would be his greatest moment in a football shirt, now almost 50 years ago.
"To play in a World Cup Final… you know immediately that it’s going to be the most important game in your life. It’s as simple as that. You know it’s crucial. From my own point of view, I was injured before the final, and they only decided to play me the day before the final. I was very doubtful. Two days before I couldn’t even walk! I had a broken toe on my left foot, very painful. This is why I didn’t play in the semi-final, because, for me to play in the final, I had two injections, one either side of the toe. I knew I wouldn’t last the 90 minutes, so I was subbed after 66 minutes.
"I was extraordinarily happy just to start the game. I’d played in every single game for three years so suddenly not being able to play in the World Cup Final would have been an incredible disappointment. The one thing in my mind was if I was going to play or not. Then, when I played, I was still a little disappointed that in the biggest game of my life, I was not going to be 100 per cent fit. At the end of the day, I’m very grateful that I started the game and was able to play for 66 minutes, that was great.
"Just to play, the nervousness, it’s huge. You can’t compare it with anything. I played in a lot of finals and big, big games, and, okay, sometimes I felt a few butterflies before the game, but at the World Cup, especially the first game and the final, the nervousness… you cannot control it. In fact, when you play the game, it’s like you are watching a movie. It’s a feeling going through you like you are watching, something happens and it’s almost like you are not involved, it's a funny feeling.
"The pressure was incredibly high. You cannot possibly describe it. Lifting the trophy, there was incredible happiness, joy, you cannot compare the joy when you do that, also, the feeling was one of relief that it was finished, and we’d won it. Then you think about what it means to the people in your life. I thought about my wife, my son Pablo was already born, my father, my mother, my brothers, friends, it all comes to you mind in a flash."
Ossie joined us immediately after the 1978 World Cup alongside Ricky Villa, who was in Argentina's squad but didn't make the matchday squad for the final. It was a transfer swoop from Keith Burkinshaw that helped transform the Club. Just back in the First Division after relegation in 1977/78, Ossie and Ricky played key roles as we lifted the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup in 1984. Ossie later managed the first team, and remains as popular as ever in his role as Club Ambassador.
Rafa van der Vaart - 2010
Rafa van der Vaart had just got over the dismay of a World Cup Final defeat when he joined us on the final day of the transfer window in the summer of 2010.
Excitement was high as Rafa arrived from Real Madrid - we were about to step into our first-ever UEFA Champions League campaign, and Rafa's style looked the perfect fit for Harry Redknapp's team. As his skipper Ledley King would later say, 'it's almost like he was born to play for Spurs, he was that kind of fit'.
Rafa delivered, as well, in a short but sweet spell in a Spurs shirt, particularly against Arsenal, where his four goals in four derbies - and unbridled joy at scoring them - was a delight for all fans.
That's a contrast though to the devastation he felt after the 2010 World Cup Final in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Capped 109 times by the Netherlands, Rafa entered the final off the bench in extra time, with the score at 0-0, and was handed the captain's armband when Gio van Bronckhorst departed on 105 minutes. However, heartbreak arrived 10 minutes later when Spanish legend Andreas Iniesta fired home the only goal of the game. Rafa was closest to the decisive action as well - captured in the photo above - he slid in in vain to try and stop Iniesta in front of goal.
Speaking to us 12 years on, Rafa recalled: "I came off the bench in 2010, in extra time, so, when you don't start a final, it's always a little bit different. It's about the whole tournament though and then, when you get to the final, you notice it's a different day. Of course, I was quite relaxed because I wasn't starting, but I could tell everyone was nervous.
"Also, it's the biggest game of your life, the biggest game in the world. That's why we play football. I'm so thankful, even though we lost, that I got the chance to play in a World Cup Final. It was an amazing feeling."
Hugo Lloris - 2018
Hugo Lloris became the first Spurs player to win the World Cup when he lived the dream in Moscow in 2018, as captain, lifting the coveted all-gold FIFA World Cup Trophy after France's 4-2 win against Croatia.
Four years later, he became the first Spur to appear in two World Cup Finals - this time his dreams dashed by Argentina, including Cuti Romero.
France's all-time appearance maker with 145 caps, Hugo spoke to us on his return from Russia back in 2018.
"It’s an achievement that is difficult to describe and I will always be grateful to my team-mates because you win trophies as a team and it meant a lot, in all aspects of the game, but also outside the pitch. You need something extra to go to this success and it’s not easy. It’s something that we have done and we will keep it for years among the French football memories. This year’s competition now too - you have to feel the energy, you have to feel that it’s something unique and you want to enjoy it.”
Ivan Perisic - 2018
Ivan Perisic broke English hearts in 2018 before experiencing the toughest blow of them all, scoring but ending up on the losing side in the World Cup Final.
Starring for Inter at that time, Ivan fired home the equaliser against England in the semi-final, before Mario Mandzukic hit the winner in the second half of extra time for Croatia to take their place against France - and Hugo Lloris - in the final.
Ivan was on target again in the biggest game of all at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. This time, he lashed home from the edge of the box for 1-1 - pictured below - but Les Bleus would prevail, and were 4-1 up by the time Mandzukic struck again, 4-2 the final scoreline.
Speaking to us before travelling out to Qatar in 2022, where he helped Croatia reach the semi-finals again, Ivan recalled that final in 2018...
"It was something amazing. We had a great tournament and, for a small country like this, to play in the final against France was something special. We played a good game, okay, we lost, but we can be proud of what we achieved there.
"When you start to play football, you dream of doing something like this. I can say that I played in the final of the World Cup and I think that it's going to be the best thing in my career."